IRWIN QUICK-GRIP Bar Clamps: amzn.to/42r2FGB RWIN Tools VISE-GRIP Pliers: amzn.to/41mjPEB IRWIN Marples Forstner Bit Set: amzn.to/3Lzl8Km Fiskars Heavy Duty Die Cast, Exacto: amzn.to/3HGyfs0 X-ACTO #2 Knife: amzn.to/426Zcxg Adam's Temporary Tattoo: tested-store.com/products/adam-savages-temporary-ruler-tattoo With thanks to Tested members Christopher DiNunno Jr, George Farren, DGMA, Austin B and John England, for questions and support! Disclaimer: Tested may earn an affiliate commission when you buy through the links here.

my addition to this list, a vise. it's incredibly useful to be able to securely hold something while working on it

In case anyone else was wondering, the mat knife is the SDI GZ-GB GLANZ Extreme Cutter. It's also available from the same manufacturer (SDI Corporation) as model SDI 3006C.

One of the greatest (and little-known) things about Quick-Grip clamps is... you can reverse them, and turn them from squeezers to stretchers. SO USEFUL sometimes, and I don't know of anything else that does this.

I use forstner bits a lot in my shop, I highly recommend hex shank ones over round shank. Less slip and easier to quickly swap in/out.

For those wondering about improvements to his tattoo a while ago he mentioned that he should have had it start a exact distance from one of his finger tips so that he could have a longer ruler built in

1:40 Another KZfaqr showed a fantastic use for speed clamps, by using them for mixing the paint in those tiny tins of paint, that are made for model makers. He grabbed one of the smallest size speed clamps and screwed it into a jigsaw, where the blade normally goes. Then he clamped the paint tin into place and turned on the jigsaw for a few seconds. The paint was mixed! I was able to re-mix paint that had been sitting there for over a year. I just had to mix it for a longer time. I like to tape the tin in place, just to be sure. Also, it doesn't work for the little glass jars, because they'll just fly out and make a mess.

The Vise-Grip (TM) was invented in the US by William S. Peterson in 1924. They were later invented again (independently) by Thomas Couchrie in the UK, whose patent was granted in 1955 and became known as Mole Grips because they were made by Mole and Sons.

I can attest to the Erwin vice grips. I worked in a underground coal mine for a few years. Every miner carried a pair and a adjustable wrench. Those tools where put through hell and back on a daily basis and very rarely would you'd ever see the vice grips fail.

I seem to recall you once mentioning that you were very mildly upset that the distance from the end of the ruler to the tip of your middle finger was not a nice even number, and you had thought of placement only after you got the tattoo done. So, those of you out there thinking about getting this sort of tat done, keep this in mind.

It's funny to hear you say a Forstner bit is a tool you have to be told about. I still remember when I was told about them. They weren't in my dad's tool collection and I was a teenager when a friend of mine (who is now an awesome woodworker) had moved away and he had found a woodworking mentor who introduced him to the Forstner bit. He was so excited to call me up and tell me about them and thne to show them to me the next time I visited.

Adam commented earlier, that the ruler was placed on his arm without reference to anything else. He said that if he had to do it over, he would place it exactly a certain distance from end of his middle finger, effectively lengthening the ruler.

Mr. Irwin invented the Twist Drill. In fairly recent times, his cimpany took over the Petersen Mfg. Co. Petersen invented Vise Grips.

Someone may have already said this but I think that the two styles of Forstner bits mentioned are for different applications. The smooth edge ones are for side grain because they cut the fibers like a knife, reducing tear out. The serrated ones are for end grain because the teeth act like little chisels, scooping out material more efficiently.

I used to live near DeWitt, Nebraska, where vice grips were originally manufactured. They had a store there where you could pick up factory seconds that had small cosmetic defects but worked fine. U.S. made vice grips are stamped with DeWitt, NE on the side of them.

An ACCURATE Square is a must for anyone- beginner or not.

Hi Adam, do you check the 'calibration' of your forearm ruler every so often and if so has it changed at all as your skin ages and changes? Or has it stayed fairly accurate?

