Mobile Home Tools

The right tools can make jobs go much more quickly.  However, many are expensive and there are lots of choices.  There are always tradeoffs between price and quality.  If you don't have experience, it can be very difficult standing in the hardware store trying to figure out what you really need.  On these pages I will attempt to provide some background.  My main goal is to provide examples of different categories of tools that will work well for repairing mobile homes.  For example, a reversible drill with a hex-head driver is the most useful power tool there is for repairing mobile homes.  However, the person who expects to use the tool 2-3 hours per day will have different needs (and be willing to pay more) than the person who is fixing up their own home. 

Discussions of the "best" brands of tools can get VERY heated, with well meaning people holding very firm opinions.  My own feeling is it is essentially impossible to know for sure which is best.  Even with the resources of a full testing laboratory, the manufacturing and design specifications change so frequently, that results are out of date before publication.  I mention specific brands because they are popular and look like they will do the job.  If you happen across a sale where you can buy some other brand for less, by all means do it. 

Antique tools are also interesting to me. I ended up with my father-in-laws antique tools and he had some which had come from his ancestors. Some of them are obvious, but many are things I can't even identify. I found a copy of the 1897 Charles Strelinger tool catalog and that has answered a lot of questions. I thought it was interesting enough to build a website around and you can see the result at Antique Tools.  The site has nothing to do with mobile home tools, but I thought it was interesting.