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My favourite workshop hand tools

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Proud Mary

Mon Sept 21 2009, 02:33PM

Registered Member #543 Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992

Hi Everyone,

the idea of this thread is for members to discuss their favourite hand tools - whether they be pliers, tweezers, screwdrivers, clippers, snippers, chassis cutters, soldering irons, and all the rest, so we can all learn what qualities others consider essential, how to tell the good from the bad, and how to tell the good from the simply over-priced, and so on.

I hope the thread will be of value both to beginners like myself, who are always wondering what they really need to buy, and what they canst afford to get along without for a while, and experienced constructors who perhaps don't give a second thought to the many tools they have, and wonder what it might be like to return to the simplicity of vision of the lass or lad who first comes to 4HV with no more than a few screwdrivers, and a pair of pliers and a bedroom desk to serve as a workbench to begin their journey in search of the electron.

It's not intended to be a stodgy thread, like a book without any pictures or conversations, so please do add human interest, or narrative sketches, and anecdotes to your tales of tools and the workbench.

I have to go out and see a man about a Gloucester Old Spot now, but will kick off the thread later in the day, if someone hasn't already taken the initiative and got the ball rolling for me.

Steve Conner

Mon Sept 21 2009, 04:01PM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

OK, I'll bite! Here are some of my favourite tools:

Lindstrom electronic side cutters.

Ideal T-Stripper wire cutter and stripper.

Mitutoyo vernier calipers. (none of your cheap plastic digital freebies!)

12-inch Rabone steel rule.

Bondhus Gorilla Grip folding Allen key set.

Eyebrow tweezers for handling SMT components.

Complete set of good screwdrivers: flat blade, Pozidriv and Phillips head. Yes, there is a difference between the last two. If you're in Canada, get some Robertson drivers too!

Step drills and Greenlee chassis punches.

Two hacksaws: a junior and a full-sized one. The junior hacksaw has finer teeth, so it can cut thin metal that the big one would jam in.

A Bahco adjustable spanner. They really do seem to work better with less chance of rounding off nuts than cheap ones. I found my last one lying in the street, probably dropped by a scaffolding contractor. It was a bit rusty, but with a squirt of WD40 it was good to go.

"Solder sucker" spring-loaded desoldering pump.

Soder-Wick(tm) desoldering braid.

Flux pen (Circuit Works or similar)

Leaded solder, ha! take that Brussels!

Original Anglepoise 1227 desk lamp, found in dumpster. With incandescent bulb, another one in the eye for Brussels!

And last but not least my homebuilt temperature-controlled soldering station:

This was a summer project when I was a student, and by sheer luck it's still working!

aonomus

Mon Sept 21 2009, 04:53PM

Registered Member #1497 Joined: Thu May 22 2008, 05:24AM
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 801

My favourite hand tools:

Side cutters
A plain old spring loaded wire stripper
A good set of large handled jewlers screwdrivers
Adjustable wrench
Soldering iron
Hammer
Bigger hammer

Renesis

Mon Sept 21 2009, 05:46PM

Registered Member #2028 Joined: Mon Mar 16 2009, 08:13PM
Location: Norway
Posts: 319

Oh boy, finally a thread where i can contribute!

My favourite hand tool is definately the hammer, this is because most of the work i do in my worshop consists of repairing tractors and ploughs and such. I probably have about 10 different hammers and sledges in my worshop, and although i do admit that it is really overkill, i still find some use for them all.

It is vital that the hammer has a lightweight handle, or it will kick back in your hand whenever you hit something hard. Wood and fiberglass is good, plastic is perfect. Many woodworking hammers have steel handles, it works fine on wood but they are really uncomfortable to use on steel or stone. Some sledges also have a rubber pad next to the sledges head, to prevent a kick back if you miss whatever you are banging on.

It is also important that you swing the hammer with your elbow, not with your wrist.

A hammer with a loose head is dangerous. The best way to attach a wooden handle to a hammerhead is to drive a thick wedge into the wood, expanding the wood inside the hammerhead and thus making a tight fit. Most hammers with plastic handles are usually glued together, i have several of those including a sledge and i havent managed to break any of them yet.

