November 29, 2006 - Fools for Tools
by Beth Liggett

Al grew up in a small farming town – Ripley, Ohio. His father ran one of the 2 hardware stores there, so Al grew up with tools and with the knowledge of how to use them. From his early years – post Great Depression and WW2 – he acquired the mentality of hands-on, fix-it-up, patch or repair it, keep it running. There was an inventive mentality and commonsense approach for making the most out of what you had. And so much the better if you had the tools to do it.

My father was a precision machinist. He was also an exotic foreign car enthusiast and mechanic. There always seemed to be some half-running strange car in the garage or backyard that Dad was "fixing". Over the years he became a well known Buggatti expert. My mom was never afraid to pick up a screw driver or hammer to fix something amiss in our house either. So growing up, I saw my share of tools as well.

We have a lot of tools aboard Sunflower, enough that Al very seldom has to borrow a tool anyone else. Sometimes I think there are too many tools – but then, AL can almost always fix the engine, the plumbing, the electric, or whatever with the tools he has.

All our commonly used tools are housed in a drawer just in front of the chart table, and in a locker just behind the chart table. Easy access. Here are all the pliers, screwdrivers, files, sockets, (both metric and standard) nippers, wrenches, hammers, allen keys, wire brushes, hack saws, etc. By the way, did you know that screwdrivers come in "plus" and "minus" configurations? Ask the Japanese! And speaking of screwdrivers - in that one drawer there are 20 screwdrivers! And 9 pliers, 3 adjustable wrenches, 2 pairs of dikes, 7 files, and a pair of cable cutters too! He tells me he uses them ALL. Once a hardware man, always a hardware man!

The tool drawer just in front of the chart table. The drawer has three compartments; this is the front one with the screwdrivers, pliers and most-used tools.

There are several tools we have that we find really useful. One is a small pick; we use it to poke holes in wood prior to drilling or using a wood screw. It's a lovely thing – a graceful stainless steel pick in a rosewood handle. We bought it years ago in Japan where they have wonderfully interesting tool and knife stores. And, pawing around in a multistoried hardware store in Manila, Philippines, Al found a treasure trove of beryllium tools. He bought pliers and screwdrivers. They are most likely Navy surplus – they don't spark, and they don't rust!

One of the berylium tools - an often used pliers. And our favorite - the little pick from Japan.

Clamps are useful to have. Al has a collection of clamps – C-clamps in various sizes, and spring clamps.

Another favorite is a big vise. It has a 4-inch jaw and weighs a ton! Al mounted it on a thick piece of wood. That way it is portable – use it on deck, in the dinghy, ashore, whatever. More often he just clamps it onto the workbench up forward. I guess you could call the workbench a pretty handy tool itself! It is full of scars and dents and spilled bits of varnish and paint, but hey – it's a workbench. Perfect for making a mess. And keeps those hard line jobs out of the galley and off the salon table too.

The BIG vise clamped in place on the work bench up forward. The vise lives upside-down in a bracket just under the work bench where it is shown.

Tools we have but don't use very often are tools that usually have very specialized jobs:
· the torque wrench for tightening the head bolts on the engine.
· There's a faucet wrench – used maybe twice?
· We have a hand-operated brace with accompanying bits, now largely unused in favor of the electric drill.
· A Nicro press tool
· Big (I mean BIG!) pipe wrench
· Wood planes
· Sur clip tool
· A copper tube flaring tool

One set of tools that mostly goes unnoticed and unused, lives in the dinghy. In a watertight compartment in the bow are all the tools for dealing with the outboard when something goes wrong and you aren't at "the tool drawer". There is a spark plug wrench, a wire brush, a sheer pin, and an extra preset spark plug The tools and spark plug are vacuum sealed, and are in a plastic container with a tight lid. Along with a rag. Probably the ONE tool that Al cannot work without - is a rag!

In addition to the mold and mildew problems we faced on returning to Sunflower a few weeks ago, Al was shocked when he opened the tool drawer and found a light film of rust on those screwdrivers and pliers. Eeegad! Because he is a tool person he takes good care of his tools. He wipes his tools with an oily rag or gives them a shot of WD-40. If they've been outside they get washed with fresh water and dried off before the oily rag treatment. Nothing was ruined; everything still worked. He spent a couple of hours in cleaning and oiling them again though.

The sun has just slipped over the yardarm (we have one?) and I am going to grab MY favorite tool – the corkscrew! Cheers!

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