21
The time I tried a $20 knee kicker from a flea market versus my regular one
Picked up this old, rusty knee kicker at a swap meet in Fresno last year, thinking it might be a fun backup. Tried using it on a small bedroom job last week and it was a total joke, the teeth barely grabbed and the pad was shot. My regular one, which cost about ten times that, got the same stretch done in maybe half the time with way less effort. The difference was night and day, mostly in the grip and the weight of the head. Has anyone else ever tried a super cheap tool and had it completely fail on them?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
michaelchen1mo ago
Hey, sometimes that cheap junk surprises you though...
2
rowanellis21d ago
Did you ever get one of those tools that worked just well enough for one project, then totally gave up on life? @michaelf51 knows the feeling, I think we all do. Bought a cheap heat gun once to strip paint off an old chair and it literally started smoking after 10 minutes. Had to finish the job with a hair dryer and a scraper, which took forever and looked terrible. So yeah, that knee kicker might've been a one-hit wonder or just a waste of shelf space. Better off borrowing a decent one from a friend or just using your foot on a tack strip if you're desperate.
4
Remember buying a cheap cordless drill that died halfway through hanging a shelf. @michaelchen is right about the occasional surprise, but my luck usually involves a puff of smoke and a trip back to the store. That knee kicker sounds like it was all show and no grip, just a rusty paperweight.
2