The Perfect Tool Pouch
August 31st, 2011I recently left one field of work and joined another. Primarily to better the time situation for my family . My previous line of work was tough on family time as it was a lot of weekends and interesting week night hours. I went to work for a friend, who owns a home automation firm. We install Crestron home automation systems, home theaters, and the like. I have a brief confession to make at this point. I am a tool junkie! I like tools. I like having the right tool for the right job, and I like using quality tools. My hand tool of choice is Klein Tools. My dad used Klein as a electrician and those are honestly the only tools I ever remember getting out of his tool bag as a kid for little projects I was doing. Now that I’m buying my own, I know why he got so mad when I was using a keystone tip screwdriver as a chisel!
When I started this gig, I started with a large tool pouch. I thought I needed 2 sets of strippers (10-18 & 20-30 strippers) a mutlit-cable cutter, a pair of electricians scissors, a keystone tip screw driver, a #2 phillips screw driver, a torx precision screwdriver (multi-bit), a precision phillips/flat multi-bit screwdriver, radial strippers for coax/utp, flashlight, and pocket knife. Yes, that was a lot of tools to wear. After a lot of ribbing from my co-workers I sought after the best possible tool pouch to carry all that. I had already replaced the 2 screw-drivers with a Klein 5-in-1 unless I was doing trim-out work and didn’t want to chip the paint on faceplate screws. But now after a lot of searching, trial and error, and conceding that the guys who have been doing this longer than me knew what they were talking about, I have settled on what I think is a perfect tool pouch. Not just for low-voltage work because I am doing my honey-do’s around the house, I wear the same tool pouch and rarely need to add to it.
So without further a-do. The perfect tool pouch.
The CLC 1105 Tool Pouch. It’s got a pocket closest to the belt clip for a pair of Klein 1011 Strippers. I like these because they don’t have a locking mechanism on the handles and open naturally just enough for the flap to close between the handles. In front of that is 2 spots for a Husky 74501 or it’s Kobalt counterpart for you Lowe’s Purists. I personally prefer Home Depot for my shopping experience but Kobalt tools. (Topic for another post). The other spot holds a sharpie, and a pair of electricians scissors right behind them. The last pocket is another pouch type pocket the width of the whole pouch that holds a pair of Xccelite 170M miniature diagonal cutters. Throw the needle nose in your tool bag or soldering kit, because they’re handy to have. (This product is sometimes branded as Cooper Hand Tools).
So where do I carry my Klein 5-in-1 screwdriver? This pouch has a belt clip, a suspenders loop, and a belt loop. The suspenders loop is perfect for the screwdriver to slide in. I’ve never had it fall out on me in an attic or a ladder, or anything.
And that’s the perfect tool pouch! Obviously for the line of work I do, (Low-Voltage) these tools can handle 90% of the things we cross. And we do high end home theaters, security systems, cameras, and automation systems. Obviously there are times when we get into specialty situations such as termination, and I’ll cover the pouch I carry for that in another post. I’m currently working on building a tool-bag lite that covers the area between what the pouches cover, and needing all of my tools. I’ll cover what exactly is in my tool bag and tote in a later post as well.