What else do you buy?

GreenGA said:
semenza said:
          About 20 or so years ago I was into high end stereo equipment (still have in use too)  Nakamichi, MacIntosh, Adcom, KEF, etc.
Seth
            

Could not let this one go by as it appears you have been brainwashed by Apple.  It's "McIntosh"! (I have a ton of it downstairs)  8)

Hi,

      Yes, MC not Mac  :-[  Been a while since I actually read the label. :)

Seth
 
tschallb said:
Bicycles.  Huge difference in quality between the low end components and the high-end.  Once you try DuraAce (Shimano) or Record (Campy) you don't go back even though it pains me everytime I buy consumables (chains, cassettes, pads, etc).  Frame materials are an entirely different rat hole...

Tim
Riding in the rain in PDX...

Hi,

        Yeah, I almost forgot!  Bicycles.  I never got to the real top of the line on components but what I had was pretty good and definetly a noticable difference from the low end. I had Shimano 600 on a Canondale frame.

        BTW a welcome is in order for you  as a first time poster.  :)  But your first post really should have been about Festool ;)

Seth
 
Seth,
I remember those days too.  No expenses, a part time job and saved up and paid cash for whatever I wanted (and complained when gas hit $1.00 a gallon!).  Now it seems the paycheck and bills just about balance each other out.

Tom.
 
Another thing I'm willing to spend money on is outdoor clothes. I mostly buy Patagonia, though REI is great for everyday stuff. The Patagonia stuff costs a fortune, but - like Festool - it really works!
 
Hey Ned - I'm totally with you! I grew up in Canada, and go to Lee Valley every time I visit my parents. My regular Christmas gift from my father is some tools from my long wish list at Lee Valley. As for Tilley hats, I've been wearing them for years. Remember the ad where the Tilley hat went through an elephant (I think at the Toronto zoo)? Twice?  :D :D

 
I'm not sure how we got this far without the Big Green Egg being mentioned but we just used ours for the first time this weekend. Counting the cost of the unit, amortizing those first steaks was expensive, but the next ones will only be half as much.  ;D  These are first rate cookers and a joy to use.

On another note, while I have built three skin-on-frame kayaks, I will be taking delivery on a Greenland Style wooden kayak in July after a three year wait. It is being made by a fellow named Mark Rogers at Superior Kayaks in Wisconsin. He is an extraordinary craftsman who also understands traditional kayak design and is a highly skilled paddler to boot. In addition to very high performance his boats have the workmanship of fine furniture.
 
poto said:
Remember the ad where the Tilley hat went through an elephant (I think at the Toronto zoo)? Twice?  :D :D

Truly wash and wear.  8)
 
I have the Sonos music system in the house and wired to the work shop and it connects to Rhapsody and Pandora Music.  That give we 4.0 million songs to choose from and custom radio stations.  It is the one device that I use every day whether working in the shop or just listening to music.
 
Ned,
Which Tilley hats do you wear?  I visited their website and they offer many different styles.  I like the insect repellant hat, I wonder if it really works?  I get a lot of insect bites when I go taking pictures at parks.

Tom.
 
Ned Young said:
Tilley hats and other stuff

Ned

Tilley hats are fantastic.  Still have mine after about 20 years.  Used to wear it racing sailboats on San Francisco Bay.
 
greg mann said:
I'm not sure how we got this far without the Big Green Egg being mentioned but we just used ours for the first time this weekend. Counting the cost of the unit, amortizing those first steaks was expensive, but the next ones will only be half as much.  ;D  These are first rate cookers and a joy to use.

On another note, while I have built three skin-on-frame kayaks, I will be taking delivery on a Greenland Style wooden kayak in July after a three year wait. It is being made by a fellow named Mark Rogers at Superior Kayaks in Wisconsin. He is an extraordinary craftsman who also understands traditional kayak design and is a highly skilled paddler to boot. In addition to very high performance his boats have the workmanship of fine furniture.

I have been looking at those now ( big green egg) , since someone posted where they made a table for one, then i seen it at a home show a few weeks ago. I also seen a Primo brand (I believe). They said they had a shock absorber on the front, just incase you dropped the lid, it wouldn't crack the egg. Is this a real problem, or are they just eggsagerating (pun intended). We are supposed to get our extra tax check soon, so a cooker like this was on my list. Right now all I have is the smallest Webber grill they make, I can cook about 5 hamburgers at a time, and I am wanting something to cook some babyback ribs.
 
I've recently started replacing all my Carhartt stuff with this:http://www.kinggee.com.au/
Australian workwear in general is fantastic, pockets in the right places and super tough. Other brands are Bisley and Hard Yakka (means hard work in Strine speak)
I also like:http://www.blundstone.com/
The original elastic sided workboots, two other brands are John Bull, from NZ, and Redback (a type of spider) also from AU.
Also we like La Creuset cookware, have been getting a few lately.
 
