So last night I'm starting to do some work/mods and my soldering iron quit for good. It's a Hexacon model 24S that I've used since 1982. I feel like I lost an old friend. IOW, I'm f****d. Worse yet, the work is for someone else.
New one is expensive ($~90) and I got caught in my compulsive knife spending spree. I'm really stuck here.
Is it rational to be this upset over a tool??
Rich
yes
30 years worth of use out of a tool you use all the time is great. You should be really happy. Now you can get another one and enjoy another 30 years of mods.
If it does comfort you a little it is quite normal to do that. I Would too.
May the new one does the same mileage. :)
Several years ago my 24 oz. Estwing hammer went missing. I had had Betsy (ya, that's right, she has a name) for over 20 years. I had to find her! Luckily, most of the guys I work with use the 22 oz. variety, so I grabbed my wife's kitchen scale, bought another 24 oz. Estwing, weighed it, then went to work with the scale and measured all the suspect hammers (they are not easy to tell apart visually) till I found her.
So, no, I do not think you were the least bit irrational. I may not make a great character witness, though. 
Being a mechanic my entire life I become very attached to my tools. When a tool works well for it's purpose and you rely and count on it for many years it becomes more than a tool but more like an old friend. This is a very natural reaction and change is a fearful and uncomfortable experience. I am sure you will find a suitable replacement and hopeful it will become just as attached and reliant on your new tool/friend.
Yes, it is rational! My job is with computers (programmer) and I really hate it every time an - easily replaceable - keyboard or mouse dies on me.
Is it rational to be this upset over a tool?? Absolutely. That is a lot of use you got from that iron. Things like that become very familiar and comfortable. I hope you find a suitable and cost effective replacement.
My boss took MY Estwing and broke up concrete with it . First nail I hit with it …It rang like a bell …I thought WTF …Another carpenter told me immediatly that it was out of balance and the boss admitted to breaking up some concrete with it and said he’d buy me a new one …i wanted the one I’d pounded 700,000 nails with …not a new one …
We all understand how you feel ....everyone except ...my old ex-boss..
the silly twit
See if you can find a really good deal on a barely used one .. the money saved will help ease the pain .
Why you don't have a back -up for your back-up is beyond me ...just sayin :P
Aargh.
The Wifey gifted me a Vaughan TTC Titanium hammer for the Bday last year, as I was building out my shop.
2 or 3 weeks ago, I came home to see my nephew breaking open some geodes found on the last camping trip with it, rather than the $12 BFH I would have preferred he use.
I had to hide the single tear, rolling down my cheek.
Men develop a relationship with certain inanimate objects (tools, cars, etc..) that is inexplicable to women. The nearest corollary I could imagine would be perhaps a diamond, or a purse dog.
The answer to that one is the IBM Model M keyboard.
Not only do they work forever, you can use them to apply percussive maintenance to recalcitrant hardware - and they are too heavy to steal. And are wonderful for annoying other people with when typing as they are rather loud in use.
Completely off topic, but... ChicagoX, if you have access to one, a demo saw (some times called a "cut off" saw) with a diamond blade will slice geodes so perfectly the will look like they came from a gift shop.
Yes, I know these, they just won't die...
The thing is that I like "natural" keyboards and the only "natural" keyboard I could find is microsoft's, which go great for a year or two but then die due to sh!ty built quality... After three broken MS naturals (and many more medium to high priced keyboards), now I use a Logitech wave kb for about 4 years and it goes admirably strong considering how I abuse it. Mouse is another story, no mouse of mine lived for more than two years, no matter what brand, no matter how expensive, no matter if IR or laser, they just go crazy at one point or another.
Every "natural" keyboard I've tried has been given away, thrown out, smashed in a fit of rage, put in the attic. The MS ones die from infusions of Coca Cola. Every time. I like the idea - just can't live with them at all.
I learned to type on a sand-filled Olivetti typewriter. It took serious force to make it work. I progressed to a sand-filled Olympic typewriter (I learned to type in the Kalahari Desert) which took slightly less force. But not much less.
I beat keyboards to death with my fingers. Only Model M's survive my typing (120wpm) force.
For me, keyboards are consumables. Like batteries, but more expensive :(
TVM for the info !
Tried to give some money to the war dogs sig. Apparently doesn't work for me. Probably doesn't work outside the US.
Pity....
Thanks very much, Don. I'll let the awesome lady who runs it (Elana Morgan) know. She does amazing work, and changes lives.
Get her to send me a working (outside the US) paypal address and a donation will be on its way. If it has to be her personal PP - not an issue for me. My pp is dulridge@paypal.co.uk. Happy to send a donation for that purpose.
May be my bank's misbegotten idea of security which had no problems sending a couple of months of my pay to a Nigerian fraudster who'd cloned my card but wasn't prepared to give Apple rather less than that for a legitimate transaction.
Get her to contact me and I'll do what it takes to send her some money - even if it takes cash in an envelope.
I have an old Makita angle grinder. 20+ years. I have given it a hiding on more than one occasion. It eventually died.New ones are cheaper than what I originally paid for it- so I bought a new one. Then I decided to fix it. New brushes and a good clean. I still use the old one more than the new one so I understand how you feel.
My angle grinder (A Black and Decker cheapie) still keeps on grinding - 30 years after I bought it. I also have a 9" Makita I bought to cut up a car with. One day I'll get round to cutting it up.
I bought the Makita in 1997.