Arrow Fastener and my guilty conscience

I have a confession to make.  Something that has been weighing on my soul for a long time.  Almost thirteen years, to be exact.

A long long time ago, when I was in college, I lived in a house with four girls.  We didn’t have much money to furnish our creaky old house, but that didn’t stop me. I went to the thrift-store (this was waaaaay before it was considered ‘cool,’ at least among my friends) and brought home all kinds of random furniture that I recovered myself, in fabrics like pink fur, sparkly blue velvet, and my favorite, a black cheetah print.  It was the best house on the block.

Of course, I had no idea how to recover furniture. I just made it up as I went along.  I also didn’t have the proper tools.  Or any tools, really.  But my roommate had a brother who was a carpenter, so I borrowed a staple gun from him. It worked great!  I loved it.  So much that I kinda sorta on purpose forgot to return it to him. And then I moved away.  With the staple gun in my trunk. Maybe other girls do adorable things like steal boy’s t-shirts and wear them around, how cute, but watch out for me, I will steal your tools.

And for the last thirteen years, every single time I pull the trusty old thing out, I think of Nate Buhr – the staple-gun-less carpenter – and I feel shame in my heart.

So when Arrow Fastener recently asked if I would be interested in trying out a few of their tools, imagine my surprise to see that they sent me the twin brother to my stolen staple gun!

It felt like … redemption?  I don’t know.  But I do know if I ever run into Nate Buhr, I will happily give his staple gun back now.

So, you can probably guess how I’d review this product. This is the T50 Heavy Duty, and it’s a workhorse. It has obviously stood the test of time, taken all the abuse I could dish out over the last thirteen years, and has never failed me yet.  I’m positive my shiny new model will do the same.   It doesn’t have any fluffy stuff like a padded grip or extra levers and buttons, and it does take a bit of power to get that handle down, but if you’re looking for a staple gun that will last you forever, this is it.

Need a lighter-use model?  Try the TacMate.  Smaller and easier, it’s perfect for household stapling jobs. (Just don’t follow my example and steal one please.  I’ve repented!)

Check back later today to see my makeover of a (wildly overpriced) thrift-store chair and a chance to win a custom box of Arrow Fastener tools for yourself!  UPDATE: You can see that right here!

<<This post was in collaboration with Arrow Fasteners, all opinions are as always 100% my own.