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Tools that prove their worth more than you realized.

25K views 163 replies 76 participants last post by  onthelevel 
#1 ·
What tool(s) do you now have that make you wonder how you got along without them for so long? :wallbash:
 
#71 ·
jlsconstruction said:
That's the one I have, and it's retarded heavy, and after a year the locks start to not work correctly
The one worth getting which I have is the Little Giant Revolution, it's 20% lighter then the original. I own the 17 footer. It's great for balcony work. Once your done down below with the hardware, you can turn it into an extension ladder for access above. I used to have to carry too many ladders. This is important, because I refuse to pull a trailer.
 
#73 ·
Far and away, nail guns. Specifically the Paslode Impulse guns. I originally bought my first one as a specialized tool for high work and quick jobs like trimming a replacement door where 3 pieces or so of trim need fastening. Now, air guns rarely leave the shop.

I have to agree with Warren on the pump jacks too. Dollar for dollar, they have probably been my most valuable purchase overall. They have a very specific duty, but are very hard to compare to when it comes to versatility.
 
#77 ·
I didn't know you owned any Paslode guns. :whistling Are they any good :laughing:
 
#74 ·
MTN REMODEL LLC said:
Kam.... What maker/model do you recommend... are they very heavy relative to standard light-duty ladders. Lowes has a Werner 17 ft (300lb capacity) on black friday for 99. #251378 Thanks Peter
I have one of those and two 22's. They're definitely heavier than a light duty ladder but not by too much and certainly not prohibitively so.

So for what it does it's worth it, no question. Way lighter and easier to maneuver than an extension.

Just saw that deal, id get one again but don't need it.

Only complaint is the plastic feet on the middle portion of the ladder, fall out. Contact cement fixed that. Worth noting that this part of the ladder doesn't rest on the ground ever unless you remove it and use it as a 4' ladder ( never )
 
#79 ·
My Estwing Hammertooth. I saw it and thought it looked kind of clever, used it and realized that it absolutely kicked a$$.
The flashlight that came with my Milwaukee cordless set. Initially it seemed like a reason for them to say that there were four tools. You really do need to look over, under, and around some odd, dark places more often than you think.
A good set of water stones. There is sharp, and then there is Sharp.
 
#85 ·
Makita cordless blower. Blow sawdust off before going into house, cleaning work area, even cleaning dust off me.
I used to carry an older corded one that was SO noisy I hated it. Plus dragging out a cord was a pain. I have the husquavarna gas blower on my trailer now.

I don't have the Makita. I think it would be nice though. No exhaust smell and all.

But I do agree. They're great for cleaning up the job site, tools, & myself! I also use it to clean my trailer out too. Open up the back doors and blow everything out...
 
#84 ·
LSD Creep-Zit rods.

Layout lasers, specifically plumb and pls 180...huge time saver.

Multimaster, cutting out a monument has never been so easy.

Funny enough I hate one-trick-pony tools or anything gimmicky, but in commercial jobs the LSD Easy Cut has been a massive time saver for cutting in retro boxes:

 
#87 ·
Rustbucket said:
The Fein MM for sure. The other one that really surprised me is my little 12V Bosch Impactor. Nothing better for starting screws in tight spaces. I found this out while retrofitting drawer slides in an old kitchen. Those tiny screws are a PITA, and kept falling off the tip on my screw gun when I applied pressure. When finally started, it was difficult to keep enough pressure on the screw to prevent cam-out. The little impact drivers solved both of these problems. Didn't even have a problem with the slides on a a bank of 7"-8" wide drawers!
Just don't stick a short driver tip in your impactor, cuz once you run in that first screw, you'll never get it back out, ask me how I know.
 
#89 ·
I was driving a 3" screw in a really tight space and figured I'd just stick the tip straight in the impact without a bit holder, drove the screw in, then went to take to bit out and it was jammed in the impact. That impact ended up getting thrown away because I couldn't get the bit out, and I could get a new bare impact cheaper than sending that one off for repair.
 
#92 ·
I assume you reversed the direction to try to loosen it up? I don't think I would have given up for quite some time. But that's just me. And I'm sure I would still own it. It would be stuffed in a box for me to keep trying until frustrated and put back into the box until next time.:laughing:
 
#90 ·
I did that with my Makita for the reason stated above (short on space) but I was able to disassemble the end and all is well. I wouldn't want to disassemble it very often, because as I recall there were some parts which could fly off into the atmosphere if one wasn't very careful.
 
#91 ·
I tried disassembling mine, but the version I had was an older 12v Bosch, and the impact chuck was an integral part of the impact mechanism, so there was no way to take the chuck off and drive the bit out from behind, or replace just the chuck. I kept it laying around for several years and tried several different times to fix it before finally throwing it away during a marathon shop cleaning session.
 
#95 ·
I tried all that. Problem was that the bit was a shorty bit designed for a bit holder, and it was in the chuck so far that it was almost like a Sheetrock bit. There's nothing sticking out to grab with needle nose, and I've tried reversing and hitting the bit and all that, I even disassembled the chuck itself to try and get a better grip on it to no avail. And I kept it for about three years before finally giving up.
 
#106 ·
It would require an extreme circumstance for me to even consider it, but the average duplex I used to build regularly would consume about 30 of those at about $9 each.

My gas compressor would run about 1.25 gallons of fuel daily x 15 days.

Roughly $60 in gasoline or $270 in fuel cells. Not really a viable option for production work. The gun maintenance is more frequent and very necessary as well. In a production environment, cleaning would probably be every two weeks. It's a twenty minute job per gun and will run about $5 in cleaner.

In a trimwork environment, they are much more affordable to run, with less frequent maintenance too.

I mainly do renovations these days and the convenience of carrying in 3-4 guns and being able to complete a job from start to finish without a compressor and hoses being dragged throughout a finished home or up and down roofs and walls is priceless.
 
#107 ·
this is exactly what I figured, and only really asked cause lately we get "framers" off craigslist who come work for us who are like "you guys should get paslode guns" and I try to explain to them how expensive it would be for us and they just don't "get it" cause all they ever did before was renovation work where they used them
 
#108 ·
I did new work for over 20 years. We had the first release Impulse framing gun that lasted about a month. The battery took about 8 hours to charge, the contacts always got dirty, the fuel cells had issues and high humidity screwed with the circuit board.

They have come into their own as far as reliability, but they are still expensive to run.

They make a lot of sense when doing work in finished/furnished homes though. That's where they make me money.
 
#109 ·
yeah, well cost is no issue when you're not paying for the tools. one of these guys also got mad when one of our guns was acting up and was like "you guys should have 12 working guns in the truck"(we have 6-8) and I just laughed and go "they're $350 a pop, you wanna buy 12 of them?"
 
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