Weird Tools You’ve Never Seen Before | Autance

Whether you’re modding it out or trying to get a bit of extra volume, sometimes you find yourself in need of a specialized tool to cut your exhaust pipe. Stanley makes just about every tool known to man in some form or another, so it’s no surprise that it has one of the best handheld pipe cutters in the business. This fits up to 3-1/4-inch tailpipes, giving you plenty of clearance for even custom jobs that you need to trim down to size. Chain-based cutters like these often don’t make the cleanest cuts, but Stanley was sure to include sharpened blades on every single chain pivot to give you a cleaner, more aesthetically pleasing cut. Maintenance is simple; sharpen and oil the chain and blades, and you’re good to go. You’ll also spend a tenth of the cost of a fully electric industrial pipe cutter, so saving all that cash (and still getting the job done quickly) feels pretty good.

How’s this for a weird tool? This handheld saw is originally from Japan, and ryoba translates to “double blade.” It’s a little dual-edged saw that comes on a metal handle base with a bamboo handle and a release button. This allows you to take the blade off and replace it when it eventually wears down. Replace the blade, and you’re good to go again—the handle will last for ages. While it’s not the sharpest saw in the world, it’s enough to cut through fiberglass, thin metal, and fabric, and it works well if you’re trying to reupholster your car seats or just want to keep it handy as a belt cutter in an emergency situation.

Related Posts: Best Band Saws and Best Chainsaws

Odd tools like these come in handy when you least expect them to. Ever find yourself needing to make a divot, but you end up botching the job because you don’t have the right tool? Mayhew’s pro cape chisel helps you make those perfect cuts in no time for the most excellent keyways you’ll ever create. Everything is coated with a black oxide finish to ensure there’s no rusting, but even if there was, we believe this tool would stand the test of time. It’s heavy, and while it’s designed for a single purpose, it’s the best way to make divots.

Adzes were originally weaponry and tools that were used in archaic times. While the jury is out on the exact time span, its usefulness has remained through the ages. Forgecraft specifically markets this one as a handheld gardening hoe that you can use outside, but the original purpose was actually for wood carving. You can use the 5 ½” blade on the Forgecraft adze to shave off wood in single strikes, and shape woodworking projects without firing up a wood planer or electric belt sander. You’ll also find use for this while gardening or working in the yard, such as when it comes time to rip up weeds and clear up the debris in your lawn. It’s inexpensive and wildly handy.

You want some unusual tools? How about a screwdriver set that’s basically designed to help you work on plaster and light sockets? You can use this set to work your way into outlets like a charm, but it’s also good to clear out obstructions in plaster, such as old buried threads that aren’t doing you any good. The durable handle is hard to the touch, but it still offers a great contoured grip to give you ultimate dominance over your tools and the task at hand. Turn holes in plaster and metal into screw holes, and spend less time worrying about those small tasks.

This might be my favorite on the list. The Winbag is basically your ultimate solution to alignment during those rough projects, like installing doors, windows, cabinets, shelves and more. You slide this into place underneath an object, use the hand pump to add air (like blood pressure monitors at the doctor’s office), and leave your leveler on whatever it is you’re installing. Keep it steady, install it, deflate the Winbag and remove it. Having more than one of these is critical if you’re regularly doing handy installation work, and honestly, it’s the definition of innovation, especially when it comes to tools that usually see very few innovations outside of turning a manual tool into a power tool.

Augers may not be bizarre tools, since everyone knows what they are and what they do, but I’ve never seen one like this. Greenlee’s auger drill bit has the power to absolutely shred through everything in its path, even right through nails that have been stuck in the wood. The initial drill bit tip creates the beginning of a passageway in wood, and then the 1” auger comes in to slice right through it. This isn’t something you’re going to use for standard tasks, but it does help with running wiring through wood (like rigging up semi-permanent lighting on your porch), and can blast right through the metal of pipes if you’re installing new ones. It’s a tool that you might only use twice a year, but when you reach for it, you’ll be glad it’s there.

