What tools do you carry, always

From: John Tinker <jtinker_at_coin.org>
Date: Thu Dec 7 09:28:06 2000

A swiss army type knife with a phillips driver. The "Tinker" model is my
personal favorite.

But next to the knife, the single most valuable tool, in my opinion, is the
vice-grip style plier. It doesn't have to be vice-grip brand, but the
Chinese knock-offs can be horrible, the tolerances so poor that the
frustration they produce is worse than not having the tool at all. (I wonder
if the Chinese plan for destroying the U.S. from within is to flood us with
cheap SKS's and crappy vice-grips?)

Although it is not especially useful for computers, the vice-grip is the
tool I wish the world had more of. Screw-drivers of course are used more
often. But they are almost everywhere, and can be faked when necessary. But
the vice-grip is the fundamental opposing thumb writ strong. The greatest
feeling of wealth and power that I get from a pair of vice-grips comes when
I grab a garfed-up screwhead sideways. It will get you by when nothing else
comes close. Besides the obvious, you can rip metal, bend things out of the
way, cut heavy wire, and use it as a vice. They also can be used as a
general-purpose clamp. How many times have I seen car window cranks faked
with a vice-grip? As a derivative, there is a c.b. radio antenna you can buy
that uses a vice-grip as the method to attach it to almost anything.

I really like to have a well-provisioned toolbox, so you won't see me
walking around with only a swiss-army knife and a vice-grip too often. But
especially if I don't know what I'm going to encounter, the first tool I
make sure to take with me is the vice-grip.

-- John Tinker
Received on Thu Dec 07 2000 - 09:28:06 GMT