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OT- What tools do you carry on person to help around the shop with work?

Trboatworks

Trboatworks

Diamond
Joined
Oct 23, 2010
Location
Maryland- USA
Ok ok.

I just got a new pocket knife and I am trying to hide this thread under a topic which is a bit more inspired than the well worn
"Show us your pocket knife"......

Well in any case- my sis got married and gave me a very nice Case as a gift for flying out to participate in the wedding.
It is a classy knife with horn scales and seems a 'classic'.

I have forever carried one of the heavy Emerson folders which is largely a pry bar and I keep it safely dull.
To keep on thread topic- It is like a short rule- I can hardly get stuff done unless I have it with me.

So with this new Case, I am gonna try to see if I can become one of those guys with two knifes - a sharp one and the big work knife.
Good grief- am I headed towards a holster with a flashlight...

The new Case and my old standby Emerson:


Screen Shot 2021-10-30 at 7.34.49 AM.jpg
 
When I go on the shop floor I carry my trusty buck knifs...and a toolbox full of tools from hammers to a home made pry bar to adjustable and Allen wrenches, to an assortment of stones and rifflers, and other stuff...if weighs about 20 pounds.

I'm waiting on a new knife to come in...it's a gerber fully auto open https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/13322573

Surprisingly msc had it, and was by far the least expensive.

Even more surprising is that they haven't asked for my fire department id.
 
A sharpie and a pocket magnifier in my pocket
My shop is 3200ft but I keep multiple Stanley knives and adjustable wrenches throughout the shop
Each machine has its own minimal tool set for setups ot fixture adjustment


stopped using a knife to pry after destroying my grandfathers Barlow....and almost taking my eye out
 
Each of my machines have basic tools with them as well. I have a leatherman wave that is in a holster on my belt some of the time as I seem to have it my hand a lot.
 
The Leatherman Wave is my personal favorite of the Leatherman tools!!! Unfortunately I’m REALLY hard on stuff and my Wave is in a box awaiting getting sent back to the company for repair.
Here’s my “MacGuyver” kit:
adf69ee7e3c2e38647401f9b813510b0.jpg

That Leatherman model is the EOD special… it’s larger than the wave in every dimension, heavier and has a bunch of stuff on it I NEVER use. Like a hard-detonator crimping tool or the awl for inserting hard-dets into plastic explosives.
f2ee2d9ace31e68e3a4318dc4901acec.jpg


It does get the replaceable inserts for the side-cutters which is nice. A friend gave it to me right about the time I snapped the tip off of the Wave tools last flathead blade.

The box-cutter is a Gerber product. Equally indispensable as the Leatherman. Super low-profile. Personally I would rather have a replaceable blade that’s sharper than any edge I’ve ever gotten on a pocket knife. At least past the first few cuts.

Not pictured is the Sharpie that usually rounds out my left butt pocket.



Be safe



Jeremy
 
I carry safety/reading glasses, a small flashlight, a 6" rule and a pocket knife. For me, a knife is useless if I can't flick it open with one hand, so I buy the spring-assisted type. Beyond that, it varies with what I'm doing. (Machining, welding, stacking steel, machine moving, wiring electrical, painting, on and on - in a one man shop I do everything).
 
mini mag light and a bic lighter. The mag light fits perfect in the the original tactical pants (carpenter jeans) hip pocket. Use both early and often. No knife, no keys, no phone in pockets while working or fishing.
 
An Old Timer pocket knife and an AA flashlight on my keychain are in my pocket whenever my pants are on. Add a 6" scale and a sharpie when I walk in the shop.
 
camscan said:
TR don't forget your knife must have a bottle opener.
Click to expand...


You remember I work around boat yards eh?
We get the beers open believe me....

But- the Emerson has a perfect feature for popping caps off beers.
Since its an Emerson it probably is made to pop glass when fighting out of a submerged car or to pop someone on the shins when street fighting but...

Beers it does open.

Screen Shot 2021-10-30 at 11.19.59 AM.jpg

(boy talk is cheap- my days of throwing back beers are long gone.)
 
I am like a woman and her pocketbook. If I leave the house I feel naked if I don't have my knife in my pocket. I've been carrying a knife since I was about ten. My current knife is a Paragon Pro Tech fully automatic (well basically a switch blade). Its a pretty good knife at about $200.00 but I am not crazy about the blade. I wish it was just high carbon steel that would hold an edge better.
 
I like that Gerber up above in post 2.

I have been carrying an SOG pentagon elite for about 20 years. I feel naked without it. It is always clipped to my pocket.

SOGPE14.jpg

I recall getting it and thinking, "I'm not sure about this blade shape but I'll try it". It has a dull side that I use as often as the sharp one and the tip is a good screwdriver if needed.

I have a good knife story to tell. About 3 months ago I was in a hurry and was using the knife to pry apart a thin metal piece that had gotten smashed in my tailgate. It is the end of light strap that I use to keep stuff from sliding around in the bed. I put tooo much pressure the wrong way and the knife closed on my thumb and almost took it off. I was so surprised by this because the knife never let me down but she is getting old and the wear items are getting sloppy and have some play.

Back to the cut...it was bad and I ran to find a way to not need stitches settling on some crazy glue and bandages. Next day I got up and noticed my knife was missing. I looked around the truck and it wasn't there. Oh well I said, I was still pissed that she let me down. I told myself I was going to not carry one for a while. The sore thumb was a good reminder that it was a good choice.