Now this surely belongs in the category of weird hand tools. Ever find yourself in the middle of a project that requires you to pull wiring through a hole, much like if you’re using the auger that I just mentioned? Well, traditional needle nose pliers aren’t always going to be your best bet to see the job through. Sometimes, the angle requires a bit of wiggle room, which is where beak tip pliers come into play. Angle these any way you like to pull wiring, or snip it with the all steel edges in the center. With a soft touch handle, you’ll have full control over this tool even if you’re in some wonky angling situations. This can give you leverage in very niche situations, and for those, it’s a savior tool.

Related Posts: Lineman Pliers, Locking Pliers and Hose Clamp Pliers

You have to remember how difficult it was to make certain things back in the day. If you look at older homes, they have roof shingles, but they also didn’t have Home Depot. Shingle froes were used in place of saws to make roof shingles, because instead of mangling the edges of the wood, it just hacked right through it to leave smoother edges and a bolder finish. There wasn’t quite so much sawdust or rough angles, which would inevitably be seen as weak points of contact during the rain. Shingle froes aren’t something we use anymore, at least not for its intended purpose, but the sharp edge and short handle makes this an excellent yard work tool, and very useful when taking up manual wood carving as a hobby.

Remember old spy movies, where they’d cut a hole in the glass and then push it in? Well, those were inspired by tools like this. Back in the day (as a lot of these tools stem from), they couldn’t fire up automatic diamond saws and use fine-grit sanders to smooth out the edges of glass. Instead, the glass came out a bit rough, so they would cut it into place after measuring it out with one of these. You can use the key tooth edge to make scores in the glass, which are shallow slices that usually don’t penetrate more than 50% of the depth of the glass. This means when you go to move the glass with that score, the glass is supposed to break along it. If you’re making your own homemade pane glass windows or doors, this could come in handy.

It’s nice to have cordless electric drills to get the job done, but sometimes they’re a little too powerful, even on the lowest setting. We’ve all split wood before, especially when the drill hole is close to the edges. Well, a manual hand drill would actually be the perfect way to handle those tasks without risking ruining the lumber. It works slower than an electric drill, but for what it is, it runs smoothly and doesn’t take too long to drill a perfect hole. The steel construction and gears make it nice and smooth to use, and the hand crank doesn’t obstruct your view from the drill site at all. It comes in handy.

Related Posts: Best Hammer Drills and Best Nibbler

It looks like something you’d see in the Peaky Blinders TV show, but it actually wasn’t made until the end of the 1940s. This is a jack-of-all-trade kind of tool that firemen have a ton of use for because it can pry doors open, smash windows, breach doors, and twist items to the point of breaking (like two banisters on a staircase). It actually contains an adze on one end. Initially, it was designed by a fireman but was not purchased by his fire department because it was a conflict of interest, but eventually they came to their senses.

Stock removal is a method used in machining, and during stock removal, you have a ton of steps to get to the end result. One of which is filing, or removing rough edges of whatever it is you’re working on. Thus, the bastard cut was born—a double-sided, large-scale file that can take off large amounts of material in as few number of strokes as possible. It takes some time to get the hang of this, and some serious power behind it to get it to work, but it does the trick.

So what’s so specific and unusual about an adjustable wrench? The unusual length, for starters. This 16” adjustable wrench narrows out down to the tip of the handle, allowing you to control how far away it is from where you are. This could help you out with leverage, or simply allow you to use two hands to undo really stubborn nuts and bolts. The adjustable range is rather wide, at 1 ½” in total, making it a bit bigger than those standard ten dollar adjustable wrenches you can find at the department store. It’s a simple change to the original design, but it’s effective, and Klein Tools makes this out of alloy steel so you won’t have to worry about breakage at any point.

Related Posts: Best Lug Wrenches and Best Oil Filter Wrenches