The great junk transfer is coming • Hacker News Board

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#441

Post by drewzero1 » Thu, May 26, 2022, 4:20 AM UTC

kevinpet wrote: post #151

debbiedowner wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are some examples of the obsolete tools? I can imagine a manual hand drill...

Specialty tools that fit vehicles you don't have. Specialty tools for operations that no one would perform by hand anymore. E.g. a cylinder honing tool. Whitworth wrenches, sockets, taps, and dies. My dad had a British motorcycle shop around 1980 and I'm pretty sure there is still some of this in his tool boxes in the garage. Homemade jigs whose purpose you can't even figure out. I think the dominant category would j…

Ooh, those are good. I have a few homemade (or home-modified) specialty tools for my old cars, and some I'll certainly never have use for again.

Those are one reason I've never yet had a British or German car, though I do have one with a British-derived engine and a German fuel injection system. (I'll have to remember to pass on all the custom tools when I get rid of the car. The chances are slim to none that I'll ever own another one.)

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#442

Post by drewzero1 » Thu, May 26, 2022, 4:33 AM UTC

eropple wrote: post #325

mschuster91 wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A NiCd-powered cordless drill would be my first thought, clearly obsolete since the widespread adoption of lithium battery tools and the rapid degradation in NiCd cells over time. On the other side, as long as it's something brand-name like Bosch, these things are built to last - and there are still shops around selling new battery packs for them (or you can replace the cells yourself - no fancy BMS required like w…

> please buy brand name (=Makita) This is probably better described as "not from an algorithmically generated name on Amazon", I think. Makita is great (I have their track saw, it's amazing)--but so are DeWalt, Milwaukee, Bosch, Festool, Metabo HPT (formerly Hitachi), and a bunch of others. Even the relatively "budget" flavors of those (Craftsman for DeWalt/SBD, Ridgid/AEG and Ryobi for Milwaukee/TTG) are solid tools…

I still wouldn't go for HF tools (or any store brand... Tool Shop, Master Mechanic, take your pick) for anything I want to keep forever. You just can't get parts for most of that stuff. I only get HF or MM if I'm buying the tool for one job and need to fit in the budget, otherwise pretty much everything else I've got is pre-owned DeWalt et al. (The warranty-period breakdown is no joke, but a lot of times if they survive much past that they can be good for a while.)

I'm also still not totally sold on cordless tools. I've found corded tools generally much easier to repair. Extension cords are cheaper than batteries, and for my typical applications they're essentially interchangable.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#443

Post by syntheweave » Thu, May 26, 2022, 6:21 AM UTC

SoftTalker wrote: post #403

robocat wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And an altruistic gift for friends and family: take away their useless rubbish. Tell your aunt you need some wires from that old Pentium computer she has, and take it to be recycled. “Drop in” at your friends on the way to the dump with half a trailer full of rubbish, and ask if they want to fill up the other half for free. When there is a book market on, visit your friends and take away their old books to go to the…

I've found books surprisingly hard to get rid of. Local recycling center doesn't take them, and they are pretty heavy so you can't set out a big bin full of them for trash collection. Used bookstores are extremely picky about titles, authors, and condition. Listing and selling on eBay is not worth the time for the tiny amount of money you may make, and most of them don't even sell. I mostly just end up throwing them…

The unfortunate fact is that although we romanticize reading, most books don't have much trade value. And if it's already in the Library of Congress, it's as good as archived.

Still, my household(multigenerational) has too many books, and this is mostly an artifact of a childhood that gave me plenty to read. We even still have the incomplete Funk & Wagnalls encyclopedia picked up from when the school library dumped them.

It'll be the "great book downsizing", for us. Someday. Occasionally I look into scanning the ones I have sentimental value towards, and there are services to do so...but really, that would just displace the problem into "digital junk hoarding". It's hard to let go of things, especially in the gradual way that fits with our waste stream system.

The best tactic I've had to deal with it is to first make an explicit division of space (no piles allowed, at least have a tray or tie the bundle) and then use the divisions to create a ranking mechanism. You don't have to let go of things immediately, but whenever you have a day where you value space over stuff, the low rank stuff can be taken out with minimal ceremony: "thank you very much".

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#444

Post by Arete314159 » Thu, May 26, 2022, 2:23 PM UTC

SoftTalker wrote: post #403

robocat wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And an altruistic gift for friends and family: take away their useless rubbish. Tell your aunt you need some wires from that old Pentium computer she has, and take it to be recycled. “Drop in” at your friends on the way to the dump with half a trailer full of rubbish, and ask if they want to fill up the other half for free. When there is a book market on, visit your friends and take away their old books to go to the…

I've found books surprisingly hard to get rid of. Local recycling center doesn't take them, and they are pretty heavy so you can't set out a big bin full of them for trash collection. Used bookstores are extremely picky about titles, authors, and condition. Listing and selling on eBay is not worth the time for the tiny amount of money you may make, and most of them don't even sell. I mostly just end up throwing them…

Try your local Buy Nothing group. I got rid of some books I didn't think anyone would want, but they were excited about them.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#445

Post by thow34wqway » Thu, May 26, 2022, 3:10 PM UTC

robocat wrote: post #70

Cleaning up after your parents is a gift you give to them: look at it like them paying it forward for all the times the cleaned up after you as a child. Psychologically, mentally, and physically, parents can have difficulty tidying up their stuff. My friend’s parents came from very poor backgrounds and had a lot of trash. The father had a shed full of stuff that was useful to him - he knew what was in it and how to u…

> I think forcing parents to tidy up or downsize can be cruel.

