The handiest simple tool in the world (that most people don't own) - a sheet-metal worker's T-reamer.

This utterly simple no-working-parts hand tool will easily, smoothly, safely, and precisely enlarge round holes (and keep them perfectly round) in any rigid, non-brittle material (i.e. not rubber or leather, not glass, but almost anything else). I discovered this tool by accident when I was twelve years old and have owned one, more or less, ever since. When I lose one, I have to buy another. Costs a few bucks, and, with regular household use, never wears out. Try it. You'll like it. Don't get marooned on a desert island without one.

-- William Gibson

T-Handle Taper Reamer
$4
Amazon

"These pants are made for working, and that's just what they'll do," it says in the catalog, and that is no shit. These pants are vastly sturdier, longer-lasting, more comfortable and beautiful than jeans. They have pockets below the knee that accommodate their custom-fitted light-weight kneeling pads. Those pads alone are worth the $60 price. I never realized how often around the house, tractor, and woods, I found myself holding my body at an uncomfortable, back-stressing angle until I had these pants that made kneeling easy and restful. They have pull-out pouches for nails or screws that are reverse slashed so you can get into them with either hand. In a marvelous example of intelligent design, these hang outside--unless, if they're not full, you want to tuck them inside the regular front pockets. An array of other pockets can hold everything from a cell phone to a wrench. They're the ultimate cargo pants.

A word of caution: I had to send my first pair back because I was fantasizing about my waist size, using the size from my last pair of jeans. These pants are brutally honest, and they want to fit up around your belly button, which is a problem if you no longer have as much of a waist as you did when you were 23, but like to think you do. So don't suck it in. Stand like you will be when you're holding a chain saw and when in doubt, buy one size larger. You can always burn the tag.

For this and other extraordinarily desirable gear, go to my favorite wish book, the Duluth Trading Co. catalog.

-- Joel Garreau

Skillers Duckweave Pants
$70
Duluth Trading Co.

The Vedic texts of the Hindus were among the first texts ever written down, and some of the longest. The Mahabharata is the keystone epic and it goes on an on, an endless soap opera of gods, kings, loves, feuds, monsters, wars, good and evil, and spiritual lessons. The hundreds of long Indian names can exhaust a westerner's patience fast. While I lived in India I found the easiest way to get into these stories was via the cheap comic book versions sold on every newsstand. Bright colors, action-packed, simple story-line and in English, these are the same comics that tens of millions of Indian kids also start with. The true classics are published by Amar Chitra Katha, the Marvel of Vedic literature. You can purchase these graphic novels online from the importer below. Some students have scanned the entire Ramayana comic online to give you a sense of what you have been missing.

-- KK

Amar Chitra Katha comics
$2.50 per episode
From
Vedic Resource, importer of Vedic, Hindu, and Indian culture books and artifacts

The Ramayana, full scan of Amar Chitra Katha comic book

Amar Chitra Katha, Publishers of Indian comic books

Zen riddles. No answers. A tiny "big joke" book.

-- KK

Zen Flesh, Zen Bones
By Paul Reps
$6.30
Amazon

Sample excerpts:

A Cup of Tea
Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen. Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor's cup full, and then kept pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. "It is overfull. No more will go in!"

"Like this cup," Nan-in said, "you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?"

*
The Moon Cannot Be Stolen
Ryokan, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut only to discover there was nothing in it to steal. Ryokan returned and caught him. "You may have come a long way to visit me, " he told the prowler, "and you should not return empty-handed. Please take my clothes as a gift." The thief was bewildered. He took the clothes and slunk away. Ryokan sat naked, watching the moon. "Poor fellow," he mused, " I wish I could give him this beautiful moon."

Muddy Road
Tanzan and Ekio were once traveling together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was still falling.
Coming around a bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable to cross the intersection.
"Come on, girl," said Tanzan at once. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over the mud.
Ekido did not speak again until that night when they reached a lodging temple. Then he no longer could restrain himself.
"We monks don't go near females," he told Tanzan, "especially not young and lovely ones. It is dangerous. Why did you do that?"
"I left the girl there," said Tanzan. "Are you still carrying her?"

