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A cool tool can be any book, gadget, software, video, map, hardware, material, or website that is tried and true. All reviews on this site are written by readers who have actually used the tool and others like it. Items can be either old or new as long as they are wonderful. We post things we like and ignore the rest. Suggestions for tools much better than what is recommended here are always wanted.
I have multiple Snap On, SK, and Craftsman ratchets so when I first head how smooth and nice the action is on the Pittsburgh Pro Composite Ratchets from Harbor Freight I scoffed. A metal mechanism inside a plastic and rubber covered ratchet?
So I tried the 1/4″ and 3/8″ models and all I can say is WOW! I have not tried the 1/2″ model yet, but all three sizes are dirt cheap at under $10, feature lifetime warranties, are light-weight, have a non-conductive body, are “warmer” to use in cold weather, and have a butter smooth 72-tooth ultra-fine ratcheting mechanism. This isn’t to suggest you ditch your regular ratchets for high torque applications (use a breaker bar) but these are quite nice and have earned a place alongside my other ratchets. These are a real gem. — Warren Flearl
These are not your standard combination wrenches. They literally put a twist in it. The working ends are offset from each other by 90 degrees, which makes for a great handle that reduces stress and increases leverage. Beyond its heft and balance, the design of this crescent wrench/box wrench ratchet is much more comfortable, especially for repetitive tasks. By twisting the axis, that non-working end now makes for a more natural handle that diffuses pressure into the palm and across the fingers. The shaft of the tool is also slightly longer than many combo wrenches (small increases in shaft length greatly increase torque, or conversely decrease force required to achieve required torque).
I’ve been using this wrench for three months in near daily use. As a solar installer I use my gear heavily in adverse conditions: bolting solar modules to rooftops. When other installers tipped me off to this brand, I did some investigating. They are the only tools I have ever seen endorsed by the Arthritis Foundation. I figured that if they are good for arthritis sufferers, it has to be good for me, too. I was right. — Mark Colacito
The first time I used these screw pliers I was amazed that I had lived without a pair for so long. These pliers are designed for screw removal in cases of corroded or stripped heads.
Regular pliers tend to have straight jaws. This works if you grab the screw from the side (horizontally), but if you are in a cramped space and attacking the screw from the end regular pliers fail. I have had many pliers slip off a difficult screw because the jaws are straight where contact is made with the screw, which limits the gripping surface area.
The jaws of these pliers are curved with teeth on the inside of the clamping surfaces. Since the jaws have both horizontal and vertical teeth, these pliers will bite into the circumference of the screw head regardless of the orientation – this makes stubborn screws very, very easy to remove.
It won’t handle stripped countersunk screws (those are suited to the extractor bits on the drill) but for other surface screws or bolts it should be fine. — Ezra Reynolds
Most useful farm tool No.1 is a pair of Fencing Pliers. These little beauties cost me about $13 and represent the best value for money of any of my tools. In one device it is a wire cutter, a staple puller, a hammer and a great source of leverage on any object unlucky enough to be in it’s grasp or impaled on it’s horn.
While most multi-function tools tend to be a jack of all trades and master of none, the fencing pliers hardly compromise at all. They will cut high tensile fencing wire (including our famous New Zealand#8 wire) that would simply blunt most plier-design wire cutters. When it comes to removing staples, they don’t only excel at pulling staples that are proud of the post. The flat hammering face can be hit with another hammer to drive the horn into a staple that has been driven too far into the wood. Once you have hooked the staple, levering it out is pretty simple. Try that with a hammer or nipper-design staple puller. The jaws can also be locked over the head of a nail for the same leverage effect. As a hammer, they work pretty well and have a nice weight balance. The only negative is the smaller striking surface, but you can’t have everything!
My pair is about 5 years old and despite a few signs of wear and tear, they still function perfectly well. They rate #1 in my farm tool arsenal. When you factor in the relatively low cost, they are an absolute essential in any tool kit. — John Hart
This is one of my favorite tools. I own at least two of these nippers. The difference between these and every other cutter is that they are drop-forged and they’ve got some specific hardening at the tip. They cut through everything. I’ve snipped through quarter inch bolts with these. I can cut the bane of all cutters — piano wire — all day long and these will never be marred by it. I have ruined so many other tools by cutting the wrong wire or nails. There may be other brands that do this, but this is the one I’ve been using for 20 years. The Knipex are expensive — they’re about $60 a pair — but it is one of those classic examples of how you can ruin a couple of pairs of something else and you’ve paid for these. I’ve never had these fail. — Adam Savage
The Knipex Pliers Wrench is best described in the US as a smooth-faced channel lock plier/wrench. Or, as a pliers-handled crescent wrench. I have a set of 3 different sizes and have used them for a year. They allow one to rapidly, safely and strongly grip nuts or bolt heads for tightening or loosening.
