Any of you all love tools?

bykfixer

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Shop Vac or bust. I recently bought a Rigid tool box shaped one and a 10 foot hose. Makes a great stool or seat when not in use. The vac that is, not the hose. Vacuumed out a truck front and back only moving it once. It comes with a 4 foot long hose and a 20 foot cord, a pair of extensions, a crevice tool, an upholstry brush and a wet vac wand. That and a couple of car care products by chemical guys and one could start a mobile car detailer.

I bought a 3 shelf tool cart at Harbor Frieght a few years back for half the price of a craftsman 2 shelf cart. It's more rigid than a craftsman too. My watch back remover, finger ratchets and a bunch of specialty stuff like that came from Harbor Frieght. But stuff like that absolutely has to work every time like sockets, ratchets, floor jacks and such Do Not come from Harbor Freight.
 
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greenpondmike

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Yeah, I bought a floor jack from w*lmart a long time ago-MTD brand. It didn't last long.

Poppy, I bought him some tools before. I was just saying that he has all this expensive stuff and speciality tools, but little things like a flathead screwdriver- a good one is rare at his shop. Guess it wouldn't hurt to buy him a set. The set he bought me for Christmas is still in good shape.
 

bykfixer

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NAPA brand Carlisle makes a good set of screw drivers for not a lot of dough gpm.
Like craftsman/husky I believe they are made on the same assembly line as Lowe's Kobalt screw drivers.
 

Lynx_Arc

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My brother in law is a toolaholic. He has all kinds of gadget tools for different jobs. One time at his shop though I was needing a flathead screwdriver and all his were wore out.

What do y'all think about harbor freight tools?

HF tools are a hit/miss. Too often you pay less for.... less but if you aren't using them professionally (make a living with tools) they can be decent light to medium duty tools but as far as heavy duty I wouldn't count on most tools to deliver. I would rather pay more for a brand other than pittsburg in hand tools if I were using them often and didn't lose them or have them vanished for me at work. I had Craftsman growing up and since Sears went belly up I haven't needed to buy much hand tools I've bought second hand tools for work as I've lost many either dropping them somewhere in a wall or putting them down and forgetting them or having them vanished for me that is when I consider HF tools. I bought a small adjustable crescent wrench from HF to replace the one I lost and had to sort through 3 of them to get one that works smoothly and have a similar sized Husky wrench that works fine I bought later. I am always going places like flea markets that sell used tools and pick up spares for about 1/2 to 1/4 of new price. I pick up slip joint (Channel lock) pliers often that are rusted some for a few dollars and clean them up and use them saving myself about $10-$15 or so over buying new ones. I've lost 4 pairs of them over the years so I'm always stocking up. I rarely use regular flathead screwdrivers these days I mostly use replaceable magnetic screw tips on everything I can but do have several sets of regular ones. Since I have a bench grinder and wire wheel I have repaired damaged screwdrivers but since the onset of battery powered screwdrivers and drills and magnetic tip and holders finding second hand screwdrivers is pretty easy.
 

greenpondmike

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Now that is what my brother in law needs- a bench grinder with a wire wheel. I used to have that and all kinds of presses and an industrial sand blaster at auto armature service inc when I worked there. Also had a thing to check and straighten shafts, and a good set of torches and sticks of silver solder for braising. The presses were manual, hydrolic and hydrolic/electric. I sure miss that place. Except for being an auburn fan my boss man was a great boss.

If I needed to work on one of my vehicles where I needed what the shop provided I could stay after work as long as I wanted and just lock up afterwards.
 

greenpondmike

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NAPA brand Carlisle makes a good set of screw drivers for not a lot of dough gpm.
Like craftsman/husky I believe they are made on the same assembly line as Lowe's Kobalt screw drivers.

Thanks bykfixer. I don't much break or loose tools so I still have my dad's craftsman tools and some old old western auto ones. I bought some deep well metric sockets made by kobalt a while back. I can get by with what I have in an old aluminum bread van with shelves (my portable tool shed) as far as light to medium duty work goes, but have Bubba and his shop to fall back on when I need extra help. He has some of my tools at his shop to use if he needs them.

He never had anything stolen except for a led solitaire.
 

Lynx_Arc

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I have two bench grinder setups, one with a coarse and a fine wheel and the other a wire wheel and a cloth/buffing wheel.
 

Lynx_Arc

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Those are some good things to have around the house and shop.
I use them often, I've even tried my hand at buffing dvds with the cloth wheel with mixed success using plastic compound I think however the wire wheel is the most used for rusty metal parts when you are working on things take out a bolt and clean it up and put a dab of oil on the threads and it goes in easily with finger action then. I've used the grinder for some things but found a right angle corded grinder is easier to use to sharpen the lawnmower blade with which I'm getting close to needing a new one as I've ground off a fair amount of metal now.
 

bykfixer

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I have two bench grinder setups, one with a coarse and a fine wheel and the other a wire wheel and a cloth/buffing wheel.

I messed up my coarse wheel removing alluminum from a transmission dirt shield that needed corners reshaped to fit a motor my son installed in his car. I read somewhere that broken hack saw blades chunks were good for getting the alluminum off of the wheel. I just grabbed a chunk of saw blade with a vice grip tool and rubbed the teeth across the wheel as it spun and sure enough after 10 minutes or so one could not tell it had ever been coated with alluminum.

I had a Zebco 303 or similar that was for crappie fishing. It had a brake where you set it for a particular depth and let out line. Then it stopped where you set it to get your lure right back into the school once you'd found what lure they were biting on. It might have been a 202 but it was great for what we southerners often refer to as "freckle" fish instead of calling them crappie.
 
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Lynx_Arc

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I messed up my coarse wheel removing alluminum from a transmission dirt shield that needed corners reshaped to fit a motor my son installed in his car. I read somewhere that broken hack saw blades chunks were good for getting the alluminum off of the wheel. I just grabbed a chunk of saw blade with a vice grip tool and rubbed the teeth across the wheel as it spun and sure enough after 10 minutes or so one could not tell it had ever been coated with alluminum.

I had a Zebco 303 or similar that was for crappie fishing. It had a brake where you set it for a particular depth and let out line. Then it stopped where you set it to get your lure right back into the school once you'd found what lure they were biting on. It might have been a 202 but it was great for what we southerners often refer to as "freckle" fish instead of calling them crappie.

You can use any piece of metal to rub off the wheel but hardened metal works best. They also make dressers for grinding wheels too in case you wear one down unevenly.
 

greenpondmike

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I still think the zebco 33 was one of the best reels out there. I ruint my dad's when I was a teen. The last service it saw was when I tied a bolt to the line and would throw it over our sleeping dog and let it land softly on a rug.....then I would reel it in over the dog. I got a good laugh at the dog's reaction. Whoa!...., just had a though- I can try that on Melvinia.

Far as tools go, common tools are good, but if you really want to get serious a good set of touches for cutting and braising are very helpful and also a welder. I'm a fan of the wire fed welder and like yall were talking about....a bench grinder with one side reserved for a wire wheel.

A good vice and press are very useful along with a high pressure air system which can open the door to air tools. There were times I sure needed an impact.

Had a crankshaft bolt that needed to come out and no way to hold the pully/harmonic balancer. I got on my pocket internet (nokia 6133) and made sure it wasn't reversed threads. Got the back bumper up against a tree and left it in reverse. Set the pull handle to be braced in front and turned the key- letting the starter do the work....worked like a charm. I guess the internet is also a good tool to have. Nowadays you have to take hours going through all the foolishness to find what you want and that can take hours and cause frustration.
 
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