OK Gang,
Everyones got their own opinions on their favorite chopsaw or router and all the other high end construction tools and toys. I`m looking for those little things that make everyday life on the job a little easier.
I think my current favorite is the Prazzi Big Lugg. You know, the swivel hook that clips to your belt to hold a cordless drill or pneumatic nailer or even a roll of duct tape. I think I paid $10 bucks for it three years ago and I use it every day.
Lemme hear your favs, but keep `em under 20 bucks!
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
“DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE”
Replies
SpeedSquare
OK -- Diamond blade hand grout saw.
Not only for grout, it works great on old lath and plaster. I can cut a hole for an electric box quicker and neater than with any power tool. When cutting thru plaster with the little battery Makita and diamond blade, you have to take care not to burn the blade against the wood lath. So, I finish the last 1/16" by hand. There's something about the diamond grit that makes plaster cut like it was nothing.
-- J.S.
John,
Sounds like a good method. I have a little DeWalt battery powered saw and I want to try it. Any brand that you use?
Ben
Sorry, the one I have is so old that any indication of brand is long gone. They last forever. It does have a really fat round wooden handle.
-- J.S.
May favorite would have to be my old Estwing hammer. I paid less than 20 bucks for it back in 1984 and have used it ever since. It's almost always on my tool belt.
Truss Designer Extraordinaire
one of those 4-in-1 painter scraper/chisels.....I sharpen up the edge and double bevel that little hook point......use the flat side as a striking surface........I use it for everything I don't wish upon my "good" tools.......wacking crap off of material...mortising a suspect pocket that may harbor nails. .....yanking out staples......creating a clean crack to remove moldings.......starting to sweat here......
I buy maybe 2 a year.........put elect. black tape on the handle to make it hold up longer.......
a 1 1/2" inch wood chisel...though it doesn't look much like a chisel anymore.
Speed square
Framing square
Machinist 2" and 4" try squares
6" scale Darkworksite4: When the job is to small for everyone else, Its just about right for me"
My Dogyu hammer bought in Japan for $18.
Unfortunately, all the rest of you have to get yours through Garret-Wade and pay $30 for yours (unless you go to Japan too).
The yellow handled Dogyu (means Bull in Japanese) is ergonomically shaped, has a magnet and 'nail starting' groove on top of the head (for one hand hailing), has a machined spot on the side of the head for driving in tight spaces, has a well designed claw that can extract more nails in one pull than most and has a yellow FG handle with rubber grip that just feels right in the hand. I got the gnurled head (for less slippage), but even the smooth head is shaped to help prevent mis-strikes. Good stuff.
Also it looks kinda like the hammers in Pink Floyd's "The Wall" movie, which is cool.
oops, not Garret-Wade but Lee Valley sells the Dogyu in the US.
And, their new catalog has it listed for $22.75 (for the 20oz).
The way the head is designed it swings like a 16oz and packs the wallop of the 20 (in my humble, but correct, opinion!) :o)
For this concrete form I've built in the crawl space, I made a set of three things that I'd call nail extenders. They're pieces of straight #4 rebar, 6", 12", and 18" long. One end is turned flat in the lathe, and then has a recess 1/8" deep cut into it using a 3/8" end mill. This fits right over the head of a 16d nail. The nail end is marked with red tape to identify it as a tool and not just some scrap of rebar. The other end is dressed in the lathe.
These come in surprisingly handy when you're laying on your side and there's a pier and post or some other obstruction right where you'd want to swing a hammer. They're also nice for overhead work when you can't get the ladder as close as you'd want.
-- J.S.
Japanese catspaw with the wide flat end for trim removal. 10" file a notch inthe flat end for nail pullin
All steel construction chisel 1- 1/4"
Folding dozuki saw
right angle nail set
magnetic bit holder w/ retactable collar to remove bits only when YOU want them to come out.
Garret wade 6"steel rule w/ 1/32 graduations on the end for setting router bits
a box of donuts with at least 2 beehives for me!
Insty bit drills and countersinks
The Axe demo blades for my Ballsall
10' assymetric end nippers for pulling the shatload of staples put in by the guy at the cabinet shop who needs to switch to decaf.
Stainless steel taping tools.
16 oz. brass plumb bob hung on ice fishing line to hang doors with.
These are a few of my favorite things!
Mr T
Onions
Have
Layers,
Carpenters
Have
Layers
A carpenter's pencil.
Gabe
Must be the most valuable tool of all, someone's always taking it.
Mr T,
Dead on with the staple happy packing dude! If only the actual product was built to last as long!J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
"DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"
12" Swanson Speed Square
stainless bevel square
stainless try square
stainless muddin' tools
saw handle that holds recip. blades
Fat Max 25ft. tape
Stanley retractable util. knife
Fluke volt tick
Ken Hill
You guys might want to consider that stainless taping tools don't work as well, but what do I know.
I do know that I almost always carry a pr of dykes, utility knife, and a beater chisel.
My stainlees taping tools work fine.
