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The most bad *** tool is...

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Firebrick43

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Joined
May 12, 2015
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14,010
Location
West central Indiana
Nope. Illinois, Peabody Coal mine
Those peabody owned rotary shovels are tiny compared to a pair in germany.

Bagger 293 is the largest excavation machine in the world, bagger 288 is slightly smaller.

There were apparently two krupp bucket wheel excavators in southern Illinois, the larger one could clear 80,000 yards a day.

Bagger 293 has done 300,000 cubic meters a day or 392,000 cubic yards

d8cat.jpg

D8 cat that got to close and went on a wild ride 10 or 15 years ago.
 
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YesIHaveAHammer

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Joined
Jun 1, 2025
Messages
800
I'd say the criteria is:
  1. Startles people and scares children
  2. Makes lots of noise
  3. Ejects material/dust/fire/sparks etc. all over the place
  4. Damages, or melts things that are nearby in the wrong place
  5. Needs to be restrained, e.g. by a strong person with both hands, or bolted down
  6. Even the most cavalier operators use PPE while using it
  7. Is not challenged by any material which you engage with it
  8. Makes the operator look like a hero, especially to children
  9. You warn people not to stand in certain danger areas before using it
  10. Generates complaints from residents and businesses in adjacent buildings, requiring rules and schedules to be in place about operating it
I can't choose

1800--65-cc14sf.jpg

img.jpg
 

neophyte

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Joined
Apr 23, 2012
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9,581
Location
Pennsylvannia
I'd say the criteria is:
  1. Startles people and scares children
  2. Makes lots of noise
  3. Ejects material/dust/fire/sparks etc. all over the place
  4. Damages, or melts things that are nearby in the wrong place
  5. Needs to be restrained, e.g. by a strong person with both hands, or bolted down
  6. Even the most cavalier operators use PPE while using it
  7. Is not challenged by any material which you engage with it
  8. Makes the operator look like a hero, especially to children
  9. You warn people not to stand in certain danger areas before using it
  10. Generates complaints from residents and businesses in adjacent buildings, requiring rules and schedules to be in place about operating it
I can't choose

1800--65-cc14sf.jpg

img.jpg
These Stihl type saws have killed a number of people according to OSHA reports.
Usually kickback causes the saw to cut thru the Femoral or Carotid artery.
 

ecotec

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Oct 5, 2010
Messages
5,426
I would say that the most badass tool is either a air hammer or a torch.
 

FTG-05

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Oct 11, 2012
Messages
1,525
Location
TN
You guys and your silly hammers, machines, etc. The obvious answer is the stick of dynamite!

It can blow things to smithereens and if one isn't up to the task, more than one can be utilized through the use of flashcord......
It's also an excellent fishing rig!
 

no704

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 27, 2016
Messages
5,209
Oxy Acetylene Torch. Nothing can be stuck if its molten liquid. ;)
Went to use the one at the shop yesterday. The oxygen knob is some kind of stripped? Just spins. Had to run home and get my torch handle!
 

Ohio Andy

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Jul 31, 2024
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2,260
Location
Columbus, Ohio
Have to put in a suggestion for the borescope. Like having x-ray vision. In an engine cylinder or a sewer line it can save a man a lot of time!
I had to use one to figure out how to get a utility sink off the wall because it was attached to something in a way I couldn't tell. Mild corrosion was hiding the screws, but with the borescope I was able to see inside where the screws came through.... And then it was easy to get off...

So yeah. I love the scope
 

cvairwerks

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Joined
Aug 12, 2016
Messages
7,204
Location
Within hearing distance of Texas Motor Speedway
I spend lots of hours staring into the screen on borescopes...looking for lost hardware or tools, or picking FOD out of some out of the way location. I do miss my Olympic scopes with the working channels....Could run surgical tools down the channel and retrieve whatever it was that we found.

A steerable scope with a tiny head and shaft, with multiple lenses available is really nice....
 

no704

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Joined
Apr 27, 2016
Messages
5,209
I spend lots of hours staring into the screen on borescopes...looking for lost hardware or tools, or picking FOD out of some out of the way location. I do miss my Olympic scopes with the working channels....Could run surgical tools down the channel and retrieve whatever it was that we found.

A steerable scope with a tiny head and shaft, with multiple lenses available is really nice....
And you can get one with a 16’ whip now for like $35. I just got a 50’ for around $135.
 
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Old Man Roger

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Apr 6, 2017
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Location
Palm Coast Florida
I spend lots of hours staring into the screen on borescopes...looking for lost hardware or tools, or picking FOD out of some out of the way location. I do miss my Olympic scopes with the working channels....Could run surgical tools down the channel and retrieve whatever it was that we found.

