Tools which delight and satisfy, every time you use them

[T42]

Planes. I like all the ones I have except a Faithful block plane lookalike that isn't half as well-suited to the job as a 2/6d item I bought from Woolie's some time in the 60s. Taking an even, full-length shaving from a piece of timber is such a satisfying sensual experience that I tend to forget that the idea is to ready the wood for use and that the shavings are not the end product - if fact I quite often clamp an offcut up in the vice and reduce it to curls just for fun.

I need an excuse to buy a spill plane.

[Thor]

I bought this kit 3 years ago and it seems to be employed on almost every job.  A mere 10.8V^*, but they are so lightweight and compact they can reach the parts other drills/drivers can't.  Most of the time you don't need any more power.  They charge up quickly.

The impact driver is absolutely mental.  I've never experienced anything quite like it: 3 inch screw into a skirting board was 10 mins by hand and bruising; 7 mins with a ratchet (I am weak probably, but also very thick hard wood), 5 seconds with the drill in this kit in driver mode, and less than one second with the impact driver. I tell you; it was noisy as heck but it could drive that screw through to Narnia if you left it going

 

^*Post Brexit, we'll be able to call them 12V like they do in USA.

[Aunt Maud]

Planes. Snip..... if fact I quite often clamp an offcut up in the vice and reduce it to curls just for fun.

I need an excuse to buy a spill plane./snip

Follow this path to long curly shaving heaven........

http://www.axminster.co.uk/veritas-skew-rebate-planes-ax791600

[T42]

Yup. I have a Veritas spokeshave, but I can't really justify the cost of a plane.

I wonder how many people bugger those skew blades sharpening them. Just as well they're cheap.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

The mighty Bosch:



With its potential victims.

Mebbe not 'delight and satisfy' more 'sine qua non'.

[Kim]

I'm really struggling here.  I mean, I've got plenty of tools I wouldn't be without, and some that I even consider to be reasonably decent, but I don't really think of them as delightful.  We can safely rule out anything which runs software on general principle^[1].  Cutty things that work well (be they wire cutters, kitchen knives or planes) are natural fit for 'satisfying', but I'm hardly a blade enthusiast by forum standards and my skill with a plane is borderline^[2] non-existent.  "My bicycle" is too obvious.

I've often felt that I ought to own a proper Avometer, but the truth is I'd still reach for a digital multimeter the vast majority of the time.

Soldering irons?  I grew up with 12W mains powered crap.  I can solder 60:40 with pretty much anything.

'Scopes?  I rather like my Goldstar 50MHz analogue-with-digital-storage jobby, though I suspect that's mostly because I bagged it for 100 quid on eBay before the DSO revolution really got going, rather than it being particularly special.  My cheap Rigol's a better tool in every way that actually matters, but it's still an unsatisfying computerised toy rather than the sort of thing I lusted after when first learning electronics.

Software aside, I should put in a word for the humble Garmin.  I'm old enough to not take GPS for granted, and that something so powerful is affordable in a package that fits in the palm of your hand is barely distinguishable from magic.  It's easy to forget about that when you're bitching about UI bugs and routing algorithms, but not so much when you're standing on a hillside with it displaying your position to within three metres.

The Internet has changed, improved and probably saved my life.  But so did intravenous immunoglobulin.


_{[1] ie. Sturgeon was an optimist.
[2] I put in the effort to use when making the bed frame, simply because I couldn't face the amount of sanding involved, and got better results for doing it.}

[Moleman76]

Anything with Campagnolo on?

The T-wrench, of course.  However requires a bicycle with "rational" fasteners, i.e. mostly 6mm allen and 8mm hex.

The  http://fixitsticks.com/for-bikes "Fixit sticks" are close for multi-fastener bikes.

For working with wood, a "Japanese" pull saw.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

I broke one of HK's aluminium Fix It Sticks by trying to remove a pedal when coming back from foreign brevet. Until that point, I thought they were wonderful. The steel 'replaceables' model would probably be able to cope with that abuse.

