I'll admit I've spent a great deal of time watching Wranglerstar videos on YouTube and hand tools seem to be something that I have often overlooked as far as being prepared.

The ability to build long term housing, furniture, and other tools is of growing interest to me.

What sorts of tools are SF members stocking away?

I put a medium sized tool kit from Amazon in the buggy, along with pliers, screwdrivers, and a machete with a sawback.

Doesn't have to be anything particularly long-term or dramatic to need hand-tools. Simply making storm repairs with the power out after any given winter storm, can easily require more than whatever charge is in the cordless tools.

my 12v cordless died while boarding up for the CAT3 in 2004 ... the Yankee Screwdriver is now a backup to the 18v Ridgid



upgraded with a quick change bit/drill adapter

acquired a shake froe and bark spud, need more spikes and nails too

I keep basic tools on hand for regular repairs.  From screw drivers to box end wrenches its nice to be able to fix things on your own.  I don't have a whole lot in the way of primitive wood working as I don't really enjoy it but I have plenty of hand saws, hatches, axes, hammers and nails around for various uses.  I could make do without power.

I have built plenty of sheds and small pole barns using...  "chainsaw carpentry."

I used a wood splitter to make cedar shingles for a little generator shed I made:



It ended up leaking like a siv so I found some scrap tin and re-roofed it   Two over lapping layers of ice and water barrier probably would have made it work.

I'm a contractor, so all of them basically.

I have a few 50 lb buckets of nails and of course lots of hammers, but the ability to charge cordless too batteries off a generator while it's been used for something else is a big plus.

I have a few hand saws, but they hardly ever get used, saw horses are always handy, various axes and mauls. Strings, stakes, line levels....just loads of stuff that can be used without power, plus a massive pile of lumber. I have racks of it stacked up, and the smaller stuff palletized.

This summer I put an effort into hitting flea markets.
As well as yard sales. Did not do as well as I wanted.
So next year we hit them harder. Looking for SHFT thing!
These are some of the Hand Tools I pick up this summer





and I got this:


Found a Hard Ware going out OF business.
Picked up 3 ax handles 3 Maddox/pick handles
About $4.00 each
I have a scythe as well as a hand sickle.
Still looking for other useful hand tools if grid goes down!
So what in your tool shade?


PITA45

P.S. I'm on a small city lot!
EDITED: Picture was not showing up!

the two tools that are all but impossible to make yourself...... files and saws......

buy lots..... and when no longer serviceable turn those high carbon steel items into other tools.....

I've had a thing for Swedish axes lately.

Assuming we're talking about a situation where hand tools are hard to come by and power tools are useless, lumber itself is going to be scarce as well.  So I'll add: stuff to turn trees into building lumber.  Felling axes, cant hooks, log tongs, crosscut saws, rip saws... and the skills to use them.

I'd go the other way.  If things were to truly reach that point, there's going to be a LOT of abandoned housing/structures.  Selective demo for building materials.

- Wrecking pars
- Catspaws
- Sledgehammers
- Heavy duty sidecutters for wiring
- Boltcutters
- tubing cutter and/or hacksaw.

Good point.  It probably depends to some extent on your situation (as do so many other things).  I live in the middle of an oak/hickory forest with few buildings around for salvage, so I lean towards the former.  Someone in the suburbs or a more developed area would probably be better off with the salvage tools.

Best possible scenario... get both.

Hand saws both rip and cross cut ( yes there is a difference )

a hand brace for drilling holes

a hand plane

files and rasps

hack saw and blades

hammers

assorted pry bars

a good screw driver with interchangeable bits

metric and sae wrenches and socket sets

allen keys

spoke shave

a good hand miter box and saw

hatchet

axe



just off the top of my head but I'm sure I can think of more



almost forgot everyone needs a good sledge hammer

Have you tried to saw with that machete?  It's like pushing water uphill.  Much prefer my Sven saw.  Light, packable and lasts a long, long time if treated well.

Youtube the woodwright's workshop and start watching.  Its fun and you will see what you need and how to use them.

After read the part about a rip hand saw.
And ripping a small board today.
I called a few hard ware stores.
The answer I got was "A what"?
"you wand a blade for a power saw, Right"?
I got one more place to try.
Got a feeling that a rip hand saw, is not going to be cheap, new!


PITA45

A handy trick I learned a few years ago while wrenching on airplanes was to pass a 1/4" hex drive bit extension through a 1/4" ratcheting wrench, and into a 1/4" drive ratcheting screwdriver. You can get both hands in on the action, and drive hardware much faster, than just using one hand to twist a screwdriver.

I guess it really depends on what you think you will need to do. Fix things? Build Things? Breach things?

