that's a ridiculous amount of wrenches... I can't think anyone has any use for more than 4 or 5 sets of wrenches. One for home, one for the remote job, one for a fix in the field, one to bring in the truck to help a buddy.
And it's ridiculous to have more than a dozen adjustable/crescent wrenches. I think it's a bad idea to use them in any circumstance except larger than 1" nuts or bolts that don't need torque, but having one really effing big crescrent wrench saves you hundreds of dollars in 4 or 5 combo wrenches you'll probably never use more than once.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgCtxMu7zM0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgCtxMu7zM0
I don't think anyone is going to go out and buy that many wrenches at the hardware store. But if you go to auctions and yard sales, they do tend to accumulate over a few decades. That is my case, certainly.
ReplyDeleteI probably have about as many wrenches as in the video. Every car and tractor has a tool bag, there is one in the gun room and one in my office. I keep a very complete set of tools in my work truck, and there are wrench sets at several work stations in my shop.
Plus, there is a big bin of oddball wrenches and sockets than can be dug through if some neighbor kid needs starter tools.
If I am at a yard sale and see a nice snap-on chest full of tools at a good price, I might buy it for some tool I want, but I am not going to throw the wrenches in a dumpster, even if I already have several full sets.
Also, having a good quality crescent (I suggest Bahco) in you pocket can save a long walk back to the truck.
Darn right they aren't going to buy that many new. Yup, I agree completely, yard sales, auctions, and estate sales.
DeleteI think that's how I got most of mine. I only bought one set of combo wrenches new, maybe one set of sockets.
The rest I collected little by little, and I inherited from a friend that had cancer, the 3/8ths and 1/4 drive Snap On socket sets his dad bought in 1968, and never used. Still in the cardboard, I shit you not, when he gave them to me, as he loved my ol 69 R/T, and had no use for tools. I've now had them about 15 years, and I hardly ever use them either.
Having tool bag in every vehicle is absolutely a great idea! I've got a tool bag in my room, and the rest of my tools in the garage, but have had one complete set at a couple jobs, but since jobs change, all those when back to the garage.
Darn it, that's real nice that you have tools for kids!
Yup, if you see Snap On at a yard sale, that's a real good reason get more tools. Used Snap On are as good as new ones, and 1/10th the cost.
Heck no not ever tossing tools in a dumpster. Give them to the kids instead.
I agree, a crescent will save you a long walk, but, I'm still hard set in my ways to never use one unless it's a HUGE nut and very low torque, and I don't already have that crazy size in the weird spanner wrenches or Ford wrench. Ditto pliers and vice grips. Last resort time for those to get put to use.
A couple of additional points- If you have three or four machine tools, it is always favorable to attach a little rack containing all the usual wrenches and hex tools needed for it's normal operation. If you cannibalize those out of extra sets, it will not leave an empty spot in the tool box.
DeleteI also tend to use different brands in different places. The big box is mostly Snap-On, Gedore, and Knipex. If I find a Wera wrench in my pocket, I know it came from my truck tool bag, and if I return it there I will not find it missing when needed.
I guess this is all different for people working out of a garage or who otherwise have limited space.
good points!
DeleteQuestion... I'm confused what you mean by "machine tools" ... is that the tool that are used on a lathe, maybe... or a Bridgeport? I think that's what you mean, I'm just checking.
Yup, my tool sets are different brands. I've got a big set of MAC, big set of Plumb, ridiculous number of Craftsmans, but the Snap On are left in their boxes.
Gedore, Wera! Never heard of those brands, thanks! I love learning new stuff!
By "machine tools" I mean lathes, mills, surface grinders, etc. I find that for each such tool, there are a few wrenches that get used every time I set up or change anything. So I keep a dedicated set of those wrenches at each tool.
DeleteCheck out Wera, they are top rate. I use them constantly.
Also- I keep forgetting to say how wonderful this blog is. I read and enjoy it every day.
Ah! Darn right! Every machine seems to need a couple of tools!
DeleteOh, I'm done getting tools, I'm 53, have a full roller (wish I could have said that at 23!) and a grab bag, and more tools on the shelves for a mechanic job or two I used to have.
And thank you! Thank you for the compliment!
How long have you been reading along? Does any particular post stand out in your memory as a really good one?
That's what I have always done. Also a lot of them end up at the house and my son's fix it projects. Much like guns and hot rods, You Never Have Enough of Either!
