Small cheap indispensable tools you have to have

[Philip Johnson]

Has anyone picked up some small tools or accessories that you wondered why you bought and now you wonder how you ever lived without it.

For me I think it would have to be a digital caliper and then a digital read out for the planer. It is so slick to measure everything and go over to the planer and dial in .750 and end up with boards that fit the first time. I thought they might be kind of a gimmick but now it seems like I reach for them 100 times a day. I feel it has brought a whole new level of accuracy to wood working.

[Stephen Tashiro]

Blacksmiths nail cutters. I use them to pull nails , not out of horses hoofs and not to cut them. You can grab nail heads with the cutters that you can't grip with the claws of a hammer or purpose built nail pullers.

[Chris Tsutsui]

For me I never expected to use a nail set as much as I do.

I've used it to fix and adjust other tools not to mention set some nails that needed to go in.

It has worked its way up to the top level of my tool chest, with the least used tools at the bottom tier.

My bottom tier includes french curves, shingle hammer, chalk line, rubber mallet, and a dial caliper and stand. Don't use those much... heh

[Jason Beam]

I have a longer list of stuff i've bought and it just sits ...

But here are a few:

Starrett Pattern Maker's Square (FANTASTICALLY handy)
It's teeny - like maybe 3" long in the blade - very lightweight, can be tilted up to 10 degrees. Dang handy little bugger. Way handier than my 4" double square. By Far.

Cheap aluminum speed square.
Just a crappy speed square. I love the lip that overhangs, i use it for transferring lines around corners when i'm not using a knife (i use the above square for that).

Cheap plastic spring clamps.
I picked up a kit of clamps when i first started out. It had 4 spring clamps in it (two big, two small). I use those buggers all the time. WAY more than I use any of the other clamps in the bunch. A few of the F clamps slipped from day one, the C clamps were either too big or too small (2" and 6"). But those little spring clamps are dang handy. I use 'em as reminders to (un)tension my bandsaws' blades, to just hold a scrap of wood somewhere, an extra hand. All kindsa uses.

Cheap 3-4" C-Clamps
Harbor freight specials at 2-3 bucks a pop on sale. I use 'em constantly. They're fantastic for those tiny clamping jobs or to use as a counter weight. Way tougher than those Quick Grips that Irwin sells. I have a few of those, too, and I use 'em a lot, but not for any serious clamping. If it CAN NOT MOVE, i don't bother with the quick grips and reach for my besseys or my C clamps. depends on how big the clamping job is.

Drywall square.
For rough marking crosscuts on plywood, nothing works faster for me. I don't bother with an edge guide when breaking down sheets for later cleanup on the TS. The drywall square gives me a plenty accurate square reference across a full sheet to draw a line down. Then I just cut the sheet with my skillsaw freehand - following the line.

CHALK
CHALK!!!!! Handy as all get out. Rough stock marking. Parts marking. Face sides, rough joinery positions.

There are tons of other little things we never even think about like sharpie markers, marking knives, mechanical pencils, etc ... i have many uses for all of those, too.

[Matt Meiser]

99 cent plastic vernier calipers. I used to get them at a local hardware chain back when they actually carried hardware. Now Harbor Freight has them.

[Matt Armstrong]

A bench brush. $1 at harbor freight. It's one of my favorite tools to use since I hate clutter

[Robert Chapman]

Drill size guage.

[Greg Hines, MD]

Brass set up bars from Woodcraft. I use them all the time at the router table, and the table saw.

Doc

[Simon Dupay]

Vise-Grips, use all the time.

[Greg Crawford]

Miniature block plane from Lee Valley. It looks like a toy, but a couple of swipes and the super sharp corner of a board is softened just right. I probably use it as often as I use my table saw. Sure beats sanding!

[Steve Rozmiarek]

A dry erase board for the wall, and a magnetic bowl thing that Snap On sells (as does NAPA, and probably a bunch of others). The dry erase board really helps jog the memory when you get into the shop once a week or so. The magnetic bowl ends screws or small parts disappearing.

[Clifford Mescher]

Card scraper, without a doubt. Clifford.

[J.R. Rutter]

Old 1" chisel for doing all the jobs that you don't want to use a clean, honed edge for. Touch mine up on the grinder once a week and take a quick honing swipe on whatever stone is handy. Scrapes glue off clamps, etc.

Good, small pocket knife.

[Jim McFarland]

Machine screw thread checkers -- in metric & SAE! Saved me several trips (back) to the hardware store.

From Lee Valley, of course:
http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/pa...84&cat=3,41306

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,

Good, small pocket knife

I've gotten fat, lax & lazy in my old age .
I find it a lot easier to just slip a new blade into a folding utility knife these days.

Scissors come in handy too around the shop.

Pencil sharpeners, pencil sharpeners, pencil sharpeners, pencil sharpeners, pencil sharpeners and lastly, a mechanical pencil or two or three or four or five..

HF rubber mallet.

A jar of HF bungee cords.

Borg folding plastic protractor. ~ $5.00.

Pencil sharpener - wall mounted.

Young person - one w/a strong back...

Borg/HF plastic drywall carrier. Won't replace the above item however .

Thought of another one.
Wal Mart sells a B&D 1/3 sheet sander for under $20.00.
Mine's a real workhorse. It's more aggressive than a ROS, but far less aggressive than a belt sander.