The Tiny Tools Thread

[Outlawmws]

Picked up a tiny knife today!

 

[Hexen]

How ironic that I happen to come across this thread about tiny tools.

Just earlier today I made a quick trip to Dollar General (of all places) to grab something real quick and while walking through the store this small tiny needle nose style type of pliers catches my attention.

I quickly stop to check it out, due to its size, look at the price, $2.00 bucks and say to myself “why not?”and buy it.

Now this evening while checking out Garage Journal, like I mentioned before, I come across this thread about tiny tools!

Also remembered about a couple of tiny open end wrenches that I have from Snap On.

Nice find. Is it smaller than the one in the Craftsman mini pliers set (about 4.75in total length)?

 

[Mr. Tool]

Nice find. Is it smaller than the one in the Craftsman mini pliers set (about 4.75in total length)?

Appears so, I think?...looks like it measures just over 3”

 

[Cf mtn]

Picked up a tiny knife today!

cool knife outlaw. is it marked? looks nicely detailed for a miniature knife.

 

[Outlawmws]

On the other side of the blade is "Spain" no other markings. I was surprised at the good detail on the blade. Edge and back serrated edge are real.

 

[Hexen]

Appears so, I think?...looks like it measures just over 3”

OK, thanks. I'll have to put that on the shopping list.

 

[Outlawmws]

I wonder what that was used for? Blade is still 1/2" or better.

 

[Outlawmws]

Here is the flip side of the tiny knife, showing the top serrated edge better and the marking:

I have another small one I'm trying to find. It has a sheath as well. Not sure if I've posted that one in this thread

 

[Outlawmws]

Well, I found a pic with it in it, but its a terrible pic one the knife is focused on (also from when my old camera was acting up). I'l post a better one once it surfaces

 

[jalind]

My bicycle tool set for the bag under the seat. It's enough to do most anything required to get a bicycle working again. When you do a 150 mile ride in a target time of 12 hours or less for daylight as it's much to dangerous to ride 20-25 mph at night (even with lights), walking home 50 miles or more carrying a bicycle on your shoulder isn't an option. Calling someone to get you and telling them it will be a 100 mile or longer round trip would require miraculous divine intervention to get you a ride, and the Uber bill would be outrageously huge. You fix the bike so that it can be safely ridden and ride it home. I've had to do some roadside repairs and those that wrench their own bikes know how to get things working sufficiently on the side of the road with a compact tool set. The most important thing to avoiding roadside maintenance is inspection and preventive maintenance before commencing anything longer than a ride more than a mile or so from home.

Not shown as they're really not tools:

• Two inner tubes; you'd be surprised at how compact they are.
• Inner tube patches (in case you go through the two tubes)
• Tire patch kit to patch a tire casing hole (if it's small enough a US dollar bill or two can do the job as they're made of linen, not paper)
• Tire pump about 8 inches long and 1-1/2 inches in diameter; capable of at least 120 psi.
• Sub-miniature medical kit mostly for cuts and abrasions. This goes into a jersey pocket.
• Several Shimano chain link pins (explanation below with chain breaker).
• Four or five pairs of nitrile surgical gloves. Beats trying to wipe grimy black schmoo off your hands on grass (if there is any) and dirt.

Cyclists who carry enough stuff to fix a flat may recognize the yellow Pedro's tire levers at the top. Pedro's are the gold standard for getting a tire off a rim in a hurry without breaking the tire lever; metal ones are not only extra weight, they're very hard on alloy rims and a general "no-no" on carbon fiber ones. I don't use levers to put a tire back on as it's too easy to snake bite an inner tube pinching it with them. There is a way of rolling the bead back on if you practice it a few times and it doesn't require brute force. I've seen some diminutive women barely over 5 foot and 110 pounds soaking wet do it without struggling. Someone who's practiced at changing an inner tube can do it from start to finish in about 15 minutes, including inflating the tire. The main tools with SAKs for bookends are in the center.

• On the left is a chain breaker that can be used to break a chain and reassemble it. Master links are a thing of the past on multi-speed and track bikes. I carry extra link pins as the Shimano usually cannot be reused. The cutouts at the top are a spoke wrench and it doesn't show in the photo but they're different widths.
• The middle group is a 1/4" hex drive socket set with through ratchet, breaker bar and extension. The bits are the common Phillips and flat tip plus the metric hex used on a bicycle and a couple Torx. No reversing switch on the ratchet. Need to go in the other direction? flip the bit and ratchet over.
• To the right of that is another set of tire levers (black panels on tool holder), another breaker bar and more bits.

All those fit into a 1-1/2" x 2" x4" semihard case that's not shown.

The two SAKs are thin with only a two layers. If you were thinking one is a mondo, eight layer every tool Swiss Champ, guess again. They were selected specifically for this kit.

• Black one on the left is a 2-layer 74mm Executive, the least common size between the very common 58mm keyring Classic and the 84mm junior size. Has a large blade, small blade, scissors, file with pointed tip that can dig crud out of things, and the "orange peeler" has a very small flat tip driver at the end. Also has the ubiquitous toothpick and tweezers. Selected for the tool kit for the file, mini flat-tip and scissors. Photo is of another one I have with red scales.
  
