I laughed at a foreman for using a 20-year-old level, now I own two

I used to think the old timers were just being cheap when they'd pull out beat up tools from the 90s. My first big commercial job in Denver we had to pour a slab that had to be dead nuts flat for some medical equipment. The foreman pulls out this old aluminum level with half the bubbles cracked and I almost said something. He showed me it had never been dropped off a ladder unlike the fancy new digital ones. We checked his against a laser and it was spot on while my newer stuff was off by a 16th over 8 feet. Next day I bought two vintage levels off Facebook for 40 bucks total. Anyone else find that the old stuff outlasts and outworks the new garbage?

2 comments

2 Comments

mark_thomas13d ago

Old tools have a sort of built-in honesty since they've already proven themselves. The new stuff might have more features, but it hasn't been put through the same harsh reality check yet. A cracked bubble that still reads true tells a story you can trust over a digital display that might blink wrong tomorrow.

mark36113d ago

You never know what's been through the wringer until you check it against a laser" hits hard because it's SO true. Those old aluminum levels were built like tanks and most of them never took a serious hit that tweaked them. It's funny how we chase new tech but sometimes the simple tools that have been kicking around a hundred job sites are the ones you can actually trust.