[Closed] Best tool in the world?

A good hammer, not sure which is my favourite but it's always satisfying when you get to bring out the ice hammer.

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Either my Norbar torque wrench that just feels reassuringly expensive or my rubber mallet. Both essential.

When I saw the thread title I was going to knipex pliers. Wish I had heard of them 30yrs ago.

The knipex are great. Their only short coming is they're not heavy enough to hit things with.

They and a hultafors chisel knife have become the two always-in-pocket tools when I'm working.

Dunno about how unusual it is, but an SDS drill has been one of the best tools I've bought for getting jobs done.

I've got a hammer action drill, but it really only gets used for drilling into wood, these days.
The SDS does the job so much quicker.
I actually bought it to help demolish a brick-built pond, as the lump hammer & chisel approach was taking ages. It also made light work of demolishing a brick built bbq & I've used it for chasing into walls, holes for sockets etc.

My Snap-On long ratchet screwdriver is a thing of wonder! I've abused it for years, and it still works as good as new

As James May said, the adjustable spanner is the tool of the charlatan.
I have a set of rothenberger pipe grips which have got me out of trouble a few times! Strap wrenches will only do so much.

Yankee screwdriver.

Never needs charging. Can fire screws in almost as quickly as a battery gun and can coax out even the most obstinate of old screws with a gentle finesse unmatched by any modern tool.

A thing of beauty which makes you feel positively manly every time you pick it up.

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I hope to god you're not using that without a 27b/6 mr Panther

The Teng Palm ratchet. I've had mine for ten years and it gets used to soooo many jobs.
Great for the bike and tight spaces in the engine bay.

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I hope to god you're not using that without a 27b/6 mr Panther

I feel more manly than DeNiro when I unholster my Big Yankee 😉

My mattock is the one tool I couldn't manage without... Great for digging, cutting roots, smashing up crush/gravel so it can be shoveled... I broke on recently and felt bereft!

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Nail gun. How did I live for so long without one?

My mattock is the one tool I couldn't manage without... Great for digging, cutting roots, smashing up crush/gravel so it can be shoveled... I broke on recently and felt bereft!

Yeah, seconded......and I too broke one recently. 🙁

My Hitachi impact driver.
I don't know how I managed before messing about with regular drivers.
This thing will drive a 5" screw through anything!

Yeah, seconded......and I too broke one recently.

B&Q do a surprisingly good one for about 20 quid...

I broke on recently and felt bereft!

The most attached I've seen people get to a single tool rather than a type of took is a Cats Paw. Thinks like the knipex - really useful and expensive to replace if I lost it but I'm not attached to [i]it[/i]. A friend I was working with broke his Cats Paw and from the look on his face when it happened you'd have though he'd broken his cat.

It seems the fewer working parts a tool has the more personal it becomes to someone - my hammer is more 'mine' than my plasma cutter.

Snap-On wobbley sockets. socket and UJ in one unit .....fantastic

Great thread. I need one of those Teng palm ratchets in my life.

Maybe my parallel action pliers, they're so handy for many of the reason the Knipex is so handy. Though I need to get a pair of the Knipex pliers

The pliers look a bit like this. Bought them from a church fair about 20 years ago, have been with me ever since

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Although very seldom used without doubt my adze.

Not only is there something deeply satisfying about easily chopping away chunks of wood with a sharp adze, but there is also something primitively manly about it.

It's what Jesus would have used.

If it can't be fixed with a hammer or duct tape you're doing it wrong. Hammers are the best tool ever. I have a small but balanced selection of quality, well used, hammers which I keep close to hand. The most satisfying is my sledgehammer. It's a top quality on piece item (I've seen heads come off cheap wood handled things) and I bought it for taking a wall down.
That was immensely satisfying. Bricks were hitting the other side of the room. Ahhhhhh memories.... 🙂

Pamir Hypercracker (sadly out of production)

I don't know why but I get a real satisfaction from running a reburring tool around the inside of a freshly cut steerer

Palm ratchets are ace, that one looks way nicer than mine.

Good circlip pliars! Reason being, when you're elbows deep in your engine and you discover there's a wee bastardy tight circlip holding the shift detente arm on, and you've only got shite circlip pliars and one thing leads to another and after about 20 minutes of failure the tip breaks off and falls into the sump, you'll wish you had good circlip pliars.

(see also- magnet on a stick)

Yes, some on diy's most complex problems can be solved with a magnet on a stick.
I'm thinking about you, long lost mk2 golf GTI.

The most used and one I'd replace tomorrow if it were ever lost is also probably the simplest.

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Muppet ,the triple Allen key best tool out there

..apart from the special edition version they did for their 50th anniversary.

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Knipex Cobra!

Not to be confused with generic versions of a similar type. These are awesome.

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Never seen the appeal tbh, proper p-handles ftw.

For bike tinkering it has to be my autoloading rachet screwdriver, I've replaced the screwdriver attachments for Torx & Allens. I can nearly build a complete bike with it, excluding cassette & BB tool and possibly something else I've forgotten.

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..apart from the special edition version they did for their 50th anniversary.

Pah! only 50 years?