People often use too small hammers. Whenever you hit a soft metal like steel with a hammer, most of the energy in the strike will be used to deform the metal. This is because the acceleration at the point of impact is so great that the rest of the workpiece dont have time to move, and this can squeese out the metal like it was claydough. This is exactly how a blacksmith works, he just heats his workpiece to make easier. With a bigger hammer you 1: can hit with a much lower velocity and 2: dont have to hit that many times.

Imagine you are assebling a driveshaft inside a clutch or something, and you use a hammer to bang it in place. This can make the tip of the shaft expand so much that the bearing won't slide over it, and is a common beginners mistake. I would hold a piece of wood or aluminium against the shaft, or use a hammer made of nylon or a soft metal like lead. If im overhauling and engine then i pretty much use the nylon hammer only.

And of course, if your workpiece is small and has a low inertia, then a big hammer is worthless without an anvil to hit against.

Other fab tools:

-Channel type pliers
-Vise grip pliers
-Ratchet spanners and impact wrenches
-MAG welder (a really heavy hand tool)
-Fly swatters

Steve, i too have some bacho tools including an adjustable wrench and a 1/2" ratchet spanner. They are really superb, i can tighten a bolt pretty dang hard before that wrench slips. And the ratchet spanner has had a really hard life, but it is still going strong after over ten years of active duty. I am impressed by the quality of those tools.

big5824

Mon Sept 21 2009, 06:25PM

Registered Member #1687 Joined: Tue Sept 09 2008, 08:47PM
Location: UK, Darlington
Posts: 240

My favorite has got to be the huge metal pole i have in the workshop, awesome for fixing bent buggy bumpers and various other things :)

Arcstarter

Mon Sept 21 2009, 07:59PM

Registered Member #1225 Joined: Sat Jan 12 2008, 01:24AM
Location: Beaumont, Texas, USA
Posts: 2253

Yet another very nice thread, which everyone can contribute

.

I would have to say, my favorite of the bare essentials would be:

A pair of 2 or 3 year old wire cutters, which serve as PCB cutters and wire strippers.
A screwdriver bit that i ground down, to make a small flat head for scope probe bypass cap, terminal blocks etc.
And of course other misc screwdrivers and bits.

My favorite of the power tools are the dremel, hand drill, and drill press. The drill press was cheap, but it works fine. The dremel cutoff wheel is awesome for cutting PCBs believe it or not, it will cut screws to size, and whatever else. Also, good for buffing, deburring, and pretty much anything that involves grinding or cutting (back me up on this, Killa-X :P).

Most important tools for testing electronic circuits are cheap DMM's that can be blown up without crying, and a good one for less dangerous more accurate stuff. Mine is not really good, but it does frequency, as low as 10hz and as high as 10MHz, and duty cycle. It does temperature in C or F, up to 1200F, and all the normal DMM functions such as voltage and current. A good oscilloscope is sure nice, too! Mine is unfortunately only 20MHz. It is a Tektronix 2205, dual channel. The trigger is a bit unstable with some things. Thanks to TheBoozer for the probe. I am not sure about the probe, no specs.

Avalanche

Mon Sept 21 2009, 09:29PM

Registered Member #103 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 08:16PM
Location: Derby, UK
Posts: 845

I think the most satisfying tools to own are a decent pair of side cutters, and a really high quality cone spanner for dismantling mountain bike hubs. Not sure why.

At work I have on my bench a really nice, quarter inch pocket sized socket set and wrench, made by Bacho. The rachet is really fine and it makes an excellent right angled screwdriver with the right bits and adapter.

Bordering on hand tools - my favorite lights are the fenix L1D/L2D and Nitecore D10, I own all 3 and they are essential for working on equipment - a reliable and powerful light source that can go for many hours is indispensable when changing IGBTs in a dark room!

Dr. Slack

Tue Sept 22 2009, 07:51AM

Registered Member #72 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 08:29AM
Location: UK St. Albans
Posts: 1659

I got started with a small screwdriver, cutters, soldering iron and a piezo earpiece. With a detector diode in front I could track faults and fix transistor radios. With careful control of pressure, cutters are also pliers and wire strippers.

To all of the usual suspects (DMM, scope, pliers, bench power supply, dremel, third hand ) assembled over the years, I would add ...