Every modeler needs a set of stainlesss steel rulers. Some should have a no slip grippy side to act as a hobby knife cutting guide. A vernier caliper is also handy for ultra precise depth and thickness reading. You can get better, faster results with a dial vernier caliper.

I TOTALLY concur on the Forstner bits. I have precious few tools, but I bought that set of Irwin Forstner bits early on for a specific project, and boy am I glad I did.

I went years without having the quick release bar clamps and now use them for practically every project. I have no idea why it took me so long, maybe because I didn't know how much use they would get. For small items a set of 6" and 4 1/2" clamps work well. They are surprisingly good at holding odd shaped or round objects. For painting, an airbrush and quiet compressor is a giant leap forward. Finally, a set of long hex bits and ratchet screwdriver is life changing compared to using Allen keys.

Totally agree on the clamps, you can never have enough!

Having some sort of bench vise is really helpful. Mine is just a cheapo 3" jaw Irwin stuck to my computer desk but I use it almost every day (even if sometimes that use is holding incense sticks).

I bought both the large and small (depicted) versions of that Japanese box cutter based on one of your previous videos (2 years ago maybe?) and I absolutely LOVE both of them. Having used them for 2 years, I'm pretty sure the supply of blades I bought will last the rest of my lifetime - those blades do not go dull all that easily.

I had the same experience with forstener bits. I did not know of them. I had some work on some furniture at home and I had no idea how to cut a hole in a decent way. My father had a set of these and told me to use them. I'll invest some time in a set as I also have a hobby lathe and it would be really useful to make holes in round objects :D

Easily one of the best channels on YT.

The deep personal knowledge that’s necessary to view exposure to deep institutional knowledge as sympathetic magic is profound to me. It’s the pure embodiment of Arthur C. Clarke’s third law, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." The way you tossed that phrase into your description of your experience, Adam, is enlightening.

Schollhorn/Bernard/Sargent parallel-jaw pliers with side cutter! (They were part of the WWII machine gun tool kit, as well as a fisherman's friend.) 4.5" to 8.5" depending on your need.

My goto knife, and I've used and acquired many... From solid single piece surgical scalpels 50 years ago, model making as a child, to hand made Damascus Steel Japanese Marking knives... My Luthier's knife, that I made myself as a Luthiery student nearly 40 years ago, a traditional straight rake angle, cutting edge, but a flatter, tapered, very non traditional handle (traditionally a straight oval section) that just fits my hand perfectly 😂 even flares, and chamfers to the end where my ring and little fingers naturally curl. Interesting that we both mention handles, I once used a borrowed planishing hammer that had finger grooves worn into it... That little bit of hardwood, and polished steel was probably a hundred years old, and billions of hours of work old! (and yes it was comfortable... That's why it'd survived, my ancient hand worn crafts tools, and hammer handle preservation society is still in it's inception 🤣) PS I have an Arkansas stone that I went to turn in it's box... the other side was worn down by a hundred years of sharpening a curved blade, I imagine by a leatherworker: harness making, cobbling. How long does it take to wear a piece of natural quartz more than halfway through?!!!!!

Recently had this discussion with a friend/maker. Would you rather start with a set or screw drivers or a single handle with different bits?

For forstner bits, Fisch is my favorite brand. They're pricey, but they cut cleaner and faster than other brands I've used. They have a "wave" pattern rather than sawtooth serrations. But I think the big thing is that they come well sharpened. My other bits needed a lot of sharpening before they would cut well.

This is awesome ! Thanks Adam !!

Agree with you here on Irwin, accessible in many shops, good warranty, well made, easily identfiable with the blue and yellow. Thye purchased lots of old english tool companies, notably Record, so still have access to their knowledge and skills. Overlooked by many on youtube. For screwdrivers and allen keys etc, its hard to beat Wiha, as they still stamp their tools for the ISO standard they meet, many dont.