DeleteI have been reading I guess a couple of years. I am not sure. Sadly, I cannot name a particular post that is my favorite. I really like the variety, and of course oddball cars and trucks that I had not seen before.
DeleteMy own interest is mostly pre-1940 cars and motorcycles, although I also have a couple of corvairs, a convertible and a rampside.
I am five years older than you and still adding tools regularly. An odd memory this topic brought up- I had a college friend who collected Snap-On tools. He had a great job, and lived alone in a little apartment just filled with tool chests. in his spare time, he traveled all over the state to pawn shops and sales. It seemed sort of eccentric at the time, but I get what inspired him.
The thing I have now that I really wish I had when I was 23 is a lift. All those years crawling under cars on jacks and jackstands with grease everywhere, being regularly attacked by ants and poisonous snakes.
Oh heck, that's fine. I've got some favorites, but I can't remember them as well as I used to when there were only 20 or 30 thousand posts, now that I'm getting close to 60k, I can't recall many at all any more.
DeleteWell, I guess I'd be doing you wrong if I didn't recommend the 2014 through 2017 years, those were some of the best.
I think there was simply an age of prosperity, and innovation, and some incredible gear heads that all added up to wonderful things getting made, and into the blog to let readers know about. After that, it's been a lot less interesting out the car world.
At the time, there were more people making more blogs, magazines, and websites... most of those have went away, or used up their magic fast, and became boring.
I looked through Hagerty's site last week, and went through 20 of their pages without seeing a single interesting thing I wanted to share on my blog. It used to be 5 or 6 pages to find something.
Way back when Freiburger was running Hot Rod magazine, before the whole Roadkill thing, he had that magazine FULL of fun stuff every month. You probably know that Hot Rod is now a quarterly, recycling old magazine intellectual property aka, old articles, and it's not much better than toilet paper.
Hot Rod Deluxe ran it's course and they gave up on it, and so did I.
I WOULD add tools, but, I actually don't need more, I would simply snap up some if I saw quality tools in a yard sale, estate sale. But putting out real money for tools to sit in my garage that will simply be something my sister or buddy has to deal with when I die, as I don't have any kids, wife, etc to inherit from me.
Oh that college friend who collected Snap On... my gosh, the amount he must have had, and the street value of that (even more, what the world Snap On must have charged brand new to whoever bought them 1st) must have been as significant as the WEIGHT of it all! Good for him!
In the early days of blogs, 2004-6, there was a VERY interesting guy who was buddies with some odd artist, and they would spend Saturday mornings just sweeping LA garage, estate and yard sales, for Snap On tools, and something I forget what... Oh yeah! Mr Jalopy! Hell of a great nickname, and really nice guy, I met him years later when he started his own business selling vintage rare ten speeds. It turns out there are THAT many in LA that he can buy low, and sell high.
LOL, I really wish I'd had a great girlfriend with a wonderful body, full of fun and adventure, who would have taken up more of my time, and less of the meager income I had, when I was 23, in the Navy, and crew on my 1st sub.
Attacked by poisonous snakes? WTF?
Seriously? I HATE snakes! Even the boring one... snakes freak me out.
Did you get bit? Did you smash it with shovel?
My Dad put a lot into Hot Rod, but had a falling out over some creative issues, I don't really know the details.
DeleteOne of the lessons I learned from him is that the best way to acquire wonderful vintage cars is to buy them when they are only considered decent used vehicles, and just take care of them. I have my first car, which is now a classic (1969 Corvair convertible), and also my Dad's first car, which is a 1936 Ford coupe. And we have held onto several in between.
The other lesson, which relates to the conversation, is to always be looking for parts. Often, that means junkyards. Someone bumps into me in a parking lot, and smashes my tail light assembly, I don't need to panic, because I have a bin full of them in the shop. As a kid, I was frequently sent into or under junked cars for some part or other. A car that has been sitting in a field in New Mexico for 40 years almost has to have snakes in it.
But no, I never got bit by poisonous ones, although it was close at times. Dad always carried a pistol with a load of snake shot. Wasps and hornets and yellow jackets are quite another story. And fire ants in Texas.
I've got a bunch!..Some came from cars I bought at impound auctions and others found on the road. How many guys-girls have left them under the hood or on a fender for me to find?
ReplyDeleteI even found four 10mm sockets and a couple of open-box end 10mm's.
ReplyDelete