But what do I know?????????????????Layers
Onions
Have
Layers,
Carpenters
Have
Layers
Well, being new at all this tool-stuff ... shoot, I don't remember spending $20 or less on a favorite tool, yet. I've got a 48" level that was pretty inexpensive. Maybe the pitchfork I use on the grill!?!
My current "cheapie" favorites:
1. Speedsquare-so many uses, such a low cost.
2. Carpenter pencil sharpener ($4). Perfect point every time.
Ray
dont know that i have ever seen a carpenters pencil sharpener. but i think that i need one, yes i'm sure of it
Dude- They make 'em, but why sharpen a nice big fat flat lead so that it's round? Kinda defeats the purpose/design of carp. pencils IMHO. These are stupid impulse items for the checkout line. But hey, buy one for 3 or 4 bucks and find out for yourself!
Ken Hill
I like my Stanley bevel made in 1908-use it every day.Bob
"Rather be a hammer than a nail"
I once, repeat once used one of the sharpeners, and like you say, you get a fine point that breaks if you look at it. Nice idea that is a waste of $.
John
Speed Square
Stabila 9" Torpedo Level
Lee Valley Japaense nailset
Stanley 10-blade utility blade dispenser
Stanley Wonder Bar
I forgot to mention these little bessey 4" clamps they also have them in 8 and 12 inch. Man they make my life a lot easier. I can wait for the woodshow inna couiple of weeks they seel them 4 for 16 bucks any size there. im gonna pick up some more. Darkworksite4: When the job is to small for everyone else, Its just about right for me"
Looks like a flat bar that is thinner w/ no nail-pulling notches, saw one a carp was using at this new place I was working.
AfterI borrowed it once I went looking for one. Took me about 8 months to find it. He called it a glazer's scraper, I think.
About $8.00
My Swiss army tinker was < $20 when I bought it so long ago. Used the corkscrew tonight, even.
One of my favorites is an old try square that I bought at an antique shop. It came from a pattern shop (I know because it has markings that say so). Its heavy, well made and dead square. It has a nice metal clad wooden handle and steel flat blade without graduations. I think I paid about 7 bucks for it. I bought a whole box full of old tools and the square was in there.
I never thought I'd use it much when I got it but I find myself reaching for it quite a bit especially during demo work. It's a prying tool about a yard long that looks like a giant screwdriver with an angled end. About mid-size between a spud bar and a wonder bar.
quick pik screwdriver and my buck folder (cost $28 canadian so still makes it under the $20 u.s.)
A very sharp pointed tweezer for those impossible slivers.99cents
Gave out two doz. as Christmas gifts on a job over 10 years ago.when I run into guys I gave them to,they thank me to this day for the best damn gift for work they have ever got.
I always carry the sharp tweezers, too, for splinters. I also carry an eye loupe (magnifier) and X-Acto with fresh blades for the ones that go deep and you have to do some surgery to get the bastards out.
Ken Hill
For the small slivers, the ones you can't even see, get some good yellow woodworking glue and use it to glue a scrap of newspaper to your finger where the slivers are. When it sets up a little, peel it off, and the slivers come with it.
-- J.S.
Well Jeez....where the hell were you with that little tip last year when I had that itchy, buggery little sliver I finally CARVED out with an Xacto?
John..Definatly gonna try that...hate those damn slivers.....pickin' at em' with your teeth..I'll buy you a nights round if it works.
AndyIt's not who's right, it's who's left ~ http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
I think I actually have THE answer . . .
For $9 I got the Porter Cable driver mabob with the countersink bit on one end and the driver on the other. Use it a dozen times a day doing punchwork.
Jfish-
Does that doohickey have a multiple-flute couintersink?
Ken Hill
A $2 for 2 bandanna. Made in USA. 100% cotton. Color to bring out the red in your eyes and the green in your cheeks.
Sweatband. Bandage. Rolled and stuffed under a door to to hold it open. Sweat soaked and wrapped around a pipe to limit heat spread. Placed over coffee cup to keep sawdust out. Expedient glove for hot or sharp stuff. Wrap it around the vent holes on power tools to keep the sand out as you crawl under a house. ( Remove before use.) Use it to blindfold or gag an intrusive or abusive HO.
Expedient hat to keep the sun off. Use two around your jeans cuffs to keep mice out as you bushwhack. Tied in a loop with the knot caught in the door it provides a tie point for rope. Used as a sack to tote loose parts through attics or crawl spaces. With a light line tied on and a shop vac used on the other end you can get pull lines through conduits. ( Plastic shopping bags work even better.) Used as a bib to keep sawdust out of your shirt when you drill overhead.
The uses are limited only by need and imagination. When it gets nasty and worn you can compost it.
sounds to me like u work hard for your $8 an hour.
Got to be careful with those bandanas. Wear the wrong color in the wrong part of town, and things could get mighty exciting.
Good point. Around here it's not yet a problem but if I was working in a gang area I might get particular about the colors I wear. Red and blue seem to be of the greatest concern.
After demo-ing the kitchen this after noon Id say my favorite tool is my sledge hammer... Darkworksite4: When the job is to small for everyone else, Its just about right for me"