Best starter toolkit for a new homeowner?
Kidbooo
| Posted in Tools for Home Building on
Hello everyone,,
I own zero tools. I’m looking for an inexpensive toolkit with the basics: screwdriver, allen wrenches, hammer, tape measure, scissors, etc.
I pored over the recommended picks, but their top pick, the HDX is discontinued, and the rest of them look extremely ugly.,,,
So, I’ll take a contrary view.
I use tools professionally, every day. There are basically three ‘grades’ of tools. Industrial use, medium duty and homeowner use. The basic idea is that an industrial use tool is meant to be used hard, every day, in an industrial role and survive.
A medium duty tool is meant to be used regularly, but not hard, every day.
A light duty/homeowner grade tool is meant to work when you need it, but you aren’t going to be needing it that often so its made to a lower spec and costs a lot less.
On internet forums, there’s a tendency for narrative-creep, where someone says “Hey, I’ve been thinking about learning how to play the guitar… can anyone give me any suggestions?” and by the time the discussion is over, its a bunch of blow-hards saying that you need a 1962 Fender Stratocaster with a Marshall Full Stack Plexi, or else you’re just going to sound terrible.
In the tool world, it’s people who basically insist you need industrial grade gear for the few times you’re going to hang a picture or assemble an Ikea cabinet, or else it will ‘break’. It’s horseshit.
For like, 99% of homeowners who aren’t serious DIY’ers, any given Harbor Freight tool set is going to be more than enough for what they need and will last them a lifetime of ‘homeowner projects’. If you want to up the quality level, buy the same type tool set from Craftsman, Stanley, Channellock, Kobalt or Dewalt
Replies
Well,
That was a waste of time and space.
Me too, (e.g waste) -- advised the OP he and family could DIY their entire house (OP said many relatives in the trades) so assumed OP had ktools and skills until seeing this thread.
80% of my tools (including a bobcat, ford backhoe, and 2 JD dozers, just for DIY) were from garage sales, craigslist, or before CL from classified adds.
Example: $3000 list Grayco ultramax paint sprayer for $15 (yes fifteen) at a garage sale. Took me 3 hours and $20 worth of material to repair, and can now evenly throw on 5 gal of paint in under 10 minutes!
Similar finds available everyday in larger metro areas, rural folks likely cannot find that type of 'deals'. An no, not stolen material either.
Have not bought paint in 25 years, could get a 100 gallons free off CL a month if I wanted.
About the only brand tools I've not seen on CL is Festools
There's truth in your view point but it's not easily defined. I am a tool nut I admit and those kits give me the creeps. They are cheap in price though.
Sounds to me like you have enough knowledge to put your own kit together a piece or so at a time. Get what you really need and don't get stuck with some worthless stuff thrown in to up the piece count. For sure the chinesium hand tools are ,on average, of a serviceable grade and most are up to the job you describe.
All you really need is a hammer.
Many cheap tools do not work well then wear out quicker. Most cheap tools work poorly from the start. They are frustrating for a person of any skill level to use. There are exceptions but those are usually specialized tools and not basics.
You might need a set of Chinese Phillips screwdrivers that could possibly fit those pos screws they sell.....
If by "fit those pos screws " you mean posi-drive, then yes, one needs the EU pattern driver.
If you meant the pos in the 'jobsite word" vernacular, then even good Phillips will seem like pos unk trying to drive posidrive screws
This is what I mean.
This has nothing to do with posi screws nor the European Union.
The Phillips screws included with the pc of sh t hardware of any kind made in China, towel bars, shelving, any dam thing. Those screws most likely will reject (cam out) using any United States of America, German, or Czech Phillips driver. Upon inspection, whether the extra soft brand of metal or even semi strong metals, they will cam out when even driven by hand.
I would then surmise that they must be somewhere in the vicinity of numbers. .85, 1.96 and 2.79 to 3.26. This could explain the sloppy fit causing the screw failure.
Because, a number 1, 2, or 3 sure as hell don’t fit.
Comprende?
Then there’s the miniature set screws and the fictitious matching Allen wrench.....
I have a bicycle and I want a bicycle wrench so that it is nice and modern. Who recently bought wrenches?
Apollo Tools DT9706 39Piece and Blues 119Piece Repair Set, these are truly cheap toolset and it contains the most useful tools for basic DIY household repairs.
Don’t forget to lock the lid down on that set b/4 you pick it up. Oh, and mark “lid “ on the top.
A good tool is a pleasure to use. It can truly make your work enjoyable. But I've thrown some tools from great heights just to watch them die.
98% of the tools I have are somewhere in between, and cost has almost nothing to do with it.