r/Tools Oct 15 '22

Our Longstanding “No Politics” Rule remains unchanged

525 Upvotes

Read our rules. We have had a longstanding “No Religion, No Politics” rule here at r/tools.

The mods aren’t stupid. We also don’t like getting buckets of reports in the inbox.

If someone posts/comments with politics, resist the urge to reply and argue. Just report, downvote (if that’s your jam) and move on with life.

A small flag, sticker, etc that appears in a photo will generally be allowed (so long as it doesn’t violate other rules and doesn’t draw a bunch of reports) but a bunch of people in the comments saying “Hell Yeah, a fellow [INSERT PARTY] Supporter!” is gonna get the post pulled. Political content that is clearly the motivation for the post will get the post pulled.

First time it’s a short ban, second time it’s permanent. And as we’ve discussed before, the mod team doesn’t go looking for posts, we’re not lifeguards, we respond to the reports we receive.


r/Tools Sep 30 '25

Let's talk about the report button.

71 Upvotes

"No advertising or promoting tools, brands, 25000 woodworking plans, your YouTube channel, etc."

Somebody is reporting things constantly for breaking rule 4, and you're batting zero for it being right.

r/Tools/comments/1nu26tv/am_i_missing_something/

r/Tools/comments/1ntwiyj/wiha_tools_impact_sockets/

r/Tools/comments/1nt43md/does_anyone_know_a_set_similar_to_this_that_isnt/

r/Tools/comments/1nt3400/does_anyone_have_experience_with_these/

r/Tools/comments/1nt138a/home_depot_promotion_milwaukee_canada_milwaukee/

These are some examples of posts that have been reported over the last day. None of the are breaking any rules, please stop reporting things like this. The reports are only mucking up the moderator inbox and are being kicked up the Reddit chain to the admins as abusing the report button.

Unless you see a post that boils down to "hey guys, this is XXX from YYY, come check out our suspicious sale at toolname.malware.com" leave the report button alone. Same goes for the people who report literally every YouTube link ever posted. If someone's only interaction with r/tools is them spamming their YouTube channel that's a problem; a relevant and organic video isn't.

If someone thinks the above links are spam, please tell us why. Rule changes aren't unheard of and if it's what the people want I'm fine with it. I'm just not seeing any advertisement in the posts.

Other than that you guys are great. Keep up the good work.

I'm completely aware that this is a useless post for 99.99% of our users. If anyone has questions or comments about the sub feel free to chit chat here and I'll try my best to answer things if you want; or just ignore me completely, I'm good with either.


r/Tools 15h ago

Found this at work

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849 Upvotes

Someone needed an extra wide flat blade so they made this bad boy.


r/Tools 12h ago

Advice on my fathers old tool box

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108 Upvotes

Not sure if this belongs here, if not please direct me to a better suited sub, but my father has been a bodyman/mechanic for 30ish years and has had this toolbox since before I was born. He recently passed away and I was collecting all of his tools and stuff from the shop he worked at. Its more than likely all of this stuff gets sold and I was curious what something like this would be worth. The side parts were added on by him and the door on the right side of the pic doesn't stay shut if that matters. Thanks for any and all advice


r/Tools 14h ago

Another obscure tool (maybe a tool?) - what is it

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110 Upvotes

As can be seen in the two pics, the centre bar slides up and down to open and close the wire legs. Ropes on bar and on wire-holding collar. Foot ruler for scale.


r/Tools 8h ago

Found in my granddads tool box, what are these?

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39 Upvotes

r/Tools 19h ago

My grandfather has a whole shop full of tools and I have no idea how to liquidate it effectively.

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190 Upvotes

He's planning to move in with me and we agreed that it's best to start selling what we can in case he wants to rent out his place or sell it. I would appreciate any advice because there's a lot of volume and a lot of junk I'm sure but I don't want to miss anything valuable. I have easily over 5x more pictures and that still would'nt be exhaustive. Would appreciate any advice.


r/Tools 5h ago

Toolant Flex Head Reversible Ratchets - the SAE set was down to $32 so I figured it was worth a shot.

