Your favourite tool or small toolbox

[Gsailor]

A difficult question to pose.

Came about because I needed to use my favourite / first to reach for / first to pack and take with me...

My socket set ... BUT much more than that.

Plastic case, size of about 2 or 3 A4 sheets of paper - case has withstood 35 years of abuse and is in perfect condition...

But more than containing metric and imperial sockets, it contains torx bits, Philips, posidrive, flat head screwdriver bits and spark plug sockets of various sizes. So it is a handy screw driver too.

It is a great tool kit that performs many tasks.

It also has sentimental value because it was a birthday gift, but it is strong and never let me down- not even the plastic case.

Need to open a Blake’s seacock in the bilge - yup, with one of three extensions, and the correct sized socket, it did it for me. Previous owner lost the Blake’s spanner.

Fix my front door? It did it today, 35 years after it was given to me.

AND it is not even SnapOn etc, it is mildly mannered, well thought out Draper Pro set.

Has gone on camping trips, boat trips, etc.

Will not do everything - only a workshop does that, but today it is resting in my dining room - it deserves it.

What is yours? It may be a tricky question - I also always it seems, need a multimeter.

 

[colind3782]

I have a couple of Draper kits, similar to yours, and I use one all the time on the boat. Mainly because the chance of something going over the side is directly proportional to its cost! The pliers etc., do succumb to surface rust easily but the rest is good as new. As for a multimeter, I have three on the boat so I always have one within arms reach!

 

[Bouba]

It’s a hard decision because my favourite tool is the one that accomplished my last job…
My mini multi tool… rarely use it…often forget to take it…but I keep it in the Tesla in the unlikely event it breaks down
Fun tools include my plasma cutter and the induction coil for bending metal
But often it’s my homemade tools welded together from scrap that are perfectly made for a specific purpose and make an impossible task a doddle that I appreciate most.
Photos will follow when I return home

 

[Bouba]

Ps…did I mention my set of ratchets spanners?…makes my socket set almost redundant

 

[Refueler]

I like the old cheap multi tool sets you could buy in the markets ... tools were crap and open ended spanners soon bent or jaws opened out. But they worked for a while - then as a tool failed - bin it and replace with a better one ... keeping the set intact.

But those sets now are history ... only ones I find now are expensive and TBH - the tools are not much better than those cheapos of before.

 

[Daydream believer]

As this is a yachting forum I will stick to the boat. I have a tool box that overflowed into a mess. My set of spanners became quite large.
One day I realised that once the engine mounts had been tightened, then checked, there was no need for that spanner. Same applied for some others that fitted nothing on the boat. Why have a half inch drive if all the sockets are 3/8?
I did check that I still had the adjustable spanner & the mole grips though. For a saw I have a coping saw & packet of blades- It does get used- plus a junior hacksaw of dubious use. A Stanley hand drill & plenty of drill bits.
I spent a couple of hours checking every one & 50% were taken home. I then gave the jubilee clips the treatment, followed by the box of assorted screws. Does one really need 12- 4 inch screws on a GRP boat when the hatch needs 3 inch- for which I have 6 spares? Did I need 100 -20mm self tappers & so on?
So my toolbox then got split into 3 new ones. One for electrial bits, fuses etc. One for urgent tools, screwdrivers & most used spanners etc. & finally the one that goes in the deepest locker, with the spare impellers, filters & odd tools that one finds handy even if I never use them..

 

[nevis768]

I bought a Bahco 3/8 socket set the other day in Oban, came in a neat plastic box, and had screw driver and Allen key bits. Top quality, very reasonable. My father's old one, in a massive box, has been been reassigned to the garage.

 

[The Q]

On the little sailing boat , a multi tool, and a small socket set, that copes with just about anything on the water.
On the motor boat a larger socket set, which includes screwdriver tips and handles.
At home? At the moment a mini scroll saw Neilson CT4843, I'm building light weight baseboards for a model railway, It's been very impressive cutting small accurate odd shaped holes in plywood.

 

[davidej]

A Black and Decker Powerfile. Amazingly useful.

