With Christmas, Hanukkah, the winter solstice, and various other holidays approaching, we thought it’s about time to present to you our 2009 top-10 holiday gift guide. These are our 10 most recommended gift ideas, presented in no particular order.
Many of these items are widely available at many online stores and local retailers. The following links are to either the respective product pages on Amazon, or to past ToolGuyd posts where the tools were discussed in more detail.
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Leatherman multitools make excellent gifts for any occasion! Leatherman’s Wave is no exception, and can also be easily engraved for an extra special gift. For those on a tighter budget, the less featured Skeletool is still quite robust but is a bit easier on the wallet.
PB Swiss’s Tool Set for Him (or Her), are also at the top of our recommendations list. These sets offer a good selection of interchangeable bits that are well suited for most common driving tasks. If these sets are a little over your budget, take a look at the thriftier 10-piece roll-up set.
Xuron pliers and cutters. For hobbyists, professionals, electronics tinkerers, jewelry makers, crafters, and everyone else. Made in the USA! Can you tell that we’re a huge fan of Xuron tools?
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Streamlight Stylus Pro, because everyone needs at least one reliable carryable flashlight.
Beta’s five-section cantilever tool box, mostly because one can never have enough tool boxes, and this tool box is quite a bargain, especially for a Beta product.
Kershaw’s E.T. Knife is one of the most unique looking pocket knives that we’ve ever seen, and is at the top of our own wish list. We’ve been using a Kerhsaw Onion for a few months now, and it is an absolutely fantastic knife. Neither of these are exactly “beginner” knives, though.
Rockwell’s Jawhorse is also on our top-10 list, personal wishlists, and apparently at the top of Amazon’s Bestsellers list. Try one out in person and you’ll surely see why as it’s easy to use, and is a very effective workpiece clamp. (product link via Amazon)
The venerable Pocket Ref offers 768 pages of information and know-how. This really isn’t a gift idea as much as it should be required reading.
Knipex Pliers-Wrench is a hybrid adjustable wrench with parallel pliers jaws that trumps all other adjustable wrench tools.
16-Foot Big Johnson – We’re in the process of reviewing one, and have to say, it is fantastic!
uthscsaedu
the knipex pliers wrench is indeed great. However, I think if I could do it over again, I would get the self-adjusting ones. The push button was kind of a pain to use recently.
Stuart
Self-adjusting Knipex pliers wrenches? I didn’t know those existed, or are you referring to a different brand?
uthscsaedu
I think you’re right. I did a limited search from my phone and couldn’t find them. I thought I had seen them somewhere, maybe aktools. I guess I assumed (incorrectly) that since the Cobra line has it, that handle option would also be available for the pliers wrench.
Knipex Auto-Adjusting Cobra Pliers
uthscsaedu
two other things I forgot
1) I think it was mentioned previously on Toolguyd – if the Knipex is out of your budget, Channellock has a ‘similar’ style of smooth jaw pliers
2) Knipex has a fairly new size of the pliers wrench – 5″ – very very tiny and cute!
Stuart
You have a good memory, we did briefly mentioned Channellock’s smooth jawed pliers a few months ago. As you can see from the tool’s image on Amazon, it does not offer the same mechanical advantage as Knipex’s pliers wrenches do.
I do greatly appreciate the pair of smooth-jaw Channellocks that I occasionally use, but this really isn’t a fair comparison. If the Knipex weren’t three times the price, or I had a greater demand for their use, I’d buy them in a heartbeat.
uthscsaedu
I’m surprised that the Black and Decker Ready Wrench is not on this list LOL. As Toolguyd predicted, it’s the #1 bestseller in Amazon’s “Home Improvement” section!
Also, who are all these rich people buying the Rockwell Jawhorse to get it on the best sellers list???
Stuart
Well, this is our top-10 gift guide of tools that we would suggest and even recommend as gifts. That’s not to say that the ReadyWrench isn’t a good gift idea or isn’t flying off of store and online distributor’s shelves.
As for the Jawhorse, I will likely purchase one in a week or so once I am able to redeem my credit card reward points for an Amazon gift certificate. It’s #2 on the most gifted tool list, and #5 on the bestsellers list. It sure is very costly, but its utility seems to be unmatched by any other product of its kind.