Work Tools

[mulepackin]

I'm wondering if any of the rest of you keep any amount of tools at your place of employment. I'm obviously not referring to those who use hand tools as part of your job. I work as a Cardiovascular nurse at our local hospital, so don't have alot of call to turn wrenches at work. In fact our maintenance department gets pretty uptight if they see one of us using any kind of tool. Nonetheless, I keep a pair of pliers and a 6 way screwdriver in my locker, just to fix the occasional cabinet hinge, tighten a drawer pull, etc. I stay away from anything electrical or expensive or hazardous. Although when I worked in the ER I had finish the assembly of 3 $75,000.00 rotating patient columns. The general contractor said it wasn't in their contract, and the maintenance department didn't feel it was their job either.

 

[Danglerb]

I used to keep one of those two ended give away advertising screwdrivers in my pocket, and it was adequate to get me into all sorts of trouble.

Generally everyplace I have worked has had some kind of general toolbox, so I wouldn't bring anything unless it was for a planned event.

 

[eschoendorff]

I have a set of tools in my truck and another set in my office. Then again, I have been known to fix broken instruments...

 

[IanF]

My Swiss-Army knife (never leave home w/o it)... occasionally my Leatherman and a flashlight... They get the job done for most taks I'm likely to encounter in the cube-farm...

 

[wilbilt]

I have tools in my truck for use at work. Even though the school district has "shop tools", they are usually;

a. Missing
b. In somebody else's truck
c. At another school site (we only need "one" of everything, right?
d. Junk tools
e. Broken or missing parts
f. All of the above

If I need to hang a projector or pull some cable, I don't want spend half a day rounding up tools and another half day putting them back where I found them. Since every other job I had required me to supply my own tools, I don't have a problem with it.

 

[Brandon_Lutz]

I'm about to create my own little work tool collection. We have tools here in the office, but I'm getting tired of chasing down our screw drivers, wrenches, and pliers that people like to borrow and never bring back.

Plus all work wants to buy the IT Department is cheap Chinese junk that chips or breaks after actual use. (God I miss being back on the family farm at times where I got to work with real tools and breath fresh air)

I'm thinking this weekend, I'll pickup a small locking tool box, and get a basic set of end wrenches, a ratchet and socket set, and some screw drivers, as thats what I generally end up using the most here at work.

Come to think of it, I need a new set of punch down tools, and a new fish tape..

Wait.. Am I giving myself a new excuse to buy more tools?

 

[boiler7904]

The office supplies a cheap chiwanese style all in one tool kit that has parts broken or missing.

I keep a 53 piece Craftsman tool set that has sockets, a couple of open end wrenches, screwdrivers, and allen keys in my desk drawer. I also keep a utility knive, adjustable wrench, slip joint pliers, channellocks, and a tape measure in there. I also bring in other tools if I know I'll need them in advance.

Working in an architectural firm, they don't get used very often but it's always a big help when I need to do something - like take apart a sample light fixture or assemble anything.

For doing going on site, I have a Hilti PD30 laser distance meter, 200' tape, 100' tape, 30' tape, 500' masons line, a 4 pound engineer's hammer, and a few other odds and ends in my truck.

I'm looking to get a laser level with detector, leveling rod, and a tripod for a few projects at home. It could be used for work occassionaly too.

 

[Franz©]

Comon, any nurse worth their salt can completely tare down the final drive of a D-8 with a pair of scissors and a jewler's screwdriver. I know LN and the entire ICU crew can. I also know if I want to own a sharp pair of scissors that work they must be hidden from LN.

99.72% of doctors must be kept at least 10 feet from any tool though.

 

[Uncle Buck]

The only tools I take to work at the office is my sharp wit!

 

[Brandon_Lutz]

Thanks to this thread. I had to go buy more tools for myself this afternoon while on a errand run at work.

Dang the attraction to shiny objects!

 

[jimvannoy]

My tools are all at my place of employment. My shop next to my house.

 

[wilbilt]

Plus all work wants to buy the IT Department is cheap Chinese junk that chips or breaks after actual use.

Ye speak the truth, brother!

Come to think of it, I need a new set of punch down tools, and a new fish tape..

Glory! I now have a fine Greenlee fish tape for which to pulleth cable. Punching and crimping and cable testing tools should be of the best finery.

My Holy Grail is a Fluke Optiview...say it with me now....Optiview...I must take up a collection to raise the $20K pittance for it's cost...but...Optiview...
Amen, brother!

And you guys think Snap-On stuff is expensive. Compared to the likes of Cisco and Fluke Network gear, Snap-On is kibbles and bits.

