Tools: The very good, the ugly, and one every grill restoration person should have!


 
Jon Tofte

Jon Tofte

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
It was an extraordinarily mild day for Indiana in late January. I have been working hard on tax and accounting work for the last week+, so I felt I could get by with doing some grill stuff this Saturday. šŸ˜Ž

I was disassembling the side shelves from a 300 series Genesis that uses torx screws. Too tight for my regular screwdriver, so I got out my Harbor Freight Pittsburgh set of sockets with that type of connector. A HF ratchet, and things were going great until I encountered a very stubborn screw. SNAP! The tip of the special socket broke right off in the head of the screw šŸ¤Ø (2nd from left):

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You see that correctly: ā€œLifetime Warranty.ā€ So now I will find out what my local Indiana HF will do for a failed set of cheap sockets I bought years ago back in Florida. I will report back.

On the other end of the spectrum, removing that screw wasnā€™t easy (when I reinstall, I will be using Never Seize), but it was made possible by a high quality, brilliant tool made by Knipex:

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If these pliers canā€™t get your screw or bolt off, you probably are looking at using a cut-off tool. As with most Knipex tools, this one isnā€™t cheap but its high quality is worth it for this type of demanding work. I highly recommend it for grill restorers.

I am the kind of person who very much likes finding a surprise underdog that can hold its own with the big (expensive) name product. I love my Walmart Ozark large stainless tumbler, and when it comes to tools, I have been very impressed with Harbor Freightā€™s better ā€œbrandā€ hand tools, such as Doyle and now Icon which are surprisingly good.

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But their lower end stuff - often is exactly that. So there are times it is worth spending the extra $.
 

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Cool. Let's talk about tools. I've never broken a torx driver, but I've bent the flutes into a spiral on some cheaper ones. I don't have the Knipex yet, but I will probably eventually get one. I haven't actually needed one just yet. It is one of those rescue tools when plan A doesn't work and things go south. It is remarkable that the Knipex actually worked even better than the torx driver.
 
Jon Tofte said:
As with most Knipex tools, this one isnā€™t cheap but its high quality is worth it for this type of demanding work. I highly recommend it for grill restorers.
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Thanks for the recommendation. I am always on the lookout for quality tools.

Looks like Knipex is exclusively manufactured in Germany.

I believe I have read you have been there before, as have I.

I was always impressed with the wide array of German manufactured products available and what I saw as citizens willingness to pay the premium to support home built products.

I wish more US citizens felt this way but the siren song of cheap Chinese built products must be too strong to resist for some.

Cheers.
 
Love me some quality tools!

This is still my choice when it comes to Weber Grill restorations or practically any chore around the Home where you need a second set of hands-

tvwbb.com

Best tool I've bought for restoring Weber's? Rockwell Jawhorse gets my vote.

I've been buying a bunch of tools lately to help me around the Home as well as Weber grill restorations but this purchase is hands down the best one I've made. It just makes the job so much easier. I originally was going to get a Black & Decker Workmate but as reading an article comparing it to...
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Jeff
 
Project Farm did a whole video on some of those type of pliers and yes Knipex was a top performer. FWIW though I have broken Torx drivers that were not El Cheapo HF brand but expensive American. Bad thing about Torx drivers. They're not made to withstand a frozen bolt. BTW odds are you will find no joy at HF trying to get that tool replaced. Their so called warranty has more "gotchas" than a Philadelphia Lawyer
 
Jon,
I noticed that the torx bits you have there have the hole in the end. Those are made for the ā€œtamper resistantā€ torx headed screws.
The solid bits may not have snapped.

Gerry
 

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Judging from the photo, his bits were the cheapest of the cheap at Harbor Freight and tamper resistant, but still ANSI rated or better. I wonder if a drill driver with some impact action would have had better luck getting that fastener out. He is lucky the head didn't break off.
 
Scott Smith said:
Judging from the photo, his bits were the cheapest of the cheap at Harbor Freight and tamper resistant, but still ANSI rated or better. I wonder if a drill driver with some impact action would have had better luck getting that fastener out. He is lucky the head didn't break off.
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Would have just snapped faster
 
LMichaels said:
BTW odds are you will find no joy at HF trying to get that tool replaced. Their so called warranty has more "gotchas" than a Philadelphia Lawyer
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I found that out when I went to HF to exchange a brand new pump sprayer that didn't work out of the box. I eventually left with a new replacement...but boy was the employee bewildered by the entire return/ exchange process. HF used to be a resource for those tools that you need for a one off project or use infrequently and honestly, I've had good experience with their pneumatic tools and even their small compressors. But they are not the bargain bonanza tool retailer they used to be and I've found buying used from FBMP or factory reconditioned power tools a far better proposition.
 
I have replaced Pittsburgh ratchets at HF with no problem. They just say go grab one of the shelf and bring it back up to the check out. Which I do and walked out with a new one. No questions asked.

I agree, Pittsburgh is not the top of the line stuff, but in the right situation, it is a big money saver usually. Using the security bits for regular jobs might have contributed to the problem as well. It probably should have worked OK, but it was not really the right tool for the job.

As far as the Icons and other higher end brands at HF, I agree they are much higher quality, but also, very much higher priced. For some jobs and some people, that is key. If I made $250K a year, I would never step inside a HF. But, I don't, so for me HF is an option in a lot of instances.

I am on a couple tool and automotive forums (much less active than this one) and Knipix is always very highly regarded. Same with Doyle. I think both of those brands are up there with the Snap-ons and other top line tools. But, I think they stick to mostly hand tools and probably why they are so good at making them.

As for using an impact wrench on the bolt in question, one thing to consider is that while it will give you the power to unstick most bolts, it also has the power to either strip out the head or even shear the bolt off completely as well. You have to be very carefully if trying an impact. I use an impact to remove the frozen bolts holding the slide rails in on the bottom of cookbox. They are great at breaking up the corrosion that locks them into the aluminum cook box. However, if they are frozen to bad and you are not careful, it will twist the bolt right off. The heads of the bolts usually are not in too bad of shape, so using a good six point 5/16" socket will prevent the head from getting rounded off. I get a large percentage of those bolts out without any kind of penetrating oil by using my impact. I am too impatient.
 
The Knipex doesn't do anything that an old school Vice Grip wouldn't do, it just does it more elegantly. That's why I haven't splurged on a pair yet.
 
Scott Smith said:
He could lose or trash the tools. I'd be worried about that tool quilt.
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The tools were placed on the bed in the spare bedroom for a photo shoot and the Knipexs were then laid-to-rest in the pictured toolbox. Thus; no worry!
 

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Mike - LA said:
And when they offered claw hammers at one time they were made by Vaughan & Bushnell for Channellock.
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My grandfather had a few. I used a Vaughan rig builders axe when I was a residential carpenter for my everyday hammer, love that thing still have it.
www.vaughanmfg.com

RB 28 oz Rig Builders Hatchet

RB Rig Builders Hatchet, Full polished head. Extra large milled face. 3-1/2" blade. Select, hickory handle. A truly professional tool designed for heavy construction.
www.vaughanmfg.com
 
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timothy said:
My grandfather had a few. I used a Vaughan rig builders axe when I was a residential carpenter for my everyday hammer, love that thing still have it.
www.vaughanmfg.com

RB 28 oz Rig Builders Hatchet

RB Rig Builders Hatchet, Full polished head. Extra large milled face. 3-1/2" blade. Select, hickory handle. A truly professional tool designed for heavy construction.
www.vaughanmfg.com
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Thanks for the link.

Here is a page from the Vaughan website:

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