What do you use your tools on

[bobIN]

I am curious what everyone uses their tools on? I am not a mechanic by trade. I work on my own vehicles some, and also do general around the house maintenance. What I use them for the most is my hobby, working on garden tractors, tractors, mowers, old chainsaws, and stuff like that. So I use almost all standard stuff.

 

[Bessy]

I'll play:

Jack of all trades here, master of none. Basically just about every hobby or interest I have gained over my near 30 years of life involve tools in some way, shape, size or form (not gonna lie that's probably why I took an interest). Like you, I have an antique (1971) Sears Suburban 12hp mower (my avatar) with a deck, dozer blade and snowblower, and a couple of outboard motors that I admittedly haven't had much interest in working on lately, but I did amass a pretty full SAE kit for those and other types of projects.

I used to run a lawn/landscape company, did light home reno work, and maintained all my own equipment, using a mixture of SAE and metric tools there.

Basic maintenance on my car required the purchase of some specific tools (2015 VW Diesel SportWagen) to do some work there. I used to do more of my own maintenance on the car, but lately life just gets in the way so it's often easier to take it to someone for anything more than swapping winters and summers.

Boats - grew up around them and I love being on the water any chance I get. Learned all about engines and maintenance of wood on boats, lots of tool use as well.

More recently I've been more into woodworking, which requires a whole other set of tools, 3D printing (tools that require tools).

 

[johnre]

Fixing broken stuff.

Maintaining good stuff.

And everything in between.

 

[Shocker]

Cars, chainsaws, trucks, trailers on and on.

Everything under the sun if I can do it myself.

 

[Qualitytools]

Mainly my collection of cars but almost anything and everything.

 

[BTL-A4]

Cars, woodworking, electrical, around the house repairs, appliance/other electric device repair, on machine tools.

 

[The Cobbler]

whatever I'm fixing. not much in to car repairs but smaller type stuff.

 

[KomatsuTech]

Heavy equipment, and my vehicles.

 

[Hannahranga]

My personal vehicles, the occasional mates car and railway signalling equipment at work

 

[PelicanPines]

I like tools... I like to have the right tool. In my youth I enjoyed being able to fix things myself. Now due to age and a comfortable life... I pay others to do most things.

I fix things... I make them better. I also don't like to go too far to find the right tool... meaning I have 3 of everything.

 

[MushCreek]

Everything. I'm a hard-core DIY'er. I built my own house. I'm restoring a '72 F-250. I built an 18' lapstrake rowboat recently. I have old tractors and old outboard motors I tinker with. We have nine acres of land to maintain. I have a fairly complete machine shop, wood shop, and welding. Keeps me out of trouble in my retirement.

 

[Sumboodie]

Everything and anything from chainsaws to bulldozers.

 

[dchawk81]

I don't understand. "Use"?

 

[AA/FC]

Anything I want (need) to use them on.....

 

[mreisner]

Farm equipment from 50's to modern,small engine to semi trucks, old dumptrucks to modern cars and trucks foriegn and domestic. Bump and paint work. I bought a knee mill and lathe to make/fix some parts as Deere is nuts on some things now. Need to learn more on those two, but pretty good on everything else. Pretty much need everything from 1/4 to 1 inch stuff in sae and metric. I have some old Sheet Metal Fab stuff that I have picked up at various estate sales over the years and occasionally even justify that stuff especially a slip roller and a sheet metal brake albeit small ones. I have a band saw wood mill also, but haven't got to that yet it's still in a box. My barn needs some new boards on the outside and a beam replaced. Estimate for just the wood was about what the Sawmill cost. Luckily I love tools, and I'm blessed to have a job that justifies having a lot of them and pays for them mostly. At least that's what I tell my wife..

 

[Kasal]

Maintenance of my vehicles (it is what I enjoy the most), my father's and my brother's. At home I do everything possible.

 

[Formula]

Mine are used at work at a dealer. Soon as I'm retired, I'm selling at least 90% of them.

 

[dchawk81]

My serious answer is I have stuff.

 

[sparky 1971]

Whatever needs fixed. I also like to hit people with them, the 40" long 3/4" drive breaker bar is perfect.

 

[crewchief888]

Heavy eq field mechanic. I have my working tools in my service truck.
Garage is pretty well stocked with tools as well

 

[Southernbuild]

Anything involving residential construction / repair.
Heavy equipment repairs / maintenance.
Woodworking.
Automotive repair occasionally.
Trying to setup / become a machinist. Why? I don't know, it seems interesting.

If tools are required, I'm in!

 

[Tennessee Cattleman]

Mostly agriculture related machines.

 

[gtae07]

Building my airplane
Working on the cars/trailers (getting less common, less need to do it)
Household maintenance
Fixing various stuff (toys, appliances, furniture, etc)

Eventually I'd like to get back to making more stuff (furniture, or maybe a little sailboat) but the airplane has to get finished first

 

[Robinson1]

It’s kind of hard to explain.

Basically I’m a carpenter/remodeling contractor with a semi professional wood shop who decided they wanted to start farming. I’ve got two newer tractors a fleet of mostly ancient attachments. Multiple large outbuildings, a house built in 1993 that’s been under a constant state of remodel the 7 years I’ve owned it. Add to that all the upkeep chores that come with owning and maintaining acreage. And we have an Etsy shop.

I can probably count on one hand the number of days in the last 5 years I haven’t used a tool to do something.

 

[MarineScott]

Automotive tech/mech., and anything else. Over 100k in tools, still not enough. Now retired.

 

[threewood]

All 5 of our cars. 2 classics and 3 daily drivers.
Plumbing and electric needs in the house, well house plumbing and irrigation, general maintenance on our house.

