Hot Rods What is the best $100 you ever spent on a good tool

I actually have a foot switch on it…..me no dummy lol

 

Marty, way back in the 70's I was given a similar chainfall/come along, it was a Yale. Worked great until it grew legs. It's amazing what stuff disappeared one night. The list included the come along, a really old soldering iron with an inch or so head, a couple of stone bars, one set of sockets but not the ratchet, a drill motor (that was burned out ha ha ha!), and other assorted things that just made no sense. Oh and all of that stuff was in the same barn as most of my tools. Just always wondered why whomever it was took what they did.

 

I don't recall how much I paid but my rear hub puller was definitely worth it!

 

A 1/2" 24 volt impact wrench I bought at Pep Boys (went for spark plugs) for $99.99. Has come in handy more than once. A few tears back used it twice on a trip to the Syracuse Nationals with my grandson pulling my roadster in my enclosed trailer on I-95 North & on NY thruway. Do not leave home without it & my drive up jack (ramp).

 

Managed to get a snap on tap and die set off my dealer that was a repo for $100. Only used it a couple times so far but it's heavy duty enough it's saved me over $500. Like on my 53 Bel Air when I swapped to swinging pedals I was able to modify master cylinder pushrods I had on hand to work instead of buying all the recommended parts. And instead of paying $65 shipped for a proper looking pedal pad I was able to modify my original brake pedal pad to work

 

Oxy Acetylene torch set-up with a 12" and 36" cutting heads.
Invaluable.

 

I just found a gas saver for my O/A torch on a swap meet for about $5. It's old so I have to make sure any seals are good, but as long as that checks out it'll make using the torch cheaper and less stressful. Gas turns off when you hang the torch on the hook, comes back on still correctly adjusted when you lift it off and instantly relight it.

 

Gave a retired dentist/motorcycle collector a hundred bucks for this 6-12 volt charger and his torches. Both are great tools, the charger gets a lot of use.

 

That's a steal just for the torches.

 

Not very exciting but one of the first things you buy for the shop is the biggest bench vice you can afford and spend hours and hours using it ever since. Another on is my old used safety-clean parts washer.

 

Saw a 12" Parks wood planer on CL about a year ago for $350. I'd been looking for a planer for a while and the pics looked pretty good. I could see in the pics that it had the factory steel base and belt guard which a lot of them don't have. Figured the price was good if nothing was hidden as others with those extras typically are advertised around $550 to $700.

Call up and the guy is only about 3 miles away so I go to look. He was a life long woodworker but some health issues had made him decide that woodworking wasn't a safe hobby for him anymore. I'm looking the thing over and feeding it a couple scraps of wood, about 5 seconds away from telling him I'll take it without any intent of haggling on the price.

He says "Tell you what. Give me a hundred bucks and its yours. I've answered 30 or more phone calls, half of whom said they'd be coming to see it, and you're the first to actually show up. And I'm tired of answering questions like Is it battery powered? Will it fit in the back of my Honda Fit? (weighs 350#) Can you bring it to my house so I can look at it? Can I use this to make 2x4's from logs? I just want to answer the phone and say Nope, Its gone.

 

About 25+ years ago I went to a yard sale put on by a church for a fundraiser. They had boxes and boxes of hand tools. I started rummaging through and pulled everything that said Craftsman or Sears on it. I eventually had quite a pile. I asked if they might have a box I could have for all the tools. They go inside and come back out with a box. I go and fill the box and head up to ask them how much it was going to cost me. I expected quite a bit as I probably had 40# of tools, maybe more. The guy looks at the box then points to the side and says, $20. Right there on the box. I said, no, that price was already on the box when I asked if I could get one. He shrugs his shoulders and says, $20. I couldn't do it. I handed him $40 and he kinda chuckled and started telling the other people there that this guy over here is paying more than the price tag. Heck, even at $40, it was a steal. $1/pound for Craftsman tools? Unreal

 

Bought my vice not long out of high school. Old 6" Record that had many, many miles on it. Screw was fine, but the dog that the screw runs in was cracked, despite someone having brazed it up in a past life. Had a journeyman weld it properly for me. It's had a new set of 6" jaws, and a set of soft jaws that are reaching end of life (the magnets on the back are getting feeble, and my patience at bending down to pick them up off the floor is getting thin).

That vice owes me less than a carton of beer, but has been whaled on hard and never let me down yet.

Cheers,
Harv

 

Band aids and bag balm.... I KNOW I've used at least $100 worth over the years!