Tools you want to brag about?

[Blue2Orange]

Nothing to brag about regarding tools for tractor maintenance. Maybe my ancient real Craftsman beam torque wrenches?

But... green wood carving tools. A handful of hand forged Swedish tools. A few hand forged American tools. Hand stitched rasps....Don't want to add up the $$$s spent over the past +40 years.

 

[Yooper]

Just like the story behind this screwdriver. Was working for my dad at his gas station when I was 11 years old. Got paid 10 cents an hour. I was in a store that had a rack of Globemaster tools and I spotted this giant screwdriver with a price of 1 dollar so I bought it. I thought it was cool but my dad not so much.

One day he was struggling trying to remove a hub cap and then he spots my screwdriver on the bench. Gets out the torch and heats it up and bends it as you can see. Turned out to be everybody's favorite hub cap removal tool. The angle plus the thin blade and length took all the frustration out of the hub cap removal back in the day.

My son used it a few months ago when we were fixing the TPMS sensors on his Toyota. Yup, popped the hub caps right off 57 years later!

 

[Sidekick]

I always had a mixed bag of chinese impact sockets and found a complete set of 1/2" in a packout on clearance last year at Home Depot for $99 bucks. Grabbed it and no longer spend hours searching for the right socket. Having a kit forces me to keep them all together. That, my digital torque wrench, and the impact gun keep parts from falling off the tractors. Being a deep box there's room under the pack out inserts for the rachets and other accessories. Not really something to brag about but something I use all the time. No missing metric sizes like before.

 

[Blue2Orange]

Socket envy.

Local Ace Hardware is an authorized Milwaukee dealer. Similar to your image set were +$200. Option would have been fake Milwaukee from Amazon at 1/2 to similar to Ace price. Milwaukee doesn't warranty any Milwaukee labeled tools purchased at Amazon or any other unauthorized seller. Went with generic Cr-V (hopefully). So far, none have failed. Time will tell.

 

[PHPaul]

I'm a tool junkie. ANY excuse to buy a new tool is a good one. That said, I can't afford (and don't need) Snap On stuff.

My most recent purchases:

1. Vevor Mag drill which is one of those tools you don't use often, but when you need it, nothing else works as well.



Here, I'm using it to drill a grid of holes in my welding table that will be tapped 1/2-13 to accommodate my clamping kit for setting up projects.

2. A Vevor MR-13A drill sharpening machine. The process of drilling the 27/64ths holes in a piece of re-purposed steel of unknown origins was hard on bits. The Vevor is fast, accurate and idiot proof. The Drill Doctor it replaced was none of those things.



3. A pneumatic pop rivet setter. A recent project required 24 pop rivets and my arthritic hands were not up to using the manual pliers type. For around $70, this was just the ticket.



At the moment, I have the hots for a new tap and die set. The 114 piece Gearwrench set gets good reviews, has ratcheting handles, SAE taps and dies up to 3/4 inch and metrics up to 18mm. A tad spendy, but as soon as I save up the cash, it'll get ordered. My ancient Craftsman SAE set is duller than dishwater in all the commonly used sizes and the tap wrench won't stay tight.

 

[Lil Foot]

Found this at a thrift store for $1, great feel, heavy, well made tool, from Titan.
For those really tight spaces:

 

[skeets]

Back when I was 18 I would brag,,, oh wait ,, sorry wrong tool

 

[D2Cat]

Reaches quite a ways and does not wear you out.

 

[skeets]

Did you build this saw ????

 

[D2Cat]

Did you build this saw ????

No. I was going to, but I talked to the man who invented, developed and sells them in Pauls Valley, OK and decided to buy and be done with it. The price of the hyd motor and other components get to the point of not worth the trouble.

If your interested his number is 405-238-4666. He told me how his dad had him in the bucket of the tractor trimming the limb over the driveway. He said after a few years and about the 6th time he fell out he decided that was the last time, and he started formulating an idea.

There is a similar saw actually built by a guy who use to be partners with James Capers at Limbhog, his is orange, a bit lighter material in the beam.

 

[skeets]

That is an outstanding item! And if I may how many units of measurement did you fork over?

 

[D2Cat]

That is an outstanding item! And if I may how many units of measurement did you fork over?

New it was around $2400, but before I decided to head south to meet James and get a tour through his companies (he also makes tanks for fire departments) I looked on MP and found one north of me near Sioux City. Paid $1300, I think. It was new, never used. Man had a Kubota tractor and many attachments, he died and his wife wanted to sell his tractor stuff. The man (I bought it from) said he wanted the tractor, but had to buy it all----so he sold the tree saw! A worth while road trip.

 

[TheOldHokie]

Are both or only one "worth every penny" when you have to buy another because after "months/years" you forgot where the first one is?

How about after minutes/seconds?

Dan