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Got humbled by a $12 pipe wrench in my own bathroom
Tried to fix a leaky sink supply line in my apartment in Portland last Tuesday. Used a cheap adjustable wrench from the dollar store and it slipped, stripped the nut, and water sprayed everywhere. Had to call a plumber who laughed and said the tool was basically a toy. He fixed it in 10 minutes with a proper pipe wrench. Has anyone else learned the hard way that cheap tools just cost you more in the end?
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sam_cooper4d ago
Man that plumber was probably holding back a laugh but you know he's seen it a hundred times before. Those dollar store adjustable wrenches are just stamped metal with zero bite, they slip the second you put any real torque on them. I made the same mistake with a harbor freight socket set once, stripped a bolt on my truck and spent three hours with a bolt extractor. Its one of those lessons you only learn after you've been soaked in water or stuck on the side of the road, cheap tools are fine for hanging a picture but not for stuff that actually matters.
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max_schmidt774d ago
Did you ever have one of those vice grips from a dollar store that just kinda... give up? I bought a set once for like three bucks and the first time I clamped them onto a stuck bolt they just bent open like a paperclip (not even exaggerating). Ended up having to cut the bolt off with a hacksaw, which took way longer than the actual job should have. I still have that hacksaw though, it was a name brand hand-me-down from my grandpa and it's outlived like five cheap tools.
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mitchell.avery3d ago
Didn't @max_schmidt77's grandpa's hacksaw save you too?
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