Calling Card
Keichu, the great Zen teacher of the Meiji era, was the head of Tofuku, a cathedral in Kyoto. One day the governor of Kyoto called upon him for the first time.
His attendant presented the card of the governor, which read: Kitagaki, Governor of Kyoto.
"I have no business with such a fellow," said Keichu to his attendant. "Tell him to get out of here."
The attendant carried the card back with apologies. "That was my error," said the governor, and with a pencil he scratched out the words Governor of Kyoto. "Ask your teacher again."
"Oh is that Kitagaki?" exclaimed the teacher when he saw the card. "I want to see that fellow."

Teaching the Ultimate
In early times in Japan, bamboo-and-paper lanterns were used with candles inside. A blind man, visiting a friend one night, was offered a lantern to carry home with him.
"I do not need a lantern," he said. "Darkness or light is all the same to me."
"I know you do not need a lantern to find your way, " his friend replied, "but if you don't have one, someone else may run into you. So you must take it."
The blind man started off with the lantern and before he had walked very far someone ran squarely into him. "Look out where you are going!" he exclaimed to the stranger. "Can't you see this lantern?"
"Your candle has burned out brother," replied the stranger.

Sufism is the mystical third eye of Islam. The late Idries Shah, master sage, collected esoteric stories circulating among ancient Sufi communities, translated them into very fine English, and offered them to the world in this now legendary book. Half fairy tale, half parable, half koan, these sacred wisps of wisdom can still make one shout in the desert.

-- KK

The Way of the Sufi
An Anthology of Sufi Writings
By Idries Shah
$10
Amazon

Sample excerpts:

The Dance
A disciple had asked permission to take part in the "dance" of the Sufis. The Sheikh said: "Fast completely for three days. Then have luscious dishes cooked. If you then prefer the "dance", you may take part in it."

*
The Five Hundred Gold Pieces.
One of the Junaid's followers came to him with a purse containing five hundred gold pieces.
"Have you any more money than this?" asked the Sufi.
"Yes, I have."
"Do you desire more?"
"Yes, I do."
"Then you must keep it, for you are more in need than I; for I have nothing and desire nothing. You have a great deal and still want more."

*
A Tree Freshly Rooted
A tree, freshly rooted, may be pulled up by one man on his own. Give it time, and it will not be moved, even with a crane.

*
The Test
It is related of Shaqiq of Balkh that he once said to his disciples: "I put my confidence in God and went through the wilderness with only a small coin in my pocket. I went on the Pilgrimage and came back, and the coin is still with me." One of the youths stood up and said to Shaqiq: "If you had a coin in your pocket, how could you say that you relied upon anything higher?" Shaqiq answered: "There is nothing for me to say, for this young man is right. When you rely upon the invisible world there is no place for anything, however small, as a provision!"

*
Efforts
Tie two birds together.
They will not be able to fly, even though they now have four wings.

Despite what has been said, the United States is not at war with terrorism in general, but with militant fundamental Islam; a clash of civilizations. At the heart of Islam is the Quran, and at the heart of the Quran is very difficult to translate oral poetry. Indeed Muslims often declare that the sheer beauty of the original Arabic verses is evidence of its divine origins. Translations of any sort are thus suspect, and so the English world is without great Quranic texts. Among the older, stiffer, and formal English translations, I have been unable to find a version with extensive annotations, a concordance, or even a decent modern paraphrase. For a book influencing current events to such an extant, this vacancy is a deep loss.

Your best bet to encounter the Quran -- an effort I believe is essential these days -- is via a recent translation by Thomas Cleary. Straightforward, unadorned, yet vibrant, this is the best modern English translation of the Quran to date.

