Tool recommendations: what do you reach for first?

[Louise5]

Not the obvious ones. Not the drill. The tools that most people do not own but that you have found indispensable for the type of work you do. The thing in your toolkit that would be the hardest to lose.

Specify what type of work you tend to do so the recommendation has context.

[Owen84]

For general woodworking: a marking gauge. Sounds basic but the ability to mark a consistent line parallel to an edge is foundational and the quality of the gauge affects accuracy in every subsequent step.

[Seb83]

For any electrical work: a clamp meter that can also take voltage readings. You can check whether circuits are live without touching them and measure current without breaking the circuit. The safety value is significant.

[Marcus95]

For plumbing: a pipe slice rather than a hacksaw for cutting copper pipe. Cleaner cut, fits in tight spaces, requires no hacksaw mess. Cheap enough that there is no reason not to have one.

[NightCrawler81]

For decorating: a good quality filling knife with a stiff blade. Not the flexible ones sold in most sets. The rigidity gives you more control over feathering and the result on repairs is much better.

[SingularityNodeKettle]

For general workshop use: a decent set of clamps. You always need more than you think. A project with inadequate clamping is a project where things move when they should not.

[QuantumKnight]

For any project involving measurements: a quality spirit level rather than a cheap one. The bubble in a cheap level is not in exactly the right place. This introduces errors that compound over the length of any job.

[TechPriest]

For electronics and fine work: a good magnification source. Whether a headband magnifier or a bench-mounted option, working on small components without one is unnecessary frustration.

[Yasmin56]

For most repair jobs that other people use excessive force on: a penetrating oil like Plusgas or equivalent and the patience to let it work. Most things that seem seized will release given an hour and proper penetrating oil.