The General Tool Thread

[MarinaDiamandis]

the problem is people aren't willing to pay for your time and skill.

I get most of my work through word of mouth, and I'd say that 75% of it is people wanting 'small' favours done for free. They often insist that I must have some offcuts or scrap metal somewhere that I can use so they can have whatever it is for next to nothing. That, or they try to trade me something useless, completely missing the point that I work for money so I can feed myself, not so I can become Britain's biggest hoarder.

Amusingly, a lot of the stuff I get asked for is hand forged, cast iron stuff that would take hours of really focused work to make... yeah, definitely not happening unless you are paying me a lot.

Even my own girlfriend completely underestimates how long it will take for me to hand forge drawer pulls and door handles for the entire house... maybe if she hadn't designed them to be so 🤬 ornate, I might stand a chance of finishing them before the world ends.

I wish I had of kept some of the failed attempts as working tools as I dont use the ones posted, they sit in a display cabinet as Ive never been good at sport or anything like that and that was a point in my life that I felt they where the only thing I'd put my 100% into an achieved somthing so I guess there my kind of trophy's

We weren't allowed to keep our failed attempts, they had to go in the scrap (or the parts bin as it came to being known as ).

My father has a couple of my best apprenticeship pieces for display, one is a tiny nylon-faced mallet, with a polished brass head and a knurled and tapered aluminium shaft - I was so proud of this piece, and really proud to show it to my father.

The other is a heavy, mild steel plumb bob and keeper, which has some of my first attempts at engraving that I was happy with on it.

I'm not too bothered about keeping my apprenticeship work for best, as this house is full of things that I've made myself. Eventually I'd like all of the furniture, and all of the decorative iron work to be by my own hand, but that won't be until the renovation of the house itself is complete.

 

[Slash]

My Craftsman sockets are early 90's and of very good quality. Another good thing about craftsmen is the girl on the floor at sears knows nothing about the signs of tool abuse. I don't condone tool abuse but one time I found myself in a bind and had to link 2 wrenched together for leverage...well you can guess what happened.

I have older stuff but I haven't used them recently at home. Most of the Craftsman stuff I used at school seemed to be decent but it was minimal. Most of our stuff was knock off stuff, some S&K, Snap-On...there was a huge variety.

Snap-on I feel has the best ergonomics, and that really matters when your constantly using the tool in a repeated motion day after day...if its your livelihood then its well worth the investment.

Snap on is up there in ergonomics, some of it though just depends on the brand. From memory I can't really say what is best unless I sat down and went through them 1 by 1, and lets face it, ain't nobody got time for 'dat

I still find it funny that a metric socket set has a 3/8 in drive A question for you "Brits" In the UK what drive are your socket sets, are they metric if not WHY?

They are 12 point sockets as well. It's easier to have a single set of drive ratchets, be it 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 3/4 etc and having metric and imperial sockets and 1 less ratchet that is off makes life so much easier. Having everything on 1 ratchet is also cheaper and really, why do you need metric sized ratchets if metric sockets will fit on imperial ratchets? In fact I don't even think you can buy metric ratchets over here and just about all metric sockets are made for imperial ratchets.

Imperial, and cost. Imperial drives work just fine, even with metric sockets, so the cost to change outweighs the benefits. Plus all the old engineers would lose their 🤬 if you took away the last imperial equipment that they are still able to use

Pretty much this.

I believe the "drive" ie 1/4, 3/8, 1/2 drive etc is a international standard, having both metric and SAE sizes

I don't know, but I never have seen a metric ratchet IRL.

@slash
I'd hold on to that socket set, might never be worth any real amount of money but its always good to say to that guy next to you "look what I have and you dont" quick google search to there website suggests that set was made in the 70's

Regarding the comment of making tools etc I cant go down my local pub without somebody asking me to fabricate, fit, re-jig, weld repair or pull something out of my ass for them, which is all well and good but people expect you to do it for a few beers and in this day and age of the "cheap and cheerful" I just cant do it and make a living out of it. Somebody came to me yesterday and asked if I could make them those nut and bolt figures, well sure I could Im all set up at home with welding equipment and engineering tools, the problem is people aren't willing to pay for your time and skill.

In an ideal world I'd love to be doing those one offs and I could post several photos of work I've done from restoration projects to repairs/developments to one off creative ideas

I fabricated a fitting that allowed a wheel chair user to adjust his headrest in several positions, when it came to payment I refused to take any money, it was payment enough just to know that I'd helped make someones life a bit easier.

@marinadiamandis
I wish I had of kept some of the failed attempts as working tools as I dont use the ones posted, they sit in a display cabinet as Ive never been good at sport or anything like that and that was a point in my life that I felt they where the only thing I'd put my 100% into an achieved somthing so I guess there my kind of trophy's

Yes I know they were made in the '70s, since that is about when they were bought anways judging by most of the other stuff I have.

