New toys! I mean tools!

[garfunkle24]

New toys

Moose.....I couldn't resist.

 

[WVU Tuba Dale]

I love those pliers! Do they come in GREEN?

 

[garfunkle24]

I love those pliers! Do they come in GREEN?

Unfortunately it's a negative on that. Some on here will hate me for saying this, but they're always a wire wheel and a spray-bomb.

 

[zuspiel]

Very nice "toys"!

Any thoughts on the PB Allen keys? I've managed to resist those for now...

 

[paramudduck]

Those are very nice. You do realize we want a full review on them.

 

[garfunkle24]

Very nice "toys"!

Any thoughts on the PB Allen keys? I've managed to resist those for now...

They are fantastic! Absolutely love em. Thought the Rainbow colours were a little :supergay: but now I love grabbing the right one, first time. They are functionally excellent too

Paramudduck

Only a couple of Grip-ons and the rainbow keys usd much so far. Will write some more in-depth evals once I've used them more. All I can say is that PB keys and Grip-on pliers rock.

 

[Stuey]

Dang it, I wanted to be the first to give those ergonomic pliers a try. Ah well, I'm still waiting for a US distributor to pick them up yet I don't want them enough to accept others going through the hassle getting them for me. Let us know how they perform!

What are those other things that look like mishapen bolts - screw/bolt extractors?

 

[garfunkle24]

Dang it, I wanted to be the first to give those ergonomic pliers a try. Ah well, I'm still waiting for a US distributor to pick them up yet I don't want them enough to accept others going through the hassle getting them for me. Let us know how they perform!

What are those other things that look like mishapen bolts - screw/bolt extractors?

They are Rennsteig bolt extractors. I saw them in the "Tools from the old World' thread and then they were on sale on amazon, so I picked them up. They are also have individual serial #s, just like PB Swiss.

 

[tbgallant]

Where did you buy these tools?

 

[Moose-LandTran]

Moose.....I couldn't resist.

Nothing wrong with that!

 

[garfunkle24]

Where did you buy these tools?

Everything was bought from Amazon except the Grip-on pliers and short hex keys. Grip-ons are on sale until the end of March through Gray tools, see the flyer here: http://www.graytools.com/pdf/Grip-On%20Product%20Spotlight-%20Jan%202009%20-%20EN.pdf

You guys probably can't tell from the photo, but the short hex keys are 100 degree keys for tight access situations. Small Parts (via Amazon) doesn't stock these yet so I bought them from Count On tools: http://www.pbtools.us/

 

[ImportTuner]

Nice toys; want to go out and play ...
and colorful ..

 

[tbgallant]

Do you buy the Gray Tools direct or a local supplier (or online supplier?)

I also assume you have your Amazon purchases shipped to a US address and then you pick them up?

Tim

 

[garfunkle24]

Do you buy the Gray Tools direct or a local supplier (or online supplier?)

I also assume you have your Amazon purchases shipped to a US address and then you pick them up?

Tim

I got my Gray stuff through a local supplier listed on the Gray website. Most stuff from Amazon I get shipped direct to me. There are some German items (eg the Rennsteig extractors) that cannot be shipped to Canada. I assume this is due to some kind of trade embargo. Those items I get shipped to one of our branch offices in the USA and they ship them on to me.

 

[tbgallant]

Interesting, I didn't realize Amazon.com would ship to Canada. What postal service did they use and did you end up with a lot of duty/taxes/fees?

Thanks

Tim

 

[garfunkle24]

Interesting, I didn't realize Amazon.com would ship to Canada. What postal service did they use and did you end up with a lot of duty/taxes/fees?

Thanks

Tim

They were shipped via UPS, no extra duties or fees.

 

[raccoon]

woah, i love the rainbow colours!
very nice *thumbs up*

 

[tbgallant]

They were shipped via UPS, no extra duties or fees.

Wow, that is odd. Does Amazon charge duty/fees/taxes up front? How much was the shipping?

What reseller on Amazon did you use (and are there others you have good success with).

