Tools you bought but don’t use?

[michelin]

I’ve got a few. They take space, I use them maybe once in a blue moon. At a push. Effectively forcing myself to use them for the sake of it. I don’t *need* them. What to do? Sell up? Doesn’t make sense. Still I never reach for them. Ratchets, ratcheting wrenches, some screwdriver sets. They are all different in some way (shorter, longer etc) but they aren’t first choice. They are a liability and money spent. They don’t earn their keep. What is the consensus?

Edit: I’m talking about some sets bought on a whim. They are not duplicates - selling those would be an easy decision. They are just some variations of the same that I already have and use daily. But they end up just being tossed about in the drawers 95% of the time.

 

[Wamsutta]

Some of my tools are still brand new wrapped in bubble wrap and packed away in a box. I'm a Snap-on collector/polisher.

 

[Kaizen]

Basin wrench. Bought and then didn’t need. Never used. Also Klein screwdriver that is bent. Used for doing device screws quickly. Not as quick as my dewalt 18volt.


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[jdlong]

I would have to say pass through socket set. Bought it because I thought it might get me out of a pinch one day. I don't think I've ever used it. Sits forgotten.

 

[Zebu Fellenz]

I have some tools that get used every once in a great while that I'll never get rid of because they're the tools that come out when nothing else works. I also have tools that I've never used that earn a spot in the box for the same reason.

Different without distinction makes a duplicate and it's harder to justify keeping duplicates.

 

[GrantCee]

I'm a frugal sort, and as a result am very careful about buying tools; I buy only when I have a specific need for that tool. Chances are, I'll either do that job again or I'll find an alternative use for the tool (which is actually very common, at least for me.)

Take, for instance, the OTC Camshaft Pulley tool; I bought it to do a specific job and worried about spending the money for just that use. I've used the darned thing at least a half-dozen times in the last couple of years, at least twice for something completely non-automotive.

As I've told my wife more than once, I have yet to make a tool purchase that I've regretted. Well, other than buying low quality on the notion that "I won't use it very often". Those I almost always regret! Case in point: I bought a HF U-Joint/Ball Joint tool that I figured I'd only use once or twice. I used it a couple of times but cursed the thing. I replaced it with an Astro Pneumatic set (with far more adaptors) a few months back, which I've now used three times — and am completely happy with how it's performed.

Crappy tools are the only ones I end up not using.

 

[CJM8515]

Ratcheting flex wrenches, when you need them indispensable-otherwise I never use them.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I just pulled out of a drawer today, a Kobalt laser level. I believe I saw it here and went and bought one. I forgot I had it and thought about what to do with it. I put it back in it's case and in the drawer. . . . bought, paid for and not struggling to feed my family.

 

[PFSard]

First, list the reason(s) you bought tools that you don't use. Condense this down to a Post-It or small note. This is your GoTo list any time you buy a tool (or anything else) in the future. I have two copies (one at my desk, one that I carry in my wallet). Doing that, I buy a lot less unneeded stuff.

I'd try to figure out how much space is being taken by these unused tools. And what the space would be used for. If you decide to sell some (or all), original cost and expected sale price.

 

[ReggieR]

I have a bunch of "as new" ratchets like Big Dawgs and the now "old" XL Protos that I only grab for an engine on a stand or maybe an appliance repair or something since they're no longer made.I still use them a little but not on real jobs where they'll get torn up.
Kinda like my SK Wayne and SK Tuff One stuff. It's all cherry so its in a separate drawer from the plain old post 1969 regular SK that get beat to hell along with my Wrights, Gearwrenches, EZ Red, Tekton, Snappy 80 series and that sort.
My old Snap-On X70 get used very seldom these days too. Those were the best they ever made
I use the SL715 with an allen socket to move-remove the teeth on my metal brake. Just " because". I loved those ol 70's as much as the semi low count Wrights, Proto XL and SK's.
That was when men used tools and dentists counted teeth.

 

[mbshop]

I have a lot of those. But once a year they save my ****. They are worth having around. I basically never get rid of tools but rather accumulate them.

