SOMETIMES THE MOST USEFUL THINGS GET OVERLOOKED, IN MANY CASES, BECAUSE WE DON'T KNOW THEY EXIST

摘要

Earlier this year in our Assorted Bits column, we showed you a picture of the latest invention for the avid auto mechanic/outdoorsman. It was called the "hatchet wrench." It was just a joke, of course, but it made me think about all of the unusual or uncommon tools that are under-utilized in this industry. Before, we say to rush right out and buy a bunch more tools, we'll point out there's a fine line between tools you really need to have and ones you don't. Throughout the course of a career as an auto technician, there will be a lot of tools you'd love to own, but cannot justify or afford, and there'll be those you buy and 30 years later you never used them a single time. Drawing the line between what to buy or not is part economics, part how many times you've borrowed it and part gut feeling. What we're bringing to the table today is a list of tools that can and will save you a lot of time. Sometimes the most useful things get overlooked, in many cases, because we don't know they exist. So, here's to the unusual and hoping that some of these keep you some day from saying, "I wish I'd bought this 30 years ago."