The One Tool You Cannot Have Too Many Of

[Blueshound_GJ]

Diagonal cutting pliers. I never throw away the dull ones (Channel lock with the blue handle). I just distribute them all over the place.
Also did anyone mention hammers? I must have at least 30 different ones and yet find my self hanging a picture, pounding the hanger in with the back of a set of vise grips. My wife thinks I have an illness lol.

 

[kaymccampbell]

I spread certain staples everywhere, so I don't have to run back to the tool box for something minor. They're in the shed, different stations in the shop, dedicated to some machines, in the house, the rental, Judy's studio, in the car, you name it.
Little LED flashlights - 30-ish.
Utility knives - 8.
6 in 1 screwdrivers - 20-ish.
Leatherman knockoffs - 8.
Sharpies - 30-ish.
Square pencils - 12-ish.
Little list pads - 12-ish.
Tapes - 20-ish.

 

[Kasal]

for me it's screwdrivers and pliers

 

[AA/FC]

Can't have too many of:
Vice Grips
Tape measures
10MM sockets of all types (shallow, deep, mid, 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 6 point, 12 point, etc)
Sharpies
Philips screw drivers
Basic pliers

Most valuable tool:
My cell phone with fast internet connection.

(I come from the era before cell phones were invented. I could not imagine going back to those times. No thanks.)

 

[Ton ton]

Crowbars/ wrecking bars. Rarely gets discussed on garage journal.

 

[Garcky]

Diagonal cutting pliers. I never throw away the dull ones (Channel lock with the blue handle). I just distribute them all over the place.
Also did anyone mention hammers? I must have at least 30 different ones and yet find my self hanging a picture, pounding the hanger in with the back of a set of vise grips. My wife thinks I have an illness lol.

Good call.

 

[NYBODYMAN]

Vise Grips

 

[frank001]

I've got a least 30 utility knives scattered about, and maybe a dozen tape measures.

 

[brownbagg]

harbor freight tape measures $2.99, i got 40 of them, no, I got one, in 40 places, so no matter where i look up, its in front of me. It like my calculators, for the past 40 years I bought the same model, but 40 of them. dont have to re learn how to operate and its always in front of me, no matter where Im at

 

[superspec]

Clecos. If you do much sheet metalmwork, you can never have too many Clecos.

I found a box of it looks like about 100 of them while cleaning in the shop. Brand new box with years worth of old gray soft dust on top.

 

[brownbagg]

I found a box of it looks like about 100 of them while cleaning in the shop. Brand new box with years worth of old gray soft dust on top.

cleco are not cheap, keep them, hide them, dont tell anybody you have them, I got about a 1000. hardly ever use them but they come in handy. the ones i got, I know are 60 years old

 

[CHI_Tool&Die]

I’m with everyone on screwdrivers/bits. I use those more than any other tool at the house.

Honorable mentions would be pencils and squares.

 

[bwringer]

There are a few different tools that the garage gnomes really seem to covet and collect, so I've resigned myself to just buying enough to satisfy them and scatter around my environs until I can always find one within reach.

In recent years I've also taken on a firm policy of immediately ridding myself of tools that displease me. Bad tip on a Phillips screwdriver? Gone. Now. There's just nothing worse than hunting for a tool and finding a crappy one, thus beginning the hunt anew.

I've also culled all my duplicate inch ****, since everything I deal with is metric. There's one drawer for inch ****, and the duplicates and low-rent clutter went into the trash, or to Habitat ReStore. And whenever I find a crappy cheap metric Kmart tool left over from my penniless youth, it meets the same fate.

The following blanket my home, garage, and to a lesser extent, my vehicles:
- 1.5x magnifying glasses (and 3.0 and 6.0 for super-wee stuff)
- Safety glasses (some with 1.5x magnifiers)
- Screwdrivers, both Phillips and 6/1
- Utility knives
- Markers, pencils, pens, and highlighters
- Tape measures
- Scissors
- Paper towels & rags
- Vaseline lip balm
- Flashlights & head lamps
- Phone chargers & cables
- Multitools (my favorite is in my motorcycle tool kit; the lesser ones are scattered around where they could be useful. Cheapies are tossed or donated, never retained.)

 

[tool_scrounge]

Volt meters
wire strippers

 

[Ton ton]

Volt meters
wire strippers

I agree.

 

[rmack898]

I thought maybe I was strange because I have so many tape measures in the shop but this thread seems to make me quite normal.

 

[Garcky]

I thought maybe I was strange because I have so many tape measures in the shop but this thread seems to make me quite normal.

You're not strange at all. I just looked down and there's a Stanley 25' on my computer desk. There's a tape somewhere nearby, wherever I am in the house or garage. I got tired of looking for one, so I kept adding them until there was always one where I was.

 

[brownbagg]

You're not strange at all. I just looked down and there's a Stanley 25' on my computer desk. There's a tape somewhere nearby, wherever I am in the house or garage. I got tired of looking for one, so I kept adding them until there was always one where I was.

i always buy the same brand and model so it doesnt seem like i got a lot but jut one that follows me around

 

[Renegade1LI]

A zero balance credit card, I can fix anything with that!

 

[Garcky]

A zero balance credit card, I can fix anything with that!

Rarest tool ever!

