What are the best tools ...

Not quite by the side of the road, but in my first car (a 10 year old mini), I found a very nice giant King Dick under the drivers seat (sort of ready for use as an offensive weapon). I had this spanner for almost

At various times

"snap-on" 12mm combination spanner

a pair of rather tatty looking but very effective pliers

and many useful cable-ties.

Ooh, I inherited one of those from my paternal grandfather, who had been a plumber at one point. I used it on Sunday to get the blade off the rideon so I could sharpen it.

And no, it isn't yours, unless your initials are "VA". He engraved them on everything.

A really good pair of piano wire pliers many years ago. They're marked "piano wire pliers" which was a clue as to what they are. I've never seen anything like them in a tool shop and they are extremely useful with hardened cutting blades and jaws designed to get a good grip on hard wire.

I use them for straightening wire (fix one end in a vise, grap the other with the pliers, pull straight and pull until you feel the wire soften a little, bingo, perfectly straight wire) and also for fencing.

I don't have a piano.

Tony

In message , Andrew Gabriel writes

So that is where it went!

Black finish, 90deg. jaws, opens to about 2", lost somewhere North of St. Albans in the '80's.

I had foolishly left it on the trailer draw bar:-(

It belonged to my Grandfather so might have been standard issue with one of his cars. Can be recognised by the slight dents on the back from use as a hammer.

regards

Don't they all look like that, though? :o)

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Huge saying something like:

A builder's club hammer lying in the gutter, and various small tools under car bonnets.

Standpipe and stopcock key left in gutter by Fire Brigade van testing Hydrants. Gave them a ring (not 999) and an embarrassed chap came and collected them. No use to me as I already had a set however theirs wasn't as worn so I swapped them first.

I nearly had a Parachute once ,one of those that haul the sledges out of Hercules when they drop something off. Caught on a roadside fence up on Salisbury Plain .Had it rolled up and was stuffing it into the car when a Landrover pulled up with a couple of blokes dressed like Bushes who got out and said they had come for it. As they had guns it seemed a good idea to agree.

G.Harman

Mine is probably quite boring, but a 4" plastic handled kitched knife, marked Emile(sp?) something (IIRC) - sounds german anyway :-}

It's light, with a great yet simple blade which you can literally shave with once it's had it's annual whetstone session :-p

Nothing better than a 2ft wrecking bar. Found in my own garden...

Andy

Gustav Emil Ern?

Used to have a few - quite good.

I think that's the fella... considering whether to try a global next time, but I really like the "free" one - the blade is a perfect length and shape for pretty much anything I do, unlike almost anything else i've seen since :-}

Bugger me, a quick google came up with pics, this looks like the one=20 :-}

An Opinel knife - on a beach on Brittany. Obviously been there a few days. Used it for many years - until I lost it.

Also, possibly from the same trip, picked up an insulator from the top of side-of-the-road pole (which was being replaced). Made of heavy duty glass and screwed on. Still got that! But I am finding it difficult to explain why it is a tool - except that it lives in the shed.

A nice meat cleaver. An odd diy tool, but has had loads of use for a few different things. Just the right size & weight.

NT

Absolutely - I got one of them too - found somewhere! Use it like a hand axe but it's less thick and easier to wield than a hand axe. Use it for cutting roots, making stakes etc. Wouldn't be without it.

Snap -- I had one of those too. Found it under a hedge next to an 11kV line whilst out on a walk. Carried it home, although we had to take turns -- it was too heavy for one person to carry any distance.

Some days later, I examined it in more detail. It had a thin melted metal track over the surface from the top to the metal support pole. Presumably something had fallen against it, flashed over, and left it not insulating at 11kV, and electric company chucked it under the hedge when they replaced it.

I then forgot all about it and left it behind in the digs where I was living at the time.