I get most of my work through word of mouth, and I'd say that 75% of it is people wanting 'small' favours done for free. They often insist that I must have some offcuts or scrap metal somewhere that I can use so they can have whatever it is for next to nothing. That, or they try to trade me something useless, completely missing the point that I work for money so I can feed myself, not so I can become Britain's biggest hoarder.

Amusingly, a lot of the stuff I get asked for is hand forged, cast iron stuff that would take hours of really focused work to make... yeah, definitely not happening unless you are paying me a lot.

Even my own girlfriend completely underestimates how long it will take for me to hand forge drawer pulls and door handles for the entire house... maybe if she hadn't designed them to be so 🤬 ornate, I might stand a chance of finishing them before the world ends.



We weren't allowed to keep our failed attempts, they had to go in the scrap (or the parts bin as it came to being known as ).

My father has a couple of my best apprenticeship pieces for display, one is a tiny nylon-faced mallet, with a polished brass head and a knurled and tapered aluminium shaft - I was so proud of this piece, and really proud to show it to my father.

The other is a heavy, mild steel plumb bob and keeper, which has some of my first attempts at engraving that I was happy with on it.

I'm not too bothered about keeping my apprenticeship work for best, as this house is full of things that I've made myself. Eventually I'd like all of the furniture, and all of the decorative iron work to be by my own hand, but that won't be until the renovation of the house itself is complete.

I agree with the whole deal of what you guys have covered in my last 2 quotes 👍






Edit:


One of the other things he gave me that I stumbled upon was a Ford branded pipe wrench. The only markings is a McKaig Hatch trademark with its location of Buffalo NY, USA. The other markings is a Ford logo without the oval around the text and a number on the other side that says "T-1387". Any significance? Worth anything? It appears to be very old.

 

[Mikeybc]

I don't know, but I never have seen a metric ratchet IRL.

My response to opelgt1969's question earlier was vague... The "drive" size for SAE and metric sockets themselves is the same. The 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 3/4 drive size is standard globally, there's no such thing as a metric drive ratchet.

 

[Shaun]

the problem is people aren't willing to pay for your time and skill.

Tell me about it, as an electrician I mostly don't tell people what I do anymore as too often they will ask for a job done on the cheap. Even worse is when a family member offers you services to someone. Like I wan't to do what I do all week in my spare time for next to no payment.

I fabricated a fitting that allowed a wheel chair user to adjust his headrest in several positions, when it came to payment I refused to take any money, it was payment enough just to know that I'd helped make someones life a bit easier.

👍 For something like that I will give up my spare time.




Quality welds mate 👍, not often you see work of that standard.

The pics of the handmade tools also brought back some memories. Even as an electrician where I served my apprenticeship the first year was mostly in a training centre. Only god knows how many hours I spent turning lumps of rusty steel into a usable tool mainy using hacksaws, files, bearing blue and scrapers. I still shudder thinking about it although some very valuable techniques were learnt.

 

[Slash]

My response to opelgt1969's question earlier was vague... The "drive" size for SAE and metric sockets themselves is the same. The 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 3/4 drive size is standard globally, there's no such thing as a metric drive ratchet.

That would be why 👍

Tell me about it, as an electrician I mostly don't tell people what I do anymore as too often they will ask for a job done on the cheap. Even worse is when a family member offers you services to someone. Like I wan't to do what I do all week in my spare time for next to no payment.



👍 For something like that I will give up my spare time.




Quality welds mate 👍, not often you see work of that standard.

The pics of the handmade tools also brought back some memories. Even as an electrician where I served my apprenticeship the first year was mostly in a training centre. Only god knows how many hours I spent turning lumps of rusty steel into a usable tool mainy using hacksaws, files, bearing blue and scrapers. I still shudder thinking about it although some very valuable techniques were learnt.

That happens to my dad. He's an electrician and people always ask him for work done...sometimes he gets rather large projects too.

 

[opelgt1969]

Imperial, and cost. Imperial drives work just fine, even with metric sockets, so the cost to change outweighs the benefits. Plus all the old engineers would lose their 🤬 if you took away the last imperial equipment that they are still able to use

Thanks for the reply, I was just wondering if years ago if the UK might have had different drive socket heads. I know that some (standard) wrench sizes doesn't fit just right on say my 73 MG Midget, hence the nuts on the SU carbs.

 

[MarinaDiamandis]

Thanks for the reply, I was just wondering if years ago if the UK might have had different drive socket heads. I know that some (standard) wrench sizes doesn't fit just right on say my 73 MG Midget, hence the nuts on the SU carbs.

As said before by Mikey, imperial driver size is a global standard, but as you probably know, Britain has/had some odd size nuts and bolts.

Most bolts on a 1973 Midget will be Whitworth, which is sized by thread diameter, rather than the A/F system (across flats) that is used today. Whitworth bolt heads are also larger than their imperial equivalent - expect scraped knuckles and rounded off bolt heads unless you are using Whitworth spanners.

To illustrate the difference:

Whitworth on the left and A/F imperial on the right.

 

[dhandeh]

For me I generally favour these...