  
  
  
• Red one on the right is a full size 91mm 2-layer Scientist (discontinued). It has a large blade, combination flat tip, can opener, bottle opener & wire stripper, magnifying glass, and in-line Phillips. Back layer has a corkscrew and the gray thing in the corkscrew is a tiny 1.5mm jeweler's flat tip, just the right size for nearly all eyeglass hinge screws. It has shallow exterior threads that allow it to screw into the corkscrew for storage. Behind the corkscrew near its pivot pin is a common sewing straight pin that slides into a hole under the scales; friction holds it in place. Selected this for the mangnifier, straight pin, tweezers and screwdrivers even though there are several flat tips in the 1/4" hex drive socket set. The corkscrew is a bonus.
  

Thought the very small 1/4" hex drive ratchet and bit set would be of the greatest interest, and how it's possible to pack a comprehensive tool set into a very small space.

John

 

[davethorik]

Picked up this monster Proto wrench today

 

[Mgdoug3]

Picked this up at the flea market Saturday for $, Action 77MA. Before last week, I had zero open gear ratchets. Last week I bought a Thorsen 77J. The 77MA ratchet is one of the smoothest ratchets I own.

 

[Outlawmws]

Time to dust this thread off again:

I picked up another small pair of SO pliers a couple of weeks back. These make my other pair of small pliers look sort of big!

Compared to a standard set of SO pliers:

 

[JBradley500]

Picked up this monster Proto wrench today

The Snap-on version I use as a keychain.

 

[davethorik]

The Snap-on version I use as a keychain.

 

[JBradley500]

Great minds....!

 

[jcochron]

Pretty excited about this little ******.

 

[Outlawmws]

Are those Corona's? I have a pair similar with orange handles somewhere around here.

 

[Billythekid1]

My bicycle tool set for the bag under the seat. It's enough to do most anything required to get a bicycle working again. When you do a 150 mile ride in a target time of 12 hours or less for daylight as it's much to dangerous to ride 20-25 mph at night (even with lights), walking home 50 miles or more carrying a bicycle on your shoulder isn't an option. Calling someone to get you and telling them it will be a 100 mile or longer round trip would require miraculous divine intervention to get you a ride, and the Uber bill would be outrageously huge. You fix the bike so that it can be safely ridden and ride it home. I've had to do some roadside repairs and those that wrench their own bikes know how to get things working sufficiently on the side of the road with a compact tool set. The most important thing to avoiding roadside maintenance is inspection and preventive maintenance before commencing anything longer than a ride more than a mile or so from home.

Not shown as they're really not tools:

• Two inner tubes; you'd be surprised at how compact they are.
• Inner tube patches (in case you go through the two tubes)
• Tire patch kit to patch a tire casing hole (if it's small enough a US dollar bill or two can do the job as they're made of linen, not paper)
• Tire pump about 8 inches long and 1-1/2 inches in diameter; capable of at least 120 psi.
• Sub-miniature medical kit mostly for cuts and abrasions. This goes into a jersey pocket.
• Several Shimano chain link pins (explanation below with chain breaker).
• Four or five pairs of nitrile surgical gloves. Beats trying to wipe grimy black schmoo off your hands on grass (if there is any) and dirt.

Cyclists who carry enough stuff to fix a flat may recognize the yellow Pedro's tire levers at the top. Pedro's are the gold standard for getting a tire off a rim in a hurry without breaking the tire lever; metal ones are not only extra weight, they're very hard on alloy rims and a general "no-no" on carbon fiber ones. I don't use levers to put a tire back on as it's too easy to snake bite an inner tube pinching it with them. There is a way of rolling the bead back on if you practice it a few times and it doesn't require brute force. I've seen some diminutive women barely over 5 foot and 110 pounds soaking wet do it without struggling. Someone who's practiced at changing an inner tube can do it from start to finish in about 15 minutes, including inflating the tire. The main tools with SAKs for bookends are in the center.

• On the left is a chain breaker that can be used to break a chain and reassemble it. Master links are a thing of the past on multi-speed and track bikes. I carry extra link pins as the Shimano usually cannot be reused. The cutouts at the top are a spoke wrench and it doesn't show in the photo but they're different widths.
• The middle group is a 1/4" hex drive socket set with through ratchet, breaker bar and extension. The bits are the common Phillips and flat tip plus the metric hex used on a bicycle and a couple Torx. No reversing switch on the ratchet. Need to go in the other direction? flip the bit and ratchet over.
• To the right of that is another set of tire levers (black panels on tool holder), another breaker bar and more bits.

All those fit into a 1-1/2" x 2" x4" semihard case that's not shown.

The two SAKs are thin with only a two layers. If you were thinking one is a mondo, eight layer every tool Swiss Champ, guess again. They were selected specifically for this kit.

