Iam a firm believer of sharing knowledge of my craft and learning from others. But the down side of being ahead of the curve is having a few tools they didn’t think of that might improve the speed and look of their work.
At first I don’t mind sharing my tools. I always mention where I bought it. But it seems they don’t intend to buy for themselves as long as they can borrow.
So now when I say no to a request to borrow and ask why don’t they buy one for themselves they tell me'”Why should I.”
Exactly!
How do you guys feel about sharing with you peers?
Replies
With my buddy that I work with almost daily, no problem between the 2 of us...my drill, his drill it don't matter as long as something gets a poprivet in it WHEN it needs it...usually up on scaffold, and hanging on to whatever we are fixin.
I reluctantly lent my circle saw to one of LOS GUYS, when they had none with them...one of them proceeded to almost loose a thumb..wasn't the saws fault, but it was unfamiliar to him.
That is working peers, as far as anyone else? NOPE.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
If its within my own company, we have a tool list each trimmer must have on their own dime. The company supplies the rest. If we need a special tool, the company would rather buy it rather than have us use ours, especially power tools. So if someone needs to borrow something it's usually because theirs just broke or was misplaced with the understanding it will be quickly replaced. It's a good setup and works well for us.
It depends. I have 3 or 4 close friends in the business, and what's mine is there's. It goes both ways. Usually, it's just while something is being repaired, or replaced.
That said, I don't/won't lend tools to associates, or other subs on the job. I spend a considerable amount of money on high end tools, and blades. I don't need some stranger running my $120 forest blade into a nail embedded 2x6. I may offer to cut the 2x6 for them, but nothing else.
I work in a shop with 4 other guys, one can use anything that I own. Trust him completely.
The other 3 can go find someplace else to get theres.
I don't mind loaning tools but I have to feel that the person borrowing them will take as good care of them that I do, and replace what/if they break something.
Doug
Ah the age old question that has been discussed and will be discussed for a long time now and forever!!
My remedy is to look at the people your working with and make your own judgement as to who will, and how much they will appreciate you loaning them a tool.
Do they use it and not abuse it ? Do they bring it back in like or better condition then when they got it? Do they show ip with another sanding disc or sawzall blade sometime?Do they help you clean it off and load it up at the end of the day?
A few of the guys on the crew I work with have like or similar tools as I do. They are the ones that get to use my tools. They never ask until they really need it. Usually because they don't have it or theirs is broke or thy need it for a quick use and mine is out.
The other guys have learned not to ask. (Took two months). They all have tried them, know how they work, and the advantages of having them, but if they don't get their own, their job is not going to be easier or look better.
You have to put your foot down. Run the risk of being the a s s hole! But HEY. Whose tool is it? Don't let them get away with i t
The age-old quote from a mother to her daughter with a live-in boy-friend when the daughter was crying about not getting married: Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free.
Cut them off, make them buy their own cow.
I think this is a good topic, even if it gets rehashed now and again. It's one of those things where the "you gotta decide for yourself" thing applies, but we can't decide until we've been there. It can ruin a friendship, and man, what friendship isn't worth a drill?
My stance, for whatever its worth. I don't have a strict policy written or anything, but I don't loan out, with the exception of two friends. They've earned the right to that exception because they're honest, their requests are infrequent and only when it would really help them out of a bind, they'll return it when they say they will, they'll take care of it, they'll buy it if it breaks, and if they have something I want to borrow for a day it's mine. Everyone else, sorry.
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain
It depends on the person (very few), and the tool. I don't lend out any of my chisels or handplanes although others lust after them. My bread & butter tools stay put.