Doing some restocking today; and the question came into my mind:  When does being prepared become hoarding?

For background, since I retired I've made an interesting pastime of buying and liquidating estates.  Specifically gunsmithing, machine tools, mechanics tools, trade shop inventory, etc.  Gives me something to do, and is interesting.  

One of the side benefits is I get to fill out and stock my own shop with the best of the best.  I'm pretty sparing, I really don't want to be inundated with tools I won't use; I have them to use, not to collect.  I don't keep unnecessary tools, I don't keep duplicates.  If I get a better one, the one being replaced gets sold.  One of the things I see in the estates I clean out is that these people, as they reached the end of their life, had much more "stuff" than they could handle, and it becomes absolute disorder.  I don't want to be there.

Yesterday, I got a dremel tool.  I have both dremels and foredom tools, so it's not a keeper.  But, the grinding and polishing wheels and parts that come with it are expensive expendables.  Every time I get a dremel, I sort out the better quality tips and keep them for my own use.  Every one of them costs several dollars, and it's easy to eat up 3 or 4 on a task.  So, when I get them for essentially free, I stock them into my own tools, and I have a good organizer to do that.

When I was restocking my cabinet, it occured to me that I have more than the rest of my life in supply of most of these.  In addition to my organizer cabinet full, I also have a drawer full of polishing/grinding tips that came from the mold making machine shop I liquidated.

I'm organized into one multi-drawer cabinet unit, and one Lista cabinet drawer, so I don't think I'm into uncontrolled hoarding.  But, it occurs to me that I might have enough!


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Hooooooollly Cow!!!!!

I only have 3 Dremels and 1 Foredom but not nearly as much expendables. I had better get going and stock up.  I have been too busy hoarding high walls. 

Jack

I wouldn't call it hording. Just well stocked... It's all I can do to keep a decent supply of end mills and lathe tool inserts. I tend to use them to extinction. 



JMH

ssdave wrote on Oct 5^th, 2024 at 1:00pm:


If “well stocked” is keeping enough supplies on hand to get a job done. Then “prepared” is having enough so that if something goes wrong, or you have to do the job a second or third time before resupplying. “Hoarding” is when you have enough supplies to be prepared for a job you will never do.

A good example is having enough components on hand to shoot all your matches for a year, would be “well stocked”. Being “prepared” would be having enough to shoot matches for at least 3 years, just in case there is a shortage.

“Hoarding” would be having enough components to shoot 3 or more seasons for a cartridge that you don’t a own rifle chambered for, but would like to have one some day.

Then again, that might just be, being “very well prepared”.

Maybe I don’t know where Hoarding begins  
Never mind

Many times I have bought a gun because I had dies, brass, or a bullet mould.  Think of all that stuff as seeds.

There is absolutely nothing adrift with your reasoning that I can fathom. Of course if you were just some dub without a clue about your inventory or its use then I will just back off and blend. 

But your stash is (1)  surely contains parts or tooling that when you look through the next Brownells or other catalogs is NO LONGER OFFERED, (2) if subject items are still available the new cost and quality will cause you to choke up pieces of your plumbing, (3) as availability diminishes the law of the jungle says prices go from part # - - - -  to highest offer. Many times by some character who fell into a collection and has no clue what is being offered for sale so buying is a crap shoot. No my friend you are a man to be envied. I too suffer the same condition with old American made woodworking machinery and tooling that today yields excellent trading stock value.

Rick

Hoarding is having enough for my son and grandson having enough for a lifetime. OR, selling it all and going on a nice African Safari together. Which shouldn't be considered hoarding. Although my son does have  the score for "Sanford and Son" as my call sign on his phone.