I'm a "nice guy"-I loan out tools

[Bruce Wrenn]

I lend tools to a SELECT few. I have seen how they take care of their own tools. It's usually something that they only need once in a lifetime. Once a friend upon being asked for the loan of his tools, looked the guy straight in the face and said "My wife going to be out of town for a few days, so can I use yours? I will return her in as good of condition as I get her, less usual wear and tear." Needless to say second party said he really didn't need to borrow any tools. Very worst thing is to lend a tool, and find it has been "reloaned to another." Ever go up to a stranger's door and ask for YOUR drill?

[Jim Kountz]

Ive loaned various things before but I always feel uneasy about it. Now when it comes to my actual shop tools I never loan them out for any reason to anyone. They stay in the shop always, I dont even take them out. I have jobsite tools I use for my business and I will on occasion loan them out.

[Guy Belleman]

tools. As my income and abilities have increased, my tools got better. Along the way, I lost some of the tools to "friends" and neighbors. It has gotten easy to say no, even to my own children. All of the cheap tools I started with are long gone, usually into the kids tool box when they were little. Now, to them, I say "Why don't I come along and see what you are trying to do, and how we might best approach the problem. I find they often haven't researched their glorious idea very well. Turns into great learning sessions for all of us. Otherwise my tools stay locked up and private.

[Bob Genovesi]

I like many others here learned the hard way. So many times I lent tools to good friends and they'd come back abused, broken, or not at all.

Now when neighbors and friends ask I politely tell them NO, I don't lend tools... If or friendship hinges on whether or not I'll lend them a tool then they're not a real friend...

[Tim Boger]

I will loan tools to help a friend .... but my thought is that when the tool is out of my position I have "given" it away. If I'm fortunate, I'll get it back.

[Michael Prisbylla]

Maybe it's not very Christian of me, but I only loan tools to 2 people, my father, who already has one of everything so he rarely borrows, and the guy whose house my shop is at (rent free) because I really can't say no (and he rarely uses them anyway). I've been burned by unreturned tools too many times to make that mistake again. I make my living with my tools so they're rather important to me.

[Frank Drew]

I will loan tools to help a friend .... but my thought is that when the tool is out of my position I have "given" it away. If I'm fortunate, I'll get it back.

That's probably a good way to look at it, Tim.

I somewhat alienated a friend one time who wanted to borrow a tool of mine for a friend of his to use; I needed the thing to stay precise and I just wasn't confident that it would return that way.

[Brian Frances]

This is a very good question. I am curious to see who would gladly lend out a precison tool even for an hour? Raise your hand if you would lend out a Starret 90 degree square or any tool for that matter that you use for calibrating your other cutting tools?

[sean m. titmas]

since my tools provide an income for me and i am very attached to them i do not loan tools to anyone. sometimes a neighbor or fellow carpenter will continue to ask to use them so i need to follow up their question of "can i borrow your so-and-so tool?" with a question of my own "can i borrow your wife?" by using a bit of humor i get my point across. most times when its a neighbor who asks i'll just offer to go and do whatever it is that they needed the tool for. not only does it ensure that my tools are not abused but many times it has led to some paying work or referrals and gaining a new client.

[Alan Greene]

Brian, I would not lend out any of my precision tools. I do lend out some tools to a select few friends and neighbors and sometimes end up following the tool to the job. That on occasion has lead to some humorous situations.
The few friends and neighbors don't all have the same borrowing "rights".

[Chris Tsutsui]

I only let somebody borrow a tool that I can afford to lose. (which narrows it down to my harbor freight bench top brush and #2 pencil)



In reality I'm the nice guy on my block, and a neighbor has used my jointer and I redid my neighbor's kitchen cabinets for real cheap.

If my tool gets messed up, well that's ok because I'm not emotionally attached to material possessions ever since I had my new motorcycle stolen.

Sure it blows to never see a tool again, or to get one back that's broken, but that's the price you pay for being generous.

[David Hostetler]

I have a couple of categories of loaners. Shop equipment is NOT one of those categories.

I have some cheap handheld power tools, mostly picked up used, or ultra cheap like a Skil circ saw, jig saw, HF power drill, etc... And a mess of cheapo Chinese import hammers, screwdrivers, sockets, etc... that would happily get loaned out to anyone in need. But honestly, usually if it is one or two quick cuts, I would offer to do the task at hand. Better that than getting sued because the neighbor doesn't know enough to keep his digits clear of a circ saw blade...

Other equipment, the higher end stuff, my Estwing hammers, My Snap On stuff, my Ridgid stuff... I have a couple of very long time friends that we loan and borrow tools to and from, have for years. I busted a Skil 18V recip saw a friend loaned me, I bought him a Ryobi LiIon 18V kit with recip, drill, light, charger and 2 batteries. (The Skil was no longer in production) plus I gave him a pack of blades...

By the same token, he busted an old B&D drill of mine years ago, gave me a much nicer Craftsman drill, countersink bit set, Ti bit set, hole saws (which I have since busted), etc... It kind of works out...