Does it really matter?

As I sit this morning in a coffee deprived state a thought occurs to me.

Does color matter?

I mean, really matter. Like at all.

Is an otherwise identical item better because it may be purple instead of blue? or blue instead of green?

 

This all came to mind as I was thinking of my weekend project. No, not leveling jewelcrafting, thats during the week. This weekend I am organizing my garage.

The few people who have actually seen my garage just shuddered and started coming up with alibi’s for the weekend. Seriously, it’s like a train wreck in there. What the hell does my garage have to do with Wow you ask?

Chill, i’ll get there.

So as I was considering things I could do to organize my space, I remembered that the rubber coatings of many of my hand tools is worn or damaged. Keep in mind I am a mechanic/electronics tech and have quite the pile of tools.  I can literally go from replacing parts on a circuit board to rebuilding an automobile engine, all with tools I have on hand.

Yes, I know, back to Wow.

/sigh Trust me. I’ll get there.

Thinking about replacing the rubberized coating I looked up Plasti-Dip, a great product I have used before. Come to find out that instead of buying a single color it is customizable. It comes clear and packaged with tints that can do a variety of colors. Thats what got me thinking.

There are times when the quality of a tool matters more than others. Times when you need that extra strength or durability that comes with the better stuff. Times when I may not want to dig through a bin looking for my “good” ratchet handle. 

Now don’t get me wrong, not all my tools are high quality. Some were bought to last, others were bought for a single task and will likely never be used again. I found myself dividing up everything into three categories in my head, and assigning a color to each.

Green:

Low quality tools that still get the job done. They tend to break and once they do you toss them. Cheap to buy and usually sporting “Made in Taiwan” or ‘Made in China” on them somewhere.

Blue:

Tools with a lifetime warranty. They tend to last longer and have a bit better control. Generally Craftsman or Benchtop in my case. The bulk of my tool collection.

Purple:

The best quality tools in my tool chest. Lifetime warranty, but I will likely never break them or wear them out. Names like Snap-On and S-K come to mind.

 

Without even realizing it, I was breaking things down in my head to the color coding for Wow. Either I have been playing entirely too long or it was just an easy default for my brain to fall back on. Kind of like putting catsup in the red squeeze bottle and mustard in the yellow. It just made sense.

So the question is this. Assume I took three otherwise identacal tools, colored them green, blue, and purple. Then assume I set them side by side for you to grab while working on something, do you think you would grab the purple without thinking?