5 Essential Tools?

What are the most important things you use for scrapping, including your truck of course.



Mine would be

Angle Grinder,
Sawzall,
Sledgehammer,
screwgun(with the 3/8 socket adapter, and alll neccesary sockets ang bits),
Finally I would say A magnet, Because on somethings i can tell but other times it just gives me some confidence.

I agree with Mick. I started out with a Magnet, and my truck. In my opinion, since most of it is scrap, the angle grinder somewhat eliminates the need for the drill and assorted bits (but I love tools, and have it anyways now).

This is pretty redundant since we have the other thread discussing tools of the trade, but i'll bite.....
Of course its different for everyone depending what you scrap and how you do it.
I'll list what I use maybe you will get some ideas, but I don't think I could run it down to a "TOP 5" list.

Here's what I consider essential to my work (or at least very great to have, a lot I could do without):
1992 Dodge 1 ton diesel
1993 Dodge 3/4 ton diesel
24' gooseneck trailer with winch, dual batteries, toolbox loaded with chains, boomers, straps, jacks, etc.
12' utility trailer
2 car garage mostly full of crap but also holds my tools and I move out the tractor and quad to strip appliances and wire and such when its colder out. Also store my non ferrous and core items in here.
Air compressor, with impact wrench, air ratchet, air chisel, etc.
Manual tire changer
18V cordless drill with the full monte of driver bits etc. Step drill bits can also be handy for scrapping but I haven't used them much. Sooner or later it'll be priceless.
Two full toolboxes of tools. Everything and then some. Don't need it all for scrapping but again sooner or later it will get used, and I do use all of it frequently doing repairs and fabrication.
Chop saw. Again don't use a lot for scrapping, but sometimes great to have.
Sawzall. Priceless.
2 angle grinders- usually one has cut off wheel and the other has grinding disc.
2 wheel Hand truck (aka appliance truck or cart)
Digital 400 lb. bathroom scales, sometimes I use it to see how much of something I have, or if I am out buying stuff I might use it (buying core parts, not bulk steel)
A boatload of 5 gallon buckets- I use them to store and transport core items, non ferrous, etc. Also a couple of larger totes are handy for unstripped wire and aluminum. I don't usually get loads of non ferrous and don't have a lot of room to store it or I would move up to plastic 55 gallon drums.

I also use a wheelbarrow around the garage to tote stuff back and forth to the truck and temporarily store stuff in.
I scrap cars for the most part, and I back them up to the garage, and start stripping them on the trailer. I throw all the stuff I remove into the wheelbarrow and roll it to the garage for later sorting.

Great so far! And I meant without the truck.

Im new but what ive found helpful so far is
most deffinally a magnet
sawsaw
Utility knife
wire cutters
sledge

My scale and calculator are my top two!
Without math we just get handed some money!

you all forgot about gps

Oh dang you are right... i started using a gps. made me do my scrap routes atleast 50 percent faster.

I agree with gps. I know it's been discussed on another thread.

Got mine 2 years ago for birthday and it's already outdated. It won't find some addresses, yet my Blackberry will.

If anyone feels they can't afford one, the gas savings will pay for it pretty quick. Also a definite time saver.

On the GPS note - I wouldn't even do this if I didn't have GPS! Especially with $4+ gallon fuel.

Tool wise, I would have to add bolt cutters in there. I find that I use them a lot more than I thought I would.

Originally Posted by c4f5

In the last 10 years, not having gps has cost me a grand total of maybe 10 hours, probably way less....know your area. If I bought one, it probably wouldn't last long enough to pay for itself.

With all due respect, it's one thing to "know your area" (I think most of us do), but when you're talking about large cities and not to mention the suburbs of each city...I don't care what anyone says, I'd much rather have a GPS loaded with an address AND alerts for traffic, so that I can decide on the fly if the shorter route is actually the fastest route or not. My opinion anyway.

In my area, we had a large housing boom in the last 5/10 years. I'm always finding new streets.

Northeast CO...Sedgwick perhaps? I have family all over Colorado.

Don't forget that a colorful vocabulary always comes in handy to loosen stuck parts.

Originally Posted by IdahoScrapper

Northeast CO...Sedgwick perhaps? I have family all over Colorado.

Good guess. South central Sedgwick County. Sedgwick is about 23 miles northwest of my house.