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Hi all,
Picking apples this morning in the drizzle with the long handled fruit picker. Thinking about it, it's got to be a contender for favourite tool.
Although, I think on balance the mattock takes it. A mattock is such a brilliant piece of kit for digging, edging, scraping, chopping, levering, hitting stuff etc....
So UKC, what's your favourite tool?
(Rules: the answer cannot be 'DMM Fly' or 'The OP')
Post edited at 12:58
2
In reply to bouldery bits:
Big fan of my bradawl.
2
In reply to bouldery bits:
Jedward... Both of him.
9
In reply to bouldery bits:
My mini hoe thingy, 50p bargain bin at B+Q.
Used for all sorts, picking up dog dirt, raking ashes in the stove, digging holes and even a bit of hoeing.
Second is my WC original style nut key, which broke yesterday after years of abuse cleaning out cracks around Cumbria and the world. Now looking for a replacement, second hand, as nobody seems to make a simple workhorse nut key anymore.
1
In reply to bouldery bits:
Choice of two.
Powered would be my router. Fantastic bit of kit but you don't realise how much you need one until you've got one.
Old style, without any shadow of doubt, my adze.
1
In reply to bouldery bits:
Pick or grubbing mattock?
In reply to bouldery bits:
A long handled Stillson wrench is quite cool for when one needs leverage to untwist or undo somethng, if put onto a ring spanner at right angles, it gives one a really long spanner to 'carefully udge' with, without rounding something off, it's one of the worst things when a spanner slips off and rounds the edges.
Edit: Really it's my hands, I'd possibly rather lose a foot and put up with having to cycle for my countryside fix, with walking being less natural with a false foot/end of leg.
Post edited at 14:02
1
In reply to bouldery bits:
My Elwell Axes
1
In reply to bouldery bits:
My tuning hammers (one for the clavichord, one for the spinet).
4
In reply to bouldery bits:
Hand tool - My cutters. I'm a sparks - theyre an important every day tool and the set I use is unmatched imo.
Power tool - probably the "dust extraction system" as it makes most of the otherwise ugly power tool jobs OK to do indoors with the bedding, bed and myself still present in the room.
Climbing - recently bought sky hooks. New toy love I'm sure.
The poster who said router..... yep, I agree. So many uses that you never realised. I find a multitool is also in the same category.
Digging etc - either a mattock (as above), or maybe a digging bar. Both can get you through the tough bits other tools just dont. However, if I owned a stump grinder and had some stumps to grind.... those things.. wow!
In reply to Kevster:
Pointed ended shovels are cool, they can find their way through aggregate in a way in which square ended shovels don't.
1
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In reply to bouldery bits:
So hard to choose.
I've had my Stanley knife a long time, it's very useful. I think its the first tool I bought for myself as a young adult.
I have a tiny pair of needle nose pliers that are very useful too. Side cutters are always good if they cut properly. I recently replaced mine because its frustrating when they don't.
The thing that beeps and flashes at electricity is very reassuring. I can't remember what it's called.
Im going to pick the silicone kitchen spatula I bought for grouting. Its fantastic. It was a Sunday afternoon and I needed food and something to do the grouting. I didn't have time to go to the supermarket and the DIY place, so I looked in the kitchen aisle for a scraper. I think it works better and faster than the actual grout tool.
3
In reply to marsbar:
Fein Multimaster oscillating tool. Mains powered, the original and best. I think the patent expired a couple of years ago which is why you can now get inferior copies but there are some jobs that an oscillating tool can do in 5 seconds that would otherwise take 5 hours
2
In reply to Snyggapa:
That does look interesting.
In reply to bouldery bits:
My secateurs, used pretty much daily and over the last few years I've actually bothered to buy myself the left handed versions rather than using right handed back to front.
In reply to bouldery bits:
Brickies hammer. Versatile all rounder for those of us more bodger than craftsman.
In reply to bouldery bits
I'll agree with Oceanrowers choice of router,
also... i have a very small socket set from teng tools, expensive but i use it all the time
little sockets brilliant ratchet and choice of screwdriver bits
and... a scutch chisel, wow if you want to chip stone, thats the tool, I'll start running now
1
In reply to Tom Valentine:
> Pick or grubbing mattock?
I find the grubbing mattock far more useful.
