It's that time of year again! What great tools did you get (or give) this year?

I got a pair of insulated Klein wire-strippers and a new phillips to replace my old, worn-out one--a small gift that I'm sure will make everything a lot easier.

As a funny aside: My mother and aunt took a trip to Mexico. I got a picture frame as a gift, and in it there were tons of vacation pictures they had taken for me of the horrible electrical work!

-John

Not really a tool but i got a Carhartt hoodie, and i just thought they made overalls

quote"As a funny aside: My mother and aunt took a trip to Mexico. I got a picture frame as a gift, and in it there were tons of vacation pictures they had taken for me of the horrible electrical work! "

I was on a IAEI convention/ trip once to San Diego, and went on a day trip with 7 or 8 of Honolulu's inspectors to Mexico. It was rather hillarious listening to the comments on the stuff we saw just about everywhere.

On the "give" side, I thought about getting my wife a new table saw, 'cause we really need one. Thought better of it and settled on See's tho . . . .

Radar

Big John,

I share the photo's with you, how nice that they took some electrical piccies for you.
My wife usually complains about to many piccies taken while on holidays from cables, transformers and old meter panels so I haven't had an original present like that.

Tools of the trade,
For X-mas I got a nice variety of imported beers for after the job was done, great.
I like to buy my own tools because at least they will be good quality ones, I remember quite well, years and years ago i got a srewdriver set, not to bad quality but one day i was working on the car some petrol came on the plastic handle, guess waht happened

Not a Christmas gift but a recent purchase. Carlon dispenser for 250' coils of NM or MC cable. It comes with a bracket to hang it on a 2x4 stud and a bracket to set it on the floor. Either way I haven't been able to tangle the cable no matter which direction I'm pulling from. I had been using a Lazy Susan type reel dispenser I got from some company who advertised in CEE News 15 years ago. The Carlon works much better. Greenlee makes something very similar but the Carlon costs less than $50.00.

... Gave my guy a Leatherman for Christmas,..he was happy,.. he got his bonus as well,.. Glad that's all over with...
Russ

I got a "Chicago Electric Power Tools" 1" SDS Rotory Hammer (my step-daughter works at Horbor Freight).

I know this is not at Hilti or a Milwaukie, etc. but I hope it will do a few jobs at least.

I have a question about the "SDS" bits. Can an "SDS" drill use "SDS +" or SDS Max"?

I also received the complete works of "Calvin and Hobbes", I got the complete works of "Far Side" two years ago. Great stuff!

The wife bought me the 50 packs of yellow, red, and tan wire nuts as stocking stuffers. In addition, she bought me a few strips of the yellow switch & receptacle spacers. Told her she should've bought the 1000 pack!

She also got the the Ideal 6-in-1/wire nut screwdriver & stripper gift pack. She also bought me a Black & decker parts organizer box.

We couldn't afford the metal version so this'll have to do.

Merry Xmas all!

me and my brother got my dad (whom I work for) a brand new Ideal 61-096 meter for Christmas

There's a lot of good stuff to be had there. Might not be as durable, but it'll last nearly as long and cost half as much (or less).

As i am the boss i bought myself some racking for the back of my works van !!!

cost me over $1800.00, but boy was it worth it.

i can now find all the things i usally lose.

the kit comes form a company that is based in Australia called Global, the kit is fantastic, lots of storage for all your fixings, bins for receptacles and switchgear, a bench to work on and a lockable cabinate for paperwork,

took two days to sort the van out tho, and i still aint finished yet!!!!

bought the parents a digital camera and printer set up, so if they are out they can take photos of dodgy electrical works !!

Britspark

I prefer buying my own tools because hey, I know what I want. The only tool related gift for Christmas I got was from a close friend who knew exactly what I needed because I pointed it out to her last time we were shopping at the HD. She bought me a Ridgid 6 Gallon Wet/ Dry shop vac. It should look lovely in the my new van too :-)

My daughter was in China... she took pictures of the wiring also, it was kind of funny. Her friends laughed when she did it.

What a mess!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Got a few SDS masonry bits I needed for my new Bosch rotary hammer.

Got another pair of Timberland boots for work.

I never thought I'd be saying this, but....I can't wait for my next crawl-space job.
Why? Because I got a pair of Skillers pants- the ones with the slip-in knee pads.

Heck, even if I never use the pads, the arrangement of pockets/ tool slots looks mighty promising!

Shock Me; The wife got me the same vac. Plus I used the HD gift cards I got on a Stanley laser plumb bob. The only vertical beam units I had seen were $200, the Stanley was $90. No more shakey tape measures on the ladder.

I got one of the simplest, yet most useful things I've had as a Xmas gift in some years.
My father bought me a large format diary, it's like one of them Filofax's but about the size of an A4 sheet of paper.
I have a lot of things to write down in the course of a days work and knowing what day I wrote it on, will be a bonus.
Saves writing on everything else in sight.

No, sorry. My Bosch uses SDS-Max.

Well, it was a few days after Christmas but I did get something really cool. A new pick-up. I had bought a new 04 Chevy 2500HD 4x4 a year ago last October and it never gave me a problem other than getting lousy gas mileage. Fuel costs have been killing me! I have 4 churches going right now and they are all 100+ miles away. I've been staying at the local Motel 6 thru the weeks but at 10 mpg. gasoline has been costing me $300-400 per month. I took advantage of Chevy's Red Tag promo and traded for a 2006 1500HD 4x4 with the 4800 V8, 3:42 rear end with the trailer towing and snow plow packages. A fellow sparky bought one just like it in October and claims to get 18mpg on the hiway. I'll be thrilled with 15mpg!

I didn't get any hand-tools, but I did get some great clothing.

I asked for some insulated bibs and lo and behold, santa brought me some Insulated Dickies bibs that are waterproof. I like not having to bundle all those clothes on anymore to work outside.

Also got some long-sleeve shirts for work and a new staple gun. The staple gun shoots staples or brads. Nice gifts.

I got a nice 5/8" Hitachi hammer drill for christmas, will come in handy

Bought myself a 18V DeWalt cordless grinder on........eBay!!

Got a B & D 6v drill/driver with Big Orange gift card. Definately looking at the Skiller pants.

... Just bought myself a real nifty book..it's called "The Lineman's and Cableman's Handbook". A PoCo guy told me about it and recommended it as I was picking his brain with questions relating to the "bigger stuff" and transformers and whatnot...Really informative book, tho' obviously intended for those in that capacity of electricity..I just wanted to "see" how the other half lived I guess,..."Very interesting" as Arte Johnson from "Laugh-In" would have said..
Russ




[This message has been edited by Attic Rat (edited 12-31-2005).]