My job title is "millwright maintenance mechanic" at a gold mine. I'm not a construction millwright, I don't do new equipment installs or major retrofits like most union construction millwrights do in the USA. My work is almost 100% repair in some pretty rough conditions.
Here's a thread on my tools that's pretty up to date.
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/mining-millwright-tool-box.458918/
Here's some thoughts
I would wait/ only buy tools you'll use at home if you don't need them at work till you get a job. The job title/ trade is so diverse it's hard to figure out what you'll need till you actually start and have a chance to talk with your coworkers. A basic set of hand tools is all I'd buy till you figure out what you are going to be doing. Some employers provide 100% of your tools, some provide some, and some provide none. My work tools are a 20+ year collection, I'm lucky to make pretty good money and afford good tools with this job. They aren't going to expect you to show up with a pile of tools on day 1 right out of school. I have a lot more specialty stuff than my coworkers. I'm not planning on being here for ever and have been buying stuff while I can afford it with plans of either going out on my own or taking a pay cut to get out of mining. My specialty tools do make my life a lot easier and get me jobs easier on my body than my coworkers who aren't as tooled up though I wouldn't worry about this on day 1. Some of the unions may require domestic only tools though usually have pretty limited tool lists.
Are you planning on traveling/ moving or living where you live now? This is an important decision when buying tool truck tools. Odds are you won't see a tool truck weekly at work. Your rep is almost more important than the tools themselves. The only tool truck for 500 miles is Snapon. I like my rep, he's great with warranty. I send him a picture of a broken tool and he gets a new one coming if he doesn't have it on the truck. I meet up with him when I'm in town on my days off, he lets me have a truck account even though he doesn't see me weekly. I don't have a local harbor freight/ princess auto here to walk in and exchange stuff. The tool truck warranty is easy and takes maybe 5 minuets of my time on my days off if I don't get stuck BSing with my snapon guy. Tekton is easy, send them a picture, they send you a new tool.
My chisels, punches, air hammer bits, pry bars, brass drifts, picks, breaker bars and pullers are almost 100% snapon. These are the tools I usually break. If I didn't have a good rep I'd think twice about buying snapon. A lot of it has come from e-bay or bought on special on the truck at less than retail prices.
Standard wrenches are williams full polish super combos. I think they are the most comfortable wrenches out there. My bigger metric wrenches are Tekton, I couldn't justify spending a ton on them, I also wouldn't buy a no skips set of big wrenches, a 31mm wrench is pretty much pointless to spend money or waste tool box space on though I now have one. My ratcheting wrenches are mostly gear wrench, I haven't broken one in 3 years though am nice to them
Adjustable wrenches are a hodge podge, mostly proto. I haven't broken one in years though if I do I'm stuck buying another out of my pocket. I also like my ridgids though rumor has it they aren't making them in the USA any more
Angle wrenches are snapon off e-bay. I had a set of 15/60 williams made in USA I hated the fit and finish of, snapon and tekton are the main brands making bigger than 1" 30/60 angle wrenches. I didn't care for the feel of the Tektons and picked up the snappys 1 at a time for about the same price as Tekton.
Sockets are a hodge podge of everything under the sun. I bought a set of Tekton 1/2" metric impact sockets, they are decent for the price. I have a set of grey pneumatic 1/2" standard deep impact sockets I beat the ever living **** out of. GP is a pain to warranty, tekton is easy. I'll be buying Tekton or snapon off e-bay from now on. I use 1/2" stuff 90% of the time, 1/4" stuff is mainly for guards and hose clamps. I'd buy impact sockets instead of chrome to start with.
Ratchets are just about 100% snapon. Easy warranty, I like the blue handles and think they are comfortable. My extra long blue 1/2" hard handle flex head is my most used ratchet followed by my midlength 3/8" hard handled flex head.
Most of my pliers are Knipex, they hold up great. I'd consider buying them through a tool truck for easy warranty.
Screw drivers/ picks are mainly snapon with some williams hard handles, a snappy guy can put a blade on a williams hard handle (same thing) and may or may not charge you for the blade. Snapon pocket pry bar is a champ, I give mine no mercy and they take it beautifully.
Punches/ chisels/ drifts are 100% snapon. Easy simple no questions asked warranty handing him a broken chisel my apprentice tried to use as a pry bar or a bronze drift in the shape of a banana. I probably swap out 1-2 air hammer chisels a month, beating on hardened seats destroys them though he keeps handing me new ones.
Another thing to think about if you are traveling is blow molded cases. I love them for dragging tools up 4 flights of stairs 100 yards from the truck so I don't forget things. Grabbing a whole set of sockets or a tap and die set is something to think about when working in the field vs. 50' from your tool box in a shop, you don't realize some jerk jammed the wrong size bolt in till you are deep into the job and have to make a trip for 1 socket or wrench.
No skip sets are really nice for OCD people in their tool box at home, dragging around a wrench you never use because you had to buy a complete set for your OCD gets heavy. Bigger tools (1 1/4"+ wrenches, 3/4" drive + sockets) I'd wait on, many employers provide them and you can usually use an adjustable wrench in a pinch. You can also usually cheat and use a metric in place of a standard or standard in place of a metric. Good quality big tools aren't cheap.
I go through my tool bag every couple months and reevaluate what I'm dragging around. If you are buying a tool bag 100% buy a bag with a shoulder strap or a back pack.
I would wait till you find out what you are doing before buying a bunch of comfort grips/ soft handles, they don't like being covered in goo all the time which may or may not be a factor. Some of the ergonomic tools like Werra have a lot of nooks and crannies to clean goo out of.
Wow that's a book. Let me know if you have more questions.
