Tools/Garage Stuff

That does look well made! I have one of those big sets of 1/4 3/8 and 1/2 craftsman ratchets. They are the new Taiwan stuff but they are much better than I expected.

Anybody here have one of the 20 gallon McGraw air compressors from hazard fart? Thinking about getting one at some point.

I dont know anyone who's bought an air compressor from harbor freight but the one you have picked out looks pretty good for the price.

I’ve got one of the central pneumatic compressors from harbor freight. Either an 8 or 10 gallon. It can trip the breaker on startup occasionally, so a capacitor of some kind to help get it started may fix that issue. Everything else seems good on it though, little loud, but works great.

I’d assume the McGraw will be pretty solid as well

I would say buy Ingersoll/Rand. We go through alot of air tools, I mean break, and I am always trying to fix them. Which means I can compare the designs of the hammer mechanisms. Stay away from Snap On, they are too complex and easy to break the hammer in them. All the big lightweight cheap ones are pretty fancy inside too but last alittle longer then Snap On. Ingersoll/Rand guns use a simple hammer design and is beefed up too last.

Now a days, the guns are designed to where you oil them, you are only oiling the air motor. Which means that the hammer will get NO oil. So when the gun gets used alot, the hammer cooks the grease and starts sticking. That's when you pull the trigger and all you hear is air passing through the gun, thinking the gun is broke. Nope, the hammer just needs oiled. Then you have to tear down the gun's hammer section to put oil directly on the hammer and reassemble, for it to last about a couple weeks till you have to do it again.

Oh, I bought an Ingersoll/Rand 13 gallon air compressor some 20 years ago. Still using it.

Hope this helps.

The snap-on MG series guns were pretty solid. Not a fan of the forward reverse/power switch though. Too hard to adjust the chooch on er. I’ve got an mg325 that I’ve had for a few years now, I’ve maybe oiled it twice. Aluminum or magnesium housing, pretty solid design. The other three techs at our shop all run them as well. Before that, every tech at the Ford dealer I was at also ran them.

Then the 1/2 impact chronicles.....one tech has an mg725, same as the 325 just bigger. It’s HEAVY. And same gripes about the ergonomics. But it is tough. His brother, our lead tech, has a snap-on pt850.....he oils it every single morning and takes very good care of it...and still has to send it out to get rebuilt every 3 months or so. High rpm and ipm, good ergonomics, but just simply doesn’t hold up. Me and my manager both have older Matco 1/2s. His is the super quiet model, mine has a little more chooch. Externally they are identical. Both are tough as nails, pretty good power, and I’m not very good about oiling mine regularly. About once a month I’d say. Matco used to be made by ingersol rand. Dunno if they still are, but mine and my managers are both rebadged IR’s.

After mine finally gives up (no sign of it yet) I’m looking at the Matco MT2779....1600 ft lbs of torque. I told ya, lug nut. I ain’t askin’

upgraded the spot where I clean carburetors and work on tractors with a shelf made of free wood from a crate and a $25 LED light

Made a tray for my husky ratchet and socket set. Nothing real fancy just made it out of some aluminized 20 gauge.

I also got some wrenches, been needing a set and since its its something I'll use for the rest of my life I decided to get a nicer set. So I ended up getting a full set of Blackhawk wrenches, their not satin like I wanted (I think satin wrenches are easier to hold on to when your hands are oily) but I got a really good deal on them. They were on sale on Amazon and they wanted less than half of what they wanted for them on MSC. Real nice set, Blackhawk is made by Proto so they're made right here in the USA! Should last me a long time. Now I gotta find a metric set. 

They came in a nice little pouch but they wouldnt fit in my tool box with them in it, so I went and got some wrench organizers from Harbor Freight. Takes up alot less space now!

They have a very nice polish though... I’d never use them cause I’d be worried about scratching one lol. Glad to see you can still find stuff made here!

I finally got my area of the garage organized! Put up this shelf and it's just about perfect for the amount of stuff I have. I thought it was pretty slick how the top shelf goes over top of my tool box, pretty proud of myself for thinking of that!

I also built myself a workbench, that took a long time because of course I have to over think and engineer everything, I also wanted to be able to sit down and work on something and also have a place for my long legs to go. So that's what I came up with, looks like an office desk but it's nice a sturdy! It's made out of used 2x4s and I had to break down and go buy some plywood which as y'all know is expensive as heck! Wanted to go with pine but all the pine was split down the middle and a 4x8 sheet was 91 bucks!........Oooof! So I went with poplar which was 45 buck a sheet and in alot better shape. I'm not too happy about the looks of it being that it doesn't match but at the end of the day it's just a workbench. My dad had these cabinet doors laying around so I used them....probably too fancy but it saved me from having to make some. Still need to make a proper top for it but for now I have this temporary top just so I can have a place to work.