I'd imagine the hardest thing to replace would be the electric drill. Amazon has several Brace and Bit sets and options. Sure, a 100 yo set from a yard sale would be cool, but are hard to find in good condition.

The other would be a hacksaw. Get plenty of blades.

I got three hacksaws and had not thought about hacksaw blades!
Who make good ones???  Anyone!!!!
I wish I had a dollar for all the Brace&Bits I pass up this summer.
One reason the wife was there!(How many do you need?)
The other was I had 3. The one in the above picture, was to nice to pass up.
The other two where my fathers/grandfather. (Talk about hand me downs)!!!
Next summer will be bit buying. Only have what was passed down, a few!


PITA45

PITA45  look for something like a Disston D8.  They aren't uncommon.  Ex.
http://m.ebay.com/itm/301819125206

Here is an old pic of my drill and driver collection. I keep buying more.




Screwdrivers
1-North Bros no.30 with a Nov.3.08 patent date. This one is my favorite. It belonged to my Great Grandfather.
2-Stanley no. 131A
3-North Bros. no. 130A
4-North Bros. no. 30A with a Dec.11.23 patent date
5-Stanley no. 135A
6-Stanley no.68-130(130A)

Drills
7-North Bros. no.41
8-North Bros. no. 45
9-Goodell-Pratt
10-Goodell-Pratt with a Dec.28.15 patent date
11-Unmarked eggbeater drill. Most likely a Millers Fall
12-Craftsman eggbeater drill
13-Millers Fall Brace no. 772
14-Unmarked eggbeater drill. Found this laying an a hay field.
15-My collection of yankee and straight flute drill bits.
16-Irwin 6 piece auger bit set. plus an adjustable auger bit.

All kinds of old school tools on e-bay.

Who doesn't have tools, anyway?

Files are a must have.  You can use a stone to sharpen the axe, the hatchet, etc. but you've got to have a file to sharpen those saws.  Make sure you have several files and take care of them so they don't rust on you.

Crosscut and buck saws for cutting wood into shorter lengths and then the axe to make it fit the cook stove and heating stove/fire place better.  Several spare buck saw blades.

Hack saws and lots of hacksaw blades.

Crowbars, wonderbars, hammers, buckets.  You'll need to pull nails out to salvage building/repair pieces.  Save the nails and straighten them out with the hammer.  Sort them by size in the buckets, keep them dry.  Amazing, the condition some 50 and 60 year old nails are in today, just sitting there in the wood the house/building it constructed of.  Many of them are better nails (after all those years) than nails you buy at Lowes today.

A vise, or two, would be nice.

I have an old hand crank grinder.  It clamps to a board/post and you turn the crank handle.  The input shaft turns the gears in the housing and spins the output shaft/grind stone.  I've sharpened a machete or two just to make sure I can do it if I need to.

Drill bits, several sets, to go with those hand crank drills.  Maybe a way to sharpen the drill bits as long as you can.

Several pairs of safety glasses.  You can't buy another eye you might damage driving nails, splitting fire wood, cutting overhead, etc.  I like to store safety glasses in an old clean sock to protect the lens when I'm not wearing them.

Hammers?  Claw hammers, sledge hammers (varying weights for varying jobs).

Wedges to help split wood, though you can make your own and use a wooden maul to help split wood.  You just have to keep making wooden wedges where as the steel ones will last for years.

Save your old used motor oil, a few gallons at least.  It can be wiped on the saws and axes to help keep them from rusting.  It can be used to lube your ratchets to make them last longer.  It can be used to help get a fire bigger faster.

Lots of phillips and common screw driver bits for your combo screw drivers.  The bits do wear out.

Check out those "cheap" tables in the auto parts stores.  You can pick up stuff to trade for something you need.  Yeah the tools are cheap, but they're for trade and they will work for awhile unless terribly abused.

Utility knives and lots of spare blades.  If you get a nice knife sharpener (I've got a lansky) you can even sharpen those razor blades when they get dull, to make your stash last even longer.

Tape measures, several.  A couple of levels, a couple of squares.

I've even got a couple of draw knives and an adze (a small one).

Lot's of old stuff at home.  Four generations of hand tools to keep the house warm/dry, cook the food, maintain the fences, work the garden, etc.

Man, that's some hard work once the electricity and diesel/gas are gone.

Anyone got a set up to charge the batteries in their batter operated drills/saws?  A new set of batteries can last several years.

One of the secretaries in our department announced at a meeting that "you men: (i.e. the engineers) needed to bring in tools for the charity rummage sale she organizes every year.  "No, no, Mildred - you don't understand.  We're men.  Tools come into our posession - they don't leave voluntarily.  The only time that happens is when we die and people who don't know any better go through our stuff."

