Thanks for the suggestions. I did tell him when he needed my level that
I was using it and couldn't loan it out, he said he would wait on his
project until I was done with mine. There's nothing like taking turns with
my own tools. He has made the comment that when I'm working on a chair
it's a good time to borrow my fish tape, and wire stripping tools as he
knows then I won't be using them. But to me my tools are like my
toothbrush, some I got from my grandfather who was a master carpenter, some
from my Dad, some as birthday/father's day/Christmas gifts. I don't like
loaning out gifts, which is what my ladder was, only to see it out in a snow
storm. I think I've been trying to be more friendly than practical.
I'm still learning my skills and sometimes not exactly sure which tool I
might end up needing, especially when I screw something up and need to fix
it.

Thanks guys.


"Darrin" wrote in message
...
I need a bit of advice. I recently moved into a new house with a big
garage that I've made into my workshop. My next door neighbor is a really
good guy and comes over to shoot the bull every now and again and I show
him some of the new things I've made (adirondack chairs and tile inlay
tables). While he's there I'm sure he scopes out what I have and after a
while comes to ask if he can borrow my tools for a project he's working on.
I always get the "I'll bring it back in a couple of hours" statement, but
it's usually the next couple of days. I've never lived anywhere where a
neighbor needed any of my tools, so this loaning out of tools is new to me
and I want to be neighborly. But now he has my level, palm sander, one
of my two pipe clamps, and an extension cord that has now been strung
across his backyard for a week in the rain. He brought back my ladder a
few days ago that sat in a snow storm overnight.

I just got a new cabinet saw and dust collector. Now that Christmas is
over and my kids birthdays out of the way, I'm going to be working pretty
hard getting my chairs made for spring-summer time, therefore, the loaning
is going to come to a stop.

Here's my question, is there a way to tell him I can't loan out my tools
now that I'm going to be using them more without ****ing off a neighbor?
I'm already going to have to ask for my other tools back since I need them
now, not when he decides he can bring them back. It gets to me a bit
that he always wants to borrow my tools since he works at Home Depot.
I figure that some of you guys out there have gone through this. How do
you keep it under control? I know I can say "no" everytime he wants
to borrow something, but won't that make for bad blood?

Thanks for any advice.