• Black one on the left is a 2-layer 74mm Executive, the least common size between the very common 58mm keyring Classic and the 84mm junior size. Has a large blade, small blade, scissors, file with pointed tip that can dig crud out of things, and the "orange peeler" has a very small flat tip driver at the end. Also has the ubiquitous toothpick and tweezers. Selected for the tool kit for the file, mini flat-tip and scissors. Photo is of another one I have with red scales.
  
  
  
  
• Red one on the right is a full size 91mm 2-layer Scientist (discontinued). It has a large blade, combination flat tip, can opener, bottle opener & wire stripper, magnifying glass, and in-line Phillips. Back layer has a corkscrew and the gray thing in the corkscrew is a tiny 1.5mm jeweler's flat tip, just the right size for nearly all eyeglass hinge screws. It has shallow exterior threads that allow it to screw into the corkscrew for storage. Behind the corkscrew near its pivot pin is a common sewing straight pin that slides into a hole under the scales; friction holds it in place. Selected this for the mangnifier, straight pin, tweezers and screwdrivers even though there are several flat tips in the 1/4" hex drive socket set. The corkscrew is a bonus.
  

Thought the very small 1/4" hex drive ratchet and bit set would be of the greatest interest, and how it's possible to pack a comprehensive tool set into a very small space.

John

Who makes the through ratchet???

 

[senlow]

Who makes the through ratchet???

Victorinox

 

[JazzBlueRT]

I've wanted to post these forever, finally snagged a pic...

When i was 11 or 12 years old, one of my uncles had a whole bunch o these. I was fascinated with them.

 

[bert1913]

 

[Tylermorris]

Some tiny tools

 

[joey1320]

I found this tiny anvil in my father's garage after he passed a few years back. My mother said he bought it at a flea market because he found it really curious and neat.

Spray can pictured for size reference.

 

[Jim_No_Garage]

So I found this pair of tiny pliers over the weekend at an Estate Sale. It was among a bunch of type-setter type things.

They are 3" in total length.

Cheers

Jim

 

[Outlawmws]

An add to one of the tools in my tiny tools box!

A couple of wees ago I had mentioned elsewhere I'd like to find a protractor head for one of the small 6" combination squares.

A week of so ago I did find a smaller center finder. but it didn't not fit the steel rule in any of my 6" squares...

Today I was putting some new things away in the tiny tools box and saw the 4" square I had completely forgotten about:

Low and behold, it FIT! It also ID'ed the maker!

And in comparison to a std size square and the smaller 6""

And an interesting Stacked Pic:

So now to find a protractor head!

 

[Stinky_Pete]

This is an interesting thread, but some of these seem too small to be practical, like pliers or adjustable wrenches that are slightly bigger than a quarter. Does anyone who owns these use them, and if so what for?

 

[Outlawmws]

People that do watch making level work. Some may be display/proof of skills items

 

[steaks&anvils]

Watch maker pliers.

I bought these today at a local used tools store (Charlie's 2nd Hand Store in north Denver, GREAT place, GREAT people).

No rust and not bent, even still has teeth! Sadly no makers mark.

I may make jewelry but these are small even for me. I have a few other pairs of vintage 4in pliers, those are a better usable size.

-jeff

 

[Old Radar]

From an estate sale last weekend:

J.T. Slocome Tube Mic, 0 - 0.5", ball anvil for inside the tube.



Tiny Huot Drill Index complete with drills from 0.39" to 0.0135


Lay 18 #80 bits together and they would be just shy of 1/4".

 

[Outlawmws]

Definitely small!

these are small, but not the smallest:

4" Krauter "lineman's Pliers" - The even have the checked grips!

And a mini Japanese pull saw blade I may have an Xacto handle that may fit this...

 

[Bighead38]

When i was 11 or 12 years old, one of my uncles had a whole bunch o these. I was fascinated with them.

I had a set as kid. Would love to find some. Anyone know the name they went by?

 

[mc4life27]

When i was 11 or 12 years old, one of my uncles had a whole bunch o these. I was fascinated with them.

I have a set of then even with. Little tool box. Didn’t know they were a thing kinda though they were a joke thing


Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[r_olson_06]

How about this little guy. A Plomb 8112 3/16" X 13/64" (the smallest Plomb wrench made I believe). Shown inside the box end of a 2-15/16" Spud wrench.

Looking for the following Plomb Pebbles Wrench 3061

 

[1cargarage]

Really want to get my hands on these







Made in Japan!

 

[jeffmoss26]

omg...need

 

[Shiftless]

Merry Christmas to all of you tiny tools fans.

I found this tiny bench vise (fully operational) on eBay. The rest of the husband and wife hand made display came from a craft fair up in the Gold Country of CA. (Grass Valley)
.
.

 

[PFSard]

Merry Christmas to all of you tiny tools fans.

I found this tiny bench vise (fully operational) on eBay. The rest of the husband and wife hand made display came from a craft fair up in the Gold Country of CA. (Grass Valley)
.
.

Cool. That's either one tiny vise or one big penny. LOL

 

[jcochron]

Are those Corona's? I have a pair similar with orange handles somewhere around here.

Yes, it’s hard to read but definitely Corona’s

 

[jcochron]

Miniature Anderson Jewelers saw. Steel & brass. It takes your broken blades.