Facom - Screwdrivers & smaller ratchets
Snap On - Larger ratchets, pry/lever bars, ratchet screwdriver, spanners.
CP - Air tools.
Sealey - Sockets, and general purpose tools.

 

[nick09]

My newest toolbox and I've already turned two welcome mats into protective material for the case.

Already filled it in with two sets of screwdrivers and a small tape measure. It looks professional and surprisingly nice to carry 19 pounds of tools and case weight for so far.

 

[XS]

I just pick and choose depending on build quality, for instance my 1/2 inch drive torque wrench is Mac Tools, very good and a lot better than the Craftsman it replaced. But as a general rule I stay away from Harbor Freight, especially after I broke a 1/2 inch drive ratchet putting only about 80 lbs of steady hand pressure on it. It just went, which left me with a broken knuckle. Nope never again with Harbor Freight junk.

 

[Slash]

Wow that is the worst I've ever heard from a broken tool.

 

[nick09]

Gave my toolbox tiny rubber feet so it will not slide around in the trunk of my car.

 

[Slash]

Half inch drive, 12pt deep socket set. This was one of the things I got with all the stuff I was given. Ill slowly get that all up. Just being lazy.

 

[Slash]

Stanely has a hell of a deal on a 60 piece socket set with ratchets and a tool box. $38 on Wally worlds website...I think I am going to pick it up for the simple fact that you can never have too many sockets...

EDIT:

Also, looking at toolboxes

Dad's going to check the MAC truck this week to see if anyone has traded in some old Craftsman boxes. I'm running on a $165 budget. Right now, Sears has some nice 2 chest boxes for sale at nearly $100, that have ball bearing shelves, wheels and dual chests.

Need to get one, especially if I'm going to be working somewhere eventually. I just keep dumping money into them...I just dropped almost $70 on more stuff a few hours ago.

This is the chest I'm looking at. Seems promising for the most part, though I'm used to Snap-On boxes. My dad has had Craftsman boxes before so I think I'll be ok.

http://www.sears.com/craftsman-5-dr...p-00931013000P?prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1

 

[Mikeybc]

True about never having too many sockets, if they sold sets with just 10mm sockets I'd probably buy one, it's always the size I lose first and never find when I need it.

 

[Slash]

@Mikeybc

I couldn't even tell you how many I have. I bought a 1/4" set over the summer (Stanley) that seems to be holding up real well, as well as a 3/8" Burnz-O-Matic set and 1/2" set that I inherited, and then my Blue Point set that is my baby

Given the chance I will just keep getting them, or stuff in general, since it always ends up being the stuff you don't have


I must say I am impressed with the Stanley stuff I have bought, and I did notice the ratchet mechanisms are interchangeable with Mac. Though, I still don't think they are anywhere near the quality my Blue Point stuff is. Those are just...wow. The ratchet is so smooth and hardly makes any noise. I actually kind of prefer the feel of it over some of the Snap On ones my dad has...

Also, you can buy single sockets, but depending on the brand, it can range anywhere from $1.30-$10 a socket.

 

[Omnis]

So I changed all the accessory belts on my car over the weekend. I quickly realized that I could really use a set of ratcheting wrenches. I have to go back in to replace the timing belt and CV joint and it's going to be a major pain in the ass with the tools I have now.

I could pay someone to do it for me, but I'd rather save a few hundred bucks and have a nice new set of tools to show for it.

What would you guys suggest? Let's say my budget is $100, and I need a metric 8, 10, 12, 14, and 15mm wrenches.

 

[Slash]

$100 is a hell of a budget for just 5 wrenches.

For $55 and some change for shipping, you can get this Craftsman set of 8. It has all the sizes you need and a few more, and are backed by a lifetime warranty. Simply take the busted wrench to any Sears and they'll replace it with a brand new one on the spot.

http://www.craftsman.com/craftsman-...0922985000P?prdNo=11&blockNo=11&blockType=G11

 

[Omnis]

No, I mean $100 for a whole set. But it has to include those sizes, and I guess I forgot to mention but they should be reversible and I'd prefer a flex head.

What other budget tool companies are out there that make those? I just know gearwrench, craftsman, and napa carlyle, and they're all around 100 something.

Craftsman's flex head metric set is missing a 14mm, so that's out of the question. They have some other kind of similar wrench set with the black oxide finish with the requisite sizes. However, the ratcheting box end looks like it has splines rather than a 6/12 point pattern. What's up with that? Are spline wrenches good for something? Wouldn't those make it easier to round a bolt?

 

[Slash]

Harbor Freight and Kobalt come to mind.

After those, things start getting pricey. I think Snap on ones are like $165 for a set.

 

[AOS-]

I liked Dewalt's idea of having a standardized battery pack that could go on many different power tools... but then I just saw this and went ham at the drill press.

 

[Legro]

I generally use Beta Tools, when in need of hand tools, which is almost always doing some karting or Mini related things. I'm sure there are better options than some small Italian brand, but they get the job done.