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Comment by aspyct | Hacker News Reader

I think that's smart, on paper at least.

What so you do about the cheap tools that turn out so bad that they cause damage?

For example, you get a cheap screwdriver, it breaks while you use it, and you end up making a hole in the cabinet you were trying to fix.

While the general approach sounds sane, it seems to me there are a lot of cases where going for the cheap version could cost a lot in collateral damage.

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That's not a remotely reasonable example. Cheap screwdrivers will fail to engage properly, wearing out fasteners, and they will break when being used as a lever or punch. But even the cheapest 100% pure Chinesium screwdriver is not going to break in the course of assembling a cabinet.

Yes, that was just an example to illustrate the "what if your cheap X causes collateral damage", which is a real thing.

Imagine you get a cheap drone for videography. It fails mid flight, falls and kills someone.

Bad tools can have consequences. What does parent commenter do about this?

I think if your tools are causing an inferior outcome, you are likely already working at a higher level of craft expectation and wouldn't be buying cheap tools in the first place. If your tools are for a basic handyman toolbox you're likely to never need very high quality and expensive tools are a straight up waste of money.

This was my standard mode for years until I had children. I remember a time I stood in the tool aisle at the hardware store considering the cheap tool and the nicer, name-brand tool, and went with what seemed to be the higher quality item because it may last to be passed down. I have many "vintage" tools in my tool boxes from my father and father-in-law that seem to be indestructible.

> pure Chinesium screwdriver is not going to break in the course of assembling a cabinet.

Oh, how naive you can be? https://old.reddit.com/r/Chinesium/

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