Tools you never knew you needed until you got one

[Suffolker]

the dial sort are pretty good (and don't need batteries) but...twice a year Aldi and Lidl have digital vernier calipers for about ten quid. These are tops! Just make sure you have a few spare batteries to hand....

cheers

Rapid battery discharge seems to be a feature of digital verniers, irrespective of whether they're economy models or more expensive ones like M&W or Mitutoyo. A small price to pay when set against the convenience of them, especially ease of reading for older folks like me who need a magnifying glass for the analogue versions.

[Suffolker]

Not sure if you'd call it a "tool" but my ultrasonic cleaner gets a lot of use



Rob

Rob.....I know that they use those things in the motorbike world for cleaning gummed up carbs' and the like....

Serious question. What do YOU use it for ??.....I sort of want one but I don't really know why yet (I've bought all sorts of tools for exactly the same reason... ).....

Cassettes, mechs, brakes, chains (yep - works fine but you then leave the chain in a bath of oil for 3 or 4 days to get the lube into the links) I have to admit that I seem to refurb more than a few old bikes with very dirty parts - but the regular service I do on my top 3 or 4 bikes sees the mechs and cassettes getting a good shake in the bath ... I use water with about half a cup of Screwfix cheapie degreaser bunged in.

Rob

I've got one that I bought some time ago for cleaning melodeon reeds prior to rewaxing them into the reedblocks and tuning; all part of restoring these musical instruments.
Anything and everything that needs cleaning and will fit in it gets a go. Cycle bits, tools, the wife's jewellery, my safety razors, penknives, fishing reels, and anything else that it can handle. I wouldn't recommend them for wristwatches, though.

[Tiberius]

I've got one that I bought some time ago for cleaning melodeon reeds prior to rewaxing them into the reedblocks and tuning; all part of restoring these musical instruments.
Anything and everything that needs cleaning and will fit in it gets a go. Cycle bits, tools, the wife's jewellery, my safety razors, penknives, fishing reels, and anything else that it can handle. I wouldn't recommend them for wristwatches, though.

I had to Google 'melodeon' but I understood the rest.....

..........I'M HAVING ONE !!!!!........

[LuckyLuke]

I've found a small bench vice a useful addition to the arsenal.
I live in a first floor maisonette and don't have a garage / workshop / shed, I do all my bike fettling inside in the kitchen / dining room area.
I've a small, draper bench vice that mounts quickly to a kitchen worktop or table.
I regularly use it to hold outer gear or brake cable when filing the cut ends square.
I've used it when cutting fork steerer tubes and mudguard stays too.

Cheers,

Luke

[anniesboy]

Heres mine,

http://www.diy.com/departments/torq-10m ... 514_BQ.prd

[barrym]

I have a 10/12mm ring ratchet left under the bonnet of my car after a service back in the 1980s. Brilliant tool.

[axel_knutt]

Black & Decker Workmate. (Actually my father's retirement present from his workmates, but he never lived to use it.)

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
I always fancied one, having always made do with a tea chest

Saw a few damaged ones at the tip.
Then a pristine one turned up grabbed it quick £5
Had some spilled varnish on the leg, some dust, but unused as far as I could gather.
The owner way well have passed on before they had a chance to use it, that's recycling.

[carlislemike]

An 18 inch length of scaffold pipe. Used over spanner ends and the extra leverage shifts all seized up pedals, nuts and car wheel nuts. One in the tool kit and one in the car!

[Paulatic]

An 18 inch length of scaffold pipe. Used over spanner ends and the extra leverage shifts all seized up pedals, nuts and car wheel nuts. One in the tool kit and one in the car!

I've got the full set of them. [emoji4]
From 18" upto 6'.

[Mick F]

I'm buying one of these.

Wanted one for years, and no doubt when I use it, I'll wonder why I didn't buy it before.

[barrym]

What is it?

[Mick F]

It grips the inner cable and pulls it so you can tighten the cable clamp.

It used to be called a Fourth Hand Tool because the Third Hand Tool is a clamp that holds your brake calipers in. I've had one for donkey's years, and it's excellent.

images.jpeg (3.04 KiB) Viewed 1481 times

Basically, using the THT and the FHT, your brake calipers can be held in and the cable pulled, leaving you to tighten the clamp whilst everything is held together.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,

An 18 inch length of scaffold pipe. Used over spanner ends and the extra leverage shifts all seized up pedals, nuts and car wheel nuts. One in the tool kit and one in the car!

Tidler I need at least five feet on the crank shaft nut

But will the spanner hold.

[Mick F]

Used my 3rd Hand Tool yesterday to set the new blocks into position.