We've seen the posts "What's the best tol for.." or "what's your favorite tool"

Well, I ask, what's your worst, or teh worst one you've seen?!

Mine? probably the 'electric razor plane' by GP. Although I don't own one, I dunno why I would want to...

Smart cut monokote trimmer. I bought one, tried and now it sits in a box as it's worthless and I can do a better job my way.

Yeah, I got one too!! thanks for teh reminder!!

Just to reinforce grnbrt's analysis of the Monokote trimmer the only good thing about it was the 2 #11 blades included. Other than that it makes an excellent paper weight and nothing else. Dr.wogz if you want a good plane try the Tower powerplane. Tower sells it for half what Micro Mark wants for the same thing.

Worst tool for me has to be the d*mn woodpecker. Not only is it pretty much useless, I always seem to find the sucker by slapping the back of my hand into those millions of nice sharp points. Other than that, the contour sander I bought. USELESS. I do better with a razor plane and a sanding block.

I'd say a small hand drill (don't remember manufacturer), but this thing was not designed (???) to hold drill bits smaller than 1/8". Funny it came with 4 drill bits:
1/32", 1/16", 3/32" and (the winner!!!) 1/8". And it is actually barely holding a 1/8' one [:'(]

Oh, that reminds me of another one. My freaking tap handle. If I beat it into submission, I can get my 1/4 - 20 tap in it. But if I want to use anything smaller than that, I have to chuck it into my drill and go VERY slow. I hate that thing.

To me there is nothing more annoying than purchasing a pack of CA applicator tips, only to find out they don't quite fit the bottle of CA I am currently using. What a mess.

TX-Deck

I have two tap handles and both have two steps to hold the square end of the tap. Look down into the throat of the tool and see if there is a second set of jaws further into the tool to hold the smaller taps.

John

Thanks JWN, I'll take a look at that tonight.

The Z bender that you put the wire in and bend, and then can't get the wire back out of the pliers has to be the worst. I have a new red handled one that is great, but the older ones with the slots cut in the end just plain suck!

I like My GP power plane It is great for rough carving blocks wing tips leading edges ect.
Tools that SUCK are Tpins, GP ball drivers, TF dumb cut tool.

I have junk but I cant find it to bad I love to gripe about bad products.

X-acto wood plane....dosen't plane just tears out big chunks
Threw it out 10 minutes after I got home with it.

Smart Cut, without a doubt!! It did have some cool looking brass thumb nuts on it, though. One day I will find a use for those. I don't know why I haven't thrown it out yet.

Thats that little black plastic job that jabbed my thumb the first couple of times I reached for it? If so, yeah, piece of junk. I can do MUCH better with a single edged razor blade.

Actually, the one that burns me is the Dave Brown six shooter fueler. Lots of guys have them, I know, but mine just slips all over and takes more effort than an old well pump! I have to hold the pump with one hand, and turn the crank with the other, and it turns so stiff that I gave up. The plastic gear type pumps with the little handle turn so easy I just put the Six shooter away. I won't even sell it, wouldn't wish that on anyone.

Good luck,
Dave Olson

Wow, should have taken a poll on the monokote trimmer. I had the same experience. Should have just bought a box of #11's versus that thing. Do companies even TEST their products any more?

Most frustating tool: Fox and GP prop reamers. I used it to enlarge the hub to fit my Saito 100 and the prop didn't have a nice fit and had some freeplay. Engine shaft was 8mm exact but the nearest reaming step in both tools is 8.1mm. Nowadays I just fit a cylindrical file into my power drill and get a perfect fit everytime.

Scar

LOL im with ya there m8, thank god i never actualy went out and brought the damn thing, i got mine of a guy selling a load of RC bits few planes/engines and ods and ends,

im kinda old fasioned when it comes to refueling i use my trusty bottle , all thw guys at the field have electric jobs, i saw this and thought i would give it go

come back from the field with arms like garth!!! LOL i think its up the loft now

besides the 6 shooter it has to be my OLD! drill...

the wife brought it back from shopping one day because it was in a sale, this is just a waste of space, you put a 1/8 bit in and it drills a hole big enough for a fencing stump!, the chuck is way out of alignment...

i just use it for ROUGH grinding and cutting now

Bigbird1, If you want a good plane for balsa work, look in Micro Mark. They have one that uses double edge razor blades that will shave paper thin shavings off the work. The plane itself is cast out of pot metal and I spent a little time polishing the foot to make it smooth but it is the best tool I have ever found to shape leading edges and wing tips. Best of all no sharpening needed, double edge blades are cheap and they last a good while on balsa.
This is a great thread but we shouldn't just talk about the tools that are useless, we should also share info about the ones that really do the job!

[quote]ORIGINAL: CCRC1

Bigbird1, If you want a good plane for balsa work, look in Micro Mark. They have one that uses double edge razor blades that will shave paper thin shavings off the work. The plane itself is cast out of pot metal and I spent a little time polishing the foot to make it smooth but it is the best tool I have ever found to shape leading edges and wing tips.
===================================
I have one like that now...
Only I think it's a Solington...(probably mispelled)
Kind of a metalic blue...cast, uses razor blades.
You're right...best thing since sliced bread...
Took a few times to adjust the blade, but once their, nnnooooo problem at all..

BB1

Yup! thats it. I think it's made in Sweden. I used some simichrome to polish the foot to make it smooth so it didn't leave any marks on the balsa and cleaned up the casting a bit where the blade exits out the bottom. I just used it last night to shape the leading edge on an Utter Chaos I am scratch building.

TF trimming tool nice looking, you think like it should work, but it does not.

The best trim tool I have found is from Harry Higley. It uses a single edge razor blade and will trim the covering with just the right amount of overlap. I see a lot of you are purchasing the Top Flight tool and are not satisfied with it. Try the Higley tool, I think you will find it much more effective.