The Tool you cannot do without

I have to agree with Rod I have bought a 3 inch Vallorbe cut 6 file from Ebay (Cranbrook Clocks) a few weeks ago and it is beautiful to use I was so pleased I brought several more for different materials.

I find I get a 'new' tool like a screwdriver and it becomes the favourite for a few weeks but then gets superceded. However generally small long nosed pliers are indispensible, along with jewelers' eyeglass for thorn/splinter removal.

The key to get into my workshop.

For splinter removal try these LINK

For some reason you get two magnifiers but at 20X you can't possibly point them in the right direction so you have to close one eye. If like me your spy glass drops out of your eye at just the wrong moment every time, then these are the fellows for you!

David.

A rather bent 40+ year old large screwdriver called Wedgewood because it gets its nose in things (perhaps rather too political).

Plus a sharpened pallet knife.

JA

I have to agree with the original poster a Hammer is vital then tape measure and pencil, from there the list could become rather interesting as it depends on what I am doing.............saying that my glasses are becoming top priority in all things both pairs long and short.

With the amount of tooling I have aquired over the last 63 years I could not say which tool I could do without as I always seem to need a tool that is different for every job that comes up, Hammers, pliers, hacksaw, solder gun. It goes on and on.

One job needs an adjustable spanner but the next will need Stillsons because the nut is bigger.

machine wise it is the Lathe and Drill and then the milling machine with DRo's but then I need woodworking kit as well.

No, I want the lot! Ha Ha.

Clive

The hammer brigade,

You forgot a dead blow hammer, mine gets used frequently and doesn't leave evidence either..

Brian

My most useful tool goes everywhere with me, in and out of the workshop. It's called a brain, and contains knowledge, experience and thinking ability all in one small package.

Andrew

I only started using a jewlers saw last few years and now I use it a lot. Greatly underrated.

The next tool I buy !

A book with a list of every tool I own and where it is located , last weekend I had to cut an 18mm x 1.25 L/H thread on a spindle so I went rummaging through toolboxes,drawers,cupboards and storage containers looking for the screw cutting gauge I was sure I bought a few years back.

after an hour I gave up and bought a new one the next day and when I got home I was playing around on my lathe and needed to drill a centre hole so guess what I found under a pile of centre drills in a drawer in my toolbox marked CENTRE DRILLS - the damned screw cutting gauge I bought a few years back !

Oh well two is also better than one !

Ian

Yes, but not really man made if some of the books I have read are to be believed.

I was interested in the iPad comment as it is true, I have a computer in each of my workshops and find them invaluable. Problem with my brain is it is so full of rubbish that stuff has started spilling out and the worst bit is when I only remember half the answer because the other half fell out at some point in the past. Very frustrating.

graham.

> It's called a brain

Hi Andrew, as a tool is 'something that augments the capabilities of the user', I have to ask - whose brain are you using?

Neil

As far as I am aware I am not the result of an immaculate conception, and therefore am 50% man made.

Neil: Not according to my dictionary? I tend to use my brain, as I find it conveniently comes to hand when I need it. However, that doesn't stop me absorbing all sorts of stuff from other brains, by whatever means.

Andrew

Best thing I ever bought is a sack- barrow, used nearly every day. Model engineering -wise an ER collet chuck for the lathe, hardly ever comes off now, wish I'd had one years ago. My brain has mostly been used for banging things. Yesterday had 2 chainsaws go west, then the sole came of my boot, so went for a pint and the lights on the van didn't work.

Hammers yes, I was taught never force anything allways use the correct size hammer. But on a serious note I have drawers full of tools that never see the light of day for years but come to the rescue when needed.

Good afternoon,

The tools I caanot do without in my workshop are my micrometer, a twenty first birthday present more the fifty years ago, a little 2 oz ball pein hammer that was my fathers and a supply of square ended 6" steel rules.

Regards,

Bob Youldon

When I worked in an engineering factory in Belfast the favourite saying of an old fitter was "If it won't fit, your hammer is not big enough."

Hi Bob,

Starrett?

Neil