Bought a cheap knee kicker from a yard sale and it cost me a whole job

Found a used knee kicker for $20 last month and thought I got a steal... the teeth were worn down to almost nothing. Tried to use it on a 12x15 living room install and couldn't get a tight stretch on the pad at all. Had to stop halfway through, go buy a new one for $180, and redo all my work. Lost about 3 hours and the client was pretty annoyed with the delay. Anyone have a good way to check used tools before you buy them?

3 comments

3 Comments

lisa_hart261mo ago

Guess you learned the hard way why @the_val brings carpet scraps to yard sales.

the_val1mo ago

My old boss taught me to always bring a scrap piece of carpet to test the teeth.

parker2511mo ago

That's a solid tip for checking the cut, but it misses the wear pattern over time. A fresh scrap shows the initial bite, not how the teeth hold up after a few passes through backing and pad. You'd really need to run a bigger sample through a machine to see any wobble or heat buildup.