My Against-All-Odds Favorite Tool

When I was maybe seven years old, I was given a Handy Andy tool set. Uncomfortably close to six decades later, the Handy Andy screwdriver remains in my big-boy tool box, and is still sometimes the exactly right tool for the job. And it is kind of amazing.

My father was educated as a mechanical engineer. And though he never worked strictly that field, he was never afraid to tackle a home repair job.  I am not saying that his process was always without fuss or drama, but he usually got the job done.

I watched him patch drywall, grout tile, and sweat a joint in copper pipes.  It was from his example that I learned that most jobs are something I can do if I am willing to patient and pay attention to the details. OK, and accept a minimal amount of blood-loss.

I started assembling my (real) tool collection as a teen.  Most of my early work with tools was on my cars – both because I was car-crazy and because I had more time and enthusiasm than money.  The Handy Andy screwdriver was the only piece from that crappy little-kid set that made it into my teenager toolbox.

The secret sauce of the Handy Andy screwdriver was its small, thin blade.  Was it designed that way to make it useless for most tightly-secured slotted screw heads found in the normal household? “All the better to keep Jr. from unscrewing everything in sight” is how I imagine the designers told management as the set was approved for sale.

But sometimes a guy needs a screwdriver bigger than the smallest ones but smaller than the rest.  And it was in that role that my Handy Andy screwdriver earned its keep.

Had I been a decade or two younger than I am, a screwdriver designed for little kids would have probably have been far less robust in its design. But in the mid 1960’s the cost-cutters had not reached critical mass in American business.  

A little research reveals that the Handy Andy tool kit was first released by the Skil-Craft Corporation in 1950, with the idea of providing good quality kid-sized tools to encourage tots to take up the mechanical arts. Otherwise known as those jobs that elicit bad words.  They offered several versions of the sets, with the “Blue Diamond” branded tools being made in Chicago through the 1970’s.

I remember the little saw, with its blue plastic handle. Yes, a saw. People were different then. And in their defense, I never attempted to saw a leg from one of my mother’s tables or chairs (despite all of the encouragement I may or may not have received from the old cartoons that ran on television in those days). I also remember the small hammer and the pair of pliers. I recall breaking the pliers somehow, getting a lesson in how all tools have their limits. Whatever became of the metal toolbox the set came in, I have no idea.

But here we are, about a quarter of the way through the twenty-first century and the stupid little blue-handled, made-in-U.S.A screwdriver remains a useful, and even cherished possession. 

It makes me wonder does anyone else out there have a favorite in the tool box that all logic and sanity says should not be there?

34 thoughts on “My Against-All-Odds Favorite Tool”

  1. A very good question. While I have some tools from my teenage years (mostly screwdrivers), my mind goes to a tile spade. It was part of a marriage gift, so I’ve had it since 1998. Whoever manufactured this spade thought it wise to put a small level on the handle. The level is utterly useless if placed on anything longer than three inches.

    While I cannot remember who gave me (likely not “us” as she’s never used it) the spade, and it was likely meant as a gag gift, it has been invaluable since I got it.

    Whoever got this toolset for you chose quite well. Plus sometimes a guy just needs a thin bladed screwdriver – which is more often than most realize.

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  3. I had no idea there was actually a Handy Andy toolset. Many, many years ago a repairman visited our house, and he asked my little brother if he was Handy Andy. He answered in his most serious seven year old voice “My name is Andrew!”. Actually my brother surely is not Handy Andy because he doesn’t own tools and depends on his teenage sons to fix things around the house.

    My favorite tool this week is my 1/2″ Craftsman ratchet. I have several 1/2″ ratchets, even got one new for a present once but I bought an old one off Ebay that is #44985, exactly like my father’s, the one I used as a teenager.

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    • I wonder about the Handy Andy name, and remember it was also the name of a household cleaning product. It must have been popular because my mother called every similar product (Mr. Clean, Pine Sol, etc) Handy Andy for the rest of her life.

      I have quite a few Craftsman tools from the 70s and 80s. I’m guessing nobody will replace them anymore if they break.