-- KK

The Qur'an: A New Translation
By Thomas Cleary
$13
Amazon

Sample excerpt:

81: The Rolling Up

In the name of God, the Benevolent, the Merciful
1. When the sun is rolled up
2. and when the stars fall lusterless
3. and when the mountains are blown away
4. and when the pregnant camels are neglected
5. and when the wild beasts are herded
6. and when the oceans are flooded
7. and when the souls are matched
8. and when the infant girl who was buried is asked
9. for what offense she was killed;
10. And when the pages are opened,
11. and when the sky is stripped
12. and when the blaze is fired up
13. and when the garden is drawn near
14. each soul will know what it has brought about.
15. Yes, I swear by the planets that recede,
16. run, and disappear,
17. and the night as it darkens
18. and the dawn as it breaks
19. that this is the word of a noble messenger,
20. endowed with power, his rank established in the presence of the Lord of the Throne
21. obeyed and faithful there.
22. So your companion is not insane --
23. he saw him on the clear horizon.
24. And he isn't grudging with the unseen;
25. and this isn't the word of an accursed devil.
26. So where are you going?
27. This is a message to all peoples,
28. for any of you who want to be upright.
29. But you won't want to unless it is the will of God, Lord of the universe.

At least once in your life you should read the Bible all the way through because it does not say what you expect it to say, no matter what you expect it to say.

Here is the translation of the Bible you want to read: The Message. This new street-wise paraphrase is looser than a translation and so irks purists. But it is storming Christian campuses and youth groups with its boldness, readability, and strong vernacular. Translated by one amazing guy, it's as far from old King James as one can imagine. For those who find the Bible warmed-over old news, The Message is like reading it for the first time.

-- KK

The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language
By Eugene H. Peterson
Available in various editions, among them: Small paperback, New Testement only, least expensive and a good start. Old and New in unorthodox design, The Message Remix, aimed at the MTV crowd. The one I would recommend is the full Bible in hardcover:
$27
Amazon

Also available as an audio book in several formats
MP3 CD, 75 hours
$40
Available from Oasis Audio

Sample excerpts:

Genesis 1

First this: God created the Heavens and Earth -- all you see, all you don't see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God's Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.

*
Song of Songs 3

Restless in bed and sleepless through the night, I longed for my lover.
I wanted him desperately. His absence was painful.
So I got up, went out and roved the city, hunting through streets and down alleys.
I wanted my lover in the worst way!
I looked high and low, and didn't find him.
And then the night watchmen found me as they patrolled the darkened city.
"Have you seen my dear lost love?" I asked.
No sooner had I left them than I found him, found my dear lost love.
I threw my arms around him and held him tight, wouldn't let him go until I had him home again, safe at home beside the fire.
Oh, let me warn you, sisters in Jerusalem, by the gazelles, yes, by all the wild deer:
Don't excite love, don't stir it up, until the time is ripe -- and you're ready.

*
Matthew 6

Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or -- worse! -- stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and rust and burglars. It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.

Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion -- do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.

If God gives attention to the appearance of wildflowers -- most of which are never even seen -- don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

Shapelock is "Ultra-High Molecular Weight Low Temperature Thermoplastic. Similar to nylon and polypropylene in toughness., except it's easy to work with and shape."

You get a bag of plastic pellets, put them in 160F water, and they phase change, becoming soft and moldable. If you don't let the water get too hot, when you take the plastic out, it's cool enough to shape with your hands.

When it cools down, it hardens into a strong, durable, paintable, machine-able white plastic. If you don't like what you made, you just put it in 160F water again and reshape it.

Great for making prototypes - also fun to play with.

-- Patrick Tufts

Shapelock
$15 for 250 grams

The same stuff, under a different name (Friendly Plastic), is available in larger quantities, but at a cheaper rate.
$28 for 793 grams
Sculpt

Has someone ever helped you get you out of a hard place with an act of kindness? If so, you should consider passing that gift onto someone else. You can dispense a few $10 bills from your ATM to the homeless in your area; or you can employ this amazing website which does something similar with greater effectiveness.

Modest Needs, a minuscule non-profit, grants modest (under $200) one-time cash gifts to those who require just a little help to get them through a tough time. A need, if honored, is granted within 72 hours, with no strings attached. Modest Needs does this with commendable efficiency via the web (it's not hard to be broke and still get online), heart-warming sympathy (every request is read by a volunteer), and impressive reach (220 requests granted this year, or 7% of the million dollars sought for). Modest Needs' entire finances are completely transparent on their website. Since their inception they have spent $0 on fundraising and $0 on advertising. They are astoundingly thrifty (total annual cost to run this charitable operation: $24,000). The rest of the small change they collect goes to those to whom small change can make a big difference. They accept contributions from folks like you. It runs fast all year, not just at Christmas.

