🚀 go-pugleaf

Pardon me while I disown motherhood, but it is NOT always clear that the
highest quality tool (or other object) available is the best one to buy.

Don't misunderstand me - given the choice, I will always choose less of the
best on aesthetic grounds.  Especially if I'm not paying.  But if I'm
forced to get something done, and on budget, then I face up to reality.

The 1985-86 Lee Harvey catalogue has a scratch awl listed for $48.00.  It's
beautiful.  The handle is polished rosewood, the brass ferrule gleams, and
the point is machined to perfection.  It would be profane to touch
it to any raw material less holy than wood.  But I can get a tool that will
perform *almost* as well for an order of magnitude less, and spend the
remainder on a reasonable setsquare to use it with.

My rule of thumb is, where possible buy the second-best quality.  While
this rule is naturally broken as often as it is observed, it is a good starting
point for striking a balance between beauty and reality.  I will sometimes
go for the best (although seldom on practical grounds) and often to
third-rate, fourth-rate and Honest Ed's standards when I know that I'm
doing a one-shot rough job.  I use a brushhook (with disposable blades) for
clearing brush, not a tenon saw.  And I haven't seen much difference in
brushhook qualities.

Which brings up the matter of our disposable, throw-away lifestyle.
A previous poster bemoaned the "wastefulness" of tools that break and must
be replaced.  I strongly suspect that these tools are *less* wasteful than
top quality ones.  How can that be?  Because they don't break very often,
yet are made from lower grades of material.  Either the ores or the
processing of the highest-quality tools will put a greater strain on our
environment.  And the same is true of much else in life: the better-quality
items will often cost more not just in money but in load on the system,
however you want to define that.  Compare a log cabin to a mansion.

So what is the bottom line?  If you want art, there is no compromise: buy
the best that you can or can't afford.  If you want to do something, or are
merely "into ecology" (I hate that phrase!) step back and add up ALL the
costs of each alternative.  Disposable paper towels use fewer trees than
cloth towels.  A Volkswagen bus will carry more than a Rolls.  And solid
second-class tools will suit all but the pro better than top-of-the-line.
-- 

John Hogg
Computer Systems Research Institute, UofT
{allegra,cornell,decvax,ihnp4,linus,utzoo}!utcsri!hogg