What's the most frustrating or most hated tool in your shop?

[Jason Buresh]

Some tools are just poor quality based on good design. This brings to mind a certain smoothing plane from Lowes smeared with blue paint that is more of a hassle than it's worth to get going. But it's based on good design.

Then there are tools that even though are good quality are just poor in design or performance. When thumbing through a Stanley catalog it seems like they had a tool for any problem you could think of, and while they may be made well, the design is just more of a headache than the problem you are trying to solve.

Which brings me to my most hated tool in my shop.

The Yankee screwdriver.
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Now, maybe I just suck at using it, or maybe I don't know how to use it, but when this tool came through my shop threshold I gave it the old college try to make it work.

When using the flat head attachment it came with, I found the thing jumped out of the head or marred up the slot too many times. It doesn't have a lot of torque and if you aren't holding the thing with surgical precision inline with the screw, well, good luck. I spent more time trying to get the thing working than it takes to drive one in with a brace. I was drilling pilot holes but it was still a pain in the neck. The bit and brace or even a good old fashioned screw driver I find to be a much more controlled and better tool.

This may be different is I had an attachment for a Phillips or a torx screw, but mine only has a straight slot attachment.

The Yankee drill on the other hand, is a great fast little drill for making pilot holes on hinges or finish nails.

Does anyone enjoy using this screwdriver, or at least have tips to get one to work? They sold a lot of them, so I am willing to bet maybe I am doing something wrong.

What is the most hated tool, by design, in your shop?

[mike stenson]

I Love my yankees, they're the best ratcheting screwdrivers ever created. The tip that mine came with sucked, I bought a replacement set at lee valley that work much better. If I could get flat ground tips, that'd be even better (although, there's an idea I might just make some). I don't use these for 'fine work', however, I use them for carpentry type work. For screws in furniture, I use fixed gunsmith drivers.

[Richard Hutchings]

I have a no name jack that got from someone on FB marketplace. It was a $10 local pick up thing so I went and got it. I couldn't get it to work for anything but scrubbing and for that, I had to make a new slot in the blade so it would stick through the mouth. As long as that's all I use it for it's OK.

[Scott Brodersen]

Handyman jack plane. It's ok for rough work but it's finicky and I don't feel joy when I pick it up like my others. My antique Stanleys are my best performers so I'm keeping my eyes open for a #7 of that vintage (but, like, I won't pay an outlandish amount)

My dad had one of those ratcheting screwdrivers when I was a kid -- I liked drilling holes in 2x4's with it

[Andrew Seemann]

Slotted screws are just plain evil and frustrating. Any kind of power driving on them is nearly impossible, since it is impossible to keep the driver centered, so inevitably the blade works its way out of the slot after a few revolutions. There are clever bits with rings going around them that supposedly keep the bit centered, but they usually just result in you tearing up the screw head. I always get a maniacal smile whenever I find and throw away a jar of old slotted screws.

That Yankee does work fairly nice with Phillips bits though. I think I got my Phillips bits at Lee Valley. They also had an adapter for insert bits, so you could do Torx, Phillips, Pozidriv, etc. I tend to use mine where I want more control than with my impact driver (which actually does have a remarkable amount of torque control in practice), like driving short screws into soft wood, e.g. drawer slide screws.

I don't know if I have "hated tools", but there definitely are tools I don't use or like as much as I thought I would. Top of mind are my low angle block planes. I always hear they are supposed to be the bee's knees and I have a nice tuned up Sargent, but I find I almost always reach for the standard 9 1/2 style block planes. After that, probably marking knives. I have a few nice ones, but I never use them, because I can't see the d@mn knife lines anymore. I figure a pencil line I can see is better than a knife line I can't

[Jason Buresh]

Slotted screws are just plain evil and frustrating. Any kind of power driving on them is nearly impossible, since it is impossible to keep the driver centered, so inevitably the blade works its way out of the slot after a few revolutions. There are clever bits with rings going around them that supposedly keep the bit centered, but they usually just result in you tearing up the screw head. I always get a maniacal smile whenever I find and throw away a jar of old slotted screws.

That Yankee does work fairly nice with Phillips bits though. I think I got my Phillips bits at Lee Valley. They also had an adapter for insert bits, so you could do Torx, Phillips, pozidriv, etc. I tend to use mine where I want more control than with my impact driver (which actually does have a remarkable amount of torque control in practice), like driving short screws into soft wood, e.g. drawer slide screws.