Beginner Tool Kit: - Screwdrivers (flat in a couple sizes, phillips in #0, #1, #2, and #3, robertson in #1, #2, #3) - Pliers (needle, side cutters, linemans, slip joint aka channellocks, wire cutter/strippers, combo, vise grip or two) - Hammers (ball peen, framing/claw, rubber mallet) - Combo wrenches (or an adjustable, or even better knipex pliers wrenches) - Small socket set (1/4" and 3/8" drive in metric and standard) - Prybar, Chisel - Level, Square, Tape Measure, Marking tools - Multimeter - Files (a course/fine flat file at least) - SAFETY EQUIPMENT - gloves, eyes, ears, and breathing protection at minimum Then separately add in a drill and impact driver with the necessary bits. Go watch my tool bag tour video, I put together a single bag of tools I can grab when I'm going somewhere and have all the basics.

Swap Meets are great for cheap quality tools for beginners. Have a feel of them, you'll be able to tell if it's quality, and if they lasted this long, they'll last twice as longer. My favourite pliers are still ones I inherited from my Dad he bought at a swap meet.

Highly recommend Irwin. My whole toolbox is blue and yellow at this point. The Irwin combination square is great, the chisels a really nice, and their pliers are obviously fantastic. (Maybe stay away from their tape measure)

god I love that someone tried to rope him into nonsense macho EDC pocket knife culture and he just responded with two X-actos and a matte knife

It’s not the mountain top. It’s the climb. Adam, your passion is in the learning of “It”, not in the achievement or the mastery of “It”. That is what makes you a…. Master. (but, you already knew that)

I have learned so much from Adam about little tool tips which make my life so much easier. But I don’t think I have touched my other types of hole bits since he showed me the wonders of Forsner bits.

I’ve used several types of forstner bits at work. I can highly recommend the twist drills and especially the hex shank forstner bits from FAMAG (Germany), they are expensive but they are the Ferrari of Forster bits. They cut through material like butter.

I will second the quick clamps. Being able to operate a clamp one-handed can’t be undersold. Especially starting out when you’re working solo. So many times, I have lined up a joint (woodworking) only to realize I needed to clamp it but now I can’t let it go. Quick clamps are clutch.

It depends on what you are working on. I can't live without a digital caliper for sure.

Tweezers, clothespins, qtips, tweezers, resin mixing cups (tiny plastic shot glass glasses for paint), gloves, alligator modeling clamps on a stick, plastic bowls to separate pieces by paint color you’ll be doing, razors/exacto knife and a cutting mat. That would be my shopping list at first

I got a set of forstner bits after seeing them used on this channel. Had never come across them before. Proved to be really useful for all the new doors I fitted.

I feel like a good pair of compound action cutters, like aviation snips or heave duty shears is another must have. Cuts anything up to steel. Big time saver.

That puppet build video was instrumental for me to start building an Owl puppet for a DnD campaign I'm in. I reverse engineered and taught myself a lot of stuff about puppet building by using that video as a reference and branching off from there. Still working on it since I ran into some problems with making an owl beak operate properly but it's coming along nicely and it's been fun figuring out the process. When this one is finally finished I could probably make the next puppet much quicker with all the experience I have haha.

Mr. AdaM Savagé. I'm rebuilding my 3x6m garage/workshop/"secret" makers space(my wife thinks I'm doing "house improvement" things there...😅... but it's about 30% of what I'm doing). BT earphones and youre AST in the background is making my day and work fly past. Thanks for two decades of inspiration and therapy...😊

Fiskers & Olfa Cutters/Knives. Machinist 1 2 3 Set up Blocks. Machinist Squares. 4 1/2" metal Trim Square. Dremel Tool. Tungsten Scribers. Headband LED lights & Magnifiers. Metal T Square with Pencil Scribe Holes. Welding Magnetic Angle Squares. Adjustable Slding combo Steel Squares (small & Large). Engraver Heat Gun Calipers Solder Kit Jewelers File & Machinist file sets Hemostats various lengths and jaw types Hand Sanding Blocks Side cutters of various types (Spring Open and Lock Close) Needle Nose Pliers of various types (Spring Open and Lock Close) Miniature Needle Nose Vise Grips and of course Mallets of different types.