That is so true!!! I know when I'm gone the wife will sell
everything, Tools, guns, ammo, SHFT things, For ten cents
on a dollar!!!
No!!!! You can't have her number or our address!!!


PITA45

Quote History

Quoted:


That is so true!!! I know when I'm gone the wife will sell
everything, Tools, guns, ammo, SHFT things, For ten cents
on a dollar!!!
No!!!! You can't have her number or our address!!!


PITA45

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
One of the secretaries in our department announced at a meeting that "you men: (i.e. the engineers) needed to bring in tools for the charity rummage sale she organizes every year.  "No, no, Mildred - you don't understand.  We're men.  Tools come into our posession - they don't leave voluntarily.  The only time that happens is when we die and people who don't know any better go through our stuff."

That is so true!!! I know when I'm gone the wife will sell
everything, Tools, guns, ammo, SHFT things, For ten cents
on a dollar!!!
No!!!! You can't have her number or our address!!!


PITA45

Who was it that said "My greatest fear is that, when I die, my wife will sell my guns for what I told her I paid for them."?

We live in the city, I've met numerous "men" around here who didn't know the difference between a slotted and phillips screwdriver.

Just dawn on me Wire Brushes!!!


PITA45

Add a saw teeth setter to the list. Saws are useless if all the teeth are straight.

OK! We wanted to stay as far away from the crowd
that where returning what they did not want. Or those
that where looking for the 50% mark down after Christmas.
So we hit the Rehab Store. Not bad there.
Found these:  




As well as these:


The vise is probably not American made!
Does anyone know who made it? Only mark
is the M  V   No4 which is jaw size.
The brace and bit is for someone else. Could not
pass it by for two dollars.(They had a Standly for$10.00)
That was more then I wanted to go! I can not fine any marking
yet! I'll keep looking! Got two bits a dollar each.
The files where a dollar each as well. With handles!
The saw  going in the car with the ax.
Have to say these where the best Christmas gifts
I got this year!

PITA45

A few years ago I looked in my shop and thought, "If the power is gone what is useful and what becomes trash". I was happy to find that I had more hand tools than I thought, but of course not nearly enough. This lead to finding the "elbow grease" tools that were used before power tools "simplified/spoiled" our lives. Which has also lead me to another path in my now 42yo life. Slow down, take your time, it isn't and doesn't have to be completed right now this very instant. For example, a compound miter saw is certainly faster than hand cutting with a miter box, especially anything larger than trim. Cordless drills are faster to set up than corded drills, which are faster than hand drilling.
When I look for tools now, I just turn Amish, but until the power goes, I enjoy the cords and batteries.

Your right on!  A few years back (like15) The wife got me a cordless drill.
Best gift ever, I wore it out. Got a second one. On my way to wearing it out as well.
But I hand ripped a board for a shelf the other week!
I'm looking to hang up these hand tools so I can see just what I have.
What I could still use!
I told the wife before we got to gather: I ain't no carpenter!!!
But we do what we can! LOL


PITA45

Remember Gran Torino Mr Kowalski (Eastwood) said the three main things he said was Vise Grips, WD40 and Duct tape . Once you think about in the lines for maintenance (even being temporarily repair) isn't a bad start.

Personally look at pawnshops and the clearance bins at the big box stores.

As another poster said files and saws another thing I would look at is clamps (all types). Try using a hand drill on a piece of wood not clamped down .

Side note don't be hung up on where it's made. Sure US made is nice but Husky brand screwdriver is typically better than the wore out US screw driver . Get quality on your most used items and on your not so used ones get any of your Big box store items .

I've met folks out in the country who wen't any better.  Or only slightly better in that they use vice grips and a hammer for pretty much everything.

Files are one item I don't like to buy used.  A decent file is already fairly cheap, so it isn't worth dealing with a dull file.  The exception is if I plan on turning it into a knife or something.

Bow saw a lots of spare blades.  Handy for cutting up branches.

I am expanding my tool collection to include tools to make trees into lumber. Axes, mauls, froes etc...

Got a brace wandering around here somewhere with a regular chuck from a drill on it.



Makes the brace work with regular drill bits but can also use the screw driver bits and stuff as well.



Also look into what people have done with old cordless stuff to make it work with car batteries and what not.



It winds up wired to a great big battery but if the tool still works it still works.

Somebody posted:  BOLTCUTTERS.  Hot damn that's a good one!   I guess $50.00 + for some med sized ones?  I had the misfortune of using some where the jaws were chipped, and they did not work well.  How do you keep that from happening?

Go to tractor supply or home depot and look at what they use for bolt cutters.  I would at least buy that level.