First Power Tool

[EWTHeckman]

I was working in my shop today when I came across my very first power tool: a Craftsman 3/8" drill.

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I bought this drill when I was about 16. It was with my own money, not birthday money or anything like that. I've often wondered how many teenagers buy their own tools like that.

Over the years it has helped me with a lot of projects, large and small. Since I'm a home handyman instead of a professional, this drill never really saw hard use and it's still going strong. (Though the power cord insulation is broken needs to be replaced.) Ever since I got my first cordless drill, this one has been in semi-retirement, only coming out occasionally to mix paint.

It's interesting to look at that first power tool and think about all it has seen and help me do in my life, and even its small role in helping me become who I am. It's also kind of strange to look at something I own and see it as some sort of historical artifact. (It's only been 30 years!)

How about you? What was your first power tool? Do you have any interesting stories about it?

 

[erock]

My first power tool that I had to buy was a Porter Cable saws all. 

I got into the plumbing trade when I was 19.  And I think the saw was close to $190.  I thought it was a crazy amount of money to spend on a tool.

But all the other plumbers had this saw, so it must have been good. Right?

So back then,  my best friend had just bought a house and I was over his place on a Friday after work  checking it out.  He hated the bushes in the front yard and wanted to know if I had anything to cut them.  I went to my truck and let him borrow the saws all for the weekend.  I came back Sunday afternoon to watch some football and the guy cut down everything in the front and back yard!  He said he loved the power of the tool that he didn't want to stop using it because it was to much fun.  I think he cut down 6 bushes and a small tree in the front and 3 small trees and a bush in the back yard.  LOL. 

I have used the Porter Cable Saws all for so many projects.  I still have the metal case and the saw.  The only thing I needed to replace on it so far is the cord.

 

[semenza]

My first was either a Skill 12v cordless drill, or a Makita 1/4 sheet finish sander. I have been racking my brain but just can't place which was first.  About  25 years ago. If I had to place a bet I would  put money on the Makita.

Seth

 

[Wonderwino]

My first were Black & Decker VSR Drill, Jigsaw & Belt sander.  Cheap & long dead.  I replaced them with Makita as they died, which have all since died.  I then started buying Milwaukee & Bosch as replacements for those and they are all still going after up to 30 years of intermitent heavy use.  I started adding Festool about 4 years ago when I had a project that I NEEDED some better tools for.  [big grin]

 

[Tinker]

I don't remember the first power tool i ever bought.  i do remember the first power saw I bought when i got out of the army.  It was a Titan chainsaw.  Some of you logging guys might remember those old blue monsters.  They were darned heavy and well may have caused my body to shrink from seven feet tall to barely having my chin above my kneecaps.  One day, my cousin and i were cutting some firewood. We had hauled a load of logs, mostly in 4 to 8 inch caliper range.  Once we finished unloading, I grabbed that monster Titan and holding it at my waist, the bar lined up behind me at an angle that it would be safe for me to pull the cord without chewing my legs or worse when it started.  Just as I yanked the cord, my cousin was walking behind me.  He was to the blindside, so I did not see him.  The saw was, even tho extremely heavy, was a good starter.  As the engine ignited, the opposing motion to pulling the cord was for the blade tip to kick away from my body towards the wide open spaces behind me.  i did not realize that an important portion of those wide open spaces was taken up by dear cousin's body.  with the first pull of the cord, the spark ignited and the chain was moving.  Unfortunately, as the chain began its journey around the bar, my cousin's belt tried to stop the chain.  I felt a strange motion, or maybe he yelled, I don't recall every conversation from 1954, but as i turned my head, i noticed the saw chain flying past cuz's ear.  We, and especially he, were/was lucky.  As the chain rode up his back, the only damage was a row of tiny red marks no deeper than if he had been scratching mosquito bites.  We figured the chain had not been climbing his back from the traction of the saw teeth, but the first contact had been his belt.  That contact had not been heavy enough for the teeth to chew in, but it had been just heavy enough, and at the point of contact, the chain was barely moving, that it had kicked the tip of the saw into the air.

We both thanked the Great Logger in the sky for giving us a good lesson in safety.  Since that day, even tho I have worked many moons in the woods, and worked with others, i have three rules: #1 I always put the saw on the ground to start.  I don't care what comments are made, or by whom, that is how i start my chainsaws.  #2 i never start my saw until I know that whoever is with me is well aware that I am starting the tool.  #3  I make sure nobody is within 5 or six feet of me when i start my saw. 

Since that day in late summer of 1954, i have never had an accident while using a chainsaw.  I taught many youngsters how to use those tools and while working with me, there was hell to pay if any of them got careless.  I have watched my son work with his crews and he is just as much a stickler for safety as his old man had been with him.

Tinker