[juanbenae]

tell him the throttle sticks every once in a while, and it scares when it happens so it could never be loaned. then tell him that you are busy the day he's going to moms to trim her garden.

the throttle sticks thing works well. i actually stumbled upon it by having a chain saw that the throttle sticks on. my friend always asks to borrow it, even though i fixed it he's none the wiser and it works every time.

thing is most rental yards don't even rent chain saws anymore, for all the reasons you guys state above. the danger, the ability to use it safely, dumb asses that use it to move dirt, and the fact that somebody that does not know what they are doing can trash it.

all in all there are those you'd loan stuff to, and those you won't, the trick is figuring out which is which. i do pride myself on being a good borrower though. i want to return stuff better than when i got it if possible. i borrowed a tile saw from an anal buddy of mine, before returning it i cleaned all the brick waste stains off it from when his brother last used it. i borrowed a roto-tiller second hand (a borrow from a borrower), and found the tire flat after i started using it, fixed the flat only to find out it was flat all along. that flat tire story has earned me a stellar reputation for being a good borrower.

having pretty much exclusivly contractor buddies it pays to be a good borrower, leaves more room in the garage for the porsche.