A steerable scope with a tiny head and shaft, with multiple lenses available is really nice....

And you can get one with a 16’ whip now for like $35. I just got a 50’ for around $135.
I was just going to make a joke about my 20 something dollar clearance scope.lol
 

Chris_Hamilton

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Dec 2, 2012
Messages
1,023
IMO the most "bad ***" tool for guys like us would be having a net worth of a particular number followed by 9 zeros. :) That kind of "tool" can get anything imagined done.
 

GeoBruin

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Joined
May 5, 2018
Messages
3,735
The wrench used to tighten the four big nuts that hold the Statue of Liberty to its base. The wrench is a basic open end wrench that’s like 6 or 8ft long and was used by hand by a bunch of guys

Skookum wrench!
 
Joined
May 26, 2025
Messages
10
Location
Western Australia
Based on a D11, not actually a new model, however, a Queensland contractor modified a D11, with a 3512 engine and torque converter with lock up clutch from a 785 dump truck. Surely is a beast, built it as a model they would like to see Caterpillar produce I suppose. To suit the type of work they do with it. Thanks for posting this!
 

driftpin

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Joined
Dec 22, 2016
Messages
11,211
Location
Miami-Dade/Broward Co. Florida
Aside from welding, which is a skill I never took the time to acquire, I've probably used Vise Grips for just about every purpose mentioned above by others. I haven't used them on drum brake springs since I got the dedicated tools for that back in the '70s, but I prior to then I did. Shifting gears? You bet. I drove my '67 Chevy G20 van for quite a while with a VG clamped onto the shifter shaft, and the guy I sold the truck to drove it away with that VG still on duty for that task.

Given how long the VG has been in production, and how many are in existence, I'm having a hard time imagining that it would EVER become obsolete.
My Vise Grips have saved me time and effort, in many circumstances. The straight jaw ones, for me seem to work the best when dealing w/a recalcitrant fastener.
Milwaukee Power tools were also mentioned in the Whole Earth Catalog decades ago, (maybe the 1970s or 1980s), as “Industrial Level” tools that were worth seeking out at Industrial Suppliers like Grainger, because Milwaukee tools were “significantly higher quality”, than the hardware store brands.
Stewart Brand and the Whole Earth Catalog provided much information on a variety of subjects to everybody who cared to read it. I still have a copy.

When I was a kid, I recall having my first library card, and regularly visiting the village library, located above the volunteer fire dep't. several blocks from the Erie Canal. That library card opened all sorts of information to me, from a very young age.

As far as a 'tool,' the Erie Canal was largely responsible for opening the American Midwest to expansion. It was a 'tool' of commercial might, it allowed western NYS farmers' produce to get to East Coast population center markets. The cost of transport per ton dropped to 1/10 (or less) of what it was, before the Erie Canal was built. Here's an informative post in another thread I did about the Erie Canal.


It was the largest, most-expensive civil works project in the history of the country when the work was finally approved. The USA was still recovering from the War of 1812, and also was paying-off the debt incurred from the Revolutionary War. Other states saw little to no benefit from funding the Erie Canal, but it eventually was funded, and built. It was 348 miles of a fast-track and when completed, in 1825, it was an 'engine of commerce.' The nation's first intercity railroad had opened less than 8 years prior. It was the railroads which would eventually replace the Erie Canal for transportation of people, goods and materials.
The pic of the ICBM shows probably the 'biggest bang' of any tool.

I knew a firefighter who lost his job for using an oxy/acetylene mix in a bag, I think it had helium in it too, and had an impressive 'report' when it detonated floating in the air.
 
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Ohio Andy

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Jul 31, 2024
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Location
Columbus, Ohio
I knew a firefighter who lost his job for using an oxy/acetylene mix in a bag, I think it had helium in it too, and had an impressive 'report' when it detonated floating in the air.
My grandfather wound electric motors for a living and during world war II he was classified as an essential worker, which means he was kept stateside.

At some point he got the bright idea of filling a balloon with lighter than air flammable material, and then putting a big wick on it and letting it go up over the city in the Detroit metro area.

He claims that it was a very large fireball, much larger than he expected. He said he probably shouldn't do that again and he kept waiting for the FBI to show up at his doorstep. They never figured out who did it.
 

KnurledNut

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Jan 28, 2011
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n/a
Man, so many options.
A powder actuated tool would be among my choices.
There is something very satisfying about shooting a nail into concrete or thick steel and it fusing to the base material.
 
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