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  4. Oh my…what a great question and a great topic. I tend to acquire a lot of tools – so many that I know it’s a problem and spend significant time interrogating (as the kids nowadays might say) my own behavior each time the urge hits. If I’m not careful, I wind up with multiple copies of the same pliers-like thing whose only function is to imperfectly remove and reset a single type of stupid German hose clamp what despite the $30 tool still leaks power steering fluid everywhere and ends up getting sawed off anyway. But I digress.

    But the oldest and still constantly useful resident of the tool box is something I acquired probably around the same time you got the Handy Andy set…which is a well-worn 7″ shaft (10.5″ total length) thin blade screwdriver with an insulated rubber grip. I remember the day I got it. I was maybe 8 and I watched it fall from the tool belt of a Bell System lineman who was climbing a pole outside of my house. At the time (yeah, now too…) I was fascinated by the work of utility line men and would be glued to the window whenever I could watching them. I was instructed of course NEVER to go outside when they were working for (my mom’s) fear of my being “electrocuted”. So I watched this guy’s screwdriver fall and eventually his driving off in his equally fascinating dark green Econoline van. Whereupon I went out and retrieved the screwdriver. It’s been with me ever since. It’s opened countless paint cans, adjusted hinges (both driving out pins and re-driving screws) in houses and apartments throughout the mid-Atlantic, and pried off way many more brake springs that I can count. It’ll probably be doing it for my kid out of his toolbox someday (if there’s room in that box as he’s already doing a pretty good job filling the box on his own). Truly a gift that fell from the sky.

    And just a few comments on the comments…I think that a tile spade is a great wedding gift. We acquired a few gardening spades and a good amount of kitchen tools for wedding presents. Those are all still in use. So, thumbs up to your friends for that. I never knew that “Handy Andy” was a brand of anything, but it’s a great name…even if I’ve always heard the term used somewhat derisively. But’s probably by people who are jealous of others’ mechanical abilities. I have the same Swiss Army knife I’ve had since I bought it for backpacking trips in high school. It traveled constantly with me until just after 9-11 when I stopped carrying it because I was afraid of my forgetting to leave it at home when heading to the airport, and instead having it confiscated by zealous TSA workers. But it’s my second-favorite old tool. Sadly, it needs repair, which I know can happen (lifetime guarantee)…but I’ve been told that Victorinox will “gladly replace it” if I send it in. So, I’d rather just keep the old and slightly broken one. Finally, JP, your Craftsman tools are still guaranteed. Anywhere that sells Craftsman tools will replace them directly if they sell that same tool. Otherwise (and this has happened to me) they’ll ask you to call Craftsman (it’s somehow a separate company now) and they’ll take of it.

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    • Wow, good to know on the Craftsman stuff.

      You remind me of a favorite tool that fell from the sky for me, or at least landed under the hood of a car that had been in for repair. It’s a little mini ratchet that is perfect for the small sockets in tight places. I probably should have taken it back to the shop after I found it, but I was a kid who put more value into building my toolbox than in helping out the poor guy who forgot about it.

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  5. Handy Andy was the name of a Home Improvement group of stores, started in the Chicago area in the 40’s, and at one time having 11,000 employees in multiple states, including Indiana and points south! I believe I was still shopping there occasionally until they went bankrupt sometime in the 90’s. I remember their logo had a workman illustration kind of like what is on those tool boxes: could your sets have been branded tool kits for kids, made by SkilCraft and sold at the stores?

    As for tools, I rewarded myself in my 50’s by getting myself a set of standard and metric ratcheting box end wrenches. I don’t know if these could be used in high torque situations, but I’m not rebuilding any Jaguar V12 engines here, and I find them to be far more utile than any socket set where you end up needing short sockets, and then find out you need a set of deep ones. They fit over anything I’m doing, from bike brakes to garage door hinges.

    When it comes to screw drivers, I have never had a full set of drivers from tiny to large, made in exact sizes for screws! Maybe one day I’ll get them! Talking with a camera repair guy one time, and he had screw drivers that fit exactly into each size of screw with zero tolerance. They seated with zero wiggle! He said that you could tell if a hack worked on your camera if the screw heads were “bit up” because the correct screw drivers weren’t used! This is a big deal with Leica guys, BTW.

    The one tool I don’t own, that my Dad had (I don’t know where it went), was a push drill, with bit storage in the handle. Pulling a big and expensive drill out to do every little hole you need for things like hanging curtain rods, is a drag. These fit in your tool box, and a couple of “pushes” and you had your hole! Old used ones are muy expensive, and new ones made by modern companies are too! Maybe next year.

