Free Underused Tools
More Free Tools
I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to consider something a free or almost free tool if it is either actually free or costs about what a couple cups of coffee do. Earlier, I posted six of them that I find very useful, but don’t see tradies using much at all. Here’s another six, and while some might be better known, I also don’t see them much in use. In addition to being cheap or free, these are light and small, so they’re easy to have handy.
Toothpicks
It’s not uncommon to have a screw in wood get loose as the part moves around or ages. Sometimes you can just use a slightly larger diameter screw to fix the problem. Sometimes that’s not feasible and you want to reuse the existing screw. By sticking a toothpick or two into the existing hole you can often shrink it enough that the old screw will now hold tight. This works more often than it doesn’t in my experience.
But if you want to make it really hold tight, use the toothpicks and the old screw with a dab of polyurethane (PU) glue. Not polyvinyl acetate (PVA) glue, which is regular yellow wood glue, but PU glue. PU glue, which is inexpensive and widely available, bonds almost anything to anything – in this case, wood to the metal screw. The only downside to PU glue is that its shelf life is short once the bottle is opened.
An Old Bath Towel
Having an old bath-size towel in the truck comes in handy in countless ways. Obviously, it’ll mop up anything you spill. If you’re working in an occupied business or residence, you don’t want to set your tool bags down on a clean countertop, bedspread, or any nice surface; instead, put the clean towel down first and set your bags on top of it. One will serve nicely as a knee or butt cushion. In this article there’s a picture of me using a towel to keep mud off my clothes as I lie down on the ground. You can throw a towel over tools to protect them from a drizzle or snow. Countless uses.
Margin Trowel
When you have to set blocks, posts, or timbers in packed or hard dirt, you usually want the earth flat at the bottom of the hole or channel. Often, you also want the edges and corners cleaned out so that the masonry or wood sits even. Frequently, the hole or channel is too narrow to be worked with a transfer shovel (a shovel with a straight bottom edge), and a small gardening trowel is of course pointed and won’t do the job. What you need is a mason’s (or tiler’s) margin trowel. These small, rectangular trowels cut a flat line and get into corners easily. They save a lot of frustration.
White Eraser
When I was a kid, I was told by my father’s carpenter friends that a pencil mark on wood couldn’t be erased – it had to be sanded out. Well, that turned out to be BS! Of course, pencil marks, which are just graphite, can be erased, and we frequently do so. After all, an eraser is really a very high-grit abrasive. The problem is that the pink erasers on the pencils that tradespeople use (if those pencils have an eraser at all) themselves leave residue in place of the pencil mark. Better to use a white eraser, the kind that artists and draftsmen use. I just drop one into my front pants pocket where its small size isn’t even noticed.
Magnetic Screw Holder
When you have to drive a screw one-handed, particularly at an awkward angle, a magnetized bit is a lifesaver. Lots of vendors make tubular bit magnetizers, and they often solve the problem. But even more secure is a magnetic screw holder that sits on the bit and magnetically “attaches” to the screw head. These are the ones I have, which I keep in an old pill bottle in my main tool bag. There might be better ones, but these have worked for me so far. They can even stay attached to a bit without affecting its function.
Lumber Crayon
Almost all tradespeople have Sharpies and extra pencils in their kit. I also have a wax lumber crayon in mine. It doesn’t get used much, but every so often I need to mark wood, timber, or masonry, and this either does the job better than a pencil or sharpie, or its different color is useful.
Finally, many of these free underused tools are also small. So that they don’t get lost at the bottom of my tool bag I like one that has a zippered compartment.