 

[pelletman]

My dad's motto is "Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it." He's got a few of just about everything

 

[WittHay]

The regular non-flex GearWrench ratcheting wrenches. Bought a set of SAE and metric on sale. Never used them

 

[ChrisLS8]

Standard length combos. I use ratcheting or xl 99% of the time

 

[The Cobbler]

what, we're supposed to use all of the tools we buy?
never would have thunked !

 

[joel63]

Some of my tools are still brand new wrapped in bubble wrap and packed away in a box. I'm a Snap-on collector/polisher.

I know what you're saying here.

I started a long time ago and continued to go down that hole never being able to find my way out.

Doctor, doctor, what's wrong with me?

 

[WWheeler]

Zero offset (flip to reverse) ratcheting wrenches.

Use the **** out of my reversible and my flex (locking and non-locking and stubby) ratcheting wrenches, every day they get used, but have had metric and SAE sets of zero offset ratcheting wrenches for nearly ten years now and most of them have never been used even once. The lack of an offset makes them just too limited in where they can be used. Reversible and flex wrenches can do everything they can and a LOT that they can't.

 

[nmantas]

stubby ratchets.....to me they don't have enough leverage to break something loose so once you figure that out you might as well keep using that tool instead of the stubby.

 

[Gmonkee]

Had and sold off later:

Stubby wrenches
pullers of various types
dbe wrenches
torque wrench
'standard' line wrenches (for offset flex end)

All went into deep storage for a year or more each before going to a new home.

 

[WVBrady]

stubby ratchets.....to me they don't have enough leverage to break something loose so once you figure that out you might as well keep using that tool instead of the stubby.

I bought a set of stubby's just to work on my oil furnace. It was still a pain with them, just not a HUGE pain.

 

[HazetMatt]

Pickle fork. I don’t even know why this tool exists. It is totally unsuited for the job it was designed for, which is separating ball joints. No way, no how. Not with a 3’ cheater bar and a hammer. An actual ball joint separator pops them instantly with 1/4 turn of a wrench.

I’ve used it once or twice as a big chisel.

 

[Tonyuk]

Spark plug gap tool, had it since college, haven't checked the gap of a plug in around 10 or more years.

Old glass work lap, the kind that runs a halogen bulb and has a lead coming off it that plugs into a socket. Got it as a present 8 odd years ago, still in its box up the loft.

Wind up chargeable work light, never worked, in the bin years ago.

 

[crewchief888]

i have a few...

for a year or so i had a local pawn shop "teasing" me with some LNIB vintage SO test equipment.
SO volt meter
SO hand vacuum pump/blow molded box
SO vacuum guage/ metal box

found a nearly complete MAC fuel system tester/blow molded box at a dump site

i cant recall using any of them, but for the $30 or so i paid for them i couldnt complain.

at the same pawn shop i picked up several pairs of starret, & B&S inside/outside calipers and dividers for $1 ea.

i have a couple SO sockets i bought for a specific JD engine, i left that job before i ever used them, still unused 20 years later.

 

[Bagherra]

Those damn weird Craftsman wrenches...not the ratcheting ones, the ones that have that strange open end...Got them for $20...

 

[Tynee]

OP, of you’re thinking you like the space these tools take up, find somebody new to the trade or the hobby that hasn’t built a tool collection yet. The stuff you don’t use much may become the beat tool he owns. Cut him a deal he can afford, and you both feel goid about it.

 

[Michael_in_DE]

I would have to say pass through socket set. Bought it because I thought it might get me out of a pinch one day. I don't think I've ever used it. Sits forgotten.

Same here. Glad it's a cheap harbor freight set.

...I buy only when I have a specific need for that tool.....

Ugh. For what you pay retail for a new tool, I buy 3-5 used tools for at a garage sale that I don't need immediately but will use eventually. I buy quality tools cheap whether I need them or not, assuming I will eventually need them.

My dad's motto is "Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it." He's got a few of just about everything

I agree with your dad!