I also have the Fiskars knife and I love it. But I also use the Olfa SAC-1 9mm blade snapper with 30 degree blades and they are really great.

I loved to see him running around going "oh you got to see this" and "oh, wait, it's actually over here"!

I am by no means a I master at anything but as a welder I’ve found instead of carrying several screwdrivers I use a bit driver from Klein (14-1) but there are many good manufacturers but still it has an organization system in the handle for bits and adjusts from a short shank to long shank and has served me well in the last year of using it just a suggestion.

Thank you Adam for the inspiration. In many ways, you are the muse that at one time made me into making things. And I'm sure I'm not the only one. You are to a certain extent responsible for generations of makers.

"You can not have too many clamps," the man is stealing my lines lol

Don't forget a good set of quality files is extremely valuable!

I've been experimenting with a similar tattoo design, using a temporary one applied using a stencil cut out on my vinyl cutter and a set of those henna-style skin-safe markers. The inch portion has the first inch laid out as eifht sixteenth-inch-wide boxes, the second as four eighth-inch boxes, and so on, and the boxes in each half-inch are colored in contrasts. (The centimeters are just halves.) So it winds up a four-color design: red and brown for the contrasting fills, black for outlines, and uncolored flesh. I'm not sure i use it enough to get it applied permanently, and there are some refinements I want to make, but it's been entertaining.

Irwin did not invent Vise Grips but they bought the original design rather than rip it off. I also like their bar clamps, including the minis, and the big honkers. The originals with the yellow pads are, in my opinion a little nicer than the new ones. I'll add two of my own, the Kant-twist clamps, I saw you using them and had to buy some of my own, even though I mainly do wood work. One more? Manfrotto/Bogen/Matthews Super Clamps. Great for grip work, I've also borrowed them from my grip kit when I run out of C-clamps.

I'm a professional woodworker and those Irwin quick clamps are still my go-to clamp (the ones with the 2 tonne clamping pressure though, not the ones you showed) for just about everything except panel glue ups.

As an alternative for X-Acto knifes I recommend getting yourself medical scalpel holders (their sizes are numbered e.g. size 2) and a pack of 100 sterilized blades for below 20 bucks (blade shapes are numbered as well, straight ones would be Nr. 11). The medical holders have a snap in mechanism that uses the hole in the back of the blade and the springiness of the blade itself to fix it. This is in my experience more reliable than any turn-to-fix holder I ever had.

Yes!! Someone had to tell me about forstner bits! I had to inset some large diameter discs into some wooden posts and the forstner bit came to the rescue after someone recommended it to me! Saved masses of work!

After you buy a cheapie set to get you going I recommend spending the money on Timberline (amana) carbide forstner bits, not only do they stay sharp longer but you get a cleaner cut, they have deepngullets that remove chips faster IMO, and you will get ALOT more sharpenings out of them especially if you send them out and the carbide can also be repaired!

Forstner bits are also good for doing quick and dirty mortises. You can then either square up the hole using a chisel, or round the tenons.

Channellocks, pocket knife, crescent wrench, pocket flathead screw driver, big long flathead screw driver, hammer, breaker bar, a cheap 1/4 ratchet set, and needle nose pliers. Those have basicly carried me threw everything from small hobby crafts threw servicing diesel trucks until i could afford better. its amazing what simple hand tools and a bit of creativity can do.

"I wanted to walk down the path of that institutional knowledge. That's the kind of sympathetic magic I like to engage in when I'm replicating something like that." I've felt the same way about some programming projects I've seen, though I've never been able to articulate it as well as you did. I'll be borrowing this!

Knipex pliers are a good balance of quality/cost. They are fairly expensive, but less than the tool truck and very well made.

I'll put in a plug for Olfa craft knives as an alternative to Fiskars and Exacto. Excellent quality and a variety of blades.

The Irwin quick clamps are great - you can also swap ends and turn them into spreaders, which come in handy occasionally.

funny about a month before this I needed to buy two 12 inch speed clamps for an XPS foam project my first ones and it eliminated any stress of my glued pieces having air gaps between or being uneven.

