so i finally completed my basic toolbox this week when i bought a good old fashioned drill. the sort where you hold the one handle in your hand and hold the other in the other hand and you turn the middle handle around and around to drill into things. i have been using the past couple of days and i must say i am glad to stop using the cordless drill.
and then i got to thinking, about how the good old fashioned tools really have alot to do with self sufficiency. if the power went out, all of my tools would still work fine. i could drill and drive screws just the same as always.
as for cutting boards, i use a handsaw. if the power went out and for some reason i needed to build something that included cutting lumber to size, there would be no difference. alot of people don't even know how to work a saw these days. their power saws wouldn't work, and they would be incapacitated.
or how about using nails and screws when you are building a box or a cabinet or a stool or something? i almost exclusively use square wood pegs that i split out of seasoned saplings pounded into predrilled round holes to hold things together. i only use nails if pegs would be just about impossible or if the thickness of the boards would make it unreasonable. so far i haven't had my all-wood stool break on me.
for cutting firewood i don't use a chainsaw. i use either my 3.5# axe or my little 1.5# axe. the only way i can run out of gas using those is if i get tired, and with the way i have been chopping lately, i think i have built up plenty of gas in my arms. i also may be getting some old cross cut saws from a friend that were once used for topping off trees before they were cut down.
the only power tools i like are the kind that run on man power.
i figure that the less i have to depend on the outside world for stuff, like power for my tools, the more i can do when something bad happens and the network goes down.
and then i got to thinking, about how the good old fashioned tools really have alot to do with self sufficiency. if the power went out, all of my tools would still work fine. i could drill and drive screws just the same as always.
as for cutting boards, i use a handsaw. if the power went out and for some reason i needed to build something that included cutting lumber to size, there would be no difference. alot of people don't even know how to work a saw these days. their power saws wouldn't work, and they would be incapacitated.
or how about using nails and screws when you are building a box or a cabinet or a stool or something? i almost exclusively use square wood pegs that i split out of seasoned saplings pounded into predrilled round holes to hold things together. i only use nails if pegs would be just about impossible or if the thickness of the boards would make it unreasonable. so far i haven't had my all-wood stool break on me.
for cutting firewood i don't use a chainsaw. i use either my 3.5# axe or my little 1.5# axe. the only way i can run out of gas using those is if i get tired, and with the way i have been chopping lately, i think i have built up plenty of gas in my arms. i also may be getting some old cross cut saws from a friend that were once used for topping off trees before they were cut down.
the only power tools i like are the kind that run on man power.
i figure that the less i have to depend on the outside world for stuff, like power for my tools, the more i can do when something bad happens and the network goes down.