    BTW, as a product of a secondary trade school education in a highly German city, we were taught all about tools, and I will tell you to this day, I believe you will go straight to hell if you ever, ever open a paint can with a screw driver, or try to screw a screw with a butter knife. Hand in your “man-card” immediately!

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    • I’ll be willing to bet that Skill-Craft at least licensed the Handy Andy name from the retail chain, especially given that both were in Chicago.

      I think I have one of those old push-drills around somewhere, though I think it only has screwdriver bits. It made a lousy screwdriver, but it would probably make a great light-duty drill.

      I guess I’m going to hell, because I have done both of those things. In my defense, I knew it was wrong when I did the deeds and felt bad about it the whole time. Is there any chance of absolution from the man-card authority? 🙂

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      • I have such nachtmares of German tradesmen glowering at me from my high school years, that I actually have “real” paint can openers in every tool box and drawer around my abode! You know, they have a beer bottle opener on one side, and as an old painter told me one time: “…how do you think we cut all those straight lines?”

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  6. Here’s my collection:

    1. I didn’t have a HANDY ANDY screwdriver, but a small orange screwdriver that came with the VISIBLE V-8 working plastic model of a car engine. This little screwdriver was very useful for a lot of things. Eventually the orange handle broke, so I replaced it with this metal screwdriver I found at a garage sale. Stamped on the handle: DANIEL L. B. SMITH, TEL. 57, F. 12 INSURANCE, BRANCHVILLE, N.J.; SELECTED RISKS INS. PROTECTS YOU AND SAVES YOU MONEY. PAT. 1-4-19. So I guess it’s from 1919?
    2. Around 1985 there was a ’59 Dodge Coronet in the junkyard. Except for major front end damage, the car was totally intact. I reached in and grabbed the chrome original factory lighter with its unique “War of the Worlds” design. I’m saving it in case I ever buy a ’59 Dodge and it needs a lighter.
    3. In 1st grade, I “accidentally” brought home a pair of scissors (Heh, heh!) Don’t tell anyone.
    4. More useful has been this pair of sharp surgical scissors which I’ve had for decades. Great for personal grooming and lots of other things.
    5. Grandma’s hundred-year-old house in Millburn NJ had dark wood paneled doors with crystal doorknobs and skeleton key type locks that actually worked. I still have her interior door keys (made by Corbin) as well as a key to an antique dresser I inherited.

    Did the people who created these things ever suspect that the common objects they designed and built would still be around/in use so many decades later?

    Things I've had a long time.

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    • All this talk about going to hell for opening paint cans with screw drivers (I too apparently will be keeping a seat warm for J.P.) and here Stephen is stealing scissors from elementary school. Let’s hope that it wasn’t a parochial school, or that you weren’t running with them while leaving the classroom. 😉

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      • I had one as well. It was a rare father-son project and, for some reason, wasn’t very successful. Either for getting a decent engine or as a bonding exercise. I think it was a combination of Dad not being very patient and me thinking I knew more about building models than he did.

