We are looking for the great tools that we can make and add to our shop.

If something happened to the one you have now, what is the one small hand tool, or small tool, that you would make again?

Just made a hollow fid, lost the original in a field. Not exactly a shop tool but I needed one to add the rope handles to my new tool bag.

My spring loaded swing arm fuller. The moving arm has a die spring on the pivot bolt and the moving arm extends a bit past the pivot so it can be spaced up with a tap on the extension and hold in position.  The spring also reduces stress on it when a student hits at an angle as the arm can deflect but comes back into alignment when the hammer's off it.

Do you have a pic of that Thomas

I'll try to get one this weekend.

Somewhat quotidian, perhaps, but the basic cutoff hardy is one of the most useful tools around. I've made half a dozen in the couple of years since I went back into the forge, and it seems like it gets used at least once on almost every project.

Less fancy than @ThomasPowers version, I do get a lot of use out of my spring fuller, too.

My pineapple twist square center punch, hand fuller, tong clips, and my bolster plate. I'm with JHCC with the hot cut hardy too, I would never hesitate making another one or 5 more hot cuts.

                                                                                                                                                                 Littleblacksmith 

my guillotine fuller hands down. 

This little gadget I came up with a while ago has been worth it's weight in gold and got me out of a lot of pickles.

https://youtu.be/YB58AsEy224

 

 

This is the anvil version.

That’s very clever. 

Is that an adjustable collaring jig? If so that’s really cool!!

1 hour ago, Dylan Sawicki said:

Is that an adjustable collaring jig? If so that’s really cool!!

That's what I made it to be, but I've used it for MANY other jobs like...straightening bars, putting gentle curves in bars, bending flar on edge (under fly press) making flat bar blades of grass wrap around round bar flower stems, cold pressing flat bar joggle overlapping joints.

It's as useful as you're imagination, especially when used with custom dies in a flypress. Here's the video link showing pressing the joggle bars for the well cover in attached pic. I hadn't yet welded on the "wings" to my flypress version of the tool in this video.

https://youtu.be/1ED2sG6JENM

Center punch, scribe,  cold chisel. A y of these