Have you "paid" for your tools?

[Admiral]

I have been doing woodworking for 65 years (started @ age 6), bought my first power tool @ age 14 (scroll saw which I still have and use) and never looked back.

Funny, when I was 12 I prevailed upon my father to buy a bare (no stand or motor) Sears (Sprunger) scroll saw (not an easy decision for him as my family was of very modest means at the time), and he built the stand for it as we couldn't afford the one Sears sold, put an old motor on it, we both got many years of enjoyment out of it.  When he passed, I couldn't part with it despite its limitations and some broken parts, so it sits in my shop in a corner.  It looks like this:

[BigD]

Reply to Admiral:

Just to show how some things run in patterns. You went with Sears for your scroll saw and I went with Montgomery Wards (remember them?)

Here is my saw. Like you, my family was of quite modest means and if I wanted a tool, I had to save up for it.

I paid for it with money saved up from my TV Guide route. Back then, the TV Guide sold for 15 cents per week. My route had 15 customers and my "pay" was 4 cents per issue sold so I got to keep a whopping 60 cents per week so it took a long time to save up enough for the saw. 

Notice that there is no cover over the belt drive and pulleys -OSHA would have a fit- but I have been using this saw for over 56 years and I have not caught any fingers in the belt or pulleys.
 



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[Axehandle]

Some stuff pays for itself better than others. My woodworking tools have not paid for themselves yet but they will. The two tools that I have that have paid back many times their purchase price are my welder and my chainsaw.

[s9plus20]

Well I do have a shop full of tools.  Some have paid for themselves others have not. (table saw vs wood lathe)

I must say, by far, my best tool investment was a Flowbee!

2 boys and me...

3 haircuts every 3 weeks or thereabouts for better than 20 years....   Great investment!