Useful tools

[Enzo]

Oh yeah. I had an original with those round bits. I had the screwdriver bits, but also a couple drill bits. The little drills for all the world looked like double sided half round chisels.

I used to watch Norm on This Old House or New Yankee Workshop, and they occasionally whipped out this Yankee driver that must have been two feet long - HUGE. But they could give it one push and drive the entire screw into the work. Seems to me they used it in places like basement work screwing things to floor joists above. But pretty cool, just one big shove.

I think I told Tom about this over lunch, but aside from the Yankee and the eggbeater drills, I used my grandfathers auger brace and bits for drilling.

Brace:
Stanley - 5044 Bit Brace 250 Mm 10In - Screwdriver Bits - Amazon.com

I had a 3/8" bit for pots and jacks, but for toggle switches, I needed larger, so I had a countersink bit I usedto enlarge the holes some:
Vintage Hand Brace Countersink Auger Bit Stock Photo, Picture And Royalty Free Image. Pic 5441086.

When I had to make a 1" or larger chassis hole for a tube socket, I had to first drill a circle of small holes, like 1/8", then snip out the central scrap inside my perforation. Then I used a burring ream to grind out to a smooth hole
Burring ream for auger brace:
General No 134 Burring Reamer | eBay

In relatively light aluminum chassis, I could enlarge a 12AX7 size hole to octal with the ream.

Note the drills and other bits for the auger brace had this square tapered base that fits nothing else. The brace had a ratchet function so you could drill in places you had no room for all the way around cranking.

Then one magic Xmas, my folks got me a Black and Decker 3/8" power drill...

[Mick Bailey]

Whilst I'm pretty much in favour of buying branded, quality tools, sometimes the cheap stuff can work out just fine. It just depends what it is, how often you use it and what it's used for.

Years ago, Japanese tools had a poor reputation, but they moved up in quality. The same with Taiwan. I have some really good tools from those countries that stand up to any western equivalent. Chinese stuff has a well-deserved bad reputation. Dental picks that bend like candy, twist drills that twist and don't drill, poor materials, poor tolerance, poor finish, poor heat treatment. But every now and then you drop on something that's ok, or even good.

I have some scribers that hold a keen point just as well as my Moore & Wright set. Not as nicely finished, but a tenth of the price.

The cheap digital vernier caliper is as accurate as my W.German Mauser caliper. I use it every day.

My stereoscopic PCB inspection microscope is superb and a delight to own and use.

One of my favourite Chinese tools has a combination side cutter one end and an automatic wire stripper the other. Maybe it's a cheap copy of some US tool, but I can't really fault it for the price. When wiring up stomp-boxes it's really efficient and is my go-to tool. I use it constantly and it never dulls or lets me down.

I have a Chinese pneumatic nailer that cost me £9 that is incredibly good. Maybe if I used it every day in factory conditions it wouldn't hold up, but I only need it a dozen or so times a year and it's just fine. Horses for Courses.

[eschertron]

Here's the one tool I have from Harbor freight that I find indispensable:
Micro Flush Cutter

It's cheap, but made in India so it has lasted longer than I expected; it cuts - very cleanly - the shield braid on umpteen cables I've had to prep at work. After a year it's a little loose at the joint but still sharp. Contrast that to the Kobalt branded diag cutter I got from lowes that didn't work from the first day I had it

[Steve A.]

That's a good list, Enzo, and as someone who has been tinkering with stuff for decades, I have most all of those handy items.
I do, however, advise anyone to avoid Harbor Freight junk. Between myself an my friends, I have seen enough 'handy items' turn into useless garbage from that place...

I worked 30 years as a service tech (appliance, electrical and plumbing before specializing in HVAC) and most of my tools were Craftsmen or other reputable brands. When Harbor Freight eventually opened a store locally most of what they sold were as you said: garbage... cheap Chinese crap.


But over the years the factories in China have gotten much better and most of the newer designed hand tools at HF are pretty good... within their limits, of course. It is not cost-effective for the factories to make particularly crappy tools especially for Harbor Freight. (Now they still do make some of the older crappy designs which have not been improved, like their old tap and die sets... ugh!)


Their AC and battery-driven tools are pretty good for the price. I have a $60 heat gun that I bought from Sears 30 years ago and the $15 one from HF works just as well. Their cordless drills under $20 are decent enough but nothing to write home about (the jaws do not hold the 1/16" bits very securely)


Their 5 piece pick & hook set for $3.49 works pretty good and I can't imagine anyone breaking it with routine soldering tasks.