Rapidly: an adjustable crescent wrench is not rapid. One must adjust the opening to the nut or bolt head, and between tightening turns, in removing and replacing the wrench, inevitably the wrench loosens a bit and must be retightened. An open-ended or box wrench or socket is the best tool to use, but then one must keep in hand a range of sizes for each size of nut/head. In contrast the Knipex pliers wrench loosens and tightens like a pair of pliers or channel lock wrench.
Safely: an adjustable crescent wrench tends to loosen, rounding off the corners of the nut or bolt head. Pliers or vice-grips are worse, putting teeth-marks on the nut or head. In contrast the Knipex pliers wrench has flat, smooth, and parallel heads ensuring no rounding or gouging of the nut/head.
Strongly: the lever arm of the Knipex ensures a strong grip on the nut/head. I’ve used them to squeeze small solid aluminum rivets in building an experimental airplane.
To summarize, the Knipex pliers wrench combines the best features of other tools, enabling one to grip and turn nuts and bolts with a single tool, and apply considerable squeezing pressure on objects without gouging or tooth marks. — Ralph Fincher
This unique tool provides instant adjustment, memory retention of jaw opening, and single-handed, self-gripping operation with a grip that won’t let go. The Knipex jaws really grip. You can literally hang from the handles and they will not slip. The upper and lower jaws are notched. This allows the user to grip a hex nut on the corner and the flat side so as not to round off the nut. They have a flat nose where the jaws meet that allows you to do some pretty fine work. The jaws are very tough. The Cobra is designed to eliminate “knuckle-busting” and the “burring” of nuts, bolts, and fittings. Its thin profile and lightweight ensure ease of operation.
On first glance, they look like the classic Channel Locks (on the right in the picture below). But the Channel Lock handles actually touch together in the extreme “wide” position. This can and has led to pinched hands and fingers if you slip off the workpiece. The Knipex handles do not touch, which leaves you with that little bit of saving grace if you slip off the workpiece. Also, the Channel Lock has 5 jaw positions that slip/slide into place, while the Knipex has 12 jaw positions and, each position is spring-pin locked into place. For example, you are working in a blind, tight space and drop the Knipex: the jaw will still be set to the position you started with and you suffer no aggravation except that due to your own clumsiness. Not so with Channel locks. You will have to fiddle around with them to get them back where you want them, and if you bump or roll them around the work while trying to get a bite, the jaws will slip back out of position.
I have used this tool almost every day for the past 18 years working with elevator and escalator system installations, repairs, servicing, and maintenance. It is always the first tool I grab to take with me to do a job at home or at work. — Shaler Derickson
If one needs a single tool, Vise-grips are it. On a motorcycle I have used one as clutch or shift lever or attached to a broken throttle cable. You can turn a screw if you can reach the side of it with this tool . Lock one down to something under the hood; you might not like to bugger up a bolt, but you won’t care if you are no where near tools. If required, you can rip sheet metal with one. Wire cutting too. You can clamp it down hard enough to hit it with a hammer. Vise-grips and a crowbar are thieves’ favorite tools. Buy the small size; and only the brand name: these are made of high-strength steel. — C. Bridger
And they come in a whole tribe of specialty varieties. The standard should be in everyone’s tool box, the small one in every emergency pouch, and you should at least know about the others. The same relentless leveraged but sensitive clamping action works with super wide vise-grips, narrow ones, wide necked ones, nut cutters, curved necks and so on. They are extremely handy. — KK
There are some tools that belong in every tool box, and most of us already have locking pliers from one manufacturer or another. Irwin Tools, maker of the original Vise Grips brand product, is the best known. This new version of the tool looks and works nearly the same, but has a vastly improved jaw shape made specifically for grabbing on to damaged hex nuts and bolts.
I used mine just yesterday while working on restoring an old car for my daughter. I had to remove the heat shield from the exhaust manifold, and after 10 years of service those bolts were not in good shape at all. One of them was so bad that my sockets and box wrenches would just spin, getting no bite at all. My usual pair of locking pliers didn’t help either. The unique jaw shape on the Irwin Locking Wrench grabbed the head of the bolt from three sides and fastened firmly enough to do the job. In just a few seconds I had that old bolt out without having to resort to cutting it with an angle grinder or torch.
I’ve seen these online for less than fifteen dollars, and for the amount of headache they save I’d call it well worth adding to any tool box. If you’ve ever used regular locking pliers to try to get a stripped bolt out, you’ll find this new style of locking wrench works wonders. — Andrew Pollack
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