24-04-2003, 07:44 PM
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Cub Cadet at Lowes
In article ,
(Oliver B. Lafferty) wrote:
My trouble is, I'm old enough to think everything should be built to
last instead of the kind of junk now being sold to a much younger
generation that has never known what quality means.
BTW, I avoid Sears like the plague.
Even for less complex tools, I have been repeatedly alarmed by poor
quality even on those that are alleging to be high-end. A brand new
pick-axe was so poorly tempered it bent after a week of use so was
replaced by a rusty vintage pick-axe with authentic hickory handle still
intact, & the idea of me being able to cause that tip to bend is beyond
imagining. A "made to last a lifetime" stainless steel trowel that LOOKED
like old-fashioned quality (for having real wooden handles) bends within a
day of use, & I was just lucky I hadn't bought the whole pretty matching
set of expensive junk tools. The "best" pruning sheers that if carried
around in the pocket, the spring gets knocked out of them & lost.
Wheelbarrows designed with wheel-guards that dig into the ground at the
slightest angles so the barrow hangs up, or has to be backed over even a
four-inch brick curb since it can't go forward. Poor design, poor
materials with as much plastic as can replace wood or metal, forcing me to
haunt antique & junk shops in search of the real stuff which even if all
rusty do the job so much better. And such UGLY tools with garish yellow or
orange handles. Over time I've replaced almost all the tools with beutiful
ones, traditional Japanese tools & vintage American & European made tools,
even a Mennanite wheelbarrow. By now I have only one "modern" tool left
that I can't do without, a little pointy angle-iron orange-handled thingy
for popping dandylions out of the ground, & someday I'm bound to find a
more aesthetic version of that. Garden tools not only should be made
better, but they also shouldn't be eyesoars.
-paghat the ratgirl
--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/
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