 

[Callelle]

HD Diesel mechanic / apprentice

Also have a Jeep I work on so I can drive over curbs in mall parking lots

 

[F-22]

 

[gizardlizard]

34 years as journeyman millwright in a plastic injection molding facility. Fix everything from lights to the most complex 6 axis robots and cobots.

 

[trashmanssd]

My work set is for working on our Rubbish trucks and equipment. At home set is used mostly for Bass Boat and trailer repairs and upgrades for my self and a select group of friends.

 

[toyotadriver]

I love tools. Always looking to buy more although I buy a lot fewer than I used to because I have almost everything I could possibly want or need.

When I was a kid...maybe 13-14 yrs old, I got a Craftsman 1/4 and a 3/8 socket set for either Christmas or birthday. Out of all the gifts I got as a kid, that one was my favorite and the only one I really remember. I don't have that set any more because that was a time when Craftsman tools were not all that great and several sockets broke. But....I loved those tools as they were my first real tools.

I have built a couple houses and remodeled several more. I also love fixing and maintaining my vehicles and equipment. I also help some true friends with working on their vehicles and I make a little money on the side fixing stuff for people. Not a lot of money but I enjoy the change of pace from my regular work and some spending cash is nice to have. One person I work on his vehicle for...he pays me in Harbor Freight and Lowes gift cards......so I buy more tools! Currently, everything I own is metric so my SAE tools rarely get used. I want an old Case/Ingersoll garden tractor for working around the house (plus I have always loved those machines) so when I find one, I'll be using my SAE tools a lot more often.

I have home repair type tools and then I have mechanic type tools.




Nothing in this post should be misunderstood, interpreted, misinterpreted, or construed to be of a political nature.

 

[housewolf]

Retired plumber so I obviously have Plg tools.

• I have two cars that I occasionally drag race & four more that we drive that I modify & maintain. Add in a boat, garden tractor, and golf cart. - I really need to cull out two cars or trucks-
• Early in my career I was a carpenter, built some decks & did some remodeling work so I have some skills working with wood. I’ve finished a 750 sq ft room over my garage, built & maintained decks & fences on my property. No “fine cabinetry”. I know my limitations.
• Welding/cutting metal for building ****, modifying & maintaining trailers, repairs
• Small stuff for working with firearms, audio equipment, fishing eqt and other foolishness
• Yard tools. I’m not one of those nuts that enjoy it but do enjoy a nice lawn, trees, and plants. Too cheap to pay someone else.

 

[MushCreek]

I didn't mention the tools of my trade in my first post. I was a mold maker fr 45 years, designing, building, and repairing plastic injection molds for a wide variety of industries. I had (and still have) tons of precision measuring tools and related stuff, such as vises, angle plates, wheel dressers, sine plates, etc. Although I don't use that stuff often, the used market is so pathetic that I hold on to them, and use them once in a great while.

I also didn't mention that I do all of the maintenance and repairs on my '95 f-150 and '92 Miata. I don't even lift the hood on my wife's RAV4, though. Too new.

 

[Jure]

Marine engine tech by trade but my own tools stays at home. I use them to do a maintenance work on my cars. Id say they are mainly used to work on my bikes,since i always make sure i have a winter project.

 

[Snapped-off]

A nice and clean lint-free cloth when I delicately remove them for their weekly polishing.

 

[Doubled33]

House projects- Light carpentry mostly cordless saws, impacts, multi tools, etc…to full blown casework- Unisaw, Leigh FMT and Dovetail Jigs, routers, etc…

Automotive- The Daily drivers don’t get touched by me as they are new and under warranty so all work is done by others. I may rotate the occasional tire or two.

My classics and fun cars are all wrenched on by me. That’s the Rolls, E Type and the 458. I have a lot of Whitworth including taps and die’s along with sockets/ wrenches and specialty items.

Have a lot of plumbing tools like turbo torches, hand dies, pipe vises, large cutters, etc…

Glass bead and presses etc… I use on the hobby restoration projects I work on….

I also am the guy that will help the neighbors out when they need something.

I need a bigger garage….

 

[Willie Makeit]

My hot rods ... and various $hit my wife, daughter, mom, mother-in-law, father-in-law, & assorted non-mechanically inclined nieghbors & friends manage to mangle, FUBAR and tear up.

 

[drmarkr]

Anything with wheels and/or engines! As well as everything sitting on our 5 acre compound, lol...

 

[2oolhound]

It's dawned on me some time ago that a lot of what I do stems from building stuff to support the tools I buy to do work with. Example: I bought a mig welder but had no room for it anywhere in my tiny shop. But, there was a bare patch of wall 5' high so I installed a vertical pipe, put a swivel collar on it to an arm with a swivel on the end of it then a second arm with a swivel on it that a small table sits on to hold the welder. The 2 arms between the swivels extend as well so now the welder is tucked in 5' high with the arms knuckled in so they aren't much bigger than the welder but it will swing out and extend over about a 12' area.
I tried turning wood on my 10" x 54" atlas lathe but wanted to do a handle that was too long so I made a custom tail stock that allowed material just past the end of the ways and adjusts sideways for tapers.
I bought 2 - 44" roller cabinets that could hold all my tools but the only place they'd fit was where my bench was. I poured a concrete slab level on my sloped floor, took the wheels of the cabinets and laid them on the slabs then fabbed a steel bench with receiver hitch mounts every 12" over the top of them and supported to the floor at the ends and the middle between the 2 boxes. Topped with 1/4" steel.
Bought a 750 lb mill drill so built a steel table for it at the end of my work bench.

I could keep going here but you get the idea, every time I bring a tool home to help me do work it just creates more work. On the positive side though, I often have to buy more tools to complete these alterations.

 

[Rabid Badger]

Houses (and the occasional outbuilding)
Cars
Computers
Electronics
Drones & RC cars
3D printers
Other tools