Human-powered driver
Ever have to fight with a thirty foot cord on a cold day? This tool has no cord. And no batteries. No worry about theft, obsolescence, charging. Imagine being able to remove #4 Phillips screws, long embedded with their heads effectively stripped before they were painted over. By hand. The same tool, with a 「no moving parts」 adapter, is a speed wrench for 3/8″ drive sockets. And you can use 1/4″ hex bits as well.
Thetraditional hand bracedoes all this, and weighs less than a commercial-duty battery pack. That’s why I have two old braces in my on-site tool kit, where I do a vast array of kludge-like repairs to building systems — everything from removing the third set of windows in a building’s life, to re-hanging wood and steel doors (remember those stripped, self-tapping, Phillips screws?), boring holes to run a fish-tape through, and taking mechanical stuff apart.
It will accept traditional square-taper auger bits, and with its three jaw chuck, any round or hex shank tool up to about 15 mm (9/16″) diameter. This, together with two power tools — a 25-year-old Black and Decker screw gun, and a Makita 7 1/4″ circular saw — makes my tool kit.
-- Lou Parsons
02/17/18
(This is a Cool Tools Favorite from 2006 — editors)