My old boss said "never buy tools from a guy named Bubba" and he was right
Three months ago I grabbed a used circular saw off a marketplace listing from a guy named Bubba for $40, figured it was a steal. It died on the second cut into some pressure-treated lumber, sparked like a bad firework in my driveway in Phoenix. Anyone else got a piece of advice from a mentor that sounded dumb but turned out to be the most useful thing they ever told you?
Man, I gotta push back on that one. I've bought plenty of beat-up tools from sketchy dudes and some of them have outlasted anything from a big box store.