Best 5 Tools...

[AlexW]

(may have been done before but I'll continue anyway)

Recent threads on worst tools / tool abuse and grinders lead me to wonder...

What are your top 5 tools and why?

Mine are...

1. Cordless Drill Driver ... just indispensible, think I would go mad and have right forarm like popeye without it.

1. Slide Compound Mitre Saw ... I think of the all the time I spent hand sawing and the slightly dodgy angles etc before I owned one of these.

2. 4" Bosch Angle grinder, dirt cheap at £30 with a diamond blade and this tool I think is totally indestructable (well nearly so). This has been subjected to unbelivable abuse but just won't die!

1. Stanley Jet Cut Fine point saw ... about £7 and gives great cuts and light relief from all those noisy and dusty power tools on sheet material especially.

2. Club Hammer ... as far as bang for buck goes this thing wins out right and is only a bit rusty after years living in a damp bucket.

Cheers,

Alex.

[doozer]

Defiantly without a doubt my best tool has to be a £1.99 B&Q ratchet screwdriver with 6 replaceable heads contained in the body.

It was just about the first tool I bought and it is still going strong. I have done everything to this screwdriver. It's been used as a lever to open tins of paint and pry up floor boards (when one snapped shut on my hand - ouch). It's been used as a punch and a drill. I routinely knock raw plugs in with it and have even knocked in a couple of small nails. It's been dropped from ladders and soaked for days. I've even used as a chisel to split wood.

Only now after years of abuse is it starting to look a little worse for ware. The bits have started going a little rusty and the ratchet isn't quite as smooth as it once was. Might have to replace it one day.

I'm betting there aren't many tools have better bang per buck.

Graham

[Rick]

In no particular order

Hammer. I am so fond of hammers that I now have about 10 different ones, more hammers than shoes in fact, and you need 2 shoes at a time for them to be usefull.

Spirit Level Nice straight edge for ensuring things I make are wonkey, no idea what those bubble things are for though, but the numbers along one edge are kinda usefull.

Cement Mixer This thing must save me more work than all the other power tools I have put together, you can even do the washing in it.

Hand Saw I have those power saw things, but old faithfull is still best value for money.

Hammer Did I mention hammer before ?

[Andy Hall]

1) Fein Multimaster. Highly adaptable for sanding, cutting, shaping.

2) Makita Sliding Compound Mitre Saw, LS1013. Precise work and smooth operation.

3) Lamello TOP20 Biscuit Jointer. Highly accurate, repeatable and adjustable.

4) Tormek 2006 water cooled grinding machine. Keeps chisels, plane blades and spindle moulder tools in excellent condition.

5) Sjoberg workbench. Weighs a ton but a pleasure to use.

[tony sayer]

In article , Andy Hall writes

(1) Makita SDS drill

The rest:))

[Owain]

Meanwhile, back in the real world for the rest of us ... :-)

I used to have a red handled screwdriver that started out life repairing the connections on my battery powered Lego railway, and survived until my landlord broke it when I was 22.

Wire strippers/crimpers free with something from Reader's Digest. Never used it for crimping but the wire stripper is okay. Has lasted at least

20 years.

A small test box with telephone plug, socket, 4mm sockets, and switchable ringing capacitor, for testing phone lines with. Made it myself.

Soldering iron and multimeter.

Owain

[fred]

In article , AlexW writes

Not 5 but a couple to add/affirm:

Yes, I never would have guessed I could screw for so long and so tight . . .

. . and the hand protector on my bolster to save me pulping my hand when I get tired. I've only had a couple of slips but one would have been enough.

My SDS, a relatively new purchase for me (I couldn't believe it would make that much difference - wrong -) but now I wouldn't be without it, just a cheapie and mainly for drilling.

[Harvey Van Sickle]

On 16 May 2005, AlexW wrote

-snip-

I vote for:

1. A pair of sash cramps that I got from my late father-in-law's tool chest. (Universally adjustable -- no notches, just a friction hold on a threaded pipe; eternally useful.)

1. Those round "pipe-slice" pipe cutters. Brill invention.

[Badger]

Yep.

No, 7 pound sledge.

No, hand-axe.

No, cheap JCB recip saw (sawzall for US readers), used on tree's, other wood, steel and ally sheet, blades to suit last 3 jobs cost more than machine, but worth every penny!

No, Hummm router, stanley no5, mig, or my set of crabs, crabs I think!

Badger.

[Andy Dingley]

Maybe not my "best 5", but here's the most recent toy I've bought,

's a Steve Knight coffin smoother, and it really is that colour.

