Originally Posted By: PackRat
Around here we call that a "Lender"!

When someone drops by asking to borrow your axe to fix the electrical problems in their house, a hammer to fix that noise in their swather or something to pry their kids frozen tongue off the street sign outside you just hand them one of these.

Once they leave you start filling out their application form for the Darwin Awards and stop worrying about your good tools getting trashed or permanently borrowed. smile


Very good. Droll, I like droll.

IMHO humor, the ability to look squarely at the full range of power misused, stupidity rampant and futility on all fronts -and to see it within your self and laugh- is a very powerful survival tool. In the end 'If you can laugh at it can't keep you down'. That, and it rattles cages. Rattling cages is a good thing.

It is always good to have a few 'lenders'. I usually demote my worn out or less liked tools to this status. They aren't useless tools, plenty of work left in them, but I'm less likely to worry about it if they come back beat up. Or not as all. I never lend out working tools. Call me paranoid and over sensitive but they never seem to work the same after being lent.

Besides, lenders and beaters, have a place. I would never use my good circular saw to cut concrete with an abrasive blade. It is messy work and the powder-fine dust inevitably gets into the motor and bearings.

I'm always a bit leery about multi-function tools. This combination of hammer, pry bar and hatchet is a good example. using a pry bar it is often necessary to use a hammer to pound the blade in. Also using a hatchet in an emergency it is also handy to hammer it to split or wedge things apart. Neither are possible when the hammer is part of both the pry bar and hatchet.

Which is why in my one kit I have separate tools. A solid but light pry bar, a separate light-weight hatchet (suitable for pounding), a USGI tri-fold shovel and a saw. Along with a couple of pairs of sturdy gloves. If and when it comes down to forcing entry or exit from a building or vehicle or extricating someone they can be used in concert or by multiple persons.

Having a box hatchet would be better than having nothing at all. But as soon as I have separate dedicated tools the box hatchet gets demoted to lender status.