| Wrenches, Pliers, Grips and Snips. | | | | is a necessity, because you can adjust the size of the |
| The basic home repair tool kit has changed over the | | | | jaws to fit the nut you want to turn. It is not a |
| years. When I was a boy, I do not remember seeing | | | | replacement for a set of spanners (UK) (USA: |
| any power tools in father's vast array of carpenters' | | | | wrenches), because the large jaws make it impossible |
| tools. The brace-and-bit and folding wooden rule have | | | | to use in confined spaces, but it is the first spanner you |
| gone these days. Nowadays, everything needs to be | | | | should buy. However, this spanner comes in various |
| plugged in or recharged. Not a bad thing at all, but not | | | | sizes too. The most useful is the 10 inch monkey |
| being a carpenter, like my father before me and his | | | | spanner, which will adjust up to 1.125 inches, but you |
| before him. | | | | may like to get a smaller one too. |
| I wonder how mobile power tools makes the | | | | Pro Tip: always use the wrench so that the force is |
| professional carpenter. My father's tool bag was a | | | | absorbed by the fixed half of the jaw. |
| tarpaulin bag that opened with a very wide mouth so | | | | Pliers: There are several kinds of pliers: the traditional |
| that all the tools could be displayed without removing | | | | type for holding, twisting and cutting thin wires; |
| them from the bag, making selection easy. He could | | | | tongue-and-groove pliers, which is similar to a monkey |
| take everything he need up onto a roof with him. I | | | | spanner and lockable pliers. The first type of pliers is |
| imagine that his father's tool bag looked very similar, | | | | most useful for electrical work. The second type, |
| probably indistinguishable. Now, you need a van to | | | | which has adjustable jaws where a tongued pivot |
| carry everything and leads and a generator or | | | | slides along a grooved slot to engage at the desired |
| rechargeable tools. | | | | width, is mostly used for plumbing. The third type is also |
| However, the jobs to be done remain the same and | | | | adjustable, by means of a knurled screw mounted in |
| the rule for buying tools remains the same, buy the | | | | one of the handles. However, on squeezing the |
| best you can afford. So, let's take a look at a modern, | | | | handles together, it will lock fast with a grip like a vise, |
| well-equipped set of tools. | | | | giving them their common name of vise-grips. They |
| Adjustable Wrenches or Spanners: Often called a | | | | are very powerful and will damage wood. |
| Crescent wrench (USA) or monkey spanner (UK). This | | | | |