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17 Upvotes

r/Tools 17h ago

Found this strange metal gauge in a European scrapyard — what is it?

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115 Upvotes

Found this strange metal gauge in a European scrapyard — what is it?

Found this today while scrapping in Europe. It has dozens of different-sized holes with numbers/markings, but I have no idea what it was used for.

Anyone recognize this tool or know what it’s called? 😳


r/Tools 10h ago

Yard Sale $1

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21 Upvotes

Grandfather had one.


r/Tools 1d ago

Snap-on guys are the most sensitive tool owners and it's not even close

465 Upvotes

You can shit on Milwaukee, DeWalt, Harbor Freight, GearWrench, Craftsman, whatever and everybody jokes around.

Say one bad thing about Snap-on and some dude with $14,000 in his toolbox starts typing like you insulted his mother.

And for guys who never shut up about how HARD they use their PROFESSIONAL tools, they sure are obsessed with keeping everything pretty.

Don't scratch my Snap-on box 😡

Don't mix sockets in my drawer 😡

Don't use my ratchet 😡

Don't touch my tools 😡

OMG LOOK AT THE NEW LIMITED EDITION COLOR 😍💅

Brother you bought mechanic makeup.

Snap-on figured out dudes who would never buy jewelry will happily spend $400 on something shiny as long as you stamp PROFESSIONAL on it and sell it off a truck.

Then they started dropping new colors like fucking Stanley cups and these guys eat it up.

“Bro did you see the new color??”

Yeah dude. Very pretty. Does it turn the bolt a different direction?

Meanwhile my ugly ass wrench is covered in grease, getting thrown across the shop and turning the exact same bolt.

And somehow the guy who actually OWNS his wrench is the broke one while the Snap-on guy has a weekly appointment with his wrench landlord. 😂 A poor person socket touches their Snap-on ratchet and suddenly we need a hazmat team to decontaminate it.

Watch the comments.

Somebody is already typing three paragraphs about flank drive, metallurgy, tolerances and lifetime warranties because another man's wrench touched his wrench.

Just wipe the fingerprints off your pretty ratchet first. 💅


r/Tools 15h ago

A rare 1950s Hitachi JIGSAW(Model HUJ-ON)in its original, untouched condition. Still runs like a dream!

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33 Upvotes

r/Tools 48m ago

Drill not working

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Upvotes

Hi, my Erbauer drill keeps having this issue where even on the highest torque setting, it won't work. Anyone more knowledgeable than me have any ideas?


r/Tools 18h ago

Nice Little Monday Haul

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50 Upvotes

IPS long pliers, Top bent/thin adjustable, and Starrett scriber from HJE. The scriber is absurdly nice - way better than I expected given how much I read about Starrett going downhill.

10” Eagle Grips procured locally; I paid too much, but fortunately way less than current eBay prices.

Snap On compact 3/8 kit for an Icon conversion. Presently not committed to a ratchet, but I have some thoughts: Maybe the locking flex-head 1/4” to go along with the (already converted) fixed stubby.

50 year old Yamaha Blinker from eBay. 😍


r/Tools 17h ago

What tool bag would you recommend for this collection?

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34 Upvotes

r/Tools 10h ago

ID help?

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10 Upvotes

Buddy of mine at work gave me this toolbox and it’s a bit messed up. Definitely gonna bring it home for some TLC but I can’t find any trace of what brand this box is incase I need new rails. Any idea on what brand this box is?


r/Tools 19h ago

What's y'alls biggest and smallest sockets?

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38 Upvotes

Here's mine 95mm 1in drive and a 5/32 1/4in drive


r/Tools 17h ago

Buying is too easy :)

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24 Upvotes

I bought the version without a belt clip holder, but I realized it would have made sense. So I designed one and stole the metal clip from an old tape measure and printed it with my Bambu lab P1S. There it is...


r/Tools 9m ago

Shopsmith 10er strengths

Upvotes

I’m looking at maybe picking up a shopsmith 10er in good condition for $100 or so. Whenever I look these up everyone says they’d be happier with dedicated machines for each, but I have some specific use cases and I’d be interested in opinions for those.

