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fandom_joints2011-03-11 12:57 pm
facetofcathy) wrote in fandom_joints2011-03-11 12:57 pm
Entry tags:
Filling Your Basic Toolbox
Hi, if you don't know me already, my name's Cathy and I and my partner own a house built in about 1880 with an addition built on around 1900. The house was also renovated about twenty years ago by an interesting individual. Our work on the house has been more about undoing than anything else, and I really wish I could have a Ctrl+Z in my toolbox.
I volunteered to write a post about what to put in your basic toolbox, and here it is. I'm using Canadian Terms for things, so you might call the same tool something different in your country. Feel free to ask for clarification in comments and please, please, offer up your own suggestions on must haves.
First you need a toolbox. Or, no, you don't really. If you just need a basic set of home-repair tools, it is totally okay to use a kitchen drawer or one of those plastic storage tubs that fits under the bed. My mother kept hers standing up in an old pitcher in the kitchen cupboard. You don't want to end up with corroded metal and electronics that suddenly don't work, so pick a storage place that's clean and dry and somewhat air-tight.
If you chose to buy a toolbox, think about how you'll use it first. Do you need it to fit in your trunk? Your bicycle basket? Your closet shelf? Can you lift it full? (Lesson learned the hard way: Don't let the strongest person in you household pick out the toolbox.) Buy the biggest you can make work for you--you'll fill it up eventually. And the second one, and the third one...
Now you need to fill it. Common advice is to buy the best quality you can afford. Which is true as far as it goes, but I would say make your decision based on your particular needs. Are you going to use your tools every day, or are you going to hang a few pictures and level your fridge, maybe make a shelf for your hand-knitted TARDIS. Can you power a tool with your body, or does your body need the tool to power itself? Do you have office worker hands and poor grip strength like I do? Then you need those soft rubber grips on everything. Do you have really impressive arm strength and tasty looking biceps? Then you need an extra-heavy hammer to show that off. Get what's right for you.
• Measuring tape. Get one with centimetres as well as inches if you live in North America. Measuring in centimeters for precision work is just way easier.
• Screwdrivers. You can buy a set of basic quality with plastic handles for a low price, but you might find yourself replacing the ones you use the most with something better (for me that would be the #2 slot, Philips and Robertson). You could just buy one of those multi-headed drivers if you won't be using it much, but you can't get much torque out of it, so your body will work harder and you'll get frustrated. Buy an extra big, strong, slot screwdriver. You will often be tempted to use your screwdriver as an all-purpose prybar and chisel so you might as well just have one for that purpose.
• Hammer. A basic claw hammer, the heaviest you can comfortably use. I find them all balanced wrong for my (short) arm swing, but I keep looking.
• Pliers. Start with locking pliers, needlenose and slip joint. If you fiddle around with your computer at all, you might be happy to have a set of mini pliers. A channel-lock pliers can eliminate the need for a wrench in a lot of cases, but an adjustable wrench is a good thing to have anyway.
• Wrenches. I've gotten along fine with about three sizes of adjustable crescent wrenches. If you're going near any plumbing, either get a pipe wrench or a really big crescent wrench that can handle the nuts that hold the drain onto a sink. If you need to change faucets in situ, you might need a basin wrench too. (In situ is Latin for crawling around on the floor with your head inside a cupboard, wishing you were Plastic Man so you could reach the nuts holding the faucets on with a regular wrench.)
• Wire Cutters. Your slip joint pliers might have a built-in wire cutter and it's likely already dull. If you want to work with wire--electrical, phone cord, cat 5, speaker wire--you'll need good wire cutters and a wire stripper. Most multi-gauge wire strippers don't do the fine inner wires on phone cord or cat 5. A little practice and you can use the wire cutters as strippers. Miniature ones are easier to use on very small wire.
• Socket Set. This is not a necessity, but it's a nice thing to have if you have garden tools, or anything else held together with nuts and bolts. Of course, I have to have two sets--one Imperial, one Metric--you might only need one, which brings the cost down.
• Sharpener. A sharpening file, or a sharpening stone. Unless you live somewhere where the guy comes around in the truck, ringing the little bell that makes all the kids come running (oh, the disappointment), and sharpens things for you.
• Chisels. At least one basic wood chisel. Buy two, though, and mark the one you're allowed to misuse and wrack up. That way you'll actually have a sharp one when you need it.
• Saws. A wood saw and a hack saw are likely necessary. Get a selection of blades for the hacksaw, fine and course-toothed. I prefer the short, fine-toothed wood saws that come with a mitre box. It's the handiest kit going for cutting small wood trim. I have other hand saws, but I also have a power-beveled-miter saw, and I never use them anymore.
• Rulers. A metal meter stick, a metal square and a short metal ruler cover all the bases.
• Utility Knife. Not a plastic boxcutter that holds snap-off blades. Get a good metal one that takes quality blades and buy the blades in bulk.