This is on point. Its hard to feel empathy over your age especially when you are young. By young i mean under 40's or even 50's.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#446

Post by substation13 » Thu, May 26, 2022, 3:23 PM UTC

SturgeonsLaw wrote: post #243

substation13 wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Opportunity cost is high. Acquiring the trinkets in the moment feels great but leads to long term challenges.

One must live an ascetically trinket-free lifestyle in order to fully minmax their life

I am not advocating minmax-ing

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#447

Post by mschuster91 » Thu, May 26, 2022, 3:24 PM UTC

drewzero1 wrote: post #442

eropple wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> please buy brand name (=Makita) This is probably better described as "not from an algorithmically generated name on Amazon", I think. Makita is great (I have their track saw, it's amazing)--but so are DeWalt, Milwaukee, Bosch, Festool, Metabo HPT (formerly Hitachi), and a bunch of others. Even the relatively "budget" flavors of those (Craftsman for DeWalt/SBD, Ridgid/AEG and Ryobi for Milwaukee/TTG) are solid tools…

I still wouldn't go for HF tools (or any store brand... Tool Shop, Master Mechanic, take your pick) for anything I want to keep forever. You just can't get parts for most of that stuff. I only get HF or MM if I'm buying the tool for one job and need to fit in the budget, otherwise pretty much everything else I've got is pre-owned DeWalt et al. (The warranty-period breakdown is no joke, but a lot of times if they surv…

Cordless is a dream on construction sites without electricity though. No more danger of tripping over a cord and suddenly you have at least two injured people... a colleague back when I was working in construction had a nasty incident involving an angle grinder and some poor sod lugging a heavy bag of cement who tripped over the cord where the angle grinder was attached to.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#448

Post by ghaff » Thu, May 26, 2022, 3:55 PM UTC

syntheweave wrote: post #443

SoftTalker wrote: post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found books surprisingly hard to get rid of. Local recycling center doesn't take them, and they are pretty heavy so you can't set out a big bin full of them for trash collection. Used bookstores are extremely picky about titles, authors, and condition. Listing and selling on eBay is not worth the time for the tiny amount of money you may make, and most of them don't even sell. I mostly just end up throwing them…

The unfortunate fact is that although we romanticize reading, most books don't have much trade value. And if it's already in the Library of Congress, it's as good as archived. Still, my household(multigenerational) has too many books, and this is mostly an artifact of a childhood that gave me plenty to read. We even still have the incomplete Funk & Wagnalls encyclopedia picked up from when the school library dumped t…

I have a big cinderblock set of bookshelves in the back of my garage. It's where the not quite ready to go out yet books go. I did some book downsizing during the pandemic. This summer I'm going to try to get some more books and a fair bit of clothing out of the house.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#449

Post by eropple » Thu, May 26, 2022, 4:41 PM UTC

drewzero1 wrote: post #442

eropple wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> please buy brand name (=Makita) This is probably better described as "not from an algorithmically generated name on Amazon", I think. Makita is great (I have their track saw, it's amazing)--but so are DeWalt, Milwaukee, Bosch, Festool, Metabo HPT (formerly Hitachi), and a bunch of others. Even the relatively "budget" flavors of those (Craftsman for DeWalt/SBD, Ridgid/AEG and Ryobi for Milwaukee/TTG) are solid tools…

I still wouldn't go for HF tools (or any store brand... Tool Shop, Master Mechanic, take your pick) for anything I want to keep forever. You just can't get parts for most of that stuff. I only get HF or MM if I'm buying the tool for one job and need to fit in the budget, otherwise pretty much everything else I've got is pre-owned DeWalt et al. (The warranty-period breakdown is no joke, but a lot of times if they surv…

I get where you're coming from, but their modern tools are pretty much in line with everyone else's--bear in mind that there isn't much of a cost savings from them, either. The Hercules portable table saw with a rack-and-pinion fence is a good example. A friend has one, I've calibrated it for him and gotten up into its guts. And it's built pretty well! But, by virtue of being built pretty well, it costs in line with what a Metabo HPT or DeWalt model does on sale, while having a slightly smaller table. Similarly you'll see pretty equivalent motors, bearings, etc. in those as in mid-range "name brand" cordless tools. I'm sure they shave here and there, but it isn't anywhere near what it used to be, and for light use they'll be fine for quite a long time. (Plus? Good return policies.)

There are few tools I wouldn't rather have cordless, though. Corded drills don't step to an impact driver for screw-driving (the only corded drill I have is a low-speed drill/mixer). Cords on an angle grinder or a jigsaw or the like get in the way more than they help. About the only corded hand tools I have are routers, and I wish my track saw was corded mostly so as to be able to pair the dust extractor with it (but I use the track saw outside a lot too, so it's a wash). All the corded tools in my shop have been retrofitted with either a Festool pigtail or a NEMA L5 locking connector to not have to deal with cords on the tool, and that helps, but it's still not great.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#450

Post by dannyphantom » Thu, May 26, 2022, 5:49 PM UTC

robocat wrote: post #70

Cleaning up after your parents is a gift you give to them: look at it like them paying it forward for all the times the cleaned up after you as a child. Psychologically, mentally, and physically, parents can have difficulty tidying up their stuff. My friend’s parents came from very poor backgrounds and had a lot of trash. The father had a shed full of stuff that was useful to him - he knew what was in it and how to u…

> Cleaning up after your parents is a gift you give to them: look at it like them paying it forward for all the times the cleaned up after you as a child.

This is contextual per family; but absolutely not. There are parents who make it known to their children that they were never wanted so when a child goes no-contact, the onus of cleaning up after them post mortem can be handled by someone else.