YES, quality topic and video but I love these sit down QnAs!!!!

This is really timely for me. I'm trying to set up a maker classroom. Do you have a general workshop basic safety video made or planned?

What (quality) tools to pick to begin creating a toolkit... that's a tough one, but now that I think about it: I'd start with patience, ingenuity and not just learning how to use (and not abuse) your tools, but also understanding WHY and HOW a tool works for you. I think your mind is the greatest tool at your disposal, and a great mind can bring the most intricate designs to live, even with a very limited set of tools.

6” f style clamps are my go to for random clamping. HF has good ones for cheap

My must have for making Long Nose Players, good right angle, a set of drills/forstner bits, hammer, Good Side Cutters, Good Caliper and Ruler, Good Method of cutting for what you want to do.

Also Garltrol Miter Shears. Absolutely love em!

I learned how to do mortise with forstner bits, a drill and a chisel lol. I have used the cheap ones from Amazon I bought years ago, they work just fine

Quality tools everyone needs depends highly on what you're making. As a beginner get 1 or 2 full tool boxes from garage sales. Then find what tool you use the most and upgrade it.

In a previous video you said you would adjust the tattoo so you could take a measurement from the tip of your longfinger (for longer measurements)

The fact that I have the same Fiskars xacto knife make me feel good. Only complaint is it tends to loosen up quickly, I wish someone would machine one with a locking mechanism.

You should sell plans for some of your more popular builds. I think they would sell well. You could sell printed plans - or digital documents for the buyer to print out themselves.

The thing to remember about tools is that they do wear out and sometimes break, and the often get misplaced. NEVER loan your good tools to others. Some cheap tools are handy. I have a few cheap combination wrenches that I needed to heat and bend for a specific task which i wouldn't do to snap-on wrenches.

I personally think a good bit driver set is better then dedicated screw drivers. Far more versatile and can be expanded over time. While I like the Irwin quick clamps, I am also really happy with Bremen from Harbor Freight. Forstner bits are really darn handy. The best I've tried is from Freud.

First time with forstner bits was high school wood sho: oak pendulum clocks. We couldn’t get longer shaft clock motors for some reason, so we had to halve the thickness of the clock faces after they were mostly done. So first we tried to cheat it with the biggest bit we had (I think it was 3 inches) in the drill press. And it almost immediately began overheating and burning the wood more than cutting into it. The teacher and his boss, rather than going, “no we need to use a smaller bit” went, “grab a jar and fill it with water from the sink” They’d go until the bit started overheating, then dip it in the water to cool it down. (No we did not have cutting oil). A day, and several near fires later, “there’s the 1/2 inch bit, just use this and make a bunch of holes up and down and across until the motor fits. Mind you this was also the wood shop where I knew more about the jig saw than the teacher, and the band saw blade looked like it came in on the Titanic, and finally snapped when I was using it “Okay, we’ll replace the blade tomorrow, just go do something else on your project.” (Aka, they didn’t have a new blade at all.) They also didn’t teach how to move long planks with other people around when we were building poplar tables, we all learned to duck or arm block very fast. This ineptness made me opt for a tapered leg table over a turned leg, the wood lathe was a horror show and I didn’t want anything to do with it.

I love my irwin speed clamps i have about 10 of each size especially the snall ones i have 20 of those for making and building my balsa rc scale airplanes so much fun to build and fly i been building rc olanes since i was 10 and im now 32. And i think every hobby maker or builder and even professionals have tons and tons of exacto knofe handles. Its like its a collection that jsut appears very quickly. And scalpels are my fav go to for working with balsa and trimming and cutting balsa wood gives me a nice clean razor straight edge on the balsa cut side

I'm still surprised that Adam hasn't tried (well, I've never heard him mention it at least) surgical handles and blades instead of Xacto ones. What I like about the surgical kind is that they come in all sorts of weird shapes and sizes (including the classic #10), and the biggest reason, they.do.not.move. Once they're clicked into the handle, they stay there. With those round twisty handles I find that they constantly get pulled out or move side to side when cutting through thicker "grabby" stuff like rubber. I use both the more classic flat handles but also round no-name ones that I've cut down to make shorter. I guess one downside is that blade replacement isn't easily done with just your fingers. It can be done, but I wouldn't recommend it (too easy to slip and ruin your day). They sell cheap little disposable boxes that help you pull the blade off the handle and retain the used blades in the box. Or you can just use a pair of pliers.