For me, sadly, it's my drill press. Got a huge floor model craftsman drill press, I even fitted it with an awesome x/y table. Have used it once in 10 years as a mill/cutter to get a collet off a cutting head from a shopbot at the local highschool. Saved them $1,800 by getting it off for them though.

 

[orangeblood]

0 offset extra long box end wrenches (snapon xdhf series). love the way they look and feel but most of the time when i need the extra leverage i grab a long combination wrench. i am a home / shade tree guy.

i got the wrenches in almost new condition at way less than half price. love them but dont use them.

 

[mmb617]

Zero offset (flip to reverse) ratcheting wrenches.

Those damn weird Craftsman wrenches...not the ratcheting ones, the ones that have that strange open end.

How about a combination of the two? My wife got me a set for Christmas a few years ago that have that weird supposedly ratcheting open end on one end and a flip to reverse ratcheting box end on the other end. They are hanging on the wall and look nice, but I've never used them. She meant well, that's all that matters.

 

[skruft]

I have more types of pullers than I often use. some that I got for nothing.

I have but rarely use ratcheting wrenches, even when I should use them, probably because I am old and accustomed to non-ratcheting ones. I do not use smaller impact drivers that often, same reason.

There are some other tools that I bought and used in the past but did not use much later.

 

[unslow1]

I would have to say pass through socket set. Bought it because I thought it might get me out of a pinch one day. I don't think I've ever used it. Sits forgotten.

Same here I don't think I've ever used it.

 

[McFarmer]

Pliers wrench.

Not good pliers and a crappy wrench.

 

[1Garageman]

I bought at an estate sale a bunch of wrenches and sockets, and I already have most of them! But they do help fill up my draws and walls with tools!!

 

[oldwino]

I think the only tools I have that I have never used are odd-ball wrenches, sockets that came in a set that have yet to fit anything I own. Maybe used someday

 

[Rabid Badger]

I have a Fein 17-70 Inox grinder that I have yet to use. I picked it up on Amazon for $83, average price online is $250-300. I'll put it to use when I start welding.

On the same order I got a WSG 17-125 for $53. I use that one all the time.

 

[Milton Shaw]

I bought a 100 foot flat plumbers tape over 40 years ago, knowing I would need it some weekend when I could not rent/buy one. In 40 years I have loaned it out probably a dozen times and have used it at a friend or two's house. I have never (knock on wood) ever had to use it on my own house. That is a tool I am glad I have and Glad I haven't had a problem on my own house to use it.

 

[njric71]

I have a drawer.. ok maybe a couple of drawers LOL of things I've bought "just in case" One item that immediately pops to mind is an indexable ratchet. It still seems to me like a great idea just waiting for an excuse for me to need to use it. I've probably owned it for at least 5 or 6 years now. Still never used it. I have a great fear of getting rid of any of it however because the day I do is the day I'm gonna need it and wish I had it. Besides. Isn't it a rule around here that he who dies with the most tools wins?

 

[Eric29]

Knipex pliers wrench. I really haven’t found a use for them because I think they are harder to use than a crescent wrench. They don’t fit nuts and bolts as well as a crescent wrench and are slower to use. Neat looking tools but I think they are solutions to a non-existent problem.

 

[barev]

Knipex pliers wrench. I really haven’t found a use for them because I think they are harder to use than a crescent wrench. They don’t fit nuts and bolts as well as a crescent wrench and are slower to use. Neat looking tools but I think they are solutions to a non-existent problem.

Try using it to flatten out bent edges of sheet metal. Works amazing.

 

[Lisamelting]

Zero offset ratcheting wrenches. I have sets of SAE and metric collecting dust.

 

[DGersic]

Zero offset ratcheting wrenches. I have sets of SAE and metric collecting dust.

I don’t use those often, but there are a few spots where they are awesome and I’m happy to have them. My snowblower has a couple of bolts with no clearance, not much room to swing the wrench. These have to come out to change the belts, which naturally only burn up at the worst possible time.



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