2019 Fall Home & Garden

Page 4 2019 Fall Home & Garden Video Magazine Lincoln Daily News Sept. 26, 2019 I grew up in a very tool-poor environment, probably because my father was not handy and did not intend to create or repair anything. Our entire tool inventory consisted of a Sears crosscut hand saw with a plastic handle (missing a screw), 2 standard screwdrivers with green handles, a Sears hammer with a rubber handle, a Phillips screwdriver, and a Sears circular saw complete with a factory-dulled blade. Though my father did not intend to repair anything, over the 15 years that I lived in that house, things did need to be repaired. By the way, we never had any difficulty finding any of our tools. They were always at our next-door neighbor’s house because he borrowed them and never brought them back! With such a limited inventory of tools, our ability to do household repairs was extremely limited. Notice that we didn’t have any pliers, any plumbing tools, any electrical or decorating tools. I think this went along with my father’s nefarious plan that he wasn’t going to ever do any plumbing, or decorating, or fix anything electrical. Although my two brothers and I came from the same gene pool as our father, we were not like him at all. We wanted to take things apart and build things and when we were finally mature enough maybe even take a stab at fixing something. But we were hampered by the tools we had access to. The hammer and a standard screwdriver became a hammer and chisel, the hammer and Phillips screwdriver became a wood drill, and the back of the hand-saw became a straight edge (probably how the screw came to be missing). The result was that either the job was poorly done, the tool was ruined, or we were injured. Having the tools that are engineered for the task makes all the difference in the world. Fifty five years ago there were fewer tools on the market; now there is a specialized affordable tool for almost every task. Having access to the right tool can allow you to create, repair, and even engineer solutions for life’s everyday existence. I now have such a significant inventory of specialized tools that rather than not having the tool for the job, storage and organization are now the key issue. BTW - if you can’t find the needed tool that you know you own, it is equivalent to not having one. In this issue of Home and Garden, the amazing LDN writers address this subject: the tools that make the job, and together with some fantastic YouTube videos show you how to do some really cool stuff. Enjoy! 2019 Fall Home and Garden video magazine “The tools that make the job”