I don't know if I have "hated tools", but there definitely are tools I don't use or like as much as I thought I would. Top of mind are my low angle block planes. I always hear they are supposed to be the bee's knees and I have a nice tuned up Sargent, but I find I almost always reach for the standard 9 1/2 style planes. After that, probably marking knives. I have a few nice ones, but I never use them, because I can't see the d@mn knife lines anymore. I figure a pencil line I can see is better than a knife line I can't

I still use a marking knife because I get a less ragged edge because the knife cuts the fibers first, but I do take a mechanical pencil and drop it in the knife mark to darken the line

[Andrew More]

After that, probably marking knives. I have a few nice ones, but I never use them, because I can't see the d@mn knife lines anymore. I figure a pencil line I can see is better than a knife line I can't

I've got similar issues with marking knives, so why not both? A nice marking knife line to also sever fibers, followed up with a pencil along the scribed line so you can see it.

[Charles Taylor]

The most hated tool in my workshop has a tail, so I'll save it for the other forum.

My most unsatisfying hand tool is the Stanley #4 that I bought new in the early 2000s. For many years that one, a #92, and a couple of block planes (all purchased new) were my only planes. While I managed to get along pretty well with my #92, I could have saved my money and just used a block plane for what I could get the #4 to do.

Maybe it was still true of a lot of woodworkers then, but I didn't know at that time that the best way to reduce tearout was to set the chipbreaker close to the cutting edge of the iron. Any time I tried to use the #4 for anything other than chamfering corners, I was likely to be unhappy with the results and return to my powered sanders to cover up the mess. Most of the time I just stuck with my power tools while the plane stayed in a drawer.

Then came the day when I began to try and set the chipbreaker up close. Steve Voigt wrote in an article for Mortise & Tenon magazine that by the late 20th century, even plane manufacturers no longer understood the double iron. I believe it--I own a Stanley that without aftermarket parts can't be used that way. When the chipbreaker is set close to the cutting edge, the head of the screw that holds them together contacts the wall of the recess for it in the frog. The cutting edge can scarcely touch the wood at that point. The plane won't take a decent cut.

I discovered the Hock chipbreaker's rectangular hole for the depth adjuster is positioned a little differently and will allow the cutting edge to advance far enough to take a decent cut. I bought a lightly used Hock iron and chipbreaker from a fellow Creeker. That helped. The depth adjuster is still near the limit of its travel, but at least I can get a reasonable cut while I take my time looking for this plane's replacement.

...

Otherwise, the most frustrating tool in my workshop is often the one that cuts the groove on the wrong side of the board, or measures and marks an inch too short. The one that's supposed to sweep the floor and keep all of the scraps from taking over.

[Eric Rathhaus]

Every tool that reminds me what a mark I am for clever tool marketers.

[Mike Allen1010]

I have a love-hate relationship with my fenced rabbit plane – both Lee Valley and my shop made version. Love it because I use it all the time and when it set up perfectly, it does an important task extremely well. Hate it because it's always a challenge for me to set up the blade in the correct alignment with the knicker to get a square rabbit with the clean edge. With the blade too wide, it leaves a ragged edge, with the blade too narrow you get an un-square rabbit that climbs towards the edge of the work piece. Also because I have to remove the fence, to remove the blade, sharpening is a hassle.

My approach is to use the fenced rabbit plane only to initially establish the cut and then switch to unfenced rabbit plane to get to final depth. Not really a "solution", just prolongs time between sharpening and getting the correct set up.

Cheers, Mike

[Tom M King]

No hated tools around here. There are a few things under 45 feet of water that were only good for seeing how far you can throw them.

[steven c newman]

Kobalt "Smoothing Plane".....after a week of trying to make it even act like a plane...gave up, and returned it to Lowes.....worse than Harbor Freight's smoothing planes...

[Maurice Mcmurry]

IMG_0442.jpg any of these (saw not included, it is a favorite)

[James Pallas]

Before battery operated tools or corded reversing tools the yankee was king. It was part of every carpenter’s kit. Fast and powerful. It takes some skill to use. Clean and well oiled is key. I’ve driven thousands of slotted screws with yankees along with phillips and robertsons. Warn out several of them over the years. Still have one and use it along with yankee push drills. Bad tools hit the bin in my shop. Don’t give them away, wouldn’t want anyone to know I was foolish enough to buy it.
Jim

[Luke Dupont]

After that, probably marking knives. I have a few nice ones, but I never use them, because I can't see the d@mn knife lines anymore. I figure a pencil line I can see is better than a knife line I can't

The marking knife has to be my favourite tool in the shop. It allows for perfect precision.

You don't have to see it, either. You feel it. I just drag the edge of my chisel until it drops into the knife wall, and now it's in the perfect position.

If sawing, I create a step down by taking a chip or two out of the waste side of the knife wall, deepening it and making it easier to see and feel, and again, allowing the tool (usually a saw) to just drop in.

Second favorite tool would be a marking or, better yet, cutting gauge!