I don’t remember exactly how old I was, but before I went to school my father made a workbench for me. I still have that work bench. It is in the shop at our son’s farm and is used by the children when working on projects or making things. With that work bench, I received a claw hammer, a handsaw, and a couple of screwdrivers. One of the first projects with my father was making an open-topped toolbox. Before too long, i had added a chisel, a small block plane, and a crescent wrench to my tool collection. Most of those tools have been lost over the years, but I have the block plane and I use it from time to time. It is just the right size for some projects. The iron still takes a good edge and it produces satisfying curls of wood.

Ever since that first tool box, I’ve been collecting tools. When I was 14, my father gave me a mechanic’s tool box and I collected a set of box wrenches, a ratchet and sockets, and other tools. My first sets of wrenches and sockets were mis-matched, gathered from careful farm auction purchases. I learned that if a bucket had even on Craftsman tool in it, a $1 bid might get a very good tool. That brand carried a lifetime, no questions asked warranty, so I could get a replacement if the tool was bent or otherwise damaged.

These days I own a lot of tools. I have tool boxes in my pickup and in the camper, at home and at the shop on the farm. I have a couple of buckets with plumbing tools and a couple of rolling cabinets with mechanic’s tools. At the shop, we have a cart with every kind of sander and sand paper a person would ever need.

Not everyone is a tool collector. We used to have a joke at my father’s shop that a basic farm tool kit consisted of a claw hammer, a crescent wrench, and a roll of baling wire. If a machine couldn’t be repaired with those tools, it ended up in our shop. These days, not very many people have baling wire (I do have a partial spool at the farm). In its place, duct tape has become the common replacement for on the spot repairs.

My current go to tool joke is that a basic homeowner’s tool kit contains two items: a can of WD-40 and a roll of duct tape. If it moves and it shouldn’t, use the tape. If it doesn’t move and it should, use the WD-40.

One of the projects at our house yesterday was removing the over the stove microwave oven that had failed and replacing it with a new one. After the installation was completed, I looked at the tools spread across the kitchen counter. There were two screwdrivers, a drill motor, a box of drill bits and another of screwdriver bits. There was a small level, a sharpie marker, and a roll of gorilla tape (even better than duct tape). I had brought into the kitchen a tape measure, a putty knife, and a utility knife. I had the vacuum cleaner out as well as a broom and a dustpan. Putting away the tools took almost as long as the job had taken. You might think that two microwave ovens that are the same size could be mounted on the same bracket and empty the same holes through the cabinet above. It doesn’t work that way. A new bracket in a slightly different location and two new holes were located. I had to cut a cardboard template to mark the location of the holes for mounting the new oven. Drilling new holes resulted in sawdust on the floor behind the stove, which had been moved during the installation.

I know that there are people who don’t have many tools. I’ve met a fair number of them because I do have tools. When we were students I often made repairs for classmates in their rooms or on their vehicles. I will loan tools, but I don’t like to do that. I’d much prefer to make the repair myself, and often do.

One of my father-in-law’s projects inspired me. He bought a small tool box and filled it with basic tools for each of his daughters as a high school graduation gift. I did the same for both of our children and for several nieces and nephews. Both of our children told me that they made college friends because it was known in their dormitories that they had tools. They became the go to source for tools when Ikea furniture needed to be assembled or when a small repair was needed.

I have definitely handed down my love of tools to our son. Between the two of us we have a very well-equipped shop at the farm. He is left-handed and I am right-handed, so we make an effective team for home and farm repairs. Like me, he has an impressive collection of tools at the house to avoid having to make a trip to the shop each time a simple tool is needed. We both have the same brand of cordless electric tools and batteries go back and forth. I don’t know how many of those batteries we have, but a lot.

Our daughter’s husband is the head of a large shop that overhauls jet engines and he definitely shares our love of tools. His home garage is well-equipped with plenty of tools and he knows how to use them properly. Our daughter is competent with basic tools and can complete many home repair jobs. Our grandchildren are growing up with knowledge of tools and their uses. Even the young ones know the difference between a claw hammer, a ball-peen hammer, a rubber mallet and a wooden mallet. They all like to hand tools to grandpa, even when they are too young to understand the difference between a 10mm wrench and a 13mm wrench.

I have multiple rolls of duct tape and several cans of WD-40. I have crescent wrenches and claw hammers and several gauges of wire. I have super glue and screwdrivers of all sizes. And if I look around, I probably can find one or two tools that I’ve never used just in case I might need them. I’m trying to be good and not add to the collection, but the other day when I was helping a friend and needed a sink wrench, it was quicker and simpler to make a quick trip to the hardware store than running out to the farm. Now I have one at the house and another at the farm. If you aren’t careful the number of tools will multiply.