When in Doubt, Buy Tools

Even though it's been over a year and a half since all of our tools were stolen, I've been hesitant to replace them. Not that we had the finest selection of tools in the world, but we had a pretty good selection, particularly if you include the borrowed tools. Loosing them was very demoralizing, and I never could get excited about spending all that money on the same tools I'd already bought. I've finally broken down an made two modest purchases.

First, I bought this at Walmart a few months back. At the time, I was looking for a compressor to use on my car's tires. It turned out that this compressor, which could also drive a brad-gun, cost just a few dollars (something like $50 verses $45) more than a strictly-for-cars compressor. The brad-gun itself was only $20. So, for around $70 I have a working brad-gun. Sure, it probably won't withstand years of use, but it'll do.

Last night I made my second purchase, a Black & Decker compound miter saw. It wasn't the cheapest one Lowe's had, it was the second cheapest at $129. My camera's memory card was full, so I had to use the factory picture.
And, I'll have to admit that while both these tools will be very useful in finishing up the Devil Queen (quarter round, trim, etc) it wasn't my sole reason for buying them. They also make building canvas stretcher for oil paintings wicked fast. I've been working on some stretchers and it was taking forever to finish; I just couldn’t' take it anymore.