 

[Rickster]

I keep a 1/4 in socket set, some 3/8 stuff and allen wrenches. We use them to disassemble and reconfigure cubical walls. Someone always gets tired of their office and wants a change so we scout out unused cubes and strip their parts for ours.

 

[wilbilt]

We use them to disassemble and reconfigure cubical walls. Someone always gets tired of their office and wants a change so we scout out unused cubes and strip their parts for ours.

That's awesome.
Customizing cubicles. "Yeah, he's got four quad joiners, a hinged half-panel, and two 20A power strips in that thing. I'm trying to trade him a double-Q overhead and four edge strips for his extra flip-desk, but he ain't biting..."

I love it...customizers of the corporate underworld...

 

[Brandon_Lutz]

That's awesome.
Customizing cubicles. "Yeah, he's got four quad joiners, a hinged half-panel, and two 20A power strips in that thing. I'm trying to trade him a double-Q overhead and four edge strips for his extra flip-desk, but he ain't biting..."

I love it...customizers of the corporate underworld...

Too bad we couldn't do that here. I'd just rip mine down and leave a plain ole workbench as my desk.

 

[MustangFJ]

I keep a Leatherman and a Craftsman 10-in-1 screwdriver. (The same screwdriver is sold under the Klien name.) That pretty much covers everything that comes up around the cube farm.

I guess MS Excel is my favorie tool in the office. Like anything else, the user of the tool maters a lot more then the tools itself.

 

[snorvet]

I have a changeable head screwdriver for the office(that I've only used about twice) and an assortment of measuring devices and other surveying tools for the field, and my most recent addition - a $260 drill bit for drilling and countersinking survey monuments into concrete highway barrier walls

 

[SpiderGearsMan]

you office dudes have it good , you switch jobs and just carry yourself out the door , for me it is a 200 dollar flatbed bill , as my box has the weight of a 75 coupe deville

 

[wrenchr]

I keep a 1/4 in socket set, some 3/8 stuff and allen wrenches. We use them to disassemble and reconfigure cubical walls. Someone always gets tired of their office and wants a change so we scout out unused cubes and strip their parts for ours.

Pimp my cubical.

 

[Bigger Hammer]

Being a Const. Superintendent, my truck is loaded down pretty heavy at times but in all honesty, the fewer tools I carry with me, the more I make everyone else around me do what they are supposed to be doing. I actually enjoy the hands on work so having tools handy is just feeding my desire to build things. lol.
I do always keep a Husky tool bag though with pliers, screwdrivers, Spud C-wrench, Spud ratchet, impact sockets, cordless drill and impact driver, drill bits, hammer, pry bar, and a long list of small assorted hand tools.

 

[JohnHenrys48]

I work for a Software Engineering company. We are actually consultants that specialize in Avionics software... I've know the owner for years and worked off and on for him. He's a no nonsense get the job done guy because every minute we spend fooling around costs him money. Just after leasing the office across the hall and having the network installed, the tools in my truck became very sought after...everything needed to be tweaked...soooo one office is missing an Ethernet port and it would have taken a week for the installation...he came up with the quick, dirty, cheap method of putting a hub in the next office and running a line through the wall...I was just getting my keys to head to the local store for a sheet rock saw and a couple of outlet boxes he came by giggling with a hammer...you guessed it... he punched a hole through with the BFH...lost time = 0, cost of equipment = 0...boss is happy = priceless...

 

[thecarfarmer]

Sounds like the mindset where I work:

I have tools in my truck for use at work. Even though the school district has "shop tools", they are usually;

a. Missing
b. In somebody else's truck
c. At another school site (we only need "one" of everything, right?
d. Junk tools
e. Broken or missing parts
f. All of the above

If I need to hang a projector or pull some cable, I don't want spend half a day rounding up tools and another half day putting them back where I found them. Since every other job I had required me to supply my own tools, I don't have a problem with it.

I'm an on-board train technician; all I carry of my own is a leatherman. The shop is supposed to supply ALL tools needed, which fall almost exclusively under catagory d. shown above. But there are a few that fit into e and f as well.

Ten million dollar trainset, cheap-*** imported tools that I wouldn't use to fix a kid's tricycle. Oh, and although there's compressed air on the train, and air hoses... no air tools.

-bill

 

[ColdDuckTime]

in product design environments, what makes me crazy is what pigs some of the guys are. Usually, you start out with boxes scattered around the lab filled with a combination of good and bad quality hand tools (excellent screwdrivers, horrible sockets)...I always seem to have coworkers who a)never put anything back and b)always go to the boxes if they need something.

The result is a form of tool entropy. All hand tools are scattered on benches throughout the facility on about a 1 foot grid.