1) 3M 3939 Duct Tape - $0.50 a roll, 2) Eklind T-handle hex sets

[Chris_B]

$0.50 a roll at www.weldwarehouse.com. Scroll part way down this link.
Their site truly sucks, but the this is a terrific deal if you want to stock up on high-quality tape. This is a *lot* better than the bargain-basement stuff available at the usual suspects. Here is the 3M data sheet.



Shipping is $8.95 for at least 10 rolls, probably more. I know this from personal experience.

They also are selling an excellent Eklind SAE ball-point T-handle hex set for $33.49 (the reason I found their site). The metric set is $25.98. These are not a *screaming* deals (37% off list), but Eklind tools are very high quality.
My experience with the knock-off hex sets is that they are softer steel than most fasteners.

[sweensdv]

That is a good price on the duct tape even though it's less than an inch wide. I've always just used the 2" wide stuff which a lot of times ends up being overkill.

[LCHIEN]

Its a sick, sick man (excluding an HVAC repair man) that buys duct tape 10 rolls at a time. Or Red Green, maybe.

And I have to admit, I got my T-handle (color coded at that) metric and inch ball-end hex sets at HF when they were on sale for $5 a set including a base. so far pretty happy with them.

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalog...handle+hex+set

Anyone notice how HF's website is so much better now esp. for searches?

[Chris_B]

Its a sick, sick man that buys duct tape 10 rolls at a time

Guilty as charged. But for $5 I now have a lifetime supply, which also doubles as a stock of lovely white elephant gifts.

I got my T-handle metric and inch ball-end hex sets at HF for $5 a set including a base. so far pretty happy with them.

I'm glad those are working for you, but my HF set has not done well with stainless fasteners (and is not ball-end either).
OTOH, maybe I just over-tighten everything.

FWIW, the Eklind stuff is all made in the US.

[LCHIEN]

Guilty as charged. But for $5 I now have a lifetime supply, which also doubles as a stock of lovely white elephant gifts.


I'm glad those are working for you, but my HF set has not done well with stainless fasteners (and is not ball-end either).
OTOH, maybe I just over-tighten everything.

FWIW, the Eklind stuff is all made in the US.

I'm sure they're better, maybe 5-6 times better. Fortunately I don't encounter too many highly torqued stainless steel hex socket allen screws around my house.

[sweensdv]

The smaller sized wrenches on those HF sets have not held up well at all for me. As they have rounded over I've replaced individual sizes with better quality ones.

[Chris_B]

I don't encounter too many highly torqued stainless steel hex socket allen screws around my house.

I was joking about over-torque, but we have a terrific local source (Olander) for stainless fasteners that is usually only about 2x the cost of zinc at the BORG. As a result, I actually use stainless quite often, and several of my cheap hex drivers are basically worn out. I also really like the ball-head drivers, but suspect those are especially sensitive to wear.

[LCHIEN]

I'll agree that the ball heads will wear out much faster since the load is on a much smaller area. Also the classic Allen wrench trick is to grind down the end when it becomes worn and then you have a new wrench... you can't do that with the ball ends (except to convert them to normal square ends) or with most wrenches and screwdrivers.