Thanks

Tim

 

[garfunkle24]

Wow, that is odd. Does Amazon charge duty/fees/taxes up front? How much was the shipping?

What reseller on Amazon did you use (and are there others you have good success with).

Thanks

Tim

Actually, now that I look, the only thing different due to being in Canada was that I couldn't get the free shipping. Total shipping and handling was $5.23usd. Always had good luck with Small Parts (PB), Bosch and Amazon LLC.

 

[garfunkle24]

Here's a few more things I picked up; PB Swiss carbide tipped center punches, PB picks, PB screwdrivers, Snap-on awls/hook, CT4410 impact and PH3050 air hammer and finally an Estwing drilling hammer. Much more on the way!

 

[35mastr]

I really like those punches.

You will be happy with that air hammer.Some will think I am nuts,But I used it to break old concrete out of a fence post hole. It tore that stuff up like butter. IU used a really long chisel.

 

[307WYLD]

Here's a few more things I picked up; PB Swiss carbide tipped center punches, PB picks, PB screwdrivers, Snap-on awls/hook, CT4410 impact and PH3050 air hammer and finally an Estwing drilling hammer. Much more on the way!

Um...wtf? Why would you want carbide-tipped punches, let alone why would any company make them to begin with? Carbide is brittle and doesn't tolerate ANY kind of shock loading.

I work as a machinist and use carbide endmills and inserted tooling at work. They work great as long as you are using them to cut...once you start pushing material (dull edge, too much feedrate, absent-minded rapid move, etc...) it takes about a millisecond for them to grenade.

 

[zuspiel]

Great stuff! Those punches are pretty... Have you had any chance to use them?
My guess would be that they use some fancy alloy to avoid them being too brittle...

 

[garfunkle24]

Um...wtf? Why would you want carbide-tipped punches, let alone why would any company make them to begin with? Carbide is brittle and doesn't tolerate ANY kind of shock loading.

I work as a machinist and use carbide endmills and inserted tooling at work. They work great as long as you are using them to cut...once you start pushing material (dull edge, too much feedrate, absent-minded rapid move, etc...) it takes about a millisecond for them to grenade.

I am well aware of the properties of carbide, thankyou. I will be using them for layout and marking of hardened materials, not peening the **** out of 55HRC bearing races. If you let PB Swiss know exactly which material, of equal hardness yet greater ductility, they should use, I'm sure they'd be glad to hear it. If you can suggest a suitable material at an equal or lesser cost, I think there would be a lot of materials engineers who would be happy to hear it too.

I'm guessing that even in liberal, non-litigation-obsessed Switzerland, tool manufacturers don't generally make a habit of selling striking tools that 'grenade'. They do offer useful (and not patronising...) advise on their appropriate use however.

For peening, piloting for drills etc I will continue to use the vast array of regular center punches I have accumulated over the years. Nice thing is I won't have to keep re-finishing the tips, where I used them to mark a hardened shaft etc

Did I answer your WTF yet?


Zuspiel:

Thanks! I haven't had chance to use them yet, but I will let you know if I 'grenade' them instantly.

 

[carsounds_dan]

I've just put an order through for some more pb swiss goodness, every time I go on their site I see something that I want lol

 

[DynoDale]

Um...wtf? Why would you want carbide-tipped punches, let alone why would any company make them to begin with? Carbide is brittle and doesn't tolerate ANY kind of shock loading.

I work as a machinist and use carbide endmills and inserted tooling at work. They work great as long as you are using them to cut...once you start pushing material (dull edge, too much feedrate, absent-minded rapid move, etc...) it takes about a millisecond for them to grenade.

FYI, there are different grades of carbide. Mining machines have used carbide-tipped bits to bore into rock for the last 50 years at least. Don't try that with your end mills.

I have bit from a mining machine that I use for a center punch. It also worked well for dressing my grinding wheel when I tried to sharpen it.

 

[garfunkle24]

Just a couple more:

 

[garfunkle24]

Hello All

I haven't been on for a while as I've been working in B.C. and Montreal.

