Sound familiar?
You bought the good one, and it still didn’t last
- The name on the box is the one your dad trusted. The company behind it isn’t.
- You paid for the expensive one, and it quit soon after the warranty ran out.
- You stand in the aisle with your phone, reading reviews from folks who used it once.
- Every new thing on the shelf wants a battery, an app or an update.
- Your Craftsman set from 1977 still works. The one you bought last year doesn’t.
It isn’t your fault. The names got sold, and there’s nobody behind the counter to tell you anymore.
What you were told, and what works instead
Pay more and it’ll last.
Price tells you the brand, not the tool. Every pick says whether the cheap-store version is fine for how often you’ll use it. p. 88
Buy the brand your father bought.
Craftsman was bought from Sears in 2017. The Brand Family Tree shows who owns each name now, sourced and dated. p. 29
Cordless for everything.
Pick one battery family and stay in it. Keep corded for the saws and the grinder, where a cord gives full power every time. p. 74
Harbor Freight is all junk.
Some of it is the best buy in town, and some I’d leave on the shelf. I competed with that store for years. Here’s which. p. 89
Smart tools are better tools.
Ask what it does with the app turned off. If the answer is nothing, put it back and buy the plain one. p. 108
A bigger knife does more.
Most men carried a plain three-blade stockman, and it fits the right front pocket. p. 119
Look inside
Real pages from the book
Swipe to see all 4 pages →
What’s inside Buy It Once
Buy It Once is one pick per job, 68 buy-once picks in all, so you buy it once and never think about it again.
| # | Aisle | Page |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Start Here: The Garage Check. Walk your garage with a pen, tick what you own, and buy the gaps in order. | 10 |
| 2 | Who Really Makes It: The Brand Family Tree. Who owns the name on the handle now, and what changed after each sale. | 28 |
| 3 | Hand Tools: One Pick Per Tool. Wrenches, sockets, pliers, screwdrivers, hammer, saw, tape and level: one pick for each. | 48 |
| 4 | Power Tools Without the Battery Trap. Corded or cordless for each job, and one battery family you can stay in. | 73 |
| 5 | The Cheap-Store Guide. What’s fine at the discount tool store, where to pay up, and the warranty you already paid for. | 88 |
| 6 | The Never-Buy List (And What to Buy Instead). The junk I’d leave on the shelf, each with the one to buy instead. | 103 |
| 7 | The Knife Counter. Every traditional pattern and what it’s for, steels in plain words, and keeping an edge. | 116 |
| 8 | Gifts for a Boy’s First Knife and a Grandson’s First Truck. A boy’s first knife and a grandson’s first truck kit, all bought new today. | 137 |
| 9 | Warranties, Receipts and Bringing It Back. Which lifetime warranties come easy, which have catches, and the receipts that make them work. | 150 |
A few things you’ll find out
- Why Milwaukee and Ryobi come from the same parent company, and which one fits how often you workp. 34
- The Harbor Freight ratchet line I’d step up to if you wrench every weekp. 89
- The one thing to read on a battery before you buy any cordless toolp. 74
- Why a Husky receipt and a Kobalt receipt don’t get the same answer at the storep. 155
- The first knife I gave my grandson at ten, and why it’s a small onep. 138
- Two stacked coins: the sharpening angle in plain words
At the back: a quick reference of who owns the names, the Before-You-Buy Pocket Card and the Warranty and Receipts Record, all made to print. Every brand fact and price carries its source and the month it was read.
Why I wrote it
Forty years of the same question at my counter
I started sweeping floors at my uncle Russ’s hardware and feed store in 1969. In 1977 he handed me the keys, and I ran it for 40 years. Every Saturday a farmer set his knife on my counter to sharpen and asked me the same thing: Bud, which one should I buy?
Russ had one rule: never sell a man something he’ll have to buy twice. We sold most of the big names side by side on one pegboard wall. When a tool failed, it came back across my counter. After a few years of that, you know which ratchets come back and which ones never do.
