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I really do hate using power tools when I could do the job with my own glad effort and the sweat of my brow. But I’m working more on cars nowadays and starting to see the point of impact there. Latest example was the rear brake calliper bolts on the family car. They were tight, hard to get at...

I currently live in a rented flat (apartment). Don’t have a heap of space. Don’t have a garage. Can’t wreck the place. Do have an outdoor balcony … when it’s not raining. Do have a decently sized storage room where my tools live. I have access to a workshop if I plan everything to death, pack...

I got these years ago when I had a small Citroën … and no kids. They were an improvement over driving the front wheels up a kerb and lying in the street gutter. You can see the production date code is from 2016. Rated for 2500 kg the pair. They’ve been stored in the dark, reasonable humidity...

Although I live in Europe, I somehow don’t own combination pliers. Every time I have to pull something with my Facom or Channellock water pump type pliers, I ask myself, “Why do you torture yourself like this? Get a pair of beefy pliers with jaws aligned with the handles so you don’t twist your...

A vast array of Knipex pliers are available with either chrome plating or their “black atramentized” surface treatment. What is this black finish, and why would you choose it over chrome plating? Just the slightly lower purchase price? I looked in the Knipex PDF catalogue and didn’t see...

I’d like to join the modern era with a long flex-head ratchet handle. But my sockets are not very modern: I have a lot of 1/2″-drive sockets that would be better in 3/8″-drive (this is common in Europe, and the farther east you go, the less they use 3/8″-drive). I can’t afford to replace all...

Even though my tools are stored in a warm and dry place, some of them easily get rusty. The worst examples may be some of my punches, chisels, and files, but even my Wera Allen keys are rusting. How do you avoid this? What do machinists do with tools that must not rust at all? I had some...

I moved country recently, which meant: I had to get rid of some of my tools I moved lots of them I had new uses for tools I’m reorganising my boxes I explored new hardware shops. Between all of that, I’m buying a few new tools. And the prices have gone crazy since I last paid attention. I can...

1/4"-drive metric bi-hex (12-point) shallow sockets. Ko-ken, Snap-on, Stahlwille, … ? Looking to get some nice 1/4"-drive sockets to keep for a long time. Metric. Shallow. Bi-hex (12-point). Why bi-hex? I still prefer that. Easier access, especially with non-ratcheting tools. Necessary for...

There are times I’d like to measure something with greater precision than my Mitutoyo 530-101 vernier calliper allows (graduation 0.05 mm, accuracy ±0.05 mm). For example, the thickness of a shim. Mitutoyo lists hundreds of micrometer models in this PDF...

Assuming you don’t have a no-skip obsession – or even if you do – there may be a better way to go about this than making each spanner have two closely similar sizes. For example, Toptul makes its AAEI range (75° deep-offset double-ended ring spanners) in the following sizes from 10–17 mm: …...

The bore I have in mind this time is a bicycle chain roller, the part labelled 3 in the second image on this web page. It’s in the range of 5 mm. But I’d often like to measure the inner diameter of small round things down to about 2 mm. How does a machinist, for example, measure these? A...

Expert sells a small range of click-type torque wrenches with 1/4" to 3/4" drives and torque values from 5 to 750 Nm. Page 150 of this PDF catalogue. The smallest model, the E100E105, interests me for its low price here in Europe compared to first-tier brands. Anyone know anything about...

What are the gems from each company’s range? Looking for must-have tools that are class-leading in some way, time-proven, usefully innovative, great value, or just emblematic of their maker. Mainly tools that any mechanically inclined person would see a use for, not speciality tools. A few...

I just got a small set of Stahlwille’s Stabil 20 spanners (20/7N), and to my dismay they are pretty poorly made in vaunted Germany. I have other Stahlwille spanners, so I knew not to expect a high finish quality. I even called the roughness of German tools charming in another post. This time...

Snap-on is surprisingly sloppy with language and documentation. Years ago they famously used MM where they meant the SI unit mm on their metric spanners, and they still don’t put the correct space between the value and the unit, e.g. it should be 13 mm (a thin space would also be correct) rather...

A Hazet 610N (see pattern in second image) has the ring/box end perfectly in line with the handle. This means that there is no tendency for the spanner to slip off the nut when you pull the handle. In contrast, the ring end of a Hazet 600N is angled 15 degrees to the axis of the handle. This...

What’s out there and what do you recommend? I’m looking for these partly for bicycle use where zero offset allows a straight pull on easily accessed but delicate fasteners (e.g. old side-pull brake callipers). Short because not much torque will be needed in most cases, and short length would...

Chrome plating work has become expensive in rich countries, because it involves highly toxic chemistry that is now tightly regulated. You can’t just dump waste products in your nearest river any more. That’s a good thing, of course. But where does it leave people who want to buy fine spanners...