The founder Keith Taylor began Modest Needs by giving 10% of his $350 a month earnings as a way to return a no-strings kindness paid to him when he most needed it. He told me, "Those who need help can always ask for it at Modest Needs, absolutely for free. How much money we raise matters less - to me, anyway - than simply providing a vehicle for human kindness."

It's quite brilliant. Release a few bucks from your PayPal account. Return a random kindness. Maximize a small gift.

-- KK

Modest Needs

I've concluded from many years of building with kids that when it comes to construction kits (Erector sets, K'nex, Tinkertoys, Duplex, Legos, and so on) long-lasting enjoyment is proportional to the simplicity of the pieces.

Almost nothing is simpler than Kapla blocks. Simpler even than Legos. There is only one size, one shape, no holes: a sturdy wooden plank precision milled from hardwood. The key difference between these and ordinary wooden blocks is something they share with Legos: amazingly precise dimensions. Because of this machine-like uniformity you can build very large, high and stable structures. Even little kids can build very rapidly (without the planning Legos seem to require) and very large. And because of their simplicity -- one simple plank -- you can build with endless variety. Finally, because they lack the tricky locking device of Legos, and are not tiny, kids of the youngest age can build with them. And you can't break them if you tried.

Kapla blocks come in wooden buckets of various multitudes. The 1,000 piece set is sort of over-the-top, but endless fun (suitable for a dayschool or the like). Like the best toys, these are not just for kids.

I would include Kapla blocks, along with Legos, as a toy that you can pass on to the next generation.

-- KK

Kapla Blocks
$53 for 200 piece set

Also from Amazon

Here it comes, ready or not: the Smart House. A whole avalanche of products in mind-numbing diversity is available via this mail-order catalog and Web site. A lot of the equipment I find creepy (networks of concealed in-house mini-video cameras for "security" purposes), but some I covet right now (I want to be able to beep my front door open like I beep my car door open; $69 uninstalled). The rest can wait (the caller ID of your incoming phone call shows up on your TV). The avalanche is only picking up speed and this catalog, which has the widest collection I've seen, is the best way to keep up.

-- KK

Smarthome.com
800/762-7846
949/221-9200

This is the definitive atlas of stars for backyard star gazers. Large charts accurately map any star you can see from Earth with amateur optics. There are a lot of them; about 80,000 (visible to magnitude 8.5). Professional atlases list fainter objects, and field guidebooks like Peterson's may be more portable, but the Star Atlas 2000 is now the standard reference star catalog for serious buffs navigating into deep space.

-- KK

Sky Atlas 2000.0
Wil Tirion and Roger W. Sinnott
1999 (2nd edition), 30 pages (26 charts)
Deluxe version, spiralbound
$32
Cambridge University Press

Amazon

[Sky Atlas 2000.0, 2nd edition, is available in a confusing array of versions: Deluxe (black stars, white sky, color deep-sky objects), spiralbound, or hardcover, or in two black-and-white versions: Field (white stars in black sky), or the inverse Desk (black stars in whites sky). Both black-and-white versions are available either as loose charts, boxed, or as laminated pages, spiralbound. The consensus among amateur astronomers is that the spiralbound deluxe version of black stars on white sky with color objects is the most useful.]

Costco is the Ur warehouse club store. They have a decent choice of one model for each type of product, but at jaw-dropping prices.

My allegiance to Costco is a running joke between me and Stewart Brand. He finds it funny that I buy almost everything I can there. Let's see, I recently got a fine leather jacket I wear all the time ($89), a DVD player, batteries by the score, an okay digital camera, and real Vermont maple syrup by the gallon ($12).

Costco has become my personal shopper. I do some research, then I buy what they sell. Like all discount chains they have professionals working full time looking for deals/quality. But what I like about Costco is their niche -- which is my niche. They consistently find a bargain in the "highest common denominator" bracket. What they seem to aim for, and what I am happy with, is the highest quality common quality. Not the very best, not the cheapest, and not mediocre either, but a good brand-name bargain in the high middle. They consistently deliver a great price on a very popular and competent item. It's neither optimization (the top model with the most features), nor is it minimization (cheapest per feature) nor plain thriftiness. Rather Costco aims for some sort of consumer satisficing, to use Herb Simon's term: a high quality that is just good enough, but at a low-end price.

