Favorite Odd Tools

[mdidriksen]

Last night I was working on my inflatable dinghy and ended up using my wife's cuticle scissors to trim off some excess fabric where it was fraying (unusually, I even got permission from the wife beforehand). It worked great, and it got me wondering about what tools people use that might not typically come to mind for a good-to-have tool on board or in your kit.

For me, the hands-down winner is the set of dental tools given to me by my father-in-law, a retired dentist. It is remarkable how useful they are, and I would heartily recommend them. Anyone else have good suggestions?

Cheers,

MD

[Ric in Richmond]

Safety Wire Pliers.

Great for turnbuckles. Safety wiring critical nuts.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/ ... 3244_13244



Pocket magnifiers.

2 or 3 lenses and you can see ANYTHING....even when your close up vision goes to hell like mine has.

http://www.edmundoptics.com/microscopy/ ... fiers/1739

[galleywench]

If your going to be cutting a lot of fiberglass cloth (especially biax or heavier), there is no substitute for a pair of 12" Wiss scissors. They aren't cheap but I think they are worth every penny. They cut biaxial cloth like a hot knife through butter.

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/us ... o?pid=2100

[earlylight]

Snap ring pliers for both internal and external snap rings are a great additions to your tool box. Available here: http://www.sears.com/craftsman-snap-rin ... 945358000P

[CharlieJ]

If your going to be cutting a lot of fiberglass cloth (especially biax or heavier), there is no substitute for a pair of 12" Wiss scissors. They aren't cheap but I think they are worth every penny. They cut biaxial cloth like a hot knife through butter.

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/us ... o?pid=2100

Scissors are ok, but there's something MUCH better, even for heavy roving. Try a fabric cutter- the one with the rolling cutter blade. Available in sewing materials stores everywhere. Since I was turned on to these, I haven't used scissors at all.

Lay a steel straight edge down, roll the cutter along, and Voila! A sharp, clean edge. Even on Biax.

Cost? usually about $15 bucks

[Tallystick]

Various burs aka rotary files. Great for trimming fiberglass and wood in tight places and for taking sharp edges off metals.

[galleywench]

If your going to be cutting a lot of fiberglass cloth (especially biax or heavier), there is no substitute for a pair of 12" Wiss scissors. They aren't cheap but I think they are worth every penny. They cut biaxial cloth like a hot knife through butter.

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/us ... o?pid=2100

Scissors are ok, but there's something MUCH better, even for heavy roving. Try a fabric cutter- the one with the rolling cutter blade. Available in sewing materials stores everywhere. Since I was turned on to these, I haven't used scissors at all.

Lay a steel straight edge down, roll the cutter along, and Voila! A sharp, clean edge. Even on Biax.

Cost? usually about $15 bucks

That was the first route I tried, and they do work well on straight runs, but I found that they didn't cut corners with a tight radius well (for me at least, probably technique).

[CharlieJ]

wouldn't know. Can't recall ever trying to cut a tight radius. I just cut a bit oversized, square the corner, glass it down, then trim. Wasted too much time trying to make the glass fit EXACTLY. But then when I was doing a lot of this, I was building for a living- time was money.

[Zach]

Makita 1 3/16th by 21 inch belt sander. http://www.amazon.com/Makita-9031-16-In ... B00004YOH7

For those places that your router can't reach on parts built in situ... and inside corners you otherwise spend your lifetime sanding with a paint stick and 40 grit. I use it a lot for cleaning up excess glue on the back side of places you can't go until after the glue kicks...

It also works well for sanding the edge of thin stuff to a feather edge, where a mini-grinder would make a mess, and a full size belt sander would destroy the world, like mitered corners on trim.

Also good for slow speed foam shaping work.

It's a far cry from the other power tool that can do the job... Sticky 40 grit paper on a dull sawzall blade, mounted in said sawzall...


My other favorite, is an adapter that puts 2 and 3 inch 3M roloc discs on a mini-grinder. I bought it off ebay... Probably nothing better for doing glass work on cold molded plywood boats as you can grind a trench in the plywood for the overlap of your cloth exactly the width it needs to be. I used to use a router to make the trench and a 5 inch mini grinder to ease the edges. Routers can't get right into an inside corner. 3M rolocs are normally used with air die grinders, but this puts the same instruments of destruction places where you don't have compressed air.

Zach

[Eidoloneliz23]

This looks like an older thread, but I’m going to go ahead and contribute.

A couple tools popped in my mind when I start looking through this thread.

I have two of the strainer basket wrenches, that are in the plumbing section of hardware stores.
They are thinner than big crescent wrenchs or smooth jaw pipe wrenchs so they pass by each other with ease.
Also they have a shorter handle that fits smaller tool boxes.

I found they are great for adjusting stuffing boxes, especially for breaking or retightening the nuts.
You can put the handles closer together so you can squeeze with two hands.
There is a thumb screw on the wrenches I have that allow you to lock down the opening size so it isn’t loose or prone to changing the opening if you bump the adjuster.
…but I always follow up to check by snugging the nut and locknut with two crescent wrenches in the end.

I’ve intended to purchase shorter spanners or cut down a pair or crescents or cut some stuffing box tools from plates steel, but in the end but somehow this doesn’t make it to the top of my list. I always end up using these.

They’re relatively inexpensive and always available in the hardware/big box stores.
If you’re in a bind and need to buy two wrenches quickly these are a hit!

Cheers!!!

Elizabeth