Your favorite hand tool

[LAK]

I have a Sears Craftsman professional torque wrench which is simple to use, as or slightly more accurate than the Snap Ons I have seen, and works great.

Good old fashion Vise Grips are always indispensible.

Hard to pinpoint a favorite. I hve invested in some well high quality items which have yet to be put to use; some Small Felco wirecutters, Knipex alligator pliers and small Vigor pliers.

Well-made tools are generally a joy to use - if suited to the job and used properly.

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[Perd Hapley]

Hmm.  I've heard of diagonal cutters before, but never heard them called "dikes."  They don't seem terribly useful to me, but then I don't cut sheet metal or wire as often as 280 does. 

[280plus]

I always spelled it dykes. I've also heard them called "wire cutters". I use them for cutting wire. 

The next tool I would add to the universal tool kit would be a pair of Channelocks (sp?) which are also referred to as pump pliers for some reason. But now you're starting to get heavy and awkward. Vise grips I hardly ever use. The last time I used them was to hold a sawzall blade so I could cut a stuck piece of threaded pipe out of it's fitting. Which was a fine example of "Oh CRAP, what do I do now?" engineering I might add, not to mention that the part I was working on was underneath a 600 lb unit being held up by a crane at the time. I get to have such fun!   

Make that a $100 per hour crane. No pressure. 

[tokugawa]

My favorites all have history- a beautiful stanley hammer with a head milled in an interesting way- belonged to my long time nieghbor, now deceased. I think of him every time I pick that hammer up. A jack plane, stamped with the owners initals, from  the turn of the century. It has been through at least five owners and is still bettter than anything I can buy at the hardware store. My dads parallel jaw pliers, i remember using them at 8 years old to fix my bike. My grandfathers pipe reamer, a forged semi circular cone of steel with a tee handle, wonder how many times he twisted that one? 
  And my first barlow jackknife, blade worn from constant sharpening. My brother found it when he cleaned out the family home. Man, I always had that knife in my pocket when I was a kid. Never leave home without it!  Yeah, I love my old tools.

[doczinn]

Well, a couple of dykes that could fix anything.... Let's just say I thought I knew what you meant.

My favorite? My 1911 "remote drill."



 

[crt360]

I had to think pretty hard about this.  My favorite might be an old Sandvik 1/2" chisel.  The tool I use most often is probably whatever knife is in my pocket, followed, not so closely, by some kind of multi-  screw/socket driver kind of thing.

[Balog]

What can you do with vice grips? Well, I just helped a friend replace the half shaft (not sure if that's the correct term for it. The drive shaft going from the transmission to the wheel on a front wheel drive car) on his old Honda. We used vice grips to pull the old, rusty cotter pins from a couple castle nuts, to turn a nut we didn't have the correct size socket for, and a couple other things I'm forgetting. They can be used as improvised handles for saws, screwdrivers, files etc. They can be used to removed headless nails, bolts with rounded heads and similar stuck fasteners. They can replicate any size socket or wrench. They can be used as a clamp, or as a means of suspending something without a convenient way of tying it out of the way.

Although they are the perect tools for their own particular niche, they can also be adapted to do the job of lots and lots of other tools. Can they do them as quickly, easily, or efficiently? No, but if you don't have the other tools available you can make them do damn near anything.

[280plus]

I didn't say I don't like vise grips, 

 I can just cover most of all that with the other tools if you include the channel locks. There's vise grips in my everyday tool tray right now. I'm just suddenly aware that I rarely use them now you that guys got me thinking about it.

[mtnbkr]

I like all my tools...except my hammer.  Using my hammer means I'm driving nails, which means I'm engaging in carpentry.  I hate carpentry.  I'm not good at it.

One reason I do like my dremel tool: Last year, while working on my garage door, one of the studs started turning while I was trying to remove a nut.  The head of the stud is flat, with no way to grasp it.  I used my dremel with handy cutoff wheel to grind a slot so I could use a honkin' big flathead screwdriver.  Pwned. 