Hozan's crank bolt spanner. Nothing spectacular but a lovely indestructible piece of kit that is perfectly formed for all-day use.
http://www.bikewagon.com/hozan-crank-arm-wrench-ratcheting-14-15mm

Park's OBW-3 allows a mechanic to centre a cheap and nasty sidepull caliper as easily as any brake made by Campagnolo.
https://www.parktool.com/product/offset-brake-wrench-obw-3?category=Brakes

Park's SD-1 meant you could properly tighten or loosen a non-Allen key, non-aero brake lever without having to unhook the cable. Some brake levers weren't slotted, which made something that was simple a big hassle.
https://www.marleen.co.nz/workshop/general-purpose-tools/park-tool-sd-1-t-handled-screwdriver.html

Var's chainring bolt tool has prevented a lot of swearing and I love it.
https://cyclepista.wordpress.com/tag/var-tools/

[Ham]

There are a couple of tools I find "satisfying".

The first is the BFO Hilti I bought (s/h) when I was doing up my house and garden 18 years ago. I always feel that I've joined the Big Boys when I pick it up, and anything in its way quavers with fear.

The second is my old Rawlplug drill, comme ca



from the time I used to be a curtain fitter (just shy of 40 years ago). While you can drill holes with them (and I have in the days before portable power tools) the real beauty of it is in marking and starting holes in masonry. You offer up the item, place the drill through the hole and tap. You can then accurately drill your fixing hole. So simple, but effective and satisfying.

Both seem to involve whacking things, does that say something about me?

[ACyclingRooster]

Sorry Admin. A quick - Off Topic.

Hi Ham. Who was it that you worked for in the mid to late 70's in London as a Curtain Fitter.
Oddly enough that was a part of my apprenticeship in the early 60's here in Liverpool.
I went on to specialise in traditional stuffed and stitched upholstery and ended-up going self employed doing everything that the old 'Upholders' would have been engaged in and finally retired in 2007.

[Ham]

deWinter in Kensington Church Street, the guvnor of which was the chair of the Guild of Master Upholders at the time (or thereabouts). The bloke that taught me the ropes had been apprenticed before the war. First War. Spent the second flying in the RAF. Got to go into some very interesting residences.

[Veloman]

Chainsaw.

Always gets results!

[mark]

Like Moleman said, the Campagnolo T-wrench is a wonderful thing.

Ham, is your Rawlplug drill any relation to the Rawl Drive bolts used by US climbers in the '70s and earlier?

[ElyDave]

Generally, my collection of bonsai tools, perhaps because the act of working on a tree in itself is intensely therapeutic. Everything from leaf cutters through to root hooks and carving tools. All laid out, to hand.

For the bikes, for some reason my crank puller springs to mind. Such an ingenious piece of kit transforming brute force rotational movement into a gentle horizontal.

Don't ask me about woodwork, I'm bloody useless, no grease or spanners required.

[T42]

T'other thing I like is my General Tools pocket scribing point, which has been used to dig gravel out of countless tyres, clean impacted muck out of cleat screws, poke holes in stuff, play bench darts and even scribe lines occasionally, yet remains sharp after 30 years' use.

[Chamford Sideplate]

A four quid pop-rivetter I got from TK Maxx. Mudguard repairs are sooo satisfying.
Cyclepro CPT209 chain tool. So much better than all the others I've owned and broken.

[KM]

My lovingly arranged collection of delightful tools:



Years after changing the rear derailleur and hanger on one bike I got around to buying the Park Tool DAG2.2.  Wish I'd got one sooner.  The Bondhus T hex wrench looks fairly unremarkable, but it just feels just right in the hand.  I have the 2mm to 10mm set, but this 5mm one is easily the best at doubling up as a satisfying fidget spinner.  I recently worked on a 90s mountain bike and - after pre-soaking for a few days with WD40 - I had every confidence in adjusting a front derailleur limit screw to avoid chain rub.  There didn't seem any point in experimenting with any screwdriver other than the Vessel Megadora 900.  Amongst other jobs I will be replacing the gear inner cables and housings on that MTB.  As a thank you I got these Knipex 95 61 190 cutters.  I've been nibbling off a few spare inches of housing, such is the satisfaction of using this remarkably effective tool.  Highly recommended. 

[T42]

A four quid pop-rivetter I got from TK Maxx. Mudguard repairs are sooo satisfying.
Cyclepro CPT209 chain tool. So much better than all the others I've owned and broken.

Funny you should mention that.  The other day I turned up a plastic case containing a pop riveter and a great assortment of rivets in a corner of my workshop.  I think I got it about 1989 when we moved to Alsace and I had to change our car number-plates.