Depending on what you do, you may never need them or you may use them every day. They're handy as hell when you need them though. Here's a recent problem to highlight their handiness: When I was rebuilding my truck's engine, there was one bolt that just wasn't coming out. No amount of penetrating oil was working, so the only option was to cut the head of the bolt off. Since I had others like it, I didn't think I needed to keep it (lesson learned), so I threw that bastard away. I have since found out that GM doesn't have a clue that bolt exists and can't help me, so I get to buy a bolt just guessing. With the calipers, I can measure the width of the hole and figure out which bolt I need, but I can also accurately measure the depth of the hole so I get the right length. Since this is going into the engine block itself, you can see how important it is to get it right.
If your mom's got a good set just laying around, you might see if you can have them. A good set isn't always easy to come by!
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Minister of Negativity
Posterior Investigator General
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