A set of orifice drills from #40 all the way down to #80 from my days in the mobile home business.
There’s no such thing as a tool you don’t need, only tools that you haven’t had a chance to use yet.
I don’t think I have too many really specialized tools. I do have a tire bead breaker and a static wheel balancer, not too many people can mount their own tires. I only ever use them to mount and balance motorcycle tires, though in theory I could also use them for car tires.
I’ve also got a carburetor synchronizer. This basically measures the difference in pressure between two vacuum ports. Certain vehicles (again I use it on motorcycles) have a bank of several carburators or throttle bodies working in concert. For the engine to be in proper tune, you need to periodically check that all the carbs are pulling the same amount of vacuum, which ensures they all deliver an equal amount of fuel for a given throttle setting.
I probably have some more motorcycle-specific tools that people who ride wouldn’t find odd, but non-riders would have no use for them.
Tools, ya want to talk tools?
Well my (automotive) tool box is 6 feet wide, and 5 feet high and it is full. The last full inventory I did gave a retail value of about $80,000 and that was quite a few years ago, so maybe $100K to replace it all now.
some of the odder stuff
Various Jaguar MG, and Volvo special tools.
A Snap-On Vantage pro oscilloscope (about $3,000 all by itself) with all the goodies to go with.
Torx? Do you want screwdrivers, bits or sockets?
Wrenches, sockets are duplicated in full sets of metric, and standard (Volvos used to standard, then they switched to metric)
Sockets come in deep and shallow, 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 (full sets) with a smattering of 3/4 drive. Largest wrench and socket is 36mm (1-7/16")
Full set of AN wrenches
Full set of air tools impacts, air ratchets, impacting air ratchet, die grinder, air drill, and an air chisel (loudest tool I own)
I too have a riv nut tool, and a hydraulic pop riveter. I will probably buy an air riveter when I decide to build my hot rod.
On the electric side, I have a two speed electric screwdriver (very small fits in behind dashes and that.
On the non-automotive side it seems like I have just about every 18V tool Dewalt makes. Drill, two different lights, saws all, circular saw and a wet dry vacuum.
On the non battery side, I have a Skill 77 saw, jig saw, radial arm saw ($50 on Craig’s list) pad sander, belt sander, router, table for same, chop saw, and a drill press. I have an industrial sized compressor and the garage is plumbed for air.
I’m sure I have overlooked several thousand dollars worth of tools, but you get the idea.
With very few exceptions, all of these tools either were used extensively or are still in regular use.
the automotive stuff is mostly Snap-On, Mac and Matco. Probably no Craftsman. with the exception of my 1/4" drive SAE set of sockets. The non-automotive stuff is mostly Dewalt, Craftsman, and some Skill.
I was once yelled at by a foreman for using homebuilt tools to work on motorcycles, but they saved an hour on a DOHC motorcycle valve adjustment and saved me forty bucks in tools. The factory tool was a wedge that depressed the valve cup when it was rotated into position by turning the camshaft. Instead of going through that mess, I just used a soft steel flat screwdriver to push down on the shim, then used another screwdriver that was ground to shape to hold the cup down.
I also had a few large bolts with nuts welded on the other end. Used with a socket and extension, I had a full set of fork tube wrenches for a fraction of the cost, and taking a fraction of the space in my toolbox.
I also have a growler somewhere around here, complete with the lightbulb, though I haven’t used it (Anyone want to guess why not?)
Four 'Bs and never did the hubs. The closest I’ve come is greasing the splines.
A few years ago, I put a 10x12 shed on the property.
It’s basically a tool box.
I have less and less automotive type tools and more and more construction type tools. Since I’m putting an addition on the house, and don’t like working on new vehicles I guess that makes sense.
An air compressor is a great addition. I have a few nail guns including a palm nailer. The palm nailer is one of the best little gadgets I’ve ever owned. It’s particularly useful in tight spaces, and it does not require any type of special nail or clip. Great for remodeling work when you find a spot that you can’t swing a hammer.
It’s basically a little jack hammer that drives nails. Works great.
http://www.shopping.com/xPO-Senco_Senco_PC0781_A20_Pneumatic_Palm_Nailer
If you have an air compressor, buy one of these.
Robertson’s are common in Canada, where I live, but rare in the USA, so when my American Leatherman multi-tool did not include a Robertson, I ground its pliers tip into the shape of a red robbie.
Ar? I see them in every hardware store I visit.
That’s 'cause we’re taking over the world, one screw at a time.
Electrical types person here, used to work on telephone exchanges many years ago, the ones full of electromechanical relays.
The result was loads of hooks, levers, spring tensioners, spring gauges, clearance gauge plates.
It was something of a feat to reach into the toolkit and not get a finger stabbed by something pointy.
Working in a hospital you find lots of useful bits and bobs in the sterilising section, the main things I found useful were the various types of clamps which make for great third hand tools.