5 Piece Test Probe Set


People who complain about the quality of Harbor Freight tools might not have been in the stores for 10+ years and aren't familiar with some of their newer tools. And they do have a money-back guarantee on their tools so be sure to save your receipt.


Steve Ahola


P.S. This is just a hunch but in the bad old days I think HF would submit their own designs to the factories in China while today they usually order hand tools already designed by the factory and in production cafeteria-style with their only design function being the HF packaging.

[jbltwin1]

You guys left out the most important one--A BFH. I'll let you fill in the rest! Mike.

[big_teee]

I used my BFH yesterday, and it is the 4 lb. shop variety!
Watch the fingers!
T

[Leo_Gnardo]

You guys left out the most important one--A BFH. I'll let you fill in the rest! Mike.

You bet! I got my 1 lb rubber BFH for a buck, it's saved me sore fists thousands of times when pounding on gear to locate intermittent connections. I call it "Maxwell's Rubber Hammer."

Rarely have to use the 3 lb and 8 lb sledges, on gear anyway.

There's always the handy carpenter's claw hammer. It's orange of course, to commemorate Cap'n Beefheart's song.

Surprisingly the mini 4 oz "child's" carp claw hammer comes into use frequently, driving in small nails & brads or just the perfect "love tap" to bend or straighten some errant piece of metal.

Hammer on friends!

[52 Bill]

In our shop there is a 15 lb. sledge under the bench. Whenever I seem to spend too much time on something, the boss will come over and pull it out and place it on the bench next to whatever it is that I'm having a problem with.

I can't think of any reason we have a 15 lb. sledge in the shop, other than for that joke.

[g1]

They make a good doorstop.

[The Dude]

...and they're useful for that occasional unruly customer.

[Enzo]

Hammers. Every now and then some wag walks into the shop and suggests "You probably need a bigger hammer." they don't realize, that hammers, like pliers come in all sizes, and I have them all. Well no, I do not have a good framing hammer. But I know some house builders who do.

I have the large rubber mallet, and a small one, plus my soft face hammer, rubber on one side and plastic on the other. Got my basic claw hammer, and yes, a tiny claw hammer. Got my ball peen hammer. I grew up with it spelled ball pein, but I guess now peen is accepted too. In one shop we called the 3 pound maul the adjuster, and the 8 pounder the convincer. Got a dead blow hammer somewhere, haven't had a use for it in years.


I am OK with HF stuff. yes there is junk, but there are some OK tools too. I bought their battery drill, 15v? 18v? I forget now. Cost $15, has worked just fine for around the house now for several years. I have a "better" one in the shop too.

Yeah, I am not too concerned my explorer picks and stuff are going to break at a critical moment. I haven't stressed them, but the screwdrivers in the kit have worked well enough. My little plastic calipers cost maybe $3, and they measure. What else would I expect them to do? It is a plastic ruler with a slide. Everyone should have one. Is that a 16mm pot? A 12mm or 14mm square one? It tells me in seconds.

I use pin punches a lot, but almost exclusively as alignment pins (aka drift pins), so I am not concerned they will shatter when hammered.

And those little LED flashlights they give away or sell in pairs for cheap, god I love those. You can find the same thing in "real" stores for $15. All I do is make sure they work when I buy them. I always have at least one in my pockets.

[nosaj]

A good pair of jeans. Cause shorts just dont do when soldering.

nosaj

[Leo_Gnardo]

And those little LED flashlights they give away or sell in pairs for cheap, god I love those. You can find the same thing in "real" stores for $15. All I do is make sure they work when I buy them. I always have at least one in my pockets.

I'm way behind the times as usual, just picked up a $20 2-pak of Maglite LED flashlights this week at Home Despot. WOW they're some kinda bright! The 2xAA will take the place of my bench Mag that finally went legs up last week after 30 years on the job, and 2xAAA will take the place of the old dim single-C lamp I kept for navigating the dark in case of power outages. That 2xAA makes my eyes hurt OTOH I can peer in every nook & cranny of a chassis, sweep circuit boards quickly to sight broken/bad solder. Up 'til now I'd only seen the cheap dim bluish "white" LED flashlights, these are something else. "Welding" bright, almost.

[Enzo]

These things:
3-1/2 in. 9 LED Mini Flashlight

HF has them on "sale" for $2, but they are also on the coupon rotation as a free item several times a year.

[The Dude]

The C-store a couple blocks from my house has them for 3 bucks all year long. I have 'em everywhere. You lose one, batteries go dead, need an extra one for the garage, etc., just grab another.