Some great suggestions all!
Surprised by the quantity of router love.
In reply to bouldery bits:
. Interesting, When i was walling all my workmates used grubbing mattocks and like you they seemed to find them more useful but I found a pick mattock provided a lot more leverage when rooting stone out: I was never actually sure what the blade of a grubbing mattock was designed for.
( I also have a telescopic apple picker: it's a Darlac swaptop and is very good.Also got a Darlac medium handle sickle which, as someone else said in a review, would be the tool of choice in a zombie apocalypse.)
Post edited at 17:06
In reply to Tom Valentine:
Not one favourite but these are really useful -
A workmate - so much easier than trying to cut wood on a couple of chairs
A pruning saw - can tackle even fairly thick branches in places a bow saw would be difficult to use. This has been partly superseded by an electric pole saw.
A billhook - the one I have looks like a very old version of one of these -
https://www.tudorenvironmental.co.uk/spear-and-jackson-bill-hook-stafford-s...
and therefore would not have looked out of place at the Battle of Crécy.
Dave
1
In reply to bouldery bits:
Lump hammer. We go way back
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In reply to Tringa:
The Darlac telescopic pole I mentioned previously has also got a wicked pruning saw attachment which works well if the branches are fairly rigid.
1
In reply to bouldery bits:
Power tool would probably be the track saw, it has made so many jobs so much easier.
In terms of how much I use it I think the penknife would be favourite; currently a Gerber armbar which has replaced the full size multitool that used to destroy the pockets of my trousers.
In reply to bouldery bits:
For everyday use, I'm torn between my nicely balanced claw hammer and my Sabatier cook's knife. The one I'd save from a fire is my Dad's old Stanley No.6 plane.
In reply to bouldery bits:
Just bought some Milwaukee 12v drills. Really impressed do everything the 18v could do, brilliant tools.
Post hole diggers. Try digging a 9" round hole without one.
Knipex pliers wrench.
Not got one but I fancy the electric Still cut off saw - looks awesome.
Post edited at 22:11
In reply to bouldery bits:
Biggest revelation with doing DIY on the house has been Windbags - little pump up pillows for lifting stuff. Bought them for squaring up windows/doors, but used them for all sorts since- moving the Rayburn, levelling the bath, lifting the oil tank, clamping stuff, wedging trim in place. The £7 set I got from Lidl seem to be better than the branded pair. Dewalt multicutter has been a godsend as well and Timco classic woodscrews that don't split end grain.
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In reply to bouldery bits:
On ballance I'd go for my Bosch oscillating saw, incredibly useful about the house. Mine has burned up and been death modified twice now.
Close second is a lathe, hard to live without.
Jk
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In reply to bouldery bits:
cabinet scraper (with spokeshaves a close second) My day job is designer/maker of furniture.
1
In reply to bouldery bits:
Bahco adjustable spanner.
2
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In reply to bouldery bits:
Dremel-type, high speed rotary tools. Great for small cutting jobs through any material, including steel.
In reply to bouldery bits:
Favourite has to be my half inch imperial socket set. Girlfriend bought me it as an engagement present in 1984 and it's been used pretty much on a weekly basis ever since. Second favourite must be the soundpost setting tool I bought for my double bass. I'm forever letting the tension out of the strings and forgetting that's all that holds the bloody post in place.
1
In reply to bouldery bits:
Articulated candle snuffer.
In reply to bouldery bits:
Bottle opener.
In reply to bouldery bits:
Using my laser 'tape' measure always brings a smile to my face.
A wusthof paring knife that everyone else is banned from using or even washing up.
1
In reply to bouldery bits:
Chillington trenching hoe.
Reconstructed my back garden with this which was like a bomb site but is now like Wembley.
In reply to bouldery bits:
In reply to Snyggapa:
Great tool I have the 110v version, but to be fair I bought the dewalt 18v and it gets so much more use because I don't have to set up leads
In reply to Rick Graham:
I’ve got a few nut keys Rick.
If you promise to take me up a route I might give you one A nut key that is.
keith s
Post edited at 19:10
In reply to bouldery bits:
Being a joiner/carpenter I'd have to say all my tools tbh, but if i was forced to choose one it would be my collins clamps.
A close second would be my tracksaw and third would be my cordless trimmer.
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