When I got back back to the shop I had a few new things waiting for me

PB drift punches

PB metric pin punches

PB Bitbox

Knipex strippers

My entire PB punch collection

My entire PB bit collection and a pic with them all in the Bitbox.

I haven't used any of them yet and yes Merkava, the punches are already dirty from my welding bench

 

[Weedwaka]

Mmmmm tools !!!!

 

[e-tek]

They are fantastic! Absolutely love em. Thought the Rainbow colours were a little :supergay: but now I love grabbing the right one, first time. They are functionally excellent too

Paramudduck

Only a couple of Grip-ons and the rainbow keys usd much so far. Will write some more in-depth evals once I've used them more. All I can say is that PB keys and Grip-on pliers rock.

Nice set Garfunkle!! Likely the only GAY mechanics....are women!

 

[carsounds_dan]

I've just ordered some PB swiss punches etc and some knipex bits as well..
I've decided that you can't really beat them for that kind of stuff. Although I've just brought some wera screwdrivers to try out as well in long and short shafts.

 

[garfunkle24]

Dang it, I wanted to be the first to give those ergonomic pliers a try. Ah well, I'm still waiting for a US distributor to pick them up yet I don't want them enough to accept others going through the hassle getting them for me. Let us know how they perform!

All the tools in the first post have seen a good few months of hard use in the last couple of months. They've been doing their job all across Canada and I thought it was time to post a few comments. Some of the tools in later posts have already seen some use too, but those can wait for another day.

I also want to applaud Autoace's recent thread with a nod towards guiding younger trades people with sensible buying choices. I fully admit thay I get pleasure in just having the 'best' tools, and these kinds of tools are not really necessary to do my job. I got by as a younger tech with mere Craftsman, Mastercraft etc. Now I moved up, so my tools can too.

I have an apprentice in training and he is fully aware that $1000 flat wrench sets and flashy tool boxes are not money well spent at his stage in his career.

The tools:

PB Swiss Hex Keys

These are a continuing pleasure to use and although expensive, I don't ever regret spending the money. The ball ends work at a steeper angle than any of my Snap-on, Bondhus etc. I love the colour coding and after a while you do automatically start grabbing the right colour for a particular set screw or whatever. The short, 110* keys have already saved my *** a couple of times, but I'm sure a $0.50 key cut to desired length would have done the same thing. Overall, all the PB Swiss hex drivers have held up great to the use they've had and they have been leaned on a few times. The single thing I don't like is that the short keys aren't colour coded. Maybe I'm getting too dependant on that already...

Grip-on locking pliers

Again, a purchase I'm glad I made and do not regret. After using these for a while, Vise-grips feel clumsy in comparison. One of the first things I did was build some adaptors so that I could use these on my OTC and Snappy slide hammers. One minor annoyance is that I had to make 3 different adapters due to differing pressure screw threads. I only ever made one for Vise-grips and it seemed to fit all the 'medium' sized ones. Anyway, that aside, these pliers are great. The release action really is much better than the Vise-grip setup. Even in some stubborn slide-hammer situations, they lock on tight and refuse to let go. My Vise-grips are all now relegated to the status of welding clamps.

I have been using the ergo pliers more than I expected too and have mixed feelings about them. They are built very well and the jaws stay aligned even under heavy twisting force. They lock on very tight and release with a very smooth, non-knuckle-destroying action. If you have an active imagination, they also have the bonus feature of feeling like you're cocking a six-shooter when you release them The thing I don't like is the size adjustment. It just seems finicky to me and if I'm using something frequently, I want the ergos (ironic, huh?) to be perfect. Maybe for a repetitve job, with constant sized work pieces, they would be better. Overall, I'll be more inclined to reach for my pliers-shaped pliers in future.

