surely thats not an adjustable spanner but some sort of pliars?

It’s better at adjustable spannering than adjustable spanners are. Useful for a lot more things also.

I kind of get it in a portable sense, but a set of spanners can be had for similar money and are far better at being spanners.
As James May says; The adjustable spanner is the tool of the charlatan!

I’ve never rounded off a bolt with a proper adjustable spanner. I use one a fair bit

Nor me, but a spanner is the right tool.

Inded – its just someone always hides the correct size!

What’s a chisel knife used for?

Morticer pillar drill for me. Perfect joints every time. Or side wall drive sockets. Genius.

Inded – its just someone always hides the correct size!

😀

Latex gloves. Puncture fixing in the pissing rain with mud everywhere is much more pleasant.
I discovered some 3/8 to tap square adapters the other day. Well handy when there’s no room for a tap wrench. And if I’m feeling lazy I can smack then in with the rattle gun.
Neway valve seat cutters are awesome.
WNT lathe tools are just incredible. Bloody expensive but I wish I’d got them years ago.
Articulating ratchet spanners are probably one of the most useful tools in the box and they are only a ton or so for a set.
Also how do people manage without a lathe and dro a vertical and dro a mig and a tig and a big record vice? Doesn’t compute

At the moment it’s my home made tool board, it’s on a wall in my porch, and it has a screw for each of the garden/large tools which used to make up the jumble of tools which sat in the corner of my porch, and fell over/under/got knocked onto and then scratched my bikes.

To be able to take a few steps to my toolboard and put my hand easily onto the tool I want is currently a revelation.

Everybody should have tool boards. 🙂

Basin tap spanner

James May is wrong.
I still have a good quality adjustable spanner from my apprentice days, its very useful.

I would suggest those gloves that are sold everywhere now, sometimes called builders gloves but close enough fitting for quite fine work. No more rough hands for this boy.

Tool for removing clutch driven alternator pulleys.
Not something you’d use every day but nigh on impossible to remove without one.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/RZnCbU]Alternator Pulley Tool[/url] by pten2106, on Flickr

surely thats not an adjustable spanner but some sort of pliars?

Its not to obvious from the pic but unlike pliers the jaws have a parallel actions like an AJ rather than the scissoring action of pliers – so they fit the nut like a spanner but grip like pliers. Theres a very high leverage ratio so the grip things very tightly too, but the gripping faces are smooth so you can grip without marking stuff. With a bit of practice with how you hold them you can use them as a sort or ratchet too – good for hard to get at bolts and much faster to work with than an AJ. They’re really light too, mine is usually in my pocket all day.

What’s a chisel knife used for?

Chiselling and knifing 🙂 Basically you can use it like a knife or strike the end of the handle like a chisel or strike the back of the blade like a side-strike chisel or hacking knife.. That point where the two cutting edges meet gives a good stanley-knife like cutting and marking function too

They’ve got a bit more spring to them than a conventional chisel so you can lever and pry with them too without them snapping and they’re thiner than a chisel or a cats paw so good at getting into stuff and prying it apart. Easy to resharpen and dead cheap too so you don’t need to be precious with them.

The first time you use one you’ll cut yourself.

That quick link removing tool, cheep and awesome

The pliery/adjustie is called a Waterpump Plier

@MacCruiskeen – thanks! Realised i was tee-ing that up, but well done for resisting going to town.

I have knives. I have chisels. Hadn’t realised i was missing a tool! A couple of suggestions here added to the list.

The knipex is called a pliers wrench. Not a water pump spanner.

Water pump spanners move in a different motion and the flats don’t stay parallel.

The flats staying parallel is key to the knipexs greatness.

A top tool for your back pack.

Seeing as were including non bike tools then a draper trim removal kit is pretty handy

Adjustable wrenches are like molegrips, in the wrong hands they’re weapons of mass destruction which means people tend to forget that as long as you’re not a clown, they can be really useful. Also, most of the ajs out there are cheap crap from B&Q £10 toolkits with wobbly jaws. A good one is worth owning.

Groove joint, slip joint, flat, angles or curved……versions of their ‘base’, that is a WP Plier.