Shoes and Tools

(Photo by Michele Princigalli in Scopio)

Shoes and tools have something in common. From the moment we fall in love with favorites, no others can be as satisfying. I wear my favorite shoes, boots and slippers until they are falling apart.

But I can’t very well wear my favorite walking boots to a wedding. (Well, considering my friends, I can imagine a wedding where I could… maybe sometime. Not a typical wedding, though.) It’s the same way with tools.

Grandpa taught most of my early-years lessons with hand tools. We made things mostly with a hammer and nails. The nails weren’t always standard. He emphasized that I must drive ribbed boat nails cleanly because if I bent one, I couldn’t pull it out and substitute another one. The ribs grabbed and resisted letting the nails work loose. He had his house built with ribbed boat nails. The builders grumbled, “What does he think he’s building, a g**damn ship?” Like his ships, that house has come through all its hurricanes intact.

In contrast, my father liked to use screws when he built with wood, except when nails really were more appropriate.

What difference does it make? Sometimes, a lot.

During pandemic lockdowns, my wife and I put our focus into revamping our garden, especially in back. As part of that, she asked me to build a couple of plant benches to raise potted plants off the ground along the retaining wall at the back. I built one with screws. I ran out of screws for the other and used boat nails with disappointingly vague ribs for some of it. Everything had to be done with whatever we had on hand or could get delivered, and in those days it wasn’t easy to get more supplies.

As matters progressed, we made more changes and the plant benches had to be moved. The one with the boat nails is the longest. We put it at a spot that has slate chips underfoot and gets good afternoon sun. When small children visit, they treat it as a table at child height for their mini-projects.

Last March we hosted an outdoor, socially distanced birthday party for a friend. Everyone wore winter clothes against the chill. We had a good time. As the sun swung around, people began migrating toward the area around the longest plant bench. I muttered that it was only meant for plants. I think nobody heard me.

Bustling in the kitchen, I didn’t get to see what happened. Everyone told me about it. Three people sat on that plant bench, enjoying the sun. It was long enough for them to do that at a party where people were trying not to be too close to each other. It wobbled. Then one of our dogs hopped on to join them and that was the last straw. The nails lost their grip. In comical slow motion, the bench leaned to one end and collapsed, dumping people and dog on the ground. No one was hurt, thank heaven.

Building with nails is quick, easy and fun. Building with screws is more of a bother. I rebuilt the bench. It has stronger legs and more bracing for the legs now. The top and basic frame are the same, reclaimed from the collapsed original. It has no nails any more. I rebuilt it entirely with screws. Twice as many people could sit on it without trouble.

It took more time with screws than it had with nails. It took more work. That’s what it needed.

This happens over and over as we go through life.

For several years I’ve had a particular equipment setup in my home office. I got settled in with it. For work I’ve taken up recently, that arrangement had to change. I tried to get by with my technical equivalent of the favorite old pair of shoes, and it was awkward. Last week it became clear I had to do more rearrangement than I wanted to admit. It’s mostly done now and didn’t really involve much, just a few small upgrades and a little bit of carpentry. It’s nicer. I feel silly for resisting.

Every few years I go through the same thing with my phone. I don’t like to replace favorite gear just for the sake of getting the newfangled version. I carry on using the smartphone I’ve grown to love until I bump into something, usually for business, that I need to do and my phone simply isn’t new enough or hefty enough to handle.

Favorite broken-in shoes, favorite broken-in boots, favorite longtime tools are familiar, comfortable, and satisfying, until someday they aren’t quite what we need any more. When it’s time to update, putting it off only causes that much more aggravation, trying to get by with kit that is no longer enough to meet the need. Far better to go ahead and start getting used to the replacement so that having it all go well again will happen that much sooner.

I should have reminded myself about all of this a couple of weeks ago.