Chris

[Perd Hapley]

Here's what I use to haul my tools around from one apartment to the next.  The cool thing about this "bag" is that it's actually a rigid box with cloth skin, so tools stay in place better than with a soft bag.  You don't have to go looking for the handle, as it's rigid, too.  It's about 9x16 inside measurement, with pockets outside as well and a place to hang my big tape measure.  It's also got a strap that can hold rolls of tape, solder, etc. and a little flapped case on the outside that holds a few bits and drills, etc.  There's a biggish pocket on the outside for an organizer box for small parts.  Its inside pockets are the perfect size for my D cell MagLite, safety glass case, etc.  I never expected anyone to be impressed by a humble tool bag, but I get compliments on it every so often.



Customizing:
The handle is held in place by two rivets on each side.  They might work fine, but as soon as I felt mine start to wiggle, I exchanged them for 1/4" bolts.  I drilled out the rivets and put the bolts through the remaining holes.

It comes with an organizer for screws and such, but mine didn't last more than a year.  I replaced with a DeWalt clam-shell type organizer box.  Well-though-out, well-built, not bad for five bucks.  The compartments are a bit shallow, but maybe I pack it too full.  I'll probably try something else if I can find anything better.  I supplemented it with something I found at the Home Despot.  It's a clear plastic tube, about two inches in diameter, with a rubber cap on each end.  It's good for longer screws and nails.  Fits well in the water bottle compartment of my bag. 

[Perd Hapley]

I used my dremel with handy cutoff wheel to grind a slot so I could use a honkin' big flathead screwdriver.  Pwned. 

Nice!

[Mabs2]

Cordless drill!
I use them a lot and they're just plain fun for some reason.
vroom vroom!

[Perd Hapley]

fess up.  You just like to pretend they're guns. 

[tyme]

I think the make-believe-it's-a-gun syndrome is reserved for something else.  Sometimes a cordless drill is just a cordless drill.

Dremel++

[cosine]

I also am fond of a small pair of dykes; besides just cutting wire they also are wonderful trimmers for about 101 other things.

[mountainclmbr]

Gerber multi tool. May have saved my life. Used it to repair crampons (ice climbing spikes that clamp onto climbing boots) when a screw and locking nut fell off the adjustable crampon I was wearing on one boot while climbing Longs Peak (Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado) in winter while at about 13,500 ft and about 700 ft from the top. The crampon fell off the one boot, but was stuck in ice when I lifted my foot. I used the wire from the side shield of my glacier glasses and used the pliars of the multi tool to fasten the crampon sections together again. Did the repair swinging from a rope, one foot's crampon front points in the ice, cold and snow blowing in my face, concentrating on NOT droping anything. Completed the climb and made it back down in blizzard conditions. Yep, the multitool is my favorite.

[MaterDei]

Surefire L1.

[Stickjockey]

Dremel's mine. I've actually jury-rigged parts for my Wife's way-old serger with it. Close second is the hammer I inherited from my Grandfather.

[bg]

I have a set of Snap-Off triangle handled screwdrivers from the
80's that fit my old beat up hands so nicely. I've used em for yrs.
I don't know why Snap-Off quit making them. 

[K Frame]

My Yankee screwdriver.

They look like fun.  Seems like my cordless drill would do a better job, but maybe I'm missing something.  Or do you just enjoy the novelty of them?

I saw one at a yard sale last year.  Did I miss out on a good tool? 

Yankee Screwdrivers were the original multipurpose cordless drill/screwdriver/countersink.

I've got a cordless drill, too. But it's a hell of a lot bigger, a lot heavier, harder to use up on a ladder, and it's always hit & miss if I have enough charge left in the batteries.

As long as I've had my Wheaties in the morning, I can power my Yankee.

Sometimes an umbilical to a wall socket isn't necessarily a better thing.

[Perd Hapley]

OK.  You're talking about the kind with the spiral shaft, right, and you push down on the handle? 

[K Frame]

OK.  You're talking about the kind with the spiral shaft, right, and you push down on the handle? 

That would be a Yankee screwdriver. Yes.

[bg]

I just got done watching a show on PBS called the New Yankee Woodshop ?
I don't know much about it, but that fella who does the building looks like
he know his craft VERY well..There are no lacking for tools on that show.

[cosine]

I just got done watching a show on PBS called the New Yankee Woodshop ?
I don't know much about it, but that fella who does the building looks like
he know his craft VERY well..There are no lacking for tools on that show.

Look up "Norm Abram." (He also works on This Old House, besides on his own show, The New Yankee Workshop.) He does know his woodcraft. And he has a shop to die for.

[gunsmith]

a foot long prybar