Dwight Sipler wrote:



Some cheap tools are cost effective. I am death on shovels (or shovel
handles, anyway), so I generally buy the $7 versions. One time I bought
a $30 shovel, fiberglass handle, etc. The fiberglass didn't hold up well
in the sun and after a couple of winters it was all split and hard to
hold. It lasted less time than the wooden handled $7 versions. PS: I
paint the shovel handles bright red so I can find them. Adds another
dollar to the cost (the paint wears off and has to be renewed
occasionally). The red handled shovel makes a good marker to let me know
where I left off working in a row. I can see it 400' away.



I buy all my hand tools at Sears, NOTHING beats the Craftsman deal. I
bought a digging fork almost twenty years ago, last year I returned the
SIXTH one for a new one. Another half dozen large pruners have been
returned and a couple of shovels. You can't beat it, buy it ONCE and
you're done, when it breaks take it back. They cost a bit more initally
but make up for it in the long run.