Basically have all the tools I need

I took the day off work today, partly "just because", but also because I had to burn off some excess hours.  Dropped the kids off at school, watched the (oddly long) awards ceremony (one of my sons received a "high achievement" award for the semester), and then left around 10 or 10:30am (I don't remember).

Among my wanderings, I stopped off at Carba-Tec for the first time in about a year.  They sell machine and hand-tool woodworking tools -- for woodworking hobbyists, not the "hardware store" types of tools:  so, medium- to upper-end.  For some reason -- maybe because they sell Japanese-style saws, chisels and handplanes -- they also sell Japanese cooking knives.

I confirmed something interesting: there really aren't any additional woodworking tools I need -- or even particularly want:  I've reached saturation.  Any tools that I need to accomplish the sort of woodworking that I like to do, I already own.  So, really, I just need to log more shop time -- not accumulate more tools.

(Exception:  a old-style, 1-2 person crosscut handsaw -- for sawing more efficiently through larger logs.  But there's no urgency.)

Similarly:  even though I appreciate a good-quality cooking knife, I really only use four knives: a chef's knife, a Japanese cleaver-like vegetable knife, a paring knife, and a modified paring knife for coring apples.  And I already own all of those.  So even though they had a number of nice-looking -- and reasonably-priced -- Japanese knives... I don't need 'em.


Upon further reflection, I don't really need any more musical instruments or recording gear.  In a lot of ways, it's more interesting to operate within the limitations of my equipment.  And I have a simple recording interface; a few inexpensive mics; an acoustic and an electric guitar; an electric bass; an inexpensive synth; and various pieces of percussion.  That's really all I need to record any of the songs I've written. 

 
So -- even though it's fun to browse online ads, trawling for musical bargains -- I'd be better served by applying that time to actually recording -- or at least, playing an instrument.




--GG