My older grandson's boys are 9 and 13 and showing an interest in tools and working on stuff.

Wishing to encourage this, I hit the community yard sale across the street this weekend. All proceeds to the local food pantry, so good cause in any event.



Towards the end of the day, I offered them $20 for a tote full of random tools that weighed about 75 pounds.

After I lugged it home and sorted everything out, plus filling in from my stash of duplicates, I was able to create socket sets for both boys, 3/8ths and 1/4 inch drive, SAE and Metric, Deep and regular. A few holes and definitely "mixed parentage" but decent sets. There are also a bunch of screwdrivers, nut drivers and odds and ends for them to pick through. Tossed everything in some Milwaukee tool bags I had laying around, one set for each.

In my tool sorting/culling/rearranging frenzy I decided to straighten out the "kitchen junk drawer" drawer on my big box. All the stuff I rarely use, piled haphazardly in the full width deep drawer.

This led to further culling and cleaning and a pile of tools on the welding table that I wanted to keep but wanted out of my main box.

THAT led to searching for a reasonably priced tool cabinet. New was just stupid. $300+ for anything that wasn't complete crap or too small to be of any use. Used via Craigslist was worse. Apparently everyone thinks there crap is SnapOn quality and actual SnapOn stuff was well...you know...

Since I don't do BookFace, I asked my grandson to check Marketplace. Parameters were 30" or less tall (so it'd fit under my benchwork) no more than 16" deep (likewise) and width didn't matter. $200 max.



Half an hour later he sent me the above picture. In Bangor which is near enough to be tempting and the guy wanted $100 for it. Not a smoking deal, but reasonable and if it was too tinny I'd see if he'd move on the price. Called him to verify height (34 with casters, which were removeable) and said "That'll work, I'll be right up."

Well, the cabinet is definitely homeowner/WalMart grade, but in decent shape and would work. As I was about to haggle a little, he pointed out that the 25 foot 12 gauge extension cord, the 12-ish foot Single Aught jumper cables and that piece of stainless on the top came with. I flung the Benjamin at him and loaded it up.

That piece of stainless is 27x14x3/8 and if new would cost about $195. No immediate need for it, but sure as hell wasn't going to turn it down!

Good deal and great that you are feeding the boys interest. Even if they don't use it in a profession, they'll be able to save themselves a crap ton of money on DIY

My dad was not mechanically inclined at all. High School had freshman and sophomore wood working class, Vehicle Mechanics and welding classes. I learned a good bit but really learned in a tri district vocational school. They had welding, body work and mechanics. I did mechanics and was a certified master mechanic at 17

I wish the schools taught this stuff, a big shortage in the US for mechanics, hvac and electricians


I have two Kennedy chests, one came from a pawn shop that paid for itself and then some after I sold most of the machining tools in it. The other came from Goodwill for about $20

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I flung the Benjamin at him...

Their Dad was a Wheeled Combat Vehicle mechanic in the Corps and worked full time at an ATV/Snow Sled/SXS dealer for a few years until he got his own business on a sound footing.

They come by their interest in wrenching honestly and he encourages it as well.

I'm hoping having their own tools (he's looking for boxes for them) will get them to understand the concept of "take care of your tools and your tools will take care of you" as well as putting things away when you're done. Not something that comes naturally to kids and especially not those two heathens!

My Dad did a lot of the wrenching on our farm equipment but I suspect his lifetime tool budget would've been covered by that $100 I spent today. Pretty much every tool he owned fit in a 8x16 wooden tool box. And I've still got most of them...

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as well as putting things away when you're done.

If I could do this part, I would save about 75% of the time it takes me to do anything.

Oh, and it would help if I didn't have 3 or 4 projects going on at the same time, and leave the relevant tools with the project.

I mean, how many 10mm sockets does a guy need?

Not just putting them away, but “a place for everything and everything in its place.”

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Originally posted by ArtieS:
I mean, how many 10mm sockets does a guy need?

Evidently, at least one more than I have… because I can’t ever find the darned thing!

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Originally posted by vthoky:

Evidently, at least one more than I have… because I can’t ever find the darned thing!

My thing is pencils/writing implements. I could keep a gross of the damn things in the shop and still wouldn't be able to find one to write something down before I forget it.

A few weeks ago, the neighbor one street over had a Craftsman tool rolling chest with “free” sign on it. I live in a neighborhood where few people do their own work. I quickly wheeled it home, cleaned it up and will slowly fill it up. The good news is that it matches my blue 42” double decker.

Glad the kids are getting the exposure.

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Originally posted by vthoky:

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:
I mean, how many 10mm sockets does a guy need?

Evidently, at least one more than I have… because I can’t ever find the darned thing!

They sell sets that are just different variants of 10mm sockets.
Have seen another that was a dozen 10mm in regular & deep sockets, 6ea.

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Originally posted by P250UA5:

They sell sets that are just different variants of 10mm sockets.

Who is "they?" Got a link?

(Presented as humor only, not an endorsement of the product.)

that is a worthwhile project, and gets you time with them.

It took me a while to get into the habit of putting back wrench/sockets even in the middle of a project, it's a lot easier to find stuff that way.

A rolling mechanics cart with a few drawers, holders for sockets/screwdrivers etc is a good add to the kit as well.

10mm, you can't have enough of these, used to be the 1/2 inch stuff....