[Jeff]

For work :

terminal screwdriver penknife set of allen keys small folding knife bodged 6" adjustable

if I can't fix it with the above, then its serious :-)

multimeter

For Home :

sds drill cheapo set of screwdrivers (handle + about 40 bits) £7 cordless drills electric tile cutter (should have got one years ago)

Regards Jeff

[Mary Fisher]

Spouse has been tidying his garage - HURRAH!

It looks just the same to me but never mind that.

He found a nicely made wooden box with iron handles on the ends, the top had engraved on it: GPO. He can't think of a use for it but doesn't want to throw it out. I'll find something to fit in it.

And I know that's nothing to do with best 5 tools. I suspect he'd say his milling machine, pliers from adolescence, mini-drill, step ladders and overalls.

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

That's nice.

Spouse has some tiny thumb planes left by his dad, who made violins. Also some drill bitswhich are hair-thin. He has no use for them but they're beautiful.

Mary

[News]

1. Excellent: drill/driver
2. SDS drill
3. auto wire strippers
4. angle drill

[fred]

In article , Andy Dingley writes

It's Stuart Little's model car & I claim my 5 pounds . . . .

[mark b]

1. Bosch 9" angle grinder with a diamond blade: Has been used for cutting patio slabs, cast iron guttering, 20mm granite slabs, pamments, removing Crittall windows, slicing up corrogated iron sheets for putting into wheelie bin, cutting quarry tiles, slicing through wall to make conservatory access etc.
2. Makita 10" mitre saw:

Used for mitring architrave, skirting, fire wood, building timber structures etc. I like the way you can trim a mm off a length of timber and keep doing so until it fits perfectly.

1. SDS drill, for chiselling, drilling lintels etc.

1. Hammer

2. My plasterer's phone number: I ring it and plastering/rendering/bricklaying gets done.

mark b

[Ian White]

You are not alone in that!

2:. Weller TCP soldering iron... with probably enough spares to build another one and keep both going indefinitely.

3: My Mum's dressing forceps from when she was a nurse in the war... ideal for handling small components (see 2).

4: My Dad's crosscut saw, coming up to 80 years old and still sharpens up a treat.

5: Oh all right then, a cordless drill/driver.

[RichardS]

Not necessarily the most used 5, but my favourites:

1) Atlas Copco 9.6T drill/driver. This little thing is just great, feels like it's carved from stone. All metal 1/2" rohm chuck, removable for direct hex drive, great torque control settings. Drives things the voltage suggests it ought not to, far more powerful than the 12v B&D I had previously.

2) Atlas Copco 100BXPL jigsaw. Similar story to above - had a B&D one before, never worked particularly well. This is different beast completely, cuts straight and square, doesn't wander. I think they used the same stone as in (1) when making it.

3) Metabo 450SXE Random orbital sander. I don't use a sander that often, but when I do I tend to need to use it a lot. It works even better when connected to Henry - no dust & pulled flat to the surface.

4) B&D workmate. Wouldn't be without it - well, I don't have space for a permanent workbench (yet), so I *couldn't* be without it.

5) this is a toss-up between a 1930's Bailey number 4 plane with a sweetheart iron that I picked up on ebay - for quite a bit less than the price of the (inferior) new model - or a set of Kirschen bevel-edge chisels. Nice power tools are all well and good, but nothing beats the joy of creating things using decent hand tools. I really can't decide between them.

[Andrew Gabriel]

My best screwdriver is a red handled one which is now over 30 years old. It came with a Meccano chiming clock kit and used to say "Meccano" on the handle, but that's almost completely worn off. The blade seems to have been made of very good steel for the purpose. (I've still got the Meccano chiming clock too, but it needs a couple of new parts.)

[David Lang]

(1) DeWalt radial arm saw bought 23 years ago, worked to death and completely impossible to destroy. Still cuts a 10" board dead square, no splintering, and so accurate it's frightening. Built like a brick out building.

(2) A Black & Decker mains powered drill driver. Has a hex chuck and is only a couple of hundred watts, but saves enormously on cordless drill driver batteries. My local B&Q had them on clearance last year at £9:99 so I bought 2. Used with a 'Snappy' type kit it covers almost every drilling/driving job in the workshop.

(3) Various routers. I now have 3. A Makita 860 watt that thinks it's 1500 watts, mounted in a table and 2 cheapos.

(4) A cheapo Nu Tool Supreme SDS drill from Makro. Why didn't someone tell me about SDS drills 20 years ago?

(5) A B&Q bog standard random orbit sander. Again, why didn't someone tell me how good a RAS can be? Used with 40 grit discs it works like a belt sander, but with complete control and will go right through the range up to

240 grit for a beautiful finish.

Dave