Readers Respond: We Want Your Opinion about World's Worst Tools

• Yankee Driver - Ineffectual precursor to the cordless drill.
• Magnetic Stud Finder - Weak magnet barely senses screws or nails embedded in drywall.
• Foam Painting Edgers - Smears the paint instead of brushes it on.
• Crescent Wrench - Loosens too easily.
• Channel Lock Wrench - Difficult to hold tight when turning.
• Off-Brand Vise Grip - Tends to spring apart at key moments.

Yankee, Cresent & Channel Lock

I disagree with this evaluation of these tools. The cheap ones don't cut it, a poorly made adjustable wrench works poorly. I prefer Crescent and a 12" one in my tool box has saved my bacon so many times I refuse to loan it to anybody. A pair of Channel locks can speed up assembly of small pipe and RF fittings because of the working motion of the tool but a cheap pair will end up biting the web of your hand. The Yankee is a specialized tool that requires lots of technique, I have different sizes and will say it's subjective on how valuable it is. When the need to use it arises I'm pleased it works as well & mine is almost 100 years old! I do have a mag bit extension so it uses the 1/4 hex. As far as drilling a push drill does work but once again, it come down to technique. Are they the best? in certain circumstances yes. I use these old workhorses & some that claim these don't work well are amazed how efficient they see my tools do a job. Best part is they don't need a charger to run!

—Guest Kevin

Response to Yankee Scree Driver

The negative response is abolutelu false. I've been using a Yankee for years and years and it has never failed me. If you know how to use it it is an excellent tool. I used it in wood and steel without a problem.

—cmmentz

Meh.. author is clueless

Lot of potential to have a funny article here about truly bad and useless tools. But channel locks and crescent wrenches? Seriously? If you're using channel locks or any kind of plier as a daily substitute to adjust bolts you're doing it wrong. Yes they will eventually strip. That's like saying a cordless driver is bad because it will split wood if you don't predrill. Duh!! Channel locks are great for pipe or just as a versatile 'grip awkward big tool'. Adjustable crescent wrenches are never as good as a proper fixed wrench, but you can carry two adjustables around with you. I have a full set of SAE/metric crescents but I wouldn't want to tote them.. I think foam edgers are pretty useless. Painters tape is much better..

—Guest Brian

Channelock Wrench

I think the Channelock wrench is a replacement for a conventional pipe wrench, or monkey wrench. It looks to me like the geometry would make it very effective in that role. After all, you see it in the ad being applied to a medium-diameter pipe, where it gets a big grip and can apply lots of torque. I have a basin wrench that uses a similar principle, and has no such adjustability. That wrench is ridiculously useful and effective; I'd give the channelock wrench a spot in my toolbag, no question.

—Guest elhigh

Channellocks??

Really? I carry 2 pair of them 100% at work. Fits 1/2" to 1 1/4" conduit compression fittings just fine. Each one takes the place of about 4 wrenches, not to mention they are perfect pipe reamers, decent hammers, and an incredible amount of smaller things. Yankee drivers are great for driving screws in quickly in panels. Compactand full control is great. Crescent wrenches? Pipe equivalent of channellocks.

—Guest Jeremy

Yankee driver

Concur with Wallender I have the genuine big Yankee driver with most of the bits. It will work, with a major effort, but the internal friction is high and the twisting force from normal effort quite small.

—marvinlee

Yankee Screwdriver

I know of a local builder who snapped his wrist with an 18v driver, ever hear of that happening with a Yankee? Like most tools, a GOOD Yankee works great.

—Guest Ken

Disagree

1: ever used a yankee driver correctly? they actually work, it's just that hand tools are harder to learn to use correctly than power tools. they are excellent for removing machine screws and such. plus, an 18v driver is overkill for most people. 2: magnetic stud finders do have some use-they can find a stud, providing nails are not buried too deeply. electronic finders are really cheap. so is a magnetic finder and something 18" long. or however long the distance between your studs are. 3: yeah, okay, won't disagree there. however, those cheap foam brushes that craft stores ell are perfect for edges. and wood stain. and small paint jobs. 4: the cresent wrench is a compromise. the slop allows it to work on gunked over nuts and bolts. it replaces a toolbag of wrenches. 5: do you mean water pump pliers? they have a dedicated use, hence the name. and they work amazinly well for their designed task. these are not a multipurpose tool. 6: off brand grips are perfect welding claps and such-sog

—Guest Discoman

Yankee Screwdriver

You don't know anyone who can use it? Either you don't know many people, or the ones you do know aren't very coordinated. The springless types are easier for most people to use, but those with springs aren't hard to use. Practice a bit, you'll see. Yes, they're old tools. Yes cordless drills exist. I guess I just like hand tools, but you're the first person I've ever heard that thought it was a useless tool.

—Guest Sam

magnetic stud finder

I have to disagree with you on the magnetic stud finder. If you've ever tried to use an electronic stud finder on a wall where there is even a *tiny* gap between drywall and stud, you'd know that it can render your fancy electronic version useless. Your options at that point are 1) a magnetic stud finder, or 2) a hammer and a finish nail followed by spackle and paint.

—Guest Alan

Crescent wrench

I work in Theater. The only mandatory tool on many job calls is a crescent wrench. When on a lighting call, especially, one can run into four different sizes of bolts on one fixture. It is unsafe to have an untethered tool working overhead. I'm sure you can see where this is going. One crescent wrench with a tether (http://www.toolsforstagecraft.com/n317.htm like the belt clip lanyard shown here) is the safest, quickest and most cost effective tool for the job. Yes, they can have some wiggle, and that flexibility is an asset in this case.

—Guest All In Black

they summed it up best..

http://toolmonger.com/2011/01/06/must-useless-tools-to-about-com-anyway/

—Guest Nick

I like Yankee Screwdrivers

I have done electrical and drywall work with a Stanley Yankee screwdiver since 1974. It is a great tool I've had no difficulties with it. In my shop I use it in preference to cordless wonders (I wonder how much longer this battery is going to last) to pneumatic drivers (work good, but you have to drag an air hose around), to a Milwalkee electric screwdriver (good for drywall only but you stilll have to drag a cord around and the cut out clutch is finikey). I'm not sure why anyone would have a bad experience with a good quality Yankee screwdiver. Maybe some folks just aren't coordinated.

—Guest WALT

They had their place.

Thirty years ago I watched an elderly gent who had spent his life building and repairing furniture. I watched him run in dozens of slotted screws with a yankee driver. Of course he had predrilled the holes accurately and to the appropriate thread, shank and countersink and lubed the screws with bee's wax. It took a little time, but it was graceful. Sure, an 18 volt cordless driver will run a drywall screw into anything, probably splitting it in the process, but there was a time when human powered tools had to use finesse, not just raw power. Maybe craftmanship wasn't better then, but we have substituted power for finess.

—Guest J Cunningham

Try using the tools again.

When I was young, I really didn't care for crescent wrenches or channel locks. Now that I'm grown and know how to use them properly, they are great! There is a proper direction that you are supposed to use Crescent wrenches AND also the Channellocks. The Channellocks are much weaker in one direction and will slip off the fastener much easier than they will in the other direction. Used in the proper direction and adjusted properly, they are quite strong! I work in industrial maintenance and they are the most used tools we carry. No, I wouldn't use them to rebuild an engine with; but for quick repairs on the go having a pair of Channellocks and a Crescent wrench on you can save a lot of time by eliminating the need to go back to the shop to get a socket set or combination wrench set and lug them to wherever your problem lies. Vice grips are very useful in certain circumstances too.

—Guest Randall