Sometimes, I amaze myself.
Other times I’m as dumb as a box of rocks.
Seriously, it’s a gift/curse.
Going through and deleting garbage Emails, a daily thing, I ran across one that I clicked on out of habit.
The latest coupons for Harbor Freight Tools.
Immediately something popped out at me.
Notice the “Sale Price” on that little hummer?
Five Hundred Bucks.
Thank you, Joe Fucking Biden.
Something in my guts kept eating at me for SEVERAL YEARS a while back and I pretty much went on a wild spending spree on tools, fasteners and general shop supplies.
I was scouring the web looking for deals and never missed a new Harbor Freight sale.
I might not have bought anything but I looked it over hard.
I was picking up Cheap Chinesium shit left and right for basically dirt cheap.
BangGood, EBay, Harbor Freight, Craigslist, you name it.
I specifically remember buying that exact air compressor about four or five years ago and I also remember I didn’t pay anywhere NEAR that freaking price.
So I just got on the Wayback Machine and looked up an old Harbor Freight sale from 2016.
Just as I remembered, I paid A Buck Fifty for the same damn compressor back then.
(Blow that picture up in another tab and you will be able to see the sale price is $149.99)
So here in the space of a few years and the results of an installed communist regime later, that price is now THREE TIMES as expensive as it was five or six years ago.
EVERYTHING is like that now.
Of course you know that all too well, you live it every day like I do.
My point is, why was I able to perceive such a driving need to buy thousands of dollars worth of tools and supplies but I’m not smart enough to invest a hundred bucks into something that would provide me a decent return?
I think it’s basically because I am allergic to money.
I break out in a sweat of I have a five dollar bill in my pocket for more than 24 hours and God Forbid I should get my hands on a Benjamin.
But tools?
Hell yeah, load ’em up boys!
I also remember posting about buying cheap tools back then. I mean for crying out loud, every once in a while FOR YEARS, Harbor Freight would have a sale on their cheap 4 inch angle grinders for $9.99.
There is no possible way someone wasn’t losing their ass on those.
Making them in China and then shipping them all over the world, then selling them for ten Bucks?
I had scads of them still in boxes, stacked up.
I would give them away.
Those days are long gone now and they aren’t coming back in my lifetime for damn sure.
I just find it really weird that I sensed this inflation coming years ago and for some reason decided to focus on tools.
I bought a 25 gal compressor at Harbor Freight back in 2001 and i think it was right around $120.00 or so. Still running great, if it had been much higher i would have never bought it.
Blackhorn 209 that I bought last for 30 buck is now 75. I still have some but I like to get a new bottle each year.
Think that’s weird, I’ve been sucking up oil lamps, brace-and-bits, shovels, and other non-electrical hand tools for the last decade when they’re cheap at rummage sales.
I have a generators, can build wind and water generators on-site, but that will probably be used for welding and heavy use intermittently.
Poor people that are “Old Poor” and know how to fix things will soon be like gods…
people are just now understanding what the black prince and the old dotard have done and are doing: spinning the printing presses (that print money) so fast that you can see the bearings smoke.
the more dollar bills (per say ounce of gold), the less the value of the dollar bill (so nusiance’ promoting $20/hr for burger-flippers ain’t so crazy) and the less the value of the dollar, the more dollars you pay for the exact same chinesium product.
now, if somebody would just tell me why democrat TPTB are trying to destroy the United States of America and its intrinsic worth, I’d appreciate it greatly.
Sold one set of shop equipment when I moved in 2016 for the same as I’d paid for it in 2001, and we ran a professional shop so we ran them all day. Wish I’d spent the money to move it.
If anyone knows of any old woodworking tool auctions in the WY/MT/ID area, let me know.
I have been adding tools (electric cord and hand, no battery) and spare parts. Look at what is made outside the US. Raw steel comes from China. Do your parts have steel, even if made in USA we may have issues. Toilet repair stuff, stuff to fix plumbing leaks. outdoor faucets, spare blades, screws, bolts, nails, etc. Have on hand some lumber. Spare buckets, rope, chain, extension cords, hose, paint, stain, etc. Surprising how much mundane stuff we take for granted. WD-40, sharpening stones and other maintenance items. If you have the money and space buy now while your money still works.
yup. I also have done that for years now. like matches, how many people have anything more than a few packs/books of them.
I think I have maybe 4-5 gallon size jars full of them
and a Rubber made box full of strike anywhere matches.
found a shop that sold them by the 3 box pack. the price tag on them is 1.59 per 3 pack.
but any oils, motor , cutting/tapping oils will be like gold after the
“Fall” oil and fuel filters are always good to have ” on hand” to have.
just read the book “Hammerfall” to see how things will hard to get
after the supply chain fails. simple meds will be worth gold.
there is a whole lot of things that we will not be able to get or make if things go to hell.
and the way things are looking, it going to be hell. there is just too many things that are boiling right now.
Another good book on what might happen if the wheels fell off of society is “One Second After” by William R. Forstchen. Experts in the field declared it to be a highly accurate portrayal. It’s a really good read, too.
I had told people for years that stuff was better than money. my brother now sees
what I meant by that now. and MOM told me years ago that any money sent on “good tools” was money well spent. I still have a lot of my tools I bought back in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. wood chisels are a but shorter now.
but the old Craftsman’s table saw is still cutting. and old cast iron is a lot better than what they sell today. might not have a lot of money in the bank, but I do have a lot of very good tools that are worth a lot by any measure.
and if I had any idea that ammo was going to go up the way it has, I would have bought it by the skid load ! I still have some 7.62 Nato that I got at 20 cents a round. I bought 3 cases of it. it is in 200 round battle packs. I wonder what they would bring today ?
I’m buying food. Tools aren’t much use if you aren’t eating.
well, yeah. my shelfs are stocked deep with canned goods already.
and I add more every month. also have a shed full of garden tools
and supplies. 20 years ago, I started gardening to learn how.
it is not as easy as the books make it sound. but I did learn how to grow food. and once the deer get thinned out around here, I be able to garden again. but until that happens, trying to garden here is a waste of time as the damn deer eat everything !
BTW, do you have a pressure canner and jars ? extra lids and seals? both of my parents lived thru the 1930’s and told us kids about how hard things where back then. food and clean water are must have items to live. growing and Storing food is a hard learned skill. best to start learning how before you are starving.
just saying.
While Klaus won’t let us own anything and we’re going to be happy, with all those tools that you have you’re going to be the head robot polisher.
Aye
The two compressors in question are not the same. One is an oilless design and it is the cheaper of the two. The more expensive one has the compressor belt driven by the electric motor. That compressor has an oil sump. It seems that type of unit is always more expensive.
Phil my gut says it’s way worse than we know or they will ever say. Hang in there, praying for us.