I have all the rest, socket set, cordless drill, Dremel, jigsaw, d a, etc etc.

 

[Poignard]

I was issued with a good toolkit when I joined the Royal Navy in 1957.

One of the last duties on leaving was to hand in the box of tools to the naval stores in Pompey barracks.

The storekeeper didn't bother to open it, he just picked it up and shook it before adding it to a pile of others.

If I had only known I would have filled it with stones.

 

[rotrax]

Favourite tool is undoubtedly my ancient genuine 'Vise Grip' 5 inch mole type wrench. I now have 3, two in the home workshop and 1 in my 'small tools' box, a plastic box about 10x8X4 inches with a clear plastic snap in lid that once held 800 quids worth of bio-science products. Once date expired the contents were disposed of-at great expense- by the company I worked for. I was able to take home as many empty boxes as I could carry.

I find it perfect for the tools one needs most frequently and it is kept where it is quickly available. It is so full of the most commonly required small tools I have to give it a 'jiggle' when closing the lid.

There are three other tool boxes on the boat plus the more specialist kit like a right angle drill head. Found that very useful!

Living 85 miles from the boat I keep what is required to maintain and service it on board.

The very helpful Harbourmaster has allowed me the privilege of fixing a waterproof garden storage box on a 'dead' bit of pontoon. In this I keep a most excellent folding bench, a clip on vice and the heavy winter mooring warps. I consider myself well set up.

I rarely need a tool, in fact I am the 'go to' guy for the other bertholders when they are in the $H1t.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

I have many tools and anyone that knows me or has read anything I have to say about tools knows I don't buy crap tools unless by accident , so I can't say I have a favourite tool but I have many that are decades old a set of Britool ring spanners bought for me by my uncle for my 21st birthday so over 50 years old still as good as the day he gave them to me. However the tools I perhaps treasure the most are two Teng socket sets 1/4" and 3/8" drive, they were given to me by a dear friend that ran an engineering supplies and tool shop and his take on tools was similar to mine he didn't sell crap as it wasn't worth the complaints and returns when they broke. Sadly he's no longer with us, gone to the great tool room in the sky.

 

[johnalison]

I am not a tool-fetishist. I get my kicks in other ways. I am so un-hip in this regard that my favourite and probably most-used tool is an adjustable spanner. The mods will probably kick me out of the forum for saying that.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

I am not a tool-fetishist. I get my kicks in other ways. I am so un-hip in this regard that my favourite and probably most-used tool is an adjustable spanner. The mods will probably kick me out of the forum for saying that.

At the very least you deserve a good flogging preferably administered by the poor sod that has to undo or remove the nut or bolt that you have successfully butchered and rounded the flats off.

 

[Mudisox]

Like others, I have a Lidl small plastic case of all small sockets and bits, but favourite is the canvas tool bag, inherited from my father who made it during the war and kept it. I have replaced the rope handles though. Reminds me of him every time I reach for it.

 

[Roberto]

My preferred (very) small toolbox is a belt leather pouch with pliers, various 1/4" bits (allen, screwdriver, etc), cutter pliers, adjustable wrench and torch-like lighter. This plus the Leatherman and I get 90% of regular jobs done.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Apart from a few things like socket sets or small screwdriver sets I don't keep any tools in boxes they are all on wall racks or under the benches and in cupboards. Out of necessity I did have a plastic tool box on the boats but ferreting around looking for what you want was always a nuisance.

 

[Aja]

I got a Snap On ratchet screwdriver as a present many years ago. First tool I would have on any boat.

Snap On

 

[Refueler]

Thinking about it ... and after using them !! Two items have risen up the tool scale for me ....

Small jawed sharp snips (I have them for 3D print filament) - but they are excellent for snipping small wires .. solder spikes etc. when doing wiring jobs.
Second - a reasonable stripper to neatly remove wire insulation ...

Given that so many jobs on boats are wire related - I find they are becoming so often in hand.

 

[Roberto]

I got a Snap On ratchet screwdriver as a present many years ago. First tool I would have on any boat.

Snap On

+-£90 and not a ring/lanyard to keep it tied to the wrist while working on deck?