The right tool for the job

[leehljp]

David's post here got me to thinking about this subject. I used to use what was handy at the moment and did that regularly. However, I just realized that at some point in the past 10 years, I have become a "right tool for the job" person at least 90% of the time. I will stop what I am doing to find or get the right tool rather than proceed on with the wrong tool.

Poll: What about you?

I should have added: ANY tool that works IS the right tool!

[crokett]

If you'd asked me 3 months ago and I were being honest I'd say I use whatever is handy. However I learned the hard way in putting this shop back together that stopping to get the right tool takes less time (and certainly gives better results) than making do, at least within reason. For instance, sometime in the next two weeks I will be replacing my main breaker panel. I know that bolt cutters will work to cut the 2-2-4 aluminum wire plus they will cut other things. I could get a pair of cable cutters, but they are a single use tool and are more expensive than the bolt cutters. In ths case, the cable cutters are 'the right tool' but the bolt cutters are 'right enough'. Before this shop build I'd have cheaped out and used my hacksaw. That would work but not as quickly or neatly as bolt cutters.

[tseavoy]

It really depends on what kind of thing you are doing. If I have to hack some thing apart, cut something, etc, anything that will get it done faster is OK with me, rather than go back to the shop, find the right tool and spend too much time doing the job.

Tom on Marrowstone

[Ed62]

It depends. There have been times when I needed a hammer, but my hammer was in the house, and I was in the yard. I might pick up a brick (if that would work) for a quick blow or two, instead of taking the time to go to the house. Just because it works doesn't mean it's the right tool.

If I'll be using a tool for a period of time, I'll get the best tool for the job.

Ed

[Thalermade]

My goal is to always use the correct tool. But I am unfortunately not perfect, definitely 98% + though.

But, whenever I am lazy and do not use the correct tool, in my head I hear my Dad's voice saying "I taught you better than that!"

Russ

[Richard in Smithville]

I find that the older I get, the more I use the right tool. But that's only because I have collected the "right" tools. When I bought my first house I couldn'y run out and buy every tool I needed so I made do with what I had. Even today I don't always have just the right tool but what I do to take care of the job has more inginuity.

[LinuxRandal]

At home in the shop, or if I have a great idea of what is needed to go fix something, I try to take/use the right tool.
In the garage, generally, I try to use the right tools, if I have it.
But I have both had to fix things, "NOW" elsewhere (cars, houses, etc) and it is common to have to improvise, or to modify a tool.

[cabinetman]

Most of the time I make it a habit to use the correct tool. It is a safer and more productive way to work. It may be an accuracy issue, or a time issue, but in either case, the correct tool serves its purpose. There are times when inventiveness wins out, like when the correct tool is buried somewhere, or on an installation and the correct tool didn't make the trip.
.

[cwsmith]

I thought about picking 100%, but I'm sure there's a rare time or so, when I've been forced to go another way as the "right tool" wasn't immediately available. Still, the objective is to use the right tool, as it's safer and more efficient.

CWS

[Jim Frye]

The Right Stuff..

Years ago, when I first started woodworking and home improvement, I didn't have all the right tools and more often than not, had to make do with what ever I had, or could afford. Now, all of my tools won't fit in my shop, so I feel guilty if I don't go get the right tool and use it. After all, I paid for it to have it.

[rcp612]

I was told, many years ago I might add, by a man I highly respected, " If the tool ain't right, the guy ain't bright".
I've always tried to go by that thus, a shop full of tools.

[L. D. Jeffries]

"The right tool for the job" is the best excuse to buy the "right" tool! That has worked for me when the LOML say; "WHAT, another tool!"

[Mr__Bill]

Hmmm, now this is an interesting question, as there is no right answer. I think that one can say that there are defiantly a wrong tools for a job but there can be many tools with varying degrees of right. To me the right tool is the tool that gets the job done, survives the job and doesn't do damage, well damage beyond what was intended. I will say that there is often a better tool for the job.



Bill, time to go, have to show her the right spatula to use in that pan!

[docrowan]

Having learned a lot of my handyman/woodworking/electrician/plumbing skills by reading first, then doing the job - I sometimes have found myself in analysis paralysis fretting over NOT having the correct tool for the job. I learned to get over this on mission trips to Jamaica.

Working side by side with local craftsman, under their direction, I learned a good bit about making do and getting good results. Small example, a mason would bring a trowel, shovel, and maybe some string to the job. He would fish around in the trash pile for a cup or bottle and fill it with water in order to keep his mortar moist. Stakes would be made out of scrap wood or sticks found on the jobsite. Using a combination of these "right" tools and found items, he would build straight, strong walls.

[Bill Stock]

I'm with the Depends crowd.

If it's a tool I don't have and I likely won't need it again then I may make do, depending on the amount of time/quality that the right tool will save me. Although I'm distinctly anti-rental, as I hate paying 1/4 the price of a tool for a 4 hour rental. Most frivolous purchase was a Bosch Rotary Hammer and extensions to tunnel 8' under a sidewalk. Since I was learning on the job a rental would have been prohibitive, but the actual time spent drilling was not that long once I got the hang of it.

Growing up my Father/Uncle did a lot of make do work, which turned me off this approach. Money was tighter then and the end result was not bad, but the extra time it cost them is not my thing.