They make shopping easy by eleminating the tyranny of non-essential choice. You don't have to waste cycles trying to scrutinize similar models or brands. They do that for you: "here's the good enough one you need" they say. The typical Wal-Mart store will have 80,000 unique stock items; the typical Costco will have only 3,500.

Right now I shop there almost weekly. Costco has a reputation for bulk food items, but many of these are slow perishables, and many items are not that bulky. Since we have a large household, their food prices are simply too inexpensive to ignore; we buy 25 lb. sacks of flour and rice by for almost nothing per pound. Milk in 2 gallon cartons, eggs by the 18, fruit by the crate, drinks on pallets, etc. We get our eyeglasses and contacts there. I buy film and get it processed way cheap on Kodak paper. And car tires! It's crazy to think about getting tires anywhere else. Plus they increasingly have great tools, and if you are willing to adopt the satisficing mode they excel in, you can get the best deals on electronic gizmos like walkie talkies, refrigerators, vacuums, kitchen gear, office furniture and so on. If the store sells gasoline, they price it a dime cheaper per gallon than anywhere else in town. Some of their best deals are one-offs; items that appear briefly and then are gone forever: over the years I've seen fantastic (not corny) authentic stain glass windows for cheap, great wet suits, new hot tubs about half off, and I kid you not, funeral caskets (where I would hope "good enough" would suffice).

One other thing about Costco which they don't advertise. They will take any item (except computers) back any time. People do abuse this, but it makes shopping there a no brainer.

-- KK

Costco
$45 per year membership

This little site is an international Amazon stores comparison engine.

Amazon has 6 stores in the world: USA, UK, Germany, France, Canada and Japan. A lot of products are offered in all the stores, or many of them. Well, prices vary A LOT between stores. If you are from the US, you can get cheaper products from Canada (music, dvs) or UK (import music mainly). If you are from somewhere else, it's even better! People tend to think that the best store to order from is the nearest one. Well, that's absolutely false. Europeans can usually get stuff cheaper from the US (including shipping) than from any other European store. And for other countries, this site shows you many Amazon stores to check and it sure can have nice surprises.

The site gets prices, puts them in your currency and then adds shipping cost to your country (looks like they get it from your IP).

Pricenoia has a couple of nice add-ons. A bookmarklet that lets you compare prices when you are looking at a product page at Amazon, and a graph of the price evolution over time for every product in every store.

A great tool for the holiday season, and a good reference for the rest of the year!

-- Leon C.

Pricenoia

Wow! What a treat. TEST is a trial publication from Wired magazine featuring Consumer Reports' type testing on fast-moving electronic gear. TEST comparatively evaluates a surprisingly thorough range of gear, and their judgements seem to be reasonable, rather than just fashionable. The best surprise of all is that TEST does the one key thing so many magazines dare not do -- that is, they actually say: we tried all of these and this one is the best. Why is that so hard to do? Because it steps on advertiser's toes. So, may the force be with TEST. Out of all the many year-end holiday lists of gadgets I've seen online and in magazines, this is the only one I think has any merit as a trustworthy guide. Great job.

BTW, this special issue should not be confused with the annual roundup of gadgets and gifts in Wired's December TOOL issue, although it will be. And I had absolutely nothing to do with TEST's creation and no foreknowledge about its appearance. I'm just a happy reader.

This first issue of TEST was printed in limited quantities, but Wired's editor-in-chief Chris Anderson has made a PDF of its content available online exclusively for Cool Tool readers in case you can't find it on your local newsstand, where it should be until the end of the year.

-- KK

Wired TEST
PDF download
If that site is overloaded, I have a mirror of the PDF here.

Ever since laser pointers became drugstore items I wondered if you could use them to make holograms. You can. This book tells how.

