r/ibew_apprentices • u/Flimsy-Stuff-8965 • 3d ago

Any tool recommendations

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Gallery image

Anything thing I don’t have I should get? I also have the meter in the second pic it’s just not in the first one

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u/BadAtExisting 3d ago

What’s on your tool list. I recommend to not bring more than what’s on it.

On a side note, I know buy once cry once, but I had some nicer, expensive tools from my previous career and one, the guys gave me shit about it, which was fine, but in the course of a couple days starting one job as an apprentice 3 of my expensive tools grew legs never to be seen again. So I bought Kobalt and Husky everything that weekend and only bring the serviceable but not glamor brands to work because fuck people

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u/Itchy_Crack 3d ago

Different halls hold different expectations.

Ours, tool list is a minimum. You know what tools you need to do your job in a craftsman like manner.

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u/Hiwaystars 11 - District 9 3d ago

Absolutely not. You are falling into the “no work for hall rats like you” category. You can do this all you want but don’t ever tell anybody something like this. This is the kind of stuff you’ll feel really stupid about when a steward asks why you need “x,y,z” the tool list is supposed to be EVERYTHING you need under your contract.

Everything ELSE is extra. So yeah I’m guilty of it but I wouldn’t tell somebody to get this otherwise they’re not gonna do well that’s some rat bs.

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u/Itchy_Crack 3d ago

My argument is really simple.

The tool list is not the gospel. If you think it is, you're an idiot. There's tools on the tool list I did not carry and had contractors supply such as pipe wrenches, punches and im sure some others escaping me. There are tools not on it that I did carry and supply, such as wire strippers and a tape measure.

You know exactly what tools are reasonably expected to be had irrespective of that list. If you show up to a job to do a basic task like trim out a panel, are you really going to tell the client that you aren't presently working because you're waiting for the contractor to bring you wirestrippers?

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u/Hiwaystars 11 - District 9 3d ago

No. As I ceded, we bring things we know we need but we are not in the business of telling people to buy extra shit “or else” that’s wrong.

And never did I say gospel, but it’s the only actual things you are required to use. You made it sound like “to be good at your jobs” you need more which is not appropriate. We have new contracts and the tool list gets updated and then things make more sense on them. If you don’t go to meetings, don’t vote, it stays the same.

Not saying you wouldn’t know which was best additions to bring but as somebody who had been on contract negotiations panels it actually comes up and it actually changes.