• Level. Okay, I have four levels, plus a laser level, but one short torpedo level that will fit in you toolbox is likely all you need until you start tearing out walls.
• Hex Keys (also known as Allen Wrenches). You can get them in a rubber-gripped folding set of all the shapes and sizes you will ever need. Then when you buy something from Ikea you can toss the cheap little angle jobby that comes with it and laugh, because you will never again spend two hours looking for the one that fits the bed frame so you can tighten it and stop the squeak. Also, you get better torque out of the ones in the sets.
• Pry Bar. For when the screwdriver and the chisel just won't do--a small one is likely enough unless the whole wall is coming down.
• Stud Finder. So you'll always know where Mike Holmes is. Seriously, don't get those magnet thingies, they only find ferrous metal, so if your drywall is nailed up with galvanized nails they'll drive you to drink. Get the electronic kind that actually senses the density of what's under the wall surface. If you live in old construction where you might have lath and plaster and then drywall, fourteen layers of wallpaper and thirty layers of paint between you and Mike Hol- er, the stud, there's a kind that scans to a deeper level.
• Voltage Tester. Even if you're never going to do wiring, you need to know where the wires are before you cut or drill into a wall. You can also point them at your cat's head to make the beeper go off. Cats love this, I swear.
• Bottle Opener. Before twist-offs having one in your toolbox was a sign you are a hick, now it's a sign you drink the fancy craft-brewed beer. That's my whole life in one sentence right there.
Add to the list! What do you have in your toolbox you can't live without?
I volunteered to write a post about what to put in your basic toolbox, and here it is. I'm using Canadian Terms for things, so you might call the same tool something different in your country. Feel free to ask for clarification in comments and please, please, offer up your own suggestions on must haves.
First you need a toolbox. Or, no, you don't really. If you just need a basic set of home-repair tools, it is totally okay to use a kitchen drawer or one of those plastic storage tubs that fits under the bed. My mother kept hers standing up in an old pitcher in the kitchen cupboard. You don't want to end up with corroded metal and electronics that suddenly don't work, so pick a storage place that's clean and dry and somewhat air-tight.
If you chose to buy a toolbox, think about how you'll use it first. Do you need it to fit in your trunk? Your bicycle basket? Your closet shelf? Can you lift it full? (Lesson learned the hard way: Don't let the strongest person in you household pick out the toolbox.) Buy the biggest you can make work for you--you'll fill it up eventually. And the second one, and the third one...
Now you need to fill it. Common advice is to buy the best quality you can afford. Which is true as far as it goes, but I would say make your decision based on your particular needs. Are you going to use your tools every day, or are you going to hang a few pictures and level your fridge, maybe make a shelf for your hand-knitted TARDIS. Can you power a tool with your body, or does your body need the tool to power itself? Do you have office worker hands and poor grip strength like I do? Then you need those soft rubber grips on everything. Do you have really impressive arm strength and tasty looking biceps? Then you need an extra-heavy hammer to show that off. Get what's right for you.
The Basic Tools
• Measuring tape. Get one with centimetres as well as inches if you live in North America. Measuring in centimeters for precision work is just way easier.
• Screwdrivers. You can buy a set of basic quality with plastic handles for a low price, but you might find yourself replacing the ones you use the most with something better (for me that would be the #2 slot, Philips and Robertson). You could just buy one of those multi-headed drivers if you won't be using it much, but you can't get much torque out of it, so your body will work harder and you'll get frustrated. Buy an extra big, strong, slot screwdriver. You will often be tempted to use your screwdriver as an all-purpose prybar and chisel so you might as well just have one for that purpose.
• Hammer. A basic claw hammer, the heaviest you can comfortably use. I find them all balanced wrong for my (short) arm swing, but I keep looking.
• Pliers. Start with locking pliers, needlenose and slip joint. If you fiddle around with your computer at all, you might be happy to have a set of mini pliers. A channel-lock pliers can eliminate the need for a wrench in a lot of cases, but an adjustable wrench is a good thing to have anyway.
• Wrenches. I've gotten along fine with about three sizes of adjustable crescent wrenches. If you're going near any plumbing, either get a pipe wrench or a really big crescent wrench that can handle the nuts that hold the drain onto a sink. If you need to change faucets in situ, you might need a basin wrench too. (In situ is Latin for crawling around on the floor with your head inside a cupboard, wishing you were Plastic Man so you could reach the nuts holding the faucets on with a regular wrench.)
• Wire Cutters. Your slip joint pliers might have a built-in wire cutter and it's likely already dull. If you want to work with wire--electrical, phone cord, cat 5, speaker wire--you'll need good wire cutters and a wire stripper. Most multi-gauge wire strippers don't do the fine inner wires on phone cord or cat 5. A little practice and you can use the wire cutters as strippers. Miniature ones are easier to use on very small wire.
• Socket Set. This is not a necessity, but it's a nice thing to have if you have garden tools, or anything else held together with nuts and bolts. Of course, I have to have two sets--one Imperial, one Metric--you might only need one, which brings the cost down.