A few days later I am driving home and I notice something that looks like my knife on the side of the road on a freeway offramp clover. There is a car behind me so I don't stop to check it out but I think, "Maybe that was my knife and it slid off the bumper or out of the tailgate someway?" I'll check it tomorrow and I made a mental note of where it was. I actually forgot to look for it for a few days and drove right by it a couple more times!

Finally I'm planning to stop and get it as I approach the turn. I look and it's gone! Aww shucks I say but I tell myself that she cut me good so maybe a new owner is the best thing for it. It took me a long time to find that knife to try when I switched from an old timer a couple decades ago. I know the search will be long if I look for a replacement. A rainy day thing to do I tell myself when I have a lot of time to sit on a computer and geek out on knives.

About a week later and after countless times where I reached for the missing blade I go to put on a clean pair of shorts and there she was! Clipped to the pocket! Must have gone through the wash! LOL. I hold her with less confidence these days, I guess I should take it apart and make sure the lock is sound or if there is some adjustments I can make but that's something reserved for a rainy day in the future.

EDIT:The knife pictured above is the current version with a different lock mechanism. Mine is this original model. I wonder why they changed the lock? Maybe I should as the scar on my thumb?

6f52a5a5195acc70ab42696481147082.jpg
 
Kevin T said:
I like that Gerber up above in post 2.

I have been carrying an SOG pentagon elite for about 20 years. I feel naked without it. It is always clipped to my pocket.

View attachment 333375

I recall getting it and thinking, "I'm not sure about this blade shape but I'll try it". It has a dull side that I use as often as the sharp one and the tip is a good screwdriver if needed.

I have a good knife story to tell. About 3 months ago I was in a hurry and was using the knife to pry apart a thin metal piece that had gotten smashed in my tailgate. It is the end of light strap that I use to keep stuff from sliding around in the bed. I put tooo much pressure the wrong way and the knife closed on my thumb and almost took it off. I was so surprised by this because the knife never let me down but she is getting old and the wear items are getting sloppy and have some play.

Back to the cut...it was bad and I ran to find a way to not need stitches settling on some crazy glue and bandages. Next day I got up and noticed my knife was missing. I looked around the truck and it wasn't there. Oh well I said, I was still pissed that she let me down. I told myself I was going to not carry one for a while. The sore thumb was a good reminder that it was a good choice.

A few days later I am driving home and I notice something that looks like my knife on the side of the road on a freeway offramp clover. There is a car behind me so I don't stop to check it out but I think, "Maybe that was my knife and it slid off the bumper or out of the tailgate someway?" I'll check it tomorrow and I made a mental note of where it was. I actually forgot to look for it for a few days and drove right by it a couple more times!

Finally I'm planning to stop and get it as I approach the turn. I look and it's gone! Aww shucks I say but I tell myself that she cut me good so maybe a new owner is the best thing for it. It took me a long time to find that knife to try when I switched from an old timer a couple decades ago. I know the search will be long if I look for a replacement. A rainy day thing to do I tell myself when I have a lot of time to sit on a computer and geek out on knives.

About a week later and after countless times where I reached for the missing blade I go to put on a clean pair of shorts and there she was! Clipped to the pocket! Must have gone through the wash! LOL. I hold her with less confidence these days, I guess I should take it apart and make sure the lock is sound or if there is some adjustments I can make but that's something reserved for a rainy day in the future.

EDIT:The knife pictured above is the current version with a different lock mechanism. Mine is this original model. I wonder why they changed the lock? Maybe I should as the scar on my thumb?

View attachment 333386
Click to expand...

I like that it has a hardened s30v blade. I don't use knives for prying, but I'm also in the fire rescue and confined space rescue business. My current knife is 28 years old, it does the job but I've had my eye on this one for a few years.

Auto open (not assisted open, the type with the thumb thing) are only legal to be purchased and carried by military, police, fire, or ems personnel.

So far msc hasn't asked for any proof, though I did put Lt before my name and I think I put the fire dept as my company name lol
 
Not the answer you expected:

No tools are carried on person. Every tool has it's place in a drawer. Without a lot of clutter I can have several workstation/projects going at the same time.
If I need a tool it is extracted from a drawer and used. Then returned. Knives like those shown are in a drawer and usually used to whittle a dowel, etc.

Well I do have to carry one tool, I think they call it man tool.
 
Kevin T said:
"Maybe that was my knife and it slid off the bumper or out of the tailgate someway?"
Click to expand...

That folder Emerson got lost one day as I was shifting material from a truck and used it to slice some twine.
I looked everywhere as these things go it is mostly found clipped to a pants pocket in the wash.

Well I was leaving the shop one day a week later and heard something skidding along the roof as I stopped for a light.
I jumped out and there it sat on the roof.
Amazing it made it a week of commutes down the highway but it did.

Re- tools in drawers where they belong.
In my work a knife is used constantly- it belongs clipped to my pocket so I can grab it and gets put back there (mostly) so it is ready to use the next time.
 
Don't judge me.....

6" rule
Pen, mechanical pencil, and sharpie
9mm Olfa snap off blade utility knife
Leatherman Wave
AAA battery flashlight (currently a NiteIze, but I've gone through several)
Bic lighter
Chapstick
Cell phone
CCW of the day

And yes, each machine has it's specific tools, but I like having these things on me.

Like many here I carried a tactical folder for a long time, until coming to the conclusion that everything I used it for could be done better with either a utilty knife, a screwdriver, or a prybar.

I've contemplated adding a Knipex Plier Wrench, but am approaching max load. Just saw the XS, so maybe that will get added to the lineup.
 
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