I know I’m a little late to this discussion, but have (2) 12’ tape measures. For most projects, 12’ is more than enough. They’re lighter and work just as well as a 30’; And you can get 2 for the price of 1 so when you misplace the one you used to measure the piece you just cut, you can get the other and keep working.

I tend to buy tools when I find a good price (employee discount working at Sears long ago, back when they owned Craftsman filled out a lot of the basics for me), or when I need them. I've picked up a number of tools over the years that I was excited to give to other people because it had become clear I'd never use it and it both meant I got to give something to someone and I didn't waste that money, both of which are always good feelings.

Great video sir thanks

Amana Router/CNC bits. Expensive as hell but GOAT Woodworking bits.

Hi Adam, you might want to use your own appearance as a model for a Henson muppet. No disrespect intended, au contrere, but spiked white hair, small goatee, thick black rimmed glasses and continuously moving around. You’d make for a splendid puppet 😎

First I want to say thank you for making my childhood and science in general awesome and fun. Second I want to ask, what is a maker and what should you be able to do to consider yourself an accomplished maker?

I have broken 4 of those Irwin Quik-Grips. They're just not that heavy duty. I suggest clutch style steel bar clamps for something much more durable for the same use.

Adam did say previously that he wished he had aligned the tattoo so that he could expand a measure from his fingertip. I would have expected him to mention that about what he would change.

I absolutely love my Irwin Wire Strippers

Fisch Black Shark Forstner bits are worth the premium. They are amazing. I spent way too much money on the lesser bits, and the Fisch bits can be sharpened.

yup, Petersen Manufacturing company, INC. DeWitt, Ne. (formed in 1934) the original maker and patent holder (Bill Petersen, 1924) of the Vise-Grip morphed into the American Tool Companies in 1984, they bought Irwin in 1993, and didn't consolidate under the Irwin brand until 2003, after being bought by Newell Brands.

Just get everything! You will use some stuff all the time, some of the stuff some of the time, and a couple of things once... but it's always worth picking up anything you see that could be handy. Tools are like gold, IMO, get as much as you can! 😀

A good tapered reamer is one of the most underrated tools in my bench kit.

Clamps. Don't forget the all important pipe clamps! What's the difference between a 3' clamp and a 8 ft clamp? A bit of pipe. Get a few cheap sets of pipe clamps, some 1/2" or 3/4" emt conduit in place of expensive black iron. You can use those pipe claps for ANYTHING. Need a soft touch on a part? Soak some squares of particle board until it gets spongey, drill a pipe size hole in the middle and wait for them to dry. If there's a veneer, you'll need to remove it. (easier to remove after soaking) Install the now spongey particle boards inside the clamps on the pipe. My grandfather used this method for his main vice, when working on delicate instrument parts or soft materials. There are soft woods and synthetics that do the job as well, but particle board scraps are usually abundant and cheap.

I have had a pair of Irwin quick clamps, exactly like the ones Adam has, for over a decade. Decade. I have used them for so many home repairs, craft projects, random bits, that I have lost count. Even if you're not a maker, they are useful. Get a set.

If you're a wood worker, then these two things punch waaay above their weight/price : A little Japanese crosscut pull saw, for about 20 dollars. And a Shinto rasp, for about 25 dollars.

You talk about institutional knowledge and I feel that respect for that is sorely missing in a lot of companies

Sadly Irwin has changed the Quick Grip clamps, making them bigger and clumsier than the originals. One of mine wore out after many years and I contacted Irwin for some new grip plates. They no longer have replacement parts but they sent me a new clamp. It's huge and unwieldy compare to the older one. Now I buy the older version at estate sales.