 

[Squankum]

I thought maybe I was strange because I have so many tape measures in the shop but this thread seems to make me quite normal.

Don't worry, I think you're strange.

There are two ways to deal with losing things. An example: I have one pair of Rx glasses. When they're lost, I know very soon I'm dealing with a "lost" situation and where to start looking. Ms. Squakum? Drugstore magnifiers, purchased in large numbers, can never "find" a pair! But they are ... everywhere. (Same with the hair clips.)

I have a small collection of tape measures of different kinds but all kept in the tape measure corner of the drawer for that.

Also helping me out: I work alone! No helpers, no employees. Absolutely a one-man band, like I've been since my dad took took to the easy chair when I was 12 or so. (OK, that's not fair, my last summer at home, we both tore out the basement and remodeled the whole thing. Then he died.)

 

[Squankum]

Pliers! And ratchets. Sockets and hammers, too. Screwdrivers, I think I'm done for now. With enough drawers I might devote part of one drawer section to "screwdrivers, but not for screwing things."

 

[vwpieces]

For me its a tool...
Dollar Store reading glasses. I need them and keep spares all over the house, shop and the vehicles.

 

[AA/FC]

Did someone mention Clecos?

I keep my old Clecos in a Craftsman Crown Top tool box....

 

[brownbagg]

mine are in a large coffee can, with something stuck in top, duct tape shut, in my dad old miltary locker, since 1977

 

[rmack898]

Don't worry, I think you're strange.

Did the pot just call the kettle black?

 

[PBCampbell]

I'm still confused about this thread due to the responses. You really need 50 tape measures and you can never have too many screwdrivers? You fellows must have some HUGE shop space. I've been trying to get my own personal shop space in order over the past month and I have fewer than 2 dozen tape measures and that includes metric to surveying tapes. Screwdrivers are maybe out of control as I recently found some Kleins I don't remember having and that is in addition to the drawer of PBSwiss that I can count on the fingers of one hand that I've used and a sizable box of old stuff like craftsman and no name brands. Vise Grip type pliers? Geez Louise what are you doing? I've a little over a dozen and it's rare they come into play. Hammers? Pliers? The only way you cannot have too many hammers or pliers is because you have gotten to the point where you need the specialty types, I'm sure I have over 50 hammers and probably even more pliers and I don't mean repetition of the same type or style. I only have duplicates due to long ago setting up different tool kits, such as electrical, plumbing, and general maintenance in addition to auto/equipment repair.

The only response in this thread that made sense to me was the one about Clecos, which made me think that you can never have enough clamps. Woodworking whether furniture, crafts, or home construction too often requires **** loads of clamps and too often a wide variety of types of clamps. Welding puts me into a similar situation not so much as to quantity but as to variety (good grief would I like to have AA/FC little chest of cleco goodness).

 

[brownbagg]

tape measure, i properly have four in my pickup cab, vice grips. at least 50. I used them like my dad use cleeco

 

[toolenthusiast]

1) vise grips
2) clecos
3) woodworking clamps

So, basically, clamps.

 

[dchawk81]

10mm

 

[dchawk81]

Cigarette lighters and gas cans.

 

[anetode]

Hex keys, cobras, other stuff in this thread

 

[PowderKeg]

Wow, the most obvious answer almost nobody's had - ratchets, ratchets, and more ratchets! Just like the Spanish Inquisition, NOBODY EXPECTS too many ratchets!!

9 drawers above just like the open bottom one (four 3/8", six 1/2") plus one in another stack full of 1/4", plus well over a 100 ratchets either awaiting cleanup or reassembly. OCD? Never heard of it.....

 

[kbeefy]

My most used tools I usually keep on my person.
I Carry a skeletool that has a knife and bit driver on it, and a streamlight flashlight. Those get used very often and have saved me countless time and trips to a toolbox to find.

One thing I've found myself scatter-hoarding the past few years are readers. I don't usually wear glasses but now need them to read most things. I have a pair on my nightstand, at the dinner table, on my desk, in the car, on my toolbox, in my woodshop etc....

Seems I cannot own enough sharpies, because most times I need one I can't find one. How can a 10 pack of sharpies get completely misplaced in a week?

 

[Old Donn]

Another vote for tape measures.

 

[vwpieces]

I have multiples of 90% of the tools listed so far.

 

[vwpieces]

1) vise grips
2) clecos
3) woodworking clamps

So, basically, clamps.

If you do any wood working its Clamps.
NEVER have enough CLAMPS.

 

[Ran when parked]

Tapes, knives, flashlights and lots of the things mentioned in this thread but definitely READERS. I can't seem to function without reading glasses. It's reassuring to see that others have multiple redundancy in their lives. I though maybe I was the only one...

 

[DAustin]

Wrenches-SAE, Metric, small, large, short, long, curved, S, offset, box, open, combination, line, adjustable.

 

[Jim_No_Garage]

Based on the goings on here in the last few days it would be utility knives.

I own at least 6 and I was starting a roofing job on the shed and couldn't find a single one. You need at least 2 - a normal blade and a hook blade. I ended up buying a Stanley "auto retracting" utility knife by mistake. I will give it to Mrs No_Garage now that the roofing job is done.

Maybe that will trigger the other 6 to come out of hiding . . .

Cheers

Jim