-- KK

Shoebox Holography
A Step-By-Step Guide to Making Holograms Using Inexpensive Semiconductor Diode Lasers
Frank DeFreitas, Alan Rhody, and Steve Michael
2000, 128 pages
$14

Amazon

Sample excerpt

There are many laser pointers in the market today, ranging in price from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars. In many instances, with the more expensive models you are paying for the fancy casing or adjustable optics. (There are only a handful of diode laser manufacturers in the world, so many times the expensive pointer and the cheap pointer actually contain the same laser.)...Fortunately, the simplest, most rugged (and often least expensive) laser pointers work best for the experiment described in this book.

The shoebox holograph set-up. Laser pen is mounted on the right. A conch shell on the left sits on a motion dampening foundation. A white card is used to focus where the film plate will be.

A knife without an edge is worthless, and most knives you find in pockets, sheaths, and kitchens are dull. Every edge you have, including an ax, should be able dry shave hair off your forearm, should slice loose-held newsprint without catching.

The most effective sharpener I know is also the easiest to use--just carve straight down on the V of slender stones, a stroke on one side, a stroke on the other. The stones are triangular, so you can use either the flat side or the angle (which permits sharpening serrated blades such as bread knives). Spyderco has had the leading product for 20 years and now has a new improved "Sharpmaker" that looks pretty good.

-- Stewart Brand

Spyderco Sharpmaker
$54
Available from Amazon

In these days of fancy $20,000 high-tech motorcycles, there is a refreshing alternative for those seeking simplicity and time-tested reliability: the Kawasaki KLR 650. Kawasaki started making this dual sport bike in 1984 and in twenty years has made only minor modifications, other than changing color schemes every four years or so.

There are no computer chips to melt down. Just one carburetor and one piston to maintain. The components are as accessible as on a old tractor. The US military recently converted the KLR to diesel, fulfilling their goal of having all their vehicles consume one fuel.

What sold me on this bike is the community support. Over 3,000 feisty members on a Yahoo group can provide you with anything you want to know (and sometimes more than you want to know). Local groups around the planet get together for rides and maintenance sessions. A long list of web sites show you in full detail any repair or modification you can think of. A former Midwestern corn farmer will overnight parts from his shed in Moab, Utah to anywhere you might be waiting.

Many call this one of the best 'value bikes' you can find. It is certainly one of the top adventure motorcycles, with a huge variety of aftermarket options catering to the countless people who have traveled to every corner of the planet on the KLR.

One advantage for a vehicle that's been around for twenty years is that you can find old ones dirt cheap and easily resuscitate them. New ones are a bit over $4,000.

Maybe you can find a cheaper bike out there, but with the KLR you've got a bullet proof bike you can fix yourself with a network of support. You can comfortably take it back country in rough terrain, use it around town as reliable transportation or head out on a global adventure.

-- Jonathan Foust

Kawasaki KLR 650
$1,000 and up, used
$4,000 new
Manufactured by Kawasaki

KLR 650 Forum

KLR Yahoo discussion group

The famed KLR FAQ

A popular site offering detailed instructions for a variety of repairs and modifications

If one needs a single tool, Vise-grips are it. On a motorcycle I have used one as clutch or shift lever or attached to a broken throttle cable. You can turn a screw if you can reach the side of it with this tool . Lock one down to something under the hood; you might not like to bugger up a bolt, but you won't care if you are no where near tools. If required, you can rip sheet metal with one. Wire cutting too. You can clamp it down hard enough to hit it with a hammer. Vise-grips and a crowbar are thieves' favorite tools. Buy the small size; and only the brand name: these are made of high-strength steel.

-- C. Bridger

And they come in a whole tribe of specialty varieties. The standard should be in everyone's tool box, the small one in every emergency pouch, and you should at least know about the others. The same relentless leveraged but sensitive clamping action works with super wide vise-grips, narrow ones, wide necked ones, nut cutters, curved necks and so on. They are extremely handy.

-- KK

Irwin Vise-Grip
5WR
5" Vise-grip Curved Jaw Locking Pliers with Wire Cutter
$11
Amazon

MaxTools has good selection

Not earth-shattering, but this wallet pen is really handy. I am never without something to write with. The good thing about the pen is that it clips in, so I never have to worry about where I put it.

-- Chuck Green

Derringer Wallet Pen
$8
Derringer Wallet Pen Company