That $200 pipe wrench set I bought for one job, now collecting dust

I paid $215 for a brand name pipe wrench set at Home Depot last March to fix a stubborn leak under my kitchen sink in Dayton. The leak turned out to be a cracked fitting that needed a $12 part, and my regular wrench did the job fine after I borrowed one from a neighbor. So now I'm wondering, is it smarter to rent tools for one-off jobs or buy cheap and replace when they break? Who else has spent big money on a tool they used exactly once?

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the_andrew26d ago

Bought a $180 pressure washer for a single driveway cleaning, and it's been sitting in my garage for two years now. Same thing with a $140 angle grinder I needed to cut one bolt off a trailer hitch. Every time I see that grinder in the drawer, I remember the $140 and the five minutes it actually ran. Renting is obviously the move for one-offs, but I also get the urge to just own the damn thing. Cheap tools scare me, they break when you need them most, but $200 for a pipe wrench set is hard to swallow. Now I buy midrange stuff and tell myself I'll use it again, but I never do.