Golf Channel—What's in the Bag?
Rod Peterson -- Ormond Beach
>First, before I get started on the electrical, let me tell you that I use five gallon pails for my toolboxes. I started doing that years ago when the condo was being painted and I could pick up a couple or three empties a day. I have one each for electrical, concrete finishing, phone/AV, drywall, plumbing, wallpaper, tiling, turning accessories, safety equipment, and so on. I actually have a couple of subsets, like general plumbing in one and minor plumbing in the other (½" and ¾" copper fittings and tools). Of course some tools like darbies, screeds, pole sanders, closet augers, conduit benders, etc., don't really fit in the pails, so they just have to be carried separately.
The stuff in the elecrical pail is fish tape, DMM (multimeter), and some other bulky stuff. My everyday kit is a bag with pockets and a handle, and it represents about the third or fourth generation for me of electrical tool kits. I used to put everything in a belt pouch, but it got just too heavy and inconvenient (and bad in a crouch down attic for spilling parts or tripping you).
In my bag are:
- ¼" flat screwdriver
- #2 Phillips screwdriver
- 3⁄16" flat screwdriver
- #1 Phillips screwdriver
- speed driver, flat
- speed driver, #2 Phillips
- 10-n-1 screwdriver
- conduit screwdriver
- #1 Robertson (square drive)
- #2 Robertson (square drive)
- ¼" nut driver (red)
- 5⁄16" nut driver (yellow)
- Lineman's pliers (aka side cutters)
- large diagonal pliers
- smaller diagonal pliers
- needlenose pliers
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| - very small screwdriver
- wire stripper
- crimper/machine screw cutter
- non-contact electrical tester
- plug in electrical tester
- water pump pliers
- electrical tape
- utility knife
- electrician's knife
- tape measure
- bag of wire nuts (yellow)
- bag of ground wire nuts (green)
- bag of ground pigtails
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Everything in the left column is a Klein product. I really like their tools. The very small screwdriver is unbranded—probably a giveaway from somewhere—but it's the perfect size to get to the release tab on backstab fixtures (don't use 'em, just have to unhook them to discard them).
The two large screwdrivers are specialty electrician's screwdrivers and have a small projection at the blade end of the handle used to trap a piece of wire while you turn a loop around the blade. Very handy.
The 10-n-1 is a late addition to the collection. I sort of bought on a lark figuring it couldn't be that good. If I were starting over today, I might carry it and discard about six others.
The conduit screwdriver (my label) is designed to use on conduit clamps or similar ones with an exposed box head screw. You can really bear down on it, and because the blade is shrouded, you won't slip off the screw (ask any old conduit guy about that).
I have two knives because I've always had an electrician's knife in my kit, and I wound up with a spare utility knife and an empty pocket. Seemed like a good marriage.
My wire stripper allottment is actually much larger. The one listed is one of those automatic ones where you stick the wire between two serrated blocks and into the appropriate notch, then squeeze the handles and it cuts the insulation and strips it off the wire. I use it the most. The crimper also has stripper notches on it, but the auto one is the one I always reach for. I once bought a Klein stripper, which is nice, but I rarely use it.
Water pump pliers should need no justification, but if you're curious, I like them for tightening the locknuts on romex clamps or conduit connectors. Richard Tretheway of This Old House says they can't even get their trucks started without water pump pliers.
Rod