• Sharpener. A sharpening file, or a sharpening stone. Unless you live somewhere where the guy comes around in the truck, ringing the little bell that makes all the kids come running (oh, the disappointment), and sharpens things for you.
• Chisels. At least one basic wood chisel. Buy two, though, and mark the one you're allowed to misuse and wrack up. That way you'll actually have a sharp one when you need it.
• Saws. A wood saw and a hack saw are likely necessary. Get a selection of blades for the hacksaw, fine and course-toothed. I prefer the short, fine-toothed wood saws that come with a mitre box. It's the handiest kit going for cutting small wood trim. I have other hand saws, but I also have a power-beveled-miter saw, and I never use them anymore.
• Rulers. A metal meter stick, a metal square and a short metal ruler cover all the bases.
• Utility Knife. Not a plastic boxcutter that holds snap-off blades. Get a good metal one that takes quality blades and buy the blades in bulk.
• Level. Okay, I have four levels, plus a laser level, but one short torpedo level that will fit in you toolbox is likely all you need until you start tearing out walls.
• Hex Keys (also known as Allen Wrenches). You can get them in a rubber-gripped folding set of all the shapes and sizes you will ever need. Then when you buy something from Ikea you can toss the cheap little angle jobby that comes with it and laugh, because you will never again spend two hours looking for the one that fits the bed frame so you can tighten it and stop the squeak. Also, you get better torque out of the ones in the sets.
• Pry Bar. For when the screwdriver and the chisel just won't do--a small one is likely enough unless the whole wall is coming down.
• Stud Finder. So you'll always know where Mike Holmes is. Seriously, don't get those magnet thingies, they only find ferrous metal, so if your drywall is nailed up with galvanized nails they'll drive you to drink. Get the electronic kind that actually senses the density of what's under the wall surface. If you live in old construction where you might have lath and plaster and then drywall, fourteen layers of wallpaper and thirty layers of paint between you and Mike Hol- er, the stud, there's a kind that scans to a deeper level.
• Voltage Tester. Even if you're never going to do wiring, you need to know where the wires are before you cut or drill into a wall. You can also point them at your cat's head to make the beeper go off. Cats love this, I swear.
• Bottle Opener. Before twist-offs having one in your toolbox was a sign you are a hick, now it's a sign you drink the fancy craft-brewed beer. That's my whole life in one sentence right there.
Add to the list! What do you have in your toolbox you can't live without?
no subject
True, true, true!
A couple other thoughts about what is in my toolbox:
If you live with other people, decide whose tool kit this is. Does it belong to the household, or to you, personally? I love my husband and kid and other housemates, but if I never have to search for the communally owned Phillips head screwdriver again, I'll die happy. And amazed.
no subject
Especially if one of them has nearest flat surface syndrome, and the nearest flat surface he often leaves things is the top of the fridge, which is out of my sight line.
I think a post about power tool rants of all kinds is a good idea, but I want to hear your rant about ergonomics. I have tendon damage from using a poor quality drill to lay sub floor, I have issues with the way they make all of these tools--especially the size of hands they think will wield them.
I actually have, come to think of it another saw, it's a handle that holds a hacksaw blade by one end, that lets you get in tight places with it, but a folding saw sounds interesting.
no subject
no subject
And, since I have inconveniently spread out my tools all over the basement tool bench rather than actually owning a tool box, I will cheat and add an electric sander to this list of indispensible tools. Due to the hours I spend in my childhood hand-sanding 8 coats of varnish every year, I despise hand sanding with such a passion that the first major tool I purchased after a decent hammer, screwdrivers and a socket wrench set was an electric hand sander.
no subject
I don't need portability in my tools, yet, so I tend to think of those things as household products. I'll have to change my thinking if I need to take my stuff somewhere else to use it.
I love my electric sander. I do some things by hand still, but I couldn't cope without the power version.
no subject
I don't so much have a toolbox as I have a massive pegboard covered in tools and a set of shelves which I stack more complicated things - I tend to put together a kit for each task as I go.
I would add a standard 2 meter step ladder for changing bulbs, putting up high shelves, painting and clearing gutters.
I also have one of those fishing boxes things with a billion little containers that I put all my screws, nails, plugs, dowels, hooks and random accumulated crap into - incredibly helpful when you have a quick fix to do and don't want to go buy the right size screws.
no subject
Oh gosh, yes! There are so many things that would be just impossible if I couldn't get up to the right height.
no subject
My mom had a fishing tackle box for her hardware too. I've got a couple of plastic sectioned cases, but none are as good as that box was.
no subject
no subject
I love my old house, and for me the old parts are the parts that are in good shape, it's always the later additions that are problems.
no subject
no subject
no subject
And a ball of string and a pair of heavy duty scissors, I thought of afterwards. (I really am not a proper Canadian, though, I rarely use duct tape.)