 

[superautobacs]

I have been using the ergo pliers more than I expected too and have mixed feelings about them. They are built very well and the jaws stay aligned even under heavy twisting force. They lock on very tight and release with a very smooth, non-knuckle-destroying action. If you have an active imagination, they also have the bonus feature of feeling like you're cocking a six-shooter when you release them The thing I don't like is the size adjustment. It just seems finicky to me and if I'm using something frequently, I want the ergos (ironic, huh?) to be perfect. Maybe for a repetitve job, with constant sized work pieces, they would be better. Overall, I'll be more inclined to reach for my pliers-shaped pliers in future.

I have the Ergo as well and one thing I don't like about it is how the release lever can inadvertently be released if you don't place your grip low in the handle. I had it happen to me a few times, wondering why I wasn't able to positively lock the pliers ... it was simply a matter of remembering to lower the area it needs to be gripped.

 

[garfunkle24]

NWS pliers

Close up of stripper/cutters

5 Hazet 600N's and 1 Stahlwille 16 x17 double open.

Habero metric pin punches

Mitutoyo digital mic and caliper set

Proto extractor set

 

[superautobacs]

Nice stuff! You had the NWS stuff shipped from across the Atlantic?

I see that you have a healthy assortment of metric parallel drift punches. What got you to get the Habero (now Gedore) punches? I wonder how the PB and Habero punches compare to each other.

There different types of bolt extractors out there; do you have any other styles? The style that you got has been around for a long time; are they the best type?

EDIT:
Oh, one more question...
In the last picture, you have a wire stripper next to the case. How does that compare to the Knipex/Rennsteig strippers?

 

[Canadian Charlie]

Did you win lottery, great tool puchases, eh

 

[garfunkle24]

Nice stuff! You had the NWS stuff shipped from across the Atlantic?

I see that you have a healthy assortment of metric parallel drift punches. What got you to get the Habero (now Gedore) punches? I wonder how the PB and Habero punches compare to each other.

There different types of bolt extractors out there; do you have any other styles? The style that you got has been around for a long time; are they the best type?

EDIT:
Oh, one more question...
In the last picture, you have a wire stripper next to the case. How does that compare to the Knipex/Rennsteig strippers?

Thanks for the comments!

I have a buddy from England who just came over. I bought the pliers, wrenches and punches on Ebay UK and had him bring them over. I forgot I even had the Habero's waiting when I bought the PB Swiss ones. I also have Rennsteig parallel punches and between all 3, I like those the best. Time will tell with these new ones I guess.

I have every kind of extractor that I've ever seen, including this type, but my older ones were getting worn and also I didn't have the bigger sizes. I have the square ones, the spiral flute ones, the short hex-drive spirals, the splined type, my Rennsteigs, hex extractors etc

As I've stated previously, I don't like any extractor, I just hate some less than others. By the time I need one I already hate my life.

The strippers shown are Kleins. I know lots of guys on here like them so I bought some to try. After being spoiled by auto-strippers and moving to these, I quickly bought some Knipex autos and I much much prefer them. I think they work fine, just not my personal preference.

 

[superautobacs]

As I've stated previously, I don't like any extractor, I just hate some less than others. By the time I need one I already hate my life.

Hahaha, that's so true.

The strippers shown are Kleins. I know lots of guys on here like them so I bought some to try. After being spoiled by auto-strippers and moving to these, I quickly bought some Knipex autos and I much much prefer them. I think they work fine, just not my personal preference.

What's your personal preference then?
Do the Knipex one's really work flawlessly, each and every time?
I had a different type of auto-strippers and 80% of the time I operated it, I found myself using precision snips to clean off the insulation that it left behind. ....annoying.

 

[garfunkle24]

Hahaha, that's so true.




What's your personal preference then?
Do the Knipex one's really work flawlessly, each and every time?
I had a different type of auto-strippers and 80% of the time I operated it, I found myself using precision snips to clean off the insulation that it left behind. ....annoying.

I always liked auto-strippers but also suffered the same frustrations with their functionality as you have. Since buying the Knipex I've used them hundreds of times and they have worked flawlessly first time, every time.
I wouldn't go back to any other kind now.

 

[superautobacs]

Awesome! Now I have my eyes set on them.

You purchased them used or new from Ebay, and for how much?