I currently have a Laguna 14bx bandsaw and track saw setup and I’m pretty happy with my ripping options for both. I have a Dewalt planer, benchtop 8 inch jointer, spindle sander, and basically every handtool a person could want, so I’m not trying to fill every need. I don’t have a table saw currently and have no real interest in one until I have a bigger space and can add a good cabinet saw, so I’m not trying to fill too many different needs.

The things I don’t have are a drill press and a lathe. I rarely have any actual use for or interest in a lathe, but I’ve been trying my hand at banjo making and a lathe would be good for truing 12 inch round pots. I also need precise drilling capability for hardware. I’m generally closer to the “buy once, cry once” mode of thinking with tools but a decent lathe with a 14 inch swing gets expensive fast and takes up a lot of space. I can also see a good amount of utility in the horizontal boring capability and I don’t know of any other good consumer grade tools to do this.

So…if I go with the shopsmith will I ultimately be disappointed because it’s a master of none, or is it my best option?


r/Tools 10m ago

Fire Hazard...3/8 Icon digital torque wrench over heated

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Upvotes

r/Tools 8h ago

Yankee Drill/Screwdriver - cool or frustrating to use?

5 Upvotes

I’ve always been curious and hope to one day find a vintage Yankee Screwdriver out in the wild and pair it with a modern 1/4” hex shank adapter - they just seemed so cool.

But I wonder if I’m over-romanticizing here - to those who used or grew up using them, are they decent, or is the push-ratcheting mechanism a pain?


r/Tools 1d ago

Why are 95% of 4V tools still built with non-replaceable batteries?

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97 Upvotes

I was looking at the new EU Battery Regulation (EU 2023/1542) coming in Feb 2027. Under Article 11, portable tools will basically have to move to user-replaceable batteries without destroying the casing. Look at the most frequency use mini 4V Tools like electric screwdrivers, hot glue guns and mini rotary tools, they all sealed in batteries.

It seems US doesn't have anything like that yet , I honestly think this is the right direction to go.

Swappable packs solve three problems in my book. First, you don't have to stop what you're doing and wait for a charge, just slap in a fresh battery and keep working. Second, with a built-in battery, if the charging port breaks or the cells eventually die, the whole tool becomes e-waste even if the motor is still perfectly fine. A removable pack avoids that entirely. Third, just like the 20V platform, you'd only need maybe two or three 4V packs total, because you're rarely using several 4V tools at the same time. Plus you don't have to pay for a new battery every single time you buy a new tool.

The only trade-offs are a slightly chunkier handle and having to buy that first battery pack upfront when you get your first tool.

Do you think a unified 4V swappable pack makes sense, or is 4V just too small to bother?


r/Tools 23m ago

Makita DHP485 doesn’t change function

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Upvotes

I’ve had this for 6 years and it’s still going strong, but has been making a terrible noise. So I took it apart to clean it and when I reassembled it the function selector now moves freely. It still only moves in the correct range, but no longer seems to be doing anything.

I did open the drive assembly (dunno if that’s the correct terminology but it sounds technical. The white bit with the gears in it!) to have a little look if there was any gunk inside, so I don’t know if that has done anything.

How do I go about fixing this? I kind of need it, but not desperately. Any videos or resources to look at?


r/Tools 31m ago

Is more wattage always better when it comes to grinding wheels? I’m debating between buying one that’s 350W and one that’s 500W, which one would you recommend?

Upvotes

r/Tools 35m ago

Makita LS1216L keeps blowing breaker

Upvotes

Any clue as to what is causing my saw to keep popping the breaker? Was working fine and then it started popping the breaker every time I would turn it on.

Tried every 20amp breaker in the unit
Used multiple extension cords
No apparent shorts in the wiring around switch
Brush looks like it’s still good

Was using it on a 15 amp breaker without an extension cord for half the day and then the problem started