A bull pin has nothing to do with baseball — that would be a bull pen — except possibly being involved in the construction of the stadium. But you probably want it on deck when you’re bolting metal structures together. You use a bull pin to align holes, so you can bolt parts together — you just drive the pin’s tapered shaft into the hole.
Cutting conduit leaves sharp edges that can nick and penetrate wire insulation, especially when pulling wire. The rough edges also can make it difficult to attach fittings. Klein makes a screwdriver specifically for reaming conduit. As a bonus they also provide a hood around the screwdriver blade, to make tightening conduit fittings easier.
For all you Klein fans out there, Klein makes an insulated beverage holder inspired by their distinctive cushion grip. With its 24-oz capacity, it’ll hold about four cups of joe.
I purchased this 7-piece set of Klein screwdrivers at Sears for $42. It was an impulse buy, and I later found them online for $36.90. My pain is your gain! The set includes a 1/4″ slotted, a 5/16″ slotted, a 3/16″ slotted with 3″ shank, a 3/16″ slotted with 6″ shank, a 1/4″ slotted, a #1 Phillips, and a #2 phillips.
We’ve written about Craftsman’s bottle opener in the past, but what electrician would be caught without a Klien model? Matt writes: “Klein screwdrivers are the most common and most recognizable tools seen in electricians’ tool pouches, and now they’ve stuck their screwdriver handle on probably the most important tool you can own: a bottle opener. I especially love the product description: ‘Professionally designed and rigorously tested by an expert team to handle both foreign and domestic applications.’ How cool is that? I’ve been using mine for over three years now and it’s helped me out of some jams. They also make BBQ tools with the same cool handles!”
You’ve probably got a great tap set back in the shop — like we do — but what if you’re up in a ceiling (or somewhere else remote) and you can’t carry the whole set? Klein’s got you covered qith a screwdriver-shaped tool that’ll create six of the most common threads.
There are three taps on each end of the shaft — which is reversible — ordered from smallest to largest so you just slip the shaft through to the correct size.
Klein recently added this nice-looking cordura tool bag to their line. Not surprisingly, I suppose, it looks as though it’d be great for carrying screwdrivers, pliers, other electrical tools.
Here’s a reader submission that I wish I’d thought to include long ago: “Basically, if you’re flying around in, say, an airplane — or a race car – you REALLY dont want the bolts holding the thing together coming lose, no matter how much vibration you get at high speeds. This is a method for keeping nuts from loosening out, while still being more removeable than Locktite — or the little bit of weld that I’ve seen some of my friends try to use rather than going out and buying some Locktite. It’s popular with aircraft/racing mechanics, and useful for anybody who has something that really can’t be allowed to fail.”
Here’s something I hadn’t though of before, but apparently the pros know all about: wire pulling lubricants. Rather than just pulling harder — my up-till-now preferred method of coaxing wire through conduit — pros apply a little lubricant to help the wire on its way. According to an A/V installer friend of ours, Klein makes one of the installers’ faves.
Why is it that so many manufacturers seem to equate “small” with “cheap?” Thankfully Klein doesn’t follow that line of thinking: These are some truly comfortable and easy-to-use screwdrivers — even if they are small.
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