I've got a limited edition Japanese import [i]100th[/i] Anniversary Makita Impact Driver..... in GOLD.

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oh - and the wrong way up for some reason

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For when a Holesaw is just to much like hard work ... And cordless too 🙂

It has to be the lowly bradawl for me.

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8" is probably my favourite, although I have a selection.
Work use only, I use the correct tool for the job at home.

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Closely followed by a screwdriver.

My brother would say

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I've a soft spot for the mighty Hammer of Thor, everyone needs a lumpy hammer, my grandad stole his from the RAF so I felt justified in stealing it from him, 75 years old and still whacking things.

My brother in Law.

Often the simplest tool is the best, and, just like nobeerinthefridge, this is one of my favourites:

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Still in regular use, this is the top off the bottle of Topsail I've just opened. 😀

...while wearing a thumb ring? 🙄

I thought it was an errant compression olive.

Breaker bar.

Doubles as a weapon.

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Sawn off shotgun. With it you can get anything done. 🙂

Including getting done for armed robbery.

If you've ever worked on aircraft, a pair 'locking wire pliers'.

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Felco secateurs and folding saw. Use them for work and slip into a pocket when out on the bike.

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Bolt Grips. I've spent hours messing around under rusty cars with blow torches, plus gas, etc. Now I accept reality, source a replacement fastener and if the old one won't come off at the first attempt with a normal socket, whip the bolt grips out.

My fave tool is this baby

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perchypanther - Member
Yankee screwdriver.

Never needs charging. Can fire screws in almost as quickly as a battery gun and can coax out even the most obstinate of old screws with a gentle finesse unmatched by any modern tool.

A thing of beauty which makes you feel positively manly every time you pick it up.

Dad lost an eye due to a colleague wielding one of those when in the RAF working in St Athan.

While in hospital my mum went to visit him (had been childhood friends) and they got together and I was born. So you could say my Dad owes his eye and I owe my life to one of those. But due to the eye story I have steered well clear of them all my life!

Bolt Grips.

They. Look. Awesome. What a brilliant idea.

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These automatic wire strippers.

Stratocaster. The very best there is. When you absolutely, positively got to get the pants off every woman in the room, accept no substitutes.

eddiebaby - Member
Stratocaster. The very best there is. When you absolutely, positively got to get the pants off every woman in the room, accept no substitutes.

So it's a tool enabler?

3747 Carling Sir.

I've been called worse... 😥

eddiebaby - Member
I've been called worse...

No, no, it wasn't directed at you. It refers to the piece of personal equipment you were planning deploying once the Stratocaster did its job.

Knippex Steel fixers nips. Use em for loads of stuff they shouldn't be used for!

Haimer 3d taster ng. Will save you so much time on setup and it does z too. Really is an epic tool and only 350 odd quid as well

I was thinking about Yankee screwdrivers not long ago, such a simple thing made more complicated by technology. Kinda want one.

Those bolt grips look like something else I need. And the palm ratchet.

In terms of low tech time saving my best investment yet was my Screwfix cheapo mattock, regular gardening tool now.

And there is nothing wrong with a [u]quality[/u] shifter if used correctly and sensibly. Never go out on plant without my Bahco universal valve mover (shifers are banned).

Reassuring that I have discovered some of these tools but a few things added to my wanted list too.

It took me a long time to discover the wonders of a cordless impact driver, when I finally got a Ryobi one it was like OMG now I can drive in Phillips head screws without knackering myself pushing down really hard. It also made me 10 times more productive at driving in large coach screws vs using a manual socket and wrench.

Stratocaster - I guess something that makes ones Junk desirable is a tool of sorts.

P.S I can't make out CountZeros secret message Lyaczxasuwsk13pyy?

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Oh look, I just "won" a 24" Yankee screwdriver on ebay. Thanks whoever suggested that. Better get a hex adaptor for it as well whilst I'm at it eh?

Just need a set of those torch glasses now... *sigh*

Just need a set of those torch glasses now... *sigh*

I presume that means you've already got the balaclava and the moustache.

Missus won't notice a pair of tights missing, 'tache can be grown on demand...

My granddads Never Bend Spade.
Proper.

Fencing pliers.

Beyond it's intended multi tasking, whenever the desired tool can't be found in the back of the Land Rover, a set of fencing pliers can always be found and make a more than adequate substitute, whatever the task is.

Actually the best tool has been under our noses and no one has mentioned it.

The bicycle.

Has anyone mentioned fingers yet?

No, bikes make for crap tools as they are flexy and tend not to like getting hit off things. Beyond using a cut down seat post as a drift or a tube as a headset remover theres not much you can do with it.

Bikes can make a very useful tool, however they require a little modification first 😈
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This thread has cost me £62.

This thread has cost me £62.

It reminded me to buy the splitting axe that I've been hankering after...

So, £65 later, I now have a lovely Hultafors...

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squirrelking - Member
No, bikes make for crap tools as they are flexy and tend not to like getting hit off things. Beyond using a cut down seat post as a drift or a tube as a headset remover theres not much you can do with it.

I'm not convinced. In my youth cycling served much the same purpose for me as eddiebaby's Stratocaster. Enabling. No hitting or being flexy was countenanced. 🙂