I mentioned before about buying a set of cheap drill bits while wiring the studio, which made for slow and frustrating progress. I was in town in the hardware store the other day, and decided to just buy a Bosch 3/4” spade bit. I wasn’t yet quite done with the wiring, and it seemed silly to buy a bit for “just one or two more holes,” but I realized that I was avoiding drilling those holes because it was just so tedious and painful.
I took the new bit out to the studio and oh-my-fricking-gosh was it a totally different experience. Drilling a hole that would have taken 1-2 grinding minutes with the cheap bits took four or five satisfying seconds with the Bosch. The difference was astounding. And, of course, it turned out there were a lot more than “one or two” holes left to go, but they all went fast.
In retrospect, I could have just stopped working when I first tried the cheap tools, driven the twenty minutes into town, bought a decent bit, driven the twenty minutes back, and still finished the job in far less time than I spent fighting the cheap stuff. In addition to the time I wasted, I also likely shortened the life of the drill I was using and exposed my still-healing broken hand to a lot of pain and trauma.
Of course, it’s never a slam-dunk decision. “Just always buy the best tools” could mean bankruptcy — tools can be really expensive and it isn’t like I’m a contractor whose livelihood depends on my tools. But it this case, cheaping out on those drill bits was clearly wrong.
—2p