Respecting the disrespected
Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA
>The little saw pictured below was a gift from one of the folks who painted my parents' house before sale to my brother, in thanks for the radio we gave him; my bro, in turn, passed it on to me.
At the time, I thought, "oh, great, another junky little saw." I also thought, "gawd what an ugly handle." But: it's turned out to be surprisingly useful as a remodel saw, because it fits into small spaces, and the blade's better than I expected. I continue to think the handle's ugly, and uncomfortable too - if/when I get to it, I might make a better handle - but it's definitely a keeper.
I sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that I have to have tools I can't afford in order to do the work I'd like to do. This thought is a variation of the issue Bill Tindall raised in his "philosophical" thread below. While there is a certain minimum level of quality necessary for a tool to function, I'm slowly learning that, once that level is reached, quite a bit can be done with a junk tool.
Will I stop looking for high quality tools (in my case good rust)? Heck, no. But I think I'm learning to do with what I have.