When a Harbor Freight opened out by the highway, I went and bought their tools to learn which were good. Some were. I told my customers so, and they kept coming in.
I sold the store in 2017, and the names on the shelf kept getting sold too. So I wrote down what I’d tell you across the counter, one pick for each job. It’s what I’d tell my own son, and my son Mike still calls before he buys a tool.
Bud Larkin
Is it for you?
It’s for you if
- You have a garage or a workbench and you’re tired of buying things twice
- You want one straight answer per tool, not fifty reviews
- You shop the discount tool store and want to know what’s fine there
- You carry a pocket knife every day, or want to give one to a boy
It’s not for you if
- You want lab test scores. This is a counter man’s guide, with every fact sourced
- You want to know what your old tools or knives are worth
- You want home repair or wiring how-tos
What it won’t do
It won’t teach repairs, wiring or how to lift a car, and it won’t price your old tools. Electrical, gas and structural work belongs to a licensed professional. Knife laws are local, so check yours.
Prices change
Every price is printed with the store and the month I read it. Where the listings didn’t agree, I printed none. Use them to know a fair price, not as a promise.
Names change hands
Who owns which name comes from the companies’ own pages, read October 2026. If a name is sold after this edition, the next edition will say so, free to you.
Get Buy It Once
Buy It Once
- 68 buy-once picks: one tool or knife per job, so you stop buying things twice
- The Garage Check: one sitting with a pen, and you know what you have and what’s missing
- The Brand Family Tree: who really makes it now, on one page, every fact sourced and dated
- The Cheap-Store Guide: what’s fine at the discount tool store, and where to pay up
- The Never-Buy List: every skip comes with the one to buy instead
- The Knife Counter: every traditional pattern, steels in plain words, and the sharpening card
- Two cards to print: the Before-You-Buy Pocket Card for your wallet and the Warranty and Receipts Record
- PDF and EPUB, every page printable at home, and the next edition free if a name changes hands
Secure checkout. One payment. No subscription, no app.
Right after you pay, the download page opens, and the link comes by email too. Start on page 11, the Garage Check: one sitting with a pen, and you’ll know which pick to buy first.
The Bring-It-Back Promise
At my store, if it didn’t do the job, you brought it back. Same with the book. If it doesn’t earn its place in your drawer within 30 days, write to me and you get every cent back, no questions. Keep the book.
Questions folks ask me
Is this just a list of expensive brands?
No. Plenty of picks are cheap, and some come from the discount tool store. The point is buying it once, not buying it expensive.
Do you say which brands we SHOULD buy?
Yes. Every job gets one pick to buy, and every skip on the Never-Buy List comes with the one to buy instead.
So don’t buy anything at Harbor Freight?
Not at all. I competed with that store for years and learned which of its tools are good. The Cheap-Store Guide says where it’s fine and where to pay up.
Is a brand paying you to pick these?
No. No company paid for a mention, and I sell for no brand. Every ownership fact and price has its source, so you can check me.
What about pocket knives?
There’s a whole aisle on them: every traditional pattern and what it was for, steels in plain words, and a card for keeping an edge on a stone.
Is it a paper book?
It’s a PDF and an EPUB you can read on a phone, tablet or computer. Every page prints on plain letter paper at home, and the cards are made to print.
What if it’s not for me?
Write to me within 30 days and you get every cent back. Keep the book.
Why is there a clock on the page?
The launch price is $27 while the clock on your screen runs, 20 minutes from when you first open the page. After that it’s $37, the regular price.
Walk your garage tonight, and buy the gaps once
Take a pen and the Garage Check out to the pegboard tonight. By bedtime you’ll know what you own, what’s missing, and which of the 68 picks to buy first.
Buy it once, and buy it right. Bud
P.S. P.S. 68 buy-once picks, the Brand Family Tree and the Never-Buy List for $27, one payment. If it doesn’t earn its place in your drawer, every cent comes back within 30 days, and you keep the book.