Best Experience Related to Homemade Tools?

[kbalch]

Most of us have been around homemade tools, to varying degrees, for much of our lives. Others are newer to the hobby, but still keenly interested. As with any niche interest/subculture, involvement tends to affect our lives in various ways.

What's your best experience related to homemade tools?

[Hotz]

In my case, the homemade tools comes from my teenage years, my life is focused on the mechanics.

After technical school started to be my own business (16 years old).
By this time I had to do my tools for working little things that helped me grow professionally.

Today older I prepare to work with wood (retirement) want to do many jigs.

In fact the beginning was for lack of money even .. lol

Paul ..

[kbalch]

For myself, I've found that my best experiences have been due more to what I was building (and the associated communities) than the tools themselves. That is, in the course of building an airplane kit (and part of another), restoring a classic motorcycle, and now working on a kit car, I've encountered the same sorts of great people in each niche.

It's always seemed to me that these various fields were all self-selecting for the same sorts of people: intelligent, independent, creative, and, invariably, friendly and helpful. I've made lifelong friends while working on each project and generally gotten more out of my participation than just the particular vehicle, itself.

So, too, with homemade tools - and HomemadeTools.net!

Ken

[Jon]

The most positive homemade tools experiences for me revolve around saving money, and "owning" a project before it's begun, by building the tools necessary for the project.

A lot of projects require specialized tools that, if purchased new, greatly raise the cost of the project, especially because you may only rarely use those tools, if ever, again. Of course you can rent tools, but even if the cost were reasonable, the time period in which you can use the tools is greatly limited.

One of the ironies of mainstream DIY culture today is that it's often centered around tool purchase, just like automotive media tends to advocate the purchase of expensive bolt-on performance parts.

[DIYer]

One of the ironies of mainstream DIY culture today is that it's often centered around tool purchase, just like automotive media tends to advocate the purchase of expensive bolt-on performance parts.

Amen! It's one of the reasons I don't go to car shows as much, as lately, it's been a question of who has the fatter wallet, and less of innovation and build skills.

[Altair]

For me, Mr. Natural has deep pockets for saying "Use the right tools for the job". Unless you're running a shop, some specialty tools are not worth purchasing, most are used only a few times in their lifetimes. A few hours of brain crunching more often than not yields a feasible solution. I'm thankful that DIY communities like HomemadeTools.net exist where everyone get together, share their ideas, and improve our overall way of life.

[Christophe Mineau]

A lot of words said above that I could make mine.

One of the ironies of mainstream DIY culture today is that it's often centered around tool purchase,

I would suggest a new Mainstream subculture : DTTTDIY : Do The Tool To Do It Yourself (and fun to pronounce, moreover)