I have a .22 rimfire rifle that was delivering very weak hits with the firing pin. Lots of FTFs. I did not have the tool needed (a wrench) to take the bolt apart.
I took the gun to a gunsmith. He too, did not have the correct wrench, but being talented, he made one. The wrench fabrication took the better part of an hour. After all is said and done, the gun now functions well.

I paid for 1 1/2 hours labor which included the time to fabricate the wrench. ($60 per hour)

My question is this: I paid for the wrench. Should the Smith have offered me the wrench?

Best,
Gary

I see where you are coming from but I think the gunsmith gets to keep the wrench. You hired him to fix the gun and he did. Don

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"Don't worry be happy"

How much is the wrench to buy? I think I would have bought the wrench and let him use it if it was anything around the $60 you paid him to make it.

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Jim
S&WCA #819

Could you make the wrench yourself? Sometimes it's not just a matter of kicking the right place. It's knowing where to kick.

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John 3:16 .

He keeps it, you paid for a repair, not for a custom made tool.

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Geoff. Since 1960.

IMHO, just to fan the flames perhaps, if you pay for the materials in the wrench also (which can't be very much) then you could own it.

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Fast is fine;accurate is final

I tend to agree. If part of the price was to fabricate the wrench. You have in part paid for the wrench.

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It is what it is.

The wrench is his---he made it to do a job and he keeps it. What if he bought the wrench to do the job---he is going to charge you for it--in the form of shop materials.
Blessings

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TEXAS, by GOD

Buy a wrench.
Rent it out for $10.00/hour to other gunsmiths in your area (apparently none of them have one).
Retire on the proceeds.

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and what his trumpet saith

Anyone who does any kind of gunsmithing or hobby smithing will need to make a tool for a specific purpose from time to time. I only work on my own guns, 1911's and S&W revolvers and I have made several special tools over the years. This gunsmith will now be able to perform the same repair on someone else's gun for a lot less. But, you contracted with him to fix your gun so I believe it belongs to him as he may never need it again.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

I disagree.

If you took your car to the garage, to have some work done on it, and the mechanic found that he needed a certain tool he did not have, and had to go buy the tool to do the job, that tool would not show up on your bill. I know that if it showed up on my bill it would be going home with me.

If I hired someone for 20 bucks an hour to cut my grass, and after an hour and a half of cutting he stopped and then spent 30 minutes sharpening his lawn mower blade, that 30 minutes best not be on my bill. I hired him to cut the grass, not to work on his mower.

Having the tools needed to do the job is part of any mechanic's job. The customer does not get charged for them. Buying your tools is just a part of doing business. Some mechanics will try to charge you. Stick an extra 15 minutes to the labor. Add another five bucks to the consumables (shop materials). They might even get away with it. This is STEALING, but they might get away with it.

Bottom line is you paid him to fix your gun, not to make a tool. If you paid him to make the tool, it's your tool. If he wants to keep the tool, the price for making it needs to come off the invoice.

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I always take precautions

Did you hire him to make a wrench for you? Did you discuss all the details of his work prior to fixing your gun?
It sounds like you have found a talented gunsmith that took the initiative to get the job done and fix you gun - he sounds like a keeper.

Speaking as a tool & die maker myself , if I have to make custom tooling for a job , I either include tooling costs in the overall price of the job , bill the customer seperately for tooling , in which case it becomes the property of the customer , or , depending on just how much time/material , I absorb the cost to get the job.

Often , the time it takes to make a quick tool or simple fixture saves more time/aggrivation than to do the job without it , in which case , the tool is mine.

I think ya paid for time & skill....Probably never use that wrench again.

It takes about 20 years to make a good toolmaker out of a fair mechanic.

Sounds to me like ya got a heck of a deal...Be happy


Su Amigo,
Dave

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"IN GOD WE TRUST"

I say it's his. You agreed to pay him for the job. The job required him to make a tool.

If you want to keep the tool, I guess he could charge you some extra for the cost of the material, plus some markup.

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- The Federalist #46 -

Yep, you paid for a repair, he keeps the wrench. How lucky you are to have such a creative gunsmith in your area who chose to take the time to make you a happy camper.

I feel he should not have been charged to make the tool. He is a gunsmith (ie a mechanic who works on firearms), as a gunsmith, he is required to have the tools to do the job. If he did not have the tool, he could have refused the job. The smith made the tool that was required to make the repair. He now has that tool to make that same repair on other guns.

Working on Harley's, we also work on Buell's. I needed a $300 set of tamper proof torx bits to work on a Buell one day. I bought the set out of my own money and did the job. I couldn't charge the customer or the dealer I work for.

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Fidelis Ad Mortem

I would agree with this. I can't imagine what "wrench" he needed, but it doesn't matter. You took a problem to him to have him solve it, and he did. He has no way to know if he will ever need the tool again. He made it to fix your gun.

You could ask for the wrench, since you consider that you paid for it. He will probably tell you that he only charged you for some of it, and he absorbed the rest - for one reason or another. (Usually, because he knows you would be sore if he charged you what his price would be if he just coldly charged time and materials.) That means he would want you to pay for whatever he feels he absorbed before he hands over the tool. You wouldn't like that, either.

I would just be glad he fixed the problem to my satisfaction and forget it. It was probably handled a bit cheaper than sending the gun back to the manufacturer, and if the man is a first-class tradesman, it is good not to offend him. You may need him again someday. If you do, check into the particulars of his pricing as you think necessary, at that time. Remember, the guy has to make a living and nothing is cheap these days.

I think you and he should have a jell-o wrestling match to determine who gets the wrench!

In all honesty, you wanted your gun fixed, and it appears you couldn't, or at least didn't fix it yourself. If the price was cheaper than a replacement gun, I think you got your money's worth.

Lemme guess , Snap-On?

Matco, the snap on guy never has anything in stock.

I should qualify my post, the smith keeps the tool, but doesn't charge the customer to make it.

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Fidelis Ad Mortem

That's more like it.