Mod to Granite Countertop

Sorry GH, I resist buying cheap tools,

I think we’ve had this conversation before. Different philosophy. I have several “expensive” tools: a DeWalt battery circular saw, some specialty clamps, my favorite (and well balanced) hammer.

But mostly cheap tools do the job adequately. I watched a flooring owner/installer leave his $700 tile saw in the truck and bring out the same $79 tile saw I use to put down a bathroom floor in one house. I asked, and he said something like “If it will impress you I will bring out the big, heavy, expensive one, but this one does the job.”

Just discovered the joys of ratchet box wrenches buying a cheap set at a flea market. It was metric, but one size was close enough to the 1/2” lugs I was installing on the roof. If I hadn’t bought those “cheap” tools ($12) I wouldn’t have turned around and bought a SAE set a couple weeks later.

For the “one cut and done” job of widening the countertop opening, a $14 tool will do the same job as the $139 version, and the OP will have $125 dollar left in his wallet.

Remember, the adage is “He who dies with the most toys wins”. Not the “best”, the “most”. Heh.

2 Likes

I resist buying cheap tools, I’ve used real, quality tools all my life

But mostly cheap tools do the job adequately.

I realize that for me it has to do with what I used in my career. When I use things professionally I want them to excel and I learn to appreciate the subtle and not so subtle difference between quality stuff and cheap stuff. Quality stuff pays for itself when used professionally. Now, even if I use it only once a year, it drives me crazy to use crap when I am used to quality, its like fingernails on the blackboard. For things I only ever used as a weekend warrior I don’t appreciate the difference, I don’t have the skills to get the results high quality stuff can deliver in the right hands, the flaws don’t drive me crazy, and I resent paying a lot for something I rarely use. So cheap it is.

3 Likes

Heh, yes, likely we have, years go…

I guess I began back in my teens, with using what I had to get the job done… but then once on the job in a sheet metal shop and then WeCo, nobody messed with knockoffs at home Dad had few tools, but they were nice, cared for for his earlier work as a Ford Mechanic and on into his carpentry trade… I became used to nice tools, to where it certainly relegated the knockoffs to the recycle bin… A lot still around here should go that way but there are times when they become donors to be cut or welded to fit a need…

I suppose a big advantage of working at Western, and I saw it at all the Bell companies what that Quality mattered, from tiny components to to the tools we used… Cutting corners wasn’t imbedded… And over the years, sure, I’ve gone to that $59 tile saw, it did the job, a couple jobs, got me wet doing the job. but worked great, passed it along to others in the family, and I’d pick up another, even a used one if needed, but instead, a great tile guy did our master & hall baths, he did use that nice big, expensive tile saw…

So over the years, I’ve watched, picked up, cheap, better quality tools, but have yet to toss some of the cheap stuff… Someday… Always ignoring the cheap knockoffs… Not worth carrying them out to the truck… So the collecting grew, I think there’s 3 or 4 5 gallon buckets of just hammers, dead-blow to carpentry, ball-peen to masonry, rubber headed tire hammers to even titanium, light framer’s hammer… Some I only bought the heads, added nice handles, others had just a nice, used frill from the '40s, likely… Air tools, cheap ones are just that, but nice old Senco, still can get parts, etc… But even Senco had fails, 2" finish nailers I was using on the crown molding, died, both of 'em…New pistons assemblies would eat time, I just went to the local hardware shop, bought the current model, finished the project… May not need it for a while, but it’s there, waiting…

Old, quality tools are worth a bit of cash to pay out, there are names imbedded over the years I used to snag at the flea markets, as did other buyers, resellers… Kind of a kick to buy that big old red SnapOn dead-blow sledge hammer for $20… Sold for hundreds originally…

Anyway, to each their own, inlaw and I go round n round, he could afford the best, instead does all the Chinese knockoffs… He’s happy, I’m happy…

Those ratchet wrenches were nice, the good ones a tad pricey, but I picked up SAE & Metric early on, found others at the flea, added to the collections, some have coarser ratchets than others, one set I have, doesn’t ratchet, but is a smooth, one-way action, so in tight spots, handier…

Vive la TOOLS!

weco

4 Likes

The good news is that I found someone to do the job and found a backup through a friend who used to rehab homes!

1 Like

Job completed by the guy I found through Craigslist. He came with a helper, read through the specs on the new cooktop, taped up dropcloths, and got to work. The actual cutting took maybe 10 minutes or less. Cost was $140, but I added a $20 tip because they were very polite and did a neat job. I’ve also posted a recommendation on NextDoor to get him some more business.

3 Likes

The actual cutting took maybe 10 minutes or less.

How did he cut it? circular saw type setup? Or something else?