Should you throw away tools?!
 

Interesting video but those tools he was binning looked fine to me. A decent tool is made of much harder metal than the things you're using it on (even if both are steel, the tool will be chrome vanadium steel, or at least hardened). I've never thrown away a half-decent tool for either the car or the bike (but I'm not a pro mechanic). I'm not convinced they really wear out.

What do you all think? There are surely some pro mechanics on here.

https://youtu.be/WqiTtlVo-xA

I didn’t watch the video, but some tools certainly do wear out with use.

I didn't watch the video, but hex keys should be the first to be replaced in my tool box.

i wear out tools, especially x type screwdrivers, and side cutters.... and i recycle the metal tools..

I didn't watch the video, either, LOL.

But if anyone is about to throw away a Campy Toolkit please let me know . . .

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

Excerpt from Rudyard Kipling's "If".

Some of what Mapdec talks about is what any service centered bike shop does. When I had Bike One (Cl. Hts., OH) we would replace our cone wrenches, screwdrivers, hex wrenches certain cog set tools every year or three. Some of what's mentioned I have a different opinion. We would sell some of our old tools to customers (or, often, to one of the employees) as example. I do agree with cleanliness being right up there WRT customer attractiveness.

But this was back when most all bolts were steel and few parts even had a manufacture's published torque specs. Andy

I have been using the same folding hex key set since 1988. Good tools - including allen wrenches - last a long time.

Any tool that is slipping and causing damage to parts should be thrown out rather than passed along. Unless it can be reground (like the tips of allen wrenches).

Decent bicycle tools used on well cared for bikes by competent people do not generally go bad. People that don't know how to use tools make a real mess of them.

A big part of this kind of discussion is terms, or more to my point what constitutes "worn out". Let alone what aspect of a tool is worn. I've worked in shops (not for very long...) that had little respect for their tools and the sales VS service VS management issues meant there was little "room to improve". One shop's tools were so worn out that I regularly spun a 13mm cone wrench on the cone's flats (side note: that shop didn't teach their assemblers to adjust hubs and their cone wrenches were from the Schwinn/Park era). Those wrenches would be worth nothing and if sold would only see the shop's rep suffer.

Here's an interesting thought: if there's anyone who can get away with a worn tool and not (or seriously reduce) damage the fittings it is your experienced bike shop pro. Not that others can't also do well enough with less than ideal tool conditions, just that those who work the tools daily likely have a pretty good feel most of the time. Andy

Tools that are used in a bicycle shop wear out with use. We regularly replace bottom bracket tools, crank pullers, cone wrenches, Alan wrenches, screwdrivers, picks, etc once wear becomes evident. We usually give them away to shop employees.

Sometimes we refresh them with a little quality time on the bench grinder, and a quick cleanup with a file. When the ball end craps out we'll make that end non-ball with the grinder too.

Yes you can usually feel if an Allen key is not a good fit, and also have a sense of how much torque you will get away with before it's better to stop and rethink your strategy. Cone wrenches seem to be a common one that people are talking about. Perhaps because they're so flat they aren't as robust as a regular wrench. I usually start with Knipex wrench pliers (which will never round nuts) on the two outer nuts first to see what comes loose. I also try those first on most things on the car if accessible.

I've volunteered at various non-profit shops and we really appreciate all you pro shops who have handed used tools down to us.

A few times in my life I've been the beneficiary of an older friend's, relative's, or neighbor's tools. Often they're better than my tools, and I'll pass mine on to someone younger who's just starting a collection. It's hard to imagine simply "throwing them away."

I watched about 30 seconds of the half hour video. I'm going to guess that the more tools you throw away, the better the mechanic you are?

I've sent a variety of tools to the scrap metal bin over the decades...mainly rounded allen wrenches, headset and bottom bracket wrenches that have been damaged when trying to break free headset lock rings and BB's, a few screw drivers...flat/pan head damaged again trying to break free corroded screws, cheap adjustable wrenches for the same reasons.

I never throw tools out - I’ll take them out of circulation, consign them to the « junk tool drawer » and replace them. If I need a tool for a specific one-time purpose - eg, a short-handled wrench to get around clearance issues- I’ll take a Dremel to an « obsolete » tool guilt-free. Old tools can have a second lives for specific purposes.

My local co-op should throw out tools much more often than they do but they are a nonprofit living on a shoestring budget so we use tools way past their prime…or old age…or point where they should be put out on the ice:rolleyes: Our tools are for the general public to work on their bikes and we put a lot of people through the shop so our tools get much more use…and abuse…than a professional mechanic’s would. We do from 10 to 15 people per day now but have had as many as 30 per day in the past. And most of the customers don’t know how to use the tools.

Here’s a bottom bracket fixed cup wrench as and example. You can see that it is damaged and is missing a pin but we keep on using it because it’s what we got.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3ddb87976.jpeg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3e16e1ec6.jpeg

Good advice. They can often be fabricobbled into something useful, especially as they're often made of hardened steel.

Sounds like a hoarder justifying their hoard. I still have that issue. But I have taken several truck loads to the scrap yard in the last 3 or 4 years. And both included tools along with nuts, bolts, screws and nails.

It's not been missed. I probably can get rid of some more. And have more space to move around in my shop.

Is it really worth saving just to hope that one day you'll have a need for one out of the dozens or hundreds you save to cobble into something specific that will probably be used just that once?

Perhaps you can take them to a person that forges knives and such. Maybe if you give them enough, they'll make you a hunting knife or something in compensation.

You know, you can get replacement pins for that tool:
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/...AC_SL1500_.jpg
https://www.amazon.com/Park-Tool-HCW.../dp/B00426BCFA

HAHAHAHA .... This is Hoarder Central ! Saving crap that can't even be given away is SOP ! It's like a homeless camp with a work bench and storage drawers.

I have replaced them several times. People keep losing them. At some point, you just have to go with the flow.

Beat that wrench on an anvil with a big hammer to push some of the displaced metal back where it belongs, then remove any remaining burr with a file or dremel. It will be less likely to slip and distort when it's flat with crisp edges. If that sort of tool (headset wrenches, pedal wrenches etc.) gets worn beyond use, twenty minutes with a welder and grinder can get them back into some sort of useful shape, particularly if you use hard facing wire for filler. Old worn out tools can still be be useful for making or repairing other tools, like turning slipjoint pliers with worn teeth into lockring pliers.

I don't know why people insist on using those flat fixed cup wrenches. A large adjustable works much better.

And speaking of recycling old tools, you can use old drill bits *as* hard facing wire (or rather TIG rod).