Manual Tools

Socket sets, combination wrenches and the missing 10 mm:

for anyone working on a car here the answer is metric. Toyota, Hyundai and Kia lead new-car sales, and their bolts run in millimetres, with the 10, 12 and 14 mm sizes doing most of the work. Six-point sockets grip the flats of a bolt and round it off less than twelve-point ones. Chrome sockets are for a hand ratchet; the black chrome-molybdenum ones are made for an impact wrench of the kind found among electric tools, and a chrome socket driven by one can split.

Bar clamps, bench vises and locking pliers:

holding the work is half the job. A bar clamp or a G-clamp keeps glued timber or a steel bracket still while you drill it, and a locking plier locks onto a rounded bolt head that no wrench will grip any more. The bench vise is where it pays to buy heavy. Cheap ones are grey cast iron that can crack the first time someone hammers on them, while forged or ductile bodies take the abuse for decades.

Levels, squares, hand saws and the pop riveter:

a block wall goes up one barrow of mortar at a time, brought over from wheelbarrows and carts, and the level decides whether it goes up straight. Most new hand saws have hardpoint teeth, which cut fast and stay sharp a long time but cannot be filed once they dull, so a worn one is a replacement, not a sharpening job. A pop riveter fixes aluminium window frames and gutters, and tin snips cut zinc flashing to size.

Boxed mechanic’s sets and inch wrenches:

a boxed mechanic’s set of around a hundred pieces from a budget brand costs about $100 to $150 new, and a full run of branded combination wrenches comes close to $100 by itself. Used, the price follows which sizes are still in the case. A metric set with its 10 and 12 mm sockets intact is the one a car owner wants; without them, the buyer has to shop for the two pieces needed on the first job. An inch-only set is slower to pass on, however well made, because few cars on Panamanian roads take it; its buyers own an American pickup, older machinery, or a workshop whose metric side is already covered.

Cracked sockets, chewed screwdriver tips and a level that lies:

look inside the drive end of each socket for hairline cracks, most often on chrome ones that have been run on an impact gun, and inside the hex for rounded corners. A Phillips screwdriver that has cammed out shows twisted, rounded wings, and a flat blade shows chips; both slip under load and chew the screw. A level that has been dropped reads wrong without looking damaged, so check each vial for cracks, cloudiness or a leak, and sight along the frame for a bow or a dented edge. On a vise, close the jaws, feel for play in the slide and look for cracks around the mounting holes. The tools most often copied are the fast-moving ones: combination wrenches, ratchets, sockets and pliers stamped with names like Knipex or Stanley. Rough forging seams, blurred or misspelled stamping and flaking plating give them away, and so does a premium name at a budget price.

A socket case, a bench vise or one good pair of pliers:

photograph the case open and full, sizes legible, so a buyer sees at a glance which sockets are gone, and list the gaps in the text too. Say whether the set is metric, inch or both, and which drive sizes it covers. For a vise, give the jaw width and say whether the mounting bolts come with it; for a level, its length and whether it has ever been dropped. A bench vise is heavier than it looks, so tell anyone driving in from Tocumen or Penonomé whether it is still bolted to the bench and whether they should bring a wrench to take it off.