Eli said:
I've recently started replacing all my Carhartt stuff with this:http://www.kinggee.com.au/
Australian workwear in general is fantastic, pockets in the right places and super tough. Other brands are Bisley and Hard Yakka (means hard work in Strine speak)
I also like:http://www.blundstone.com/
The original elastic sided workboots, two other brands are John Bull, from NZ, and Redback (a type of spider) also from AU.
Also we like La Creuset cookware, have been getting a few lately.

NAINA, Eli, but thanks for sharing.  ;D  Or, if we could get it, the shipping and GST would be real killers!
 
robtonya said:
I have been looking at those now ( big green egg) , since someone posted where they made a table for one, then i seen it at a home show a few weeks ago. I also seen a Primo brand (I believe). They said they had a shock absorber on the front, just incase you dropped the lid, it wouldn't crack the egg. Is this a real problem, or are they just eggsagerating (pun intended). We are supposed to get our extra tax check soon, so a cooker like this was on my list. Right now all I have is the smallest Webber grill they make, I can cook about 5 hamburgers at a time, and I am wanting something to cook some babyback ribs.

There are felt seals on the base and lid so impact is cushioned. I would not recommend dropping the lid from on high but I think they are probably overstating the humpty-dumpty issue.
 
When I was a practicing ag-pilot, I had to work on my airplanes and after borrowing some Snap-On tools in a shop, I was hooked.  25 years and many more thousands later, I have a full compliment of Metric & SAE wrenches with a supporting host of pliers, screwdrivers, air tools & etc.

I bought my first Nikon, a Photomic F in 1971 and have several lenses for it.  When I started to get serious about digital photography a few years ago, the old non-AI lenses don't work on the digital SLRs, so I had to get a few AIs to go with my D70.  I bought a D300 "by accident" on eBay in December.  Great camera!

My wood shop is full of Jet stationary tools, Milwaukee, Bosch, Dewalt, Leigh, Porter Cable, Jorgensen, Makita and etc. collected over 35 years.  The Festools are a recent addition, having severely smoked the credit card over the last month.  I volunteered to build a bar for our local Elks Lodge, and I want to do it right.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

My wife tells me that when I die, she's going to have a helluvan auction!  But, she'll have my credit card bill , too!
 
Dave Rudy said:
Eli said:
I've recently started replacing all my Carhartt stuff with this:http://www.kinggee.com.au/
Australian workwear in general is fantastic, pockets in the right places and super tough. Other brands are Bisley and Hard Yakka (means hard work in Strine speak)
I also like:http://www.blundstone.com/
The original elastic sided workboots, two other brands are John Bull, from NZ, and Redback (a type of spider) also from AU.
Also we like La Creuset cookware, have been getting a few lately.

NAINA, Eli, but thanks for sharing.  ;D  Or, if we could get it, the shipping and GST would be real killers!

You can get Blundstones and La Creuset in the states. The Blunnies aren't even much more expensive.  ;D And the La Creuset is half the price. You're out of luck for the cargo pants though, you're right.  :-\
 
Okay - this is totally nerdy, but I think you'll appreciate it. I'm an oceanographer, and we have a surprisingly limited suite of tools to study the ocean. One of our most fundamental instruments is called a CTD - stands for "Conductivity" "Temperature" and "Depth". It's an instrument - usually about the size of a telescope - that we lower into the ocean to measure salinity (conductivity of the salt water), temperature and pressure (= depth). From these profiles we can calculate vertical profiles of seawater density from the surface to the bottom. A couple of these profiles will give you the ocean currents, and a host of other important information about the physics and even the biology and chemistry of the ocean.

The CTD's I use are made by a company called Sea Bird Electronics out of Bellevue Washington. I was one of the first users of their SBE19 - a "personal" CTD - back in the mid 1980's. I was working in the Gulf of Maine between March and July on a small, seriously tippy boat. My assistant and I were doing an impressive job of returning nutrients to the ocean (i.e. barfing) while the captain was trying to keep us on station. During transits between stations, the CTD was rolling all over the deck, smashing into the bulkheads (the CTD has a glass conductivity cell), and we were too weak from seasickness to do anything about it. Regardless, the CTD gave us superb data, and is still working almost 20 years later! That's a seriously well built instrument. It can measure temperature to 1/1000th of a degree, is incredibly stable over time, and is indestructible. I won't buy anything but Sea Bird Electronics instruments for my research after that.

By the way, if you think Festools are expensive, a "cheap" CTD starts at about $10,000, and rapidly goes up from there. It's almost impossible to buy an oceanographic instrument for under $5000! Thank you, taxpayers of America!
 
Back
Top