I haven’t heard anyone mention Q-Max cutters yet, or Louvre punches.
Partially. The other reason is so we can go out and look at them anytime we want. And bragging rights, of course.
Did not think of those tools. Soldering Iron of course, a few multi-meters and the rather obscure Wiggins. I suspect only Navy EMs from the 70s and 80s would know of this device.
Jim
I believe the proper name was “Wigginton”, but everyone called it a Wiggins or a Wiggie. I was a Seabee electrician and it came standard in every tool kit. The drawback was that you couldn’t test for continuity with it, and the kits didn’t come with an ohmmeter.
I enjoy working on my cars and motorcycle, but find the assortment of “special” tools that are specified in the factory shop manuals to be a frequent irritant. They are often difficult to find, nearly always expensive, frequently only used for a single repair, and occasionally can be replaced with a non-special tool.
Don’t even get me started on the Triumph.
Tools, you say?
I’ll just cover the stuff that you might not find in the common collections.
Garage
Two straight ship-builders adzes, one curved adze, a 24" joiner plane, two jack planes, one smoothing plane, one block plane, one low-angle plane, assorted wood chisels, a borrowed wire welder, a 6" joiner, a 12" thickness planer, a drill press, table saw, over 20 hammers hanging on the wall, an electric hand planer, various sanders, 5 or 6 hand saws, a midi-lathe, several wooden mallets, a worn-out chain saw, a new hatchet.
Truck
The usual assortment of wrenches, sockets, etc, a great double-bit axe that never seems to dull, an 8 lb. sledge hammer, two 6 lb. wood splitting mauls, two 20 ft chains, one 6 ft chain, two binders, a fence stretcher, a new chain saw, a draw knife, a hand drill (the original cordless), a brace and some auger bits, a pair of post hole diggers, two shovels, a 5 ft pry bar (one of my most useful and prized posessions), a Ryobi cordless set (drill, sawzall, etc), a small tool box full of nothing but drill bits, a set of four tie-down straps, a scissor jack, two questionable hydraulic jacks, a mutli-meter, a dial caliper.
Farm
A 1" cable that’s over 120 ft long and has been a lifesafer several times, a 3/4" 40 ft cable, and one homemade, junkyard wars band saw sawmill.
I’m sure I’m forgetting something.
Has anybody seen my machete? I haven’t been able to find it for months.
Moving out of the garage and into the back yard, there is a tool I used in the last century while working on a golf course that I would dearly love to have, but it appears to have become obsolete: a tile scoop.
Basically, it was a long handle with a metal Y at the end. The two ends of the Y had rivets that went through the sides of a double-ended shovel blade, a bit narrower than a standard round-point, but about 14 inches long. When laying pipe, (or drainage field tile, hence the name), once the basic ditch had been dug (either with a ditching machine or a round-point shovel), we used the tile scoops to run across the bottom of the trench to sccop out any extra dirt while leaving the bottom of the trench smooth. Every once in a while I have to lay down some drainage tile back near the barns and it is a real hassle going down a foot or more with a round-point for dozens of yards, then trying to clean out the bottom of the trench . There are actually two patents for tile scoops (264,295 and 528,607), so it was probably manufactured at one time, but they are certainly not found or known any more.
I do have a sod lifter that comes in handy to cut the grass above where the trench needs to be dug, but I cannot even find anyone who has ever seen (or heard of) a tile scoop–even when I spent a year working with pipe layers, recently.
We have tons of tools; hand tools, power tools, tools to make other tools work. Many of them have no know use (at least, by those of us living under this roof.)
Today, Hubby is enroute to the house his parents just sold, to bring home all the left behind tools. Some belonged to his great grandfather. Others are duplicates of those residing in the basement shop.
There are yard tools that Pop saw on TV and had to have, that have never been used. There are even shoe making tools.
Some day, we will have to move. I’m not looking forward to that day. Why can’t he collect… never mind. It would still be over the top…
I have a whole lot of one-time tools I collected from projects just owning a house.
tile biting pliers
rivet pliers
shingle stapler
drain plug puller
shower faucet puller
sprinkler head filter puller
nut buster (a small vise with a built in chisel to break off frozen engine nuts)
headless screw remover (basically a reverse threaded drill bit)
pipe threader
pipe bender
strap-grip pliers to grip large uneven parts.
chain-grip pliers to grip large diameter pipe
plastic window pane scoring tool
screen spline tool
doorknob lock puller and re-key kit
drain pipe crimper
cable loopsaw to cut sprinkler pipe while still in the ground
It would be easier to list what my spouse doesn’t have. I used to have a garage. No more, it’s a woodshop. In addition to an array of power tools, he has collections of planes, spokeshaves, mallets, rasps, saws, marking gauges and chisels. And clamps, clamps, clamps.
Nothing like completing a job with the right tool.