I also recently got a Milwaukee 3/8 impact wrench and a drill to go with it. I actually got these as a gift from a good friend of mine who works on heavy equipment, and I literally cant thank him enough because I know Milwaukee tools aren't cheap and to just be given these is just super thoughtful!



I didnt have any 3/8 impact sockets so I bought a complete set of gearwrench sockets. I was just going to get some from harbor freight but they didnt have alot of sizes and they skip sizes so I found these on Amazon. They dont skip sizes and it comes with both deep and shallow sockets of every size, it also comes with a wobble socket/extension thing which I've already used a bunch.

BlakeGroce wrote:

I also recently got a Milwaukee 3/8 impact wrench and a drill to go with it. I actually got these as a gift from a good friend of mine who works on heavy equipment, and I literally cant thank him enough because I know Milwaukee tools aren't cheap and to just be given these is just super thoughtful!



I didnt have any 3/8 impact sockets so I bought a complete set of gearwrench sockets. I was just going to get some from harbor freight but they didnt have alot of sizes and they skip sizes so I found these on Amazon. They dont skip sizes and it comes with both deep and shallow sockets of every size, it also comes with a wobble socket/extension thing which I've already used a bunch.

Sweet! That must be quite a friend. Are those 3/8 cordless impacts worth the coin? Been thinking about one but I’m not sure if I would use it enough to justify the cost.

The Milwaukee is a mean mother. The kobalt has the same warranty and is much cheaper, with very comparable power. I use mine a lot at work and at home on my own stuff. Definitely worth it. Brushless or nothin tho

I’ve been looking at the little 12v dewalt 3/8s that people strangely don’t seem to like. It isn’t very powerful but considering that the average ratchet can probably break maybe 50 or so ft lbs at best and most of the stuff on these tractors can be done with a ratchet it should be just fine. I think for the time being though I will stick with my air ratchet until I can cough up the money...my wallet has gone bone dry.

Got my workbench all done. Made a top out of linwood also known as linden wood or basswood. I got it from my grandpa, he does alot of wood working so he has a hoard of all kinds of wood. He asked me what I wanted and I told him I'd use whatever he wasn't gonna use for any of his projects. So I ended up with linwood which is pretty soft unfortunately, and it also has alot of worm holes in it, but it's pretty thick and I only had to glue 2 pieces together to make it. Overall I'm pretty happy with it! 

It measure's 6 foot long by 2.5 foot wide.

That’s a good looking bench.

Thanks!  @Nevadablue


We recently got all of our nuts and bolts organized in the garage. We used this big thing of drawers......not sure what to call it  ..........but it came out of the stuff we inherited from my great grandfather. I'm not sure were he got it or what it was used for originally, but my great grandfather was using it to also store nuts and bolts in. My dad built this cart to raise it off the floor so we can store things underneath it and be able to move the whole thing around. Turned out pretty slick! 

Neat! The drawer unit looks similar to the old card catalogs found in libraries before computers.

I just noticed your Blackhawk tools too. Good choice. Quality stuff.

My Dad was a buyer for a hardware wholesaler. I got a set of Blackhawk SEVEN SIXTEENTHS drive sockets from his stuff after he died. Blackhawk was trying to get automotive mechanics to use those to replace 3/8 and 1/2 sets. It looks like this... (not my set, but a pic off the net)

That's pretty cool! I've heard of 7/16 sockets and what not but never really understood what made them better. Still a really cool set!

Same! Never seen or heard of 7/16 drive, must be a bear to find replacement sockets! Cool set @Nevadablue, good American steel always lasts.

Right now I have a craftsman toolbox I am restoring. It was given to me by a friend, and I am in the process of repainting it to its original color plus a little zazz (if that’s a word) Once the paint gets done tomorrow I’ll have a picture or two.

Edit: though I could not find an identical model thru a search I estimate this box to be from somewhere in the 50s to 60s era. Pretty neat to have!

Behold! One Stevie wonder paint job!




Turned out pretty good, minus the dents. Then again it reaffirms that it’s vintage and shows that it’s been used so not a problem.

Handle on the bottom? Magnetic and stuck to the ceiling?

Sorry, I couldn’t resist. It looks good.

Thanks! Maybe it’s Australian or something