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  7. Believe it or not, I STILL have my Handy Andy tool set. Don’t think I’ve ever used it. Cannot remember when it was given to me, but it was always on top of a tall cabinet in our basement – my mom would use a screwdriver or hammer out of it every now and then, but I was never allowed to play/use the set. Oh boo hoo. As I’ve learned over the years many of the toys and gifts I received may have actually been hand me downs from my dad’s co-workers who had kids older than me. Oh well.
    Like you, my dad could fix just about anything, be it in the house or on a vehicle, but unfortunately he was not good at teaching me how to do things. I had to learn myself. He was a self taught engineer, who worked on designing Wheel Loaders and Graders for a competitor of Caterpillar. Unfortunately, his engineering mind did not always equate to best practices for things like carpentry – there’s a right way of doing things, a wrong way, and dad’s way, which was take the right approach and multiply times 10. I say unfortunately, because anything he repaired around the house would stand the test of time, but if I ever chose to change something or remove it, usually I’d end up destroying it due to the over-building process he employed.
    After high school, I worked for a few years in the hardware department of our local Sears, and acquired a great selection of tools. Then during college I worked for a home builder and then for a park district, so I gained a lot of knowledge of stuff that the old man failed to teach. My favorite tool – Milwaukee Sawzall. Tremendous for almost any time of demo work. A favorite saying I learned from the owner of one construction company – often times there is just no substitute for brute force.
    I probably have acquired more tools than many professionals may have. In addition to building my own set, I inherited all my dad’s tools, and my two grandfather’s tools – one of which worked on a railroad and therefore had a set of HUGE tools, most of which I will never use. Ever see a 2 1/2 inch drive breaker bar or an 8 inch socket?
    To Andy Umbo – thanks for reminding me – I DO have one of those push drills, a favorite of my dads – I probably should have used many times over the past few decades! I’ll have to try and find that – long story, we downsized a few years and relocated as a condition of my spouse’s employment, went from 4 car garage and a workshop to less than 2 car garage. My ‘man stuff’ and many tools (including the Handy Andy set) are in a collection of storage units, barns, and friend’s garages in 2 states. (somewhere George Carlin is laughing at me for collecting too much stuff).
    I’m now in the process of standardizing my power tools on a single manufacturer’s 18volt series, which has relegated many of my corded power tools to backup status. During the Christmas season I use the occasion to reward myself with more tools, most of which I don’t really need, but just want to own.
    Lastly, thanks to Andy U for the laughs about misuse of screwdrivers and butter knives!!

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    • Wow, it’s fun to here from someone else who got a Handy Andy set! As carefully as yours was kept, it would probably bring some significant coin – I understand that intact sets in good condition are extremely rare.

      The hardware department of a Sears store would have been a great place to work for a tool geek!

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  9. I think my husband still has every tool he ever bought or acquired! At least, that would explain why we have so many tools in a basement workshop, the woodworking shop, the attached garage, and the barn…

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  10. Well JP, I never had a toolbox as a youngster, being a girl and all, but I am sure the young girls today covet one filled with tools, just as their brothers do. My father left the household, as I’ve mentioned before, in early 1994 and he didn’t take his big toolbox with him, but it was too heavy to lug around or move and he kept it under the stairwell, so Mom suggested we go to the store and buy all new commonly used tools and put them into a fishing tackle box and so we did. I even used a Dynamo Labelmaker to put “Ma’s Toolbox” on it. My father never taught me anything about small fixes I could do and I’ve mentioned before that my very handy Southern gentleman neighbor kind of looked after Mom and me after my father left, thus sparing us the need to find a handyman. Whether the fix was inside or out, Jim walked me through the proper tools and how to do the fix. I may have mentioned to you before about when the gas station attendant was pumping gas and handed me the gas cap lock key and it fell down into the window well. I had a spare key, but Jim, my neighbor, said “no sweat” and we took off the inside panel of the Pacer’s driver-side door using an allen wrench. I felt pretty smart after that.

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    • Everyone needs someone like your neighbor at some point. When I was maybe 11 or 12 I was struggling to get a nut loose on the wheel of a go-kart with a big pair of pliers. A repairman was at the house for some reason and saw what I was trying to do. “You need a socket wrench for that” he said as he grabbed one from his toolbox and finished my little job. It was a lesson on how easy things can be with the right tool.

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      • Yes, you’re right. Jim, my neighbor, had two sons and a daughter, all grown and married, but he said he made his daughter watch whenever he did small fixes in the car/house. We could/can all benefit from a seasoned “fixer” willing to share tools/expertise.

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  11. I had a Handy Andy set as well. Sometime around age 13 Dad gave me an old “real” tool box and I put the Handy Andy tools in it and shed the original box. Then over the years, one by one the Handy Andy tools were supplanted by better ones. It’s not like me to throw tools away but I surely have none of that set anymore.

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  13. Not sure of the branding on my first tool set (from the late 60’s). IIRC the contents were similar to your “Handy Andy” set. The screwdriver handle is red. I used it yesterday 🙂

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    • I suspect there were multiple manufacturers who offer jr-sized tools for kids. I would not have remembered the branding of mine but for the fact that they molded it into the plastic handle.

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    • My theory is that only the professionals and the least experienced have the really big toolboxes. The rest of us make too many tools do jobs they aren’t intended for, like a screwdriver designed for a 7 year old.

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