A hot-melt glue-gun ("soldering" for wood and GRP)

A set of small sharp drills - bought by the 10 online they're not too expensive to throw away as they get blunt

Blu-tak (makes a Phillips screw stick to the driver better than luck)

A light-weight battery drill/driver with keyless chuck (RSI and a road accident have left my dominant right hand a bit knackered, so even a few wood screws is a bit of a trial. I now mouse southpaw, and my wife lays to my right anyway).

Big and small mole wrenches

I find I can never have too many of those cheap plastic 3" and 4" clamps

Very strong reading glasses (it's surprising just how fine you can get hand movements to be if you can see what you're doing)

My great uncle was a dentist, and I have been left several tooth extraction pliers. Beautifully made, they have a tooled and shaped handle for good grip. With the business end custom sharpened, they make excellent nail-extractors (floorboards and architraves, not mediaeval torture!)

...
Hammer
Bigger hammer

Absolutely!

Coronafix

Tue Sept 22 2009, 08:51AM

Registered Member #160 Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 02:07AM
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 938

I have a whole shed full of tools, but the only one that comes to mind, (probably because I was just using it...again) fits in my pocket and I use to carry it everywhere with me before the law made it illegal to do so.
It is the swiss army knife. I had one years ago that as I said I took everywhere, until the good mood day that I lent it to someone and didn't follow it with hawkeyes. Gone, and I forgot who that someone was.
So fathers day this year, my son (he's only 2) gave me another one, and lo and behold it is the exact same model as the old trusty I once had.
The great thing about this tool is that it is always sharp. I mean deadly sharp. Two knives, scissors, screwdriver, saw, the all important bottle opener, a reamer type tool, can opener, toothpick and tiny tweezers.
It doesn't sound like much, but it all fits in the corner of your pocket and you can disarm nuclear warheads with it.

Proud Mary

Tue Sept 22 2009, 09:02AM

Registered Member #543 Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992

I started out, like everyone else, I guess, with stuff from my Dad's toolbox, which, as he was a classical pianist, was a bit on the limited side, but all the essentials were there.

I could make long lists, but I'll focus on just a very few things where I reckon you should buy the best you can afford:

1. Wire cutters/clippers. How much work have I ruined over the years by using cheap nasty clippers that do not clip, so you ends up with several uncut strands and a ragged end - or worse - "pulling" of partially cut wire. This isn't a brand-fest, but today I use German Knipex hand tools for all cutting operations, because the clippers go "clip" - but I'm sure all other high end clippers from Sweden etc will do the same. When you don't have much money in your pocket, $5 clippers and $50 clippers of the same size begin to look the same, because we can't see the quality of the steel with our eyes. But it makes a world of difference.

2. Wire strippers. Everything I just said about clippers applies to the strippers but even more so. Good strippers, correctly adjusted, will pull off the layers of a coaxial cable one by one, but bad ones will start pulling until the whole work end is a rotten mess of straggling braid, with the central conductor wires half cut through. Again i choose Knipex, but other nations will have just as good.

3. The Dremel on its drill press. I was always amazed that Dremel didn't produce a drill vice for the drill press, since the press isn't much use without one, until a pal wised me up to the Wolfcraft vice that will fit in the Dremel press base slots.

4. You can never have too many vices and clamps, but life becomes easier if you get a Dremel multi-angle vice (I've forgotten its name) that has slots in the jaws so can hold a PCB board at any angle.

5. A big magnifying ring light - an angle-pose structure with a big x2 magnifying glass surrounded by a fluorescent tube - made for women's manicures etc, but brilliant for weaker eyes.

6. A 250W industrial low energy lightbulb so that you can really see what you're doing, and as much supplementray illumination as can be. How to find the tiny screws I am always dropping on the floor?

7. Various surgical lock-up tweezers, and suture clamps (I'm sorry I've forgotten what they're called) plus as many other sorts of small clamps as can found - screw up types, alligator type, the cheap plastic type and so on.

8. Soldering irons 100W and 180W. I grew sick and tired of the bad-job-looking results I was getting on heavy lugs, until I decided on these obvious tools. With the 180W, Pb solder flows clean and silver in a jiffy on even the heaviest lug or terminal, so there's much less chance of ruining the termination by using too small an iron, and having pasty looking solder that doesn't flow evenly and at once over the whole lug.

Favourite solder: Erwin Multicore Pb 18 SWG 5 resin core.

I am a tool junky, and love to go into professional tool shops and look at all the wonderful technology the ways some others might go into a jeweler's shop!

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