What would I find in your jobsite tool box/bag?

[Derek Cohen]

Well as I always say . . . when you get good enough all you need is a hammer.
I am working on using only this one smooth, naturally formed rock.

There you go again, Winton, showing off your fancy shmancy expensive custom-built high angle infill rocks!

So do you keep a set of jobsite-only tools, and what is in it?

For the past month I have been working weekends fixing up an old house we purchased as a rental. The previous owners did not look after it, and repairs included modifying an internal door to fit a door jamb (which I also needed to complete), rebuilding wooden window frames, stripping and re-installing kitchen drawers, among other fun activities.

While it does not fit in a tool bag, a folding Workmate bench was enormous help. I took along a Japanese ryoba, as this requires that the workpiece needs less clamping than a Western saw. There was also a folding Nobex 8" square, 3 ft spirit level, 3 Stanley yellow handle chisels (1/4, 1/2 and 1") good for mortices and paring, 20 oz steel claw hammer, set of blade and philips screwdrives in a case, 25 ft tape measure, pry bar (which I have ground to a finer "pry" blade), awl and Stanley knife, pliers, 4 clamps, Union (110) blockplane and Stanley #5 1/2. And a Panasonic 12v drill/driver with an assortment of bits and screws. OK, this needed two bags, not one.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Bill Houghton]

As always, the two-part trick is figuring out what works for YOU and keeping the weight down.

I don't have to go far, generally - from the shop to the house - as my sons do their own work, by and large. But if I were assembling a traveling kit, in addition to the good suggestions you've received so far, I'd include a push drill (Yankee is most common), for when you need a hole for a screw. Compact, fast, bulletproof.

[Daniel Rode]

I don't recall the last time I left the house to do work without knowing in advance what I'd be doing. In fact, I make it a point to find out in as much detail as I can. Like my grandmother used to say, "What the mind doesn't do, the feet have to."

I don't have any standard set of job site tools. I choose the tools I need to take on a case by case basis. I might help a friend with plumbing, electrical, setting tile, framing, finishing, etc. This weekend was replacing part of a driveway and later on a fire pit build. A coping saw and a sharp set of chisels wouldn't have been much help

Even when I did remodeling for a living, I did a variety of job types. Some tools stayed on the vans all the time, others swapped in and out depending on the type of job. I spent a fair bit of time making sure everyone had the right tools and materials going to the job site. A trip back to the shop or to the store is expensive, especially when you're paying someone to drive around instead of work.

[Tony Zaffuto]

For me, anything outside of the shop, is leaving the shop! That means if I have a project on the second or third floor of our home, I cart my tool bag/box/tote for the items I usually don't think I need, but end up needing!

[bridger berdel]

here are the contents of my "grab and go" box

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it is rarely the only toolbox I bring, but it is very rare that I DON'T bring it.

[Brian Ashton]

I find myself helping family/friends w/ basic carpentry tasks. Like today it was replacing a rotten windowsill. I had already planed and ripped the stock, I just had to cut it to length at the site, and then profile the ends to fit around the stops, which is quite easy with a coping saw.

But I didn't have a coping saw with me. Home wasn't too far away, so I just went and got one.

But I've been trying to identify the tools that would be the most helpful to have on a jobsite, and just keep them in a dedicated tool bag. And the more flexible a tool, the better. One tool that can replace two is a real plus when you're carting stuff around.

This is really a hand-tools only question, hence the Neanderthal forum. I know when I'm going to need a drill/driver or circular saw.

So do you keep a set of jobsite-only tools, and what is in it?

That's a question along the lines of how long is a piece of string.

I have a number of the old pepsi crates that were made useless when things moved away from glass many years ago so I scored a bunch of them. When I get ready for a job where I need to be moving around a lot I start out with one maybe two crates full of various tools. But invariably the tools needed always grows to the point where I have at least 4 crates full of various tools.

If I were to try and narrow it down to just a small tool bag where I was walking in blind and needed to deal with nearly any situation reasonably well:
Jap saw
coping saw
hacksaw
set of 3 chisels (usually cheap stanley butt chisels in 1/2, 1 and 1 1/2)
full set of electricians screw drivers
volt finger (not sure if you have those in north america, for checking for live wires easily)
bandaids (cloth backed ones that you cut to size)
hammer
couple nail sets
adjustable 6" double square
2 tape measures (one always breaks)
12 inch level
digital protractor
channel lock pliers
insulated linemen pliers (good quality ones)
vise grips
small tin snips
adjustable wrench
lots of pencils
2 adjustable knives (heavy duty ones)
block plane
diamond file (to sharpen the block plane or chisels in a pinch)
small flat bar
and last but not least my tool belt, but by this time it doesn't fit in the bag

Not including a drill set, bits or counter sinks and the likes as you would need a drill to go along with those. But it's highly unlikely you wouldn't include a cordless drill when going to do work of some sort.

[Phil Thien]

here are the contents of my "grab and go" box

tumblr_n6bik9qpvA1qhrm32o1_500.jpg

tumblr_n6bijwWSGP1qhrm32o1_500.jpg

it is rarely the only toolbox I bring, but it is very rare that I DON'T bring it.

Wow you and I are nearly spot-on, except I don't have an egg beater (I always have a cordless with me because I need to have one for work anyhow) and I don't have as many squares (basically just use a speed square for everything) or chisels.

Oh and I have fewer files and no plumb bob.

[steven c newman]

For a long time, worked as a concrete form guy. Any form work, from slabs to 10' tall by 12" thick foundation walls. So, here is what went into the nail bags

24oz rip claw framer
25' tape measure, and a 100' one
Speed square
nail set
APEX tips for the drill/driver, both a 5/16 hex, and a phillips
2 large Visegrips Finger clamps
1 Large pair of Visegrips
Diagonal pliers
8" cresent wrench
2 chalk lines, red for grade lines on forms, blue for stuff you needed to be cleaned off afterwards (red stays put)
cat's paw
might have one beater chisel, maybe
one "reel" of mason's twine, or stringline.
pound of grade nails
pound of 7 nails
pound or two of duplex head spikes
pouch pocket full of pins and another full of "dogs'
Bag tie spinner, for tieing rebars

Carried along for the ride..
framing square
48" level, in case
Hilti hammer drill
Dewalt driver/drill for the apex tips
100' of extension cord
Mag trowel, edger trowels
and a large box of phillips screws.

There might have been a cirular saw hauled along too. Always got out a "new" blade for it, as all the dirt and other junk on the boards was a bit hard on them.
If needed, a 4 pound drilling hammer, or "Buster" Buster was a 10 pound (at least) short handled sledge hammer. Nothing, and i mean NOTHING ever talked back to Buster.

Six days a week, year round. Unless it poured down rain, we poured the concrete, built the forms, stripped the forms, and set more forms. Set up a wall pour a day of at least 75 -100' start to pour every day. Footers as well. Had to race behind the track-hoe, laying bar for the footers, with grade stakes. Soon as we could, we'd build the wall forms and set them, pour them, finish them. Some we even stripped the outside form ( the "Show" side) and used rubber trowels to give them a "rubbed out" finish. as long as the "mud" had set up enough, that is...

[bridger berdel]

Wow you and I are nearly spot-on, except I don't have an egg beater (I always have a cordless with me because I need to have one for work anyhow) and I don't have as many squares (basically just use a speed square for everything) or chisels.

Oh and I have fewer files and no plumb bob.

the contents do vary. stuff tends to get added more than removed, so every once in a while I go through and remove duplicate and stray items and return things that have made their way to the bench or whatever