My favourite tool

[hatler]

^
Nice toolage.
With the exception of the rainbow allen keys, if you rummage through my tool box(s) you'll find every one of those - with good reason.....
The baby copper and hide hammer is a delight when getting an already clamped job into position on a Bridgeport.

And that good reason is, I presume, that they are crap ?  If so, I'm clearly not using them enough.

And if I had a Bridgeport (oh that I had enough room for one) it would have featured in my list, no question.

Absolutely not!
Basic essentials. Nothing exotic or esoteric. Just straightforward, no-nonsense kit.
The auto-punch is another favourite - excellent for extracting bolts whose heads have sheared off, by tapping them around.
I've ground one of the jaws of my mechanical vernier callipers so that it is slightly shorter than the other - makes it dead easy to score a line a set distance from the edge of the material.

Ah ! Got it. I read that as "Nice toolage except for the Allen keys."

[Chris N]

I've got a few - my absolute favourite tool is a 1x30" belt sander.  Now I've replaced the crappy belt that it came with for a decent one it's like a powered file and gets used for all sorts of things - chamfering shortened screws, sharpening tools and shaping all sorts of materials, including stainless steel.

Second favourite is a 4oz ball pein hammer I was given.  It's nothing special, but it's just the right size for all sorts of little jobs, is well balanced and is light enough that you can't hit things too hard.

Third is a Bahco 1/4" hex ratchet set with a selection of hex bits and small sockets - perfect for fiddly little jobs like fitting mudguards.

[PhilO]

I have a large adjustable spanner with a mole wrench-style locking lever to tighten down the jaws, like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stanley-Locking-Adj-Wrench-10In/dp/B0001IW8DI

Far from my nicest tool, but probably the most versatile.

[Tim Hall]

Yes indeed. She had quite a history with a desperately sad end. The engineer was one of those lost (but his being the engineer wasn't the reason he was lost).

Was she the one you told me tales of on the FNRTTC? Or are you even more of a salty sea dog than I first thought?

[hatler]

I have a large adjustable spanner with a mole wrench-style locking lever to tighten down the jaws, like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stanley-Locking-Adj-Wrench-10In/dp/B0001IW8DI

Far from my nicest tool, but probably the most versatile.

Wow. I've never seen one of those before, let alone conceived that such a thing might exist. How clever.

[hatler]

Yes indeed. She had quite a history with a desperately sad end. The engineer was one of those lost (but his being the engineer wasn't the reason he was lost).

Was she the one you told me tales of on the FNRTTC? Or are you even more of a salty sea dog than I first thought?

She's the very lady. I did just the one extended stint at sea, and it was onboard the Maria.

[hatler]

Breaker bars.  After years a couple of decades of struggling with the ratchets & tommy bars that come in socket sets I was introduced to the wonder that is a breaker bar. Such Joy!  I bought a 3/8 immediately and promised myself I would never again struggle with less than the right tool for a job.  The 1/2" followed soon after and that bad boy rarely gets beaten.  One day it did get beaten, the crank nut on an engine was bending it like fyffes ffynest.  After 5 minutes of fight and remembering my promise to myself I zapped down to Rose Autos in Crawley and spent something horrific on a 3/4" braker bar and 1 & 3/4" or thereabouts socket.  Most expensive 10 seconds of tool use in my life but so worth it.

My dad's philosophy was that when the need arises, buy the best tool you can afford to do the job. Don't waste money on cheap tools (which are generally thrown away, and into the bargain stand a good chance of wrecking the piece you are working on, thereby costing a lot more overall than the expensive tool would have cost you in the first place).

No need either to buy complete sets if there's little to no chance that you'll use the other bits. It's a philosophy I have adopted once I learnt the hard way (I remember a Kamasa socket set as being particularly tinny, though it got the job done when I first got the Sprite). The only stand out from those early years was a cheap set of Snap-on lookalike screwdrivers I bought in a motor factors in Watford (about 1990). I needed something to get me started and reasoned that as they broke I would replace them with the real thing, one at a time. Amazingly about half of them are still in good nick. (I obviously don't do enough fettling.)

[T42]

^^^Yeah. I still have an el cheapo socket set I bought for £2 in the 60s. Never needed another.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Doesn't always apply with power tools.

I have a 'Titan' SDS breaker drill that cost very little and has been a damn fine machine. Ditto several angle grinders and a standard corded drill.

[Jurek]

I have a Gedore 1/2" drive socket set which came from Argos in Balham when I was on the AA, so that would've been early 80's.
It's had a fair bit of abusive use on commercial vehicles where air driven 3/4" or 1" drive would've been more appropriate.
What's astonishing is that a) All the pieces are still there and b) still working.
Metric, imperial and (get this) Whitworth.

[Kim]

The only stand out from those early years was a cheap set of Snap-on lookalike screwdrivers I bought in a motor factors in Watford (about 1990). I needed something to get me started and reasoned that as they broke I would replace them with the real thing, one at a time. Amazingly about half of them are still in good nick. (I obviously don't do enough fettling.)

This is my usual approach to tools, particularly those that come in sets: Buy a cheap one, but replace with a really good one when it wears out/breaks.  If it doesn't wear out then it's either unexpectedly good or not getting very much use and that's fine.  But if it's getting regular use then an expensive one is fully justified.

(This approach only applies when cheap ones are functionally equivalent to the good ones, so it's more applicable to, say, bottom bracket tools than oscilloscopes.  Also there are various tools eg. multimeters where you want both cheap and expensive versions for the occasions where you need more than one at the same time, and so you have a sacrificial one to lend out or use away from home.)

[hatler]

Just looked at the Wiki page for her. That's quite a story.

She foundered twenty-two years ago yesterday. The emotions are still just below the surface.

[DuncanM]

I've a nice breaker bar with a 1/2" socket attachment that I like but rarely use. I've a very cool Bosch power shear which makes cutting 1.2mm steel sheet (and thicker aluminium) enormously satisfying.
But my favourite tool is probably my welder - I'll never lose the amazement at being able to stick bits of metal together by melting them together with some extra metal! .

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

My recently acquired cordless drill



I've 2 cordless drills but the Ni-cad one I had needed new batteries so I ditched it and bought the above.

Its companion


has been a real workhorse over the years but doesn't have the low rev torque nor is the hammer action quite as effective.  Still an excellent tool though.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Ah, now you will be able to drill, then drive, without switching out the bits. That's an excellent setup. Should save much time.

[T42]

Buy a cheap one, but replace with a really good one when it wears out/breaks.  If it doesn't wear out then it's either unexpectedly good or not getting very much use and that's fine.  But if it's getting regular use then an expensive one is fully justified.

Tends to be my approach, especially to tools I've never used before and want to try first.  With hand tools these days, when the good old UK brand names are plastered on cheap Asian rubbish, you also learn to get the things fit for use, too.

Case in point: last night I had great fun with a self-styled Record spokeshave packed out with Sugru to reduce the yawning mouth to a size where it actually takes shavings.  It won't last but when I get my Veritas one I'll know what I'm about.

BTW, this hot weather is great for setting Sugru.

[T42]

PS it didn't last - neither the weather nor the spokeshave.  Veritas ordered.