When I was a young mechanic slowly acquiring tools so I could better do my job, I once asked a couple older mechanics what was the most useful tool they owned. Not the most expensive tool, not the coolest tool, but the tool they couldn’t get along without.
The first grumpy old coot grabbed a three-foot long, screwdriver-handled pry bar, waved it at me, and said he’d go home for the rest of the day if he lost that bar. “It’s a third arm and my hired man,” he declared.
A second grizzled veteran reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a little pocket screwdriver. “It’s my seal-pryer, my parts package-opener, my fingernail-saver, my grease digger and about a hundred other things,” he said. “I can’t remember the last time I used it to just turn a screw in or out.”
I took their advice and found it to be true. I didn’t think it was possible to wear out a pry bar, but during my career I’ve worn one down enough that I retired it. As for pocket screwdrivers, I eventually developed a policy of getting myself a new one for Christmas every year.
For that reason, if anybody has use for pocket screwdrivers with their tips worn round and much of the plastic cracked off their handles, I’ve got a drawer full of them.
The one tool that my mentors and I disagreed about was the 9" pliers I carry in a leather pouch on my belt. They declared that no self-respecting professional mechanic wears a plier pouch.
My reply has always been, “You can take the boy off the farm, but you can never get him to stop wearing a plier pouch.”
