The Tool you cannot do without

Probably not the best title but having read some of the threads on here over the last couple of days I am curious as to which tools people find invaluable. I am also interested when I visit other workshops as to what tools they have and what they use them for.

I have for instance a fly press on one end of the bench and find I use it all of the time yet recently I was talking to a fellow engineer from this forum who "thinks he gave his away!"

The hammer I use most often is a tiny two ounce ball pein with a long shaft, I guess it is because I can do the least amount of damage with it Though I use a two and a half pound rounding hammer at the Forge.

My favourite file is a small 8" Warding file, not one of my other very fine Engineers files,the Warding file I find the most useful, the centre punch I use most often is one someone has made years ago from a piece of very hard steel, I don't know what it is but it works and is the perfect size in my hand. I reach for it first, passing by some quite expensive Starret punches on the way.

At the risk of sounding like a smartarse though, the most valuable tool I own are my glasses. They allow me to see things as I used to see things when I was much younger.

So what are your favourite tools? Or the tools you wouldn't be without?

graham.

A clock type vernier caliper which is dual scale, I've got newer, better digital ones but this one feels right!

A marking knife ( single bevel so it pulls in to the ruler).

A 6in puller bar which is just the right size for freeing up things, lifting edges.

Very fond of my cross vice on the bench drill - allows me to hit a spot every time ( well fairly often anyway) assuming I can see the spot of course

Wouldn't be without my anglepoise lamp which lets me judge cuts when wood turning, and extract splinters after cleaning up around the metal turning lathe!

Ian

A 6" dead smooth (No 6 cut) file. I seem to be using it all the time, either to draw file milling marks away or to put micro chamfers on corners to get rid of the burrs (also in the lathe but don't tell anybody).

Rod

Hi Graham,

I agree, my varifocal glasses has become invaluable over the last decades, and digital caliper with large easy to read digits. I also use a fluorescent lamp with a magnifying glass, makes it much easier to see small details. (Of course I wouldn't get much work done without my lathe and milling machine.)

Thor

... But surely it must be your Hammer !

MichaelG.

Hi Michael,

without my glasses I wouldn't find my hammer.

Thor

Yep its the gentle persuader Mr Hammer....

Regards

John

But which hammer?

I have several, from tiny to lump...................

At present with all the house renovations it has to be a tape measure.

Bob, I assume Michael was referring to Tors hammer as we say - Mjølner (or Mjölnir) - unfortunately my hammers doesn't always hit what I aim at, and they doesn't return to where they belong.

Thor

Very good.

For many years I swung a 22ounce framing hammer and I became very good with it, even using it to drive finishing pins. But nowadays, with the luxury of a warm workshop, I have a shelf with a selection of hammers. A hammer feels "right" or it just won't work. I have recently acquired a really lovely looking planishing hammer - but the shaft feels just wrong. I can't use it as it is so I am going to have to work on it. Maybe something for later today.

graham.

With weak and worsening eyesight my digital vernier height gauge together with an ancient (but good) set of Matrix inspection slip gauges makes marking out so much easier compared to using the old scribing block and rule.

Rik

The teapot ? or as someone suggested a measuring tape.

Dennis

The tool I find myself reaching for the most is an ancient Japanese "Peacock" brand dial test indicator with .0005" graduations mounted on an equally ancient Eclipse magnetic base with really solid posts and fittings from the days before plastic. The dial gauge has a cracked hole in the old yellowed crystal "glass". Yet that thing is just so handy for setting up in the lathe, checking square on the drill press, measuring bearing rollers on a sheet of glass, getting the lathe aligned just right, turning tapers and on and on.

I have newer "better" dial gauges and stands but that old beater is just easier to use. Maybe it's a matter of "feel".

Like Graham, a little ball pein hammer, but mine is all home made, the ball end is a large ball bearing, the other end, a taper roller bearing, the two brazed to a short bit of steel, to this is attached the handle, this is a bit of steel rod from the junk box, it's about 1/2" diameter, by 5" long, with a 7/16" hole drilled down the length of it to lighten it. I use it with little centre punches made of old chainsaw files. Ian S C

If I were to start all over again, the first machine tool I would buy would be a good metal cutting band saw. Then the mill and lathe.

My OptiVisors I have one with a no5 lens for bench/close work and one with a no4 lens for mill and lathe work brilliant.they work well with my varifocal glasses

Angle Grinder!

My wife's bank card.

Near to the top of the essential list is the GHT type centre height gauges I've made for both the Myford S7 and the Harrison L15. The other most useful tool is the bog roll which lives on a handle of one of the machines. A sheet of that wipes away a lot of cr** from places where it gathers to obscure what I want to see.

Regards,

Alan.

My ipad and You Tube, where I discovered Tom Lipton's Oxtoolco channel and his Oxtoolco blog. I liked his tailstock tool tray so much I stopped mid project and made one followed by tone for the headstock. If you Google Oxtoolco blog tailstock tool tray & scroll down you'll find it.

I have learnt so much from him, I now make things faster and to a higher standard but there's always room for improvement!