For professional electricians and hobbyists alike, having the best tools make the actual work experience to be desirable. Just pause for a while and think about what the opposite could be. With the best tools, you don’t have to exert more energy. In other ways, having the best tools will save you time while leading the most productive outcomes.

Probably, starting and working with the best essential electrician tools may as well boost your potential for completing more jobs and earning money in the process.

Especially for starters in circuit based projects, we’ll list out the essentials tools required in most cases. With this post, you don’t have to move from page to page in order to find what you need. Below the proceeding lines, you’ll find some examples in each tool category.

One thing you have to note whether you are in shopping mode or not is that the oldest brands that have been in the market for long time often have higher quality tools.

While it is good to save a dollar or two when shopping, you don’t have to go for the cheapest at all times. Here is the list.

Wire Stripper

Because most of the common electrical work that professionals do from day to day involves wires, you’ll definitely need a wire stripper. Just as the name sounds, this is simple tool that is use to strip out the rubber insulation on wires. In other contexts, this can as well be used to cut wires in to difference pieces and sizes. Among other features, the best wire strippers should have different sized cutting teeth. This helps the user to deal with different sizes of wires.

The handle on this tool usually come in smooth rubber coating. This ensures that you won’t feel much pain while using it. Examples include the following:-

• Dowell 10-22 AWG
• Greenless stainless wire stripper
• Southwire compact wire stripper

Screw Drivers

Depending on your need, there are different types of screw drivers in the market. You can find electronic screw drivers, magnetic screw drivers and multi-tip screw drivers. There is also another type that is called straight blade and precision screw driver set. All of these are used tightening or loosening different types of screws in field work. Some examples include the following –

• Irwin 9-in-1 multi tool screwdriver
• Stanley 68 all in one screwdriver
• Black and Decker Li2000
• Dewalt DW2166 45 piece screw driving set

Linesman Pliers

In one expert’s opinion, this is electrician’s do-it-all pliers. With this one you can cut, grip and twist wires in a direction you like. And then you can pull wires out of any surface. When you hold two separate wires, you can use this tool to twist and bind wires together for any purpose. For most of this type of pliers, it comes with very soft handle. Some examples in this category are –

• Goldblatt 8-in multi use linesman pliers
• Irwin tools vise grip high leverage pliers
• Channellock 369 leverage linesman pliers
• WorkPRO 3 piece linesman pliers

Multi-meter

In simple terms, this is an electronic tool used to read voltage levels to confirm if all circuits are live or off. At other times, this tool can as well be referred to as voltmeter. Moreover, a typical multi-meter can be used to measure current (amperage), resistance and other relevant values.

Depending on your choice, this tool can come in analogue and digital versions. Beside the basic measurements mentioned above, a functional multi-meter can be used to diagnose electrical wiring systems, circuits, motors, appliances and power supply systems. Cardmunch reviewed some of the best multimeters available in the market. Good examples are –

• AstroAI digital multi-meter
• INNOVA autoranging digital multimeter
• Tekpower TP7050 analog multi-meter
• Gardner Bender GMT-318

Soldering Iron

For an interesting variety of circuit based projects, soldering wires and metals are usually involved. Whether you want to create and solder your own circuits or repair appliances, soldering iron is very much likely to be required. Interestingly, whenever you want to buy one there is always a wide range of options to choose from. However, one of the important things to bear in mind is that there are different types of soldering iron that can be found in the market. You’ll find pencil soldering iron that plugs into a wall socket, adjustable pencil soldering iron – the one with a feature for adjustable temperature. And then there is one called soldering station as well as cordless iron. Here are some of the popular examples.

• ANBES soldering iron kit
• Weller PES51 50 watt soldering pencil
• Weller WE1010NA digital soldering station
• Tooluxe 40420L Cordless soldering iron
• Hakko FX -901 cordless soldering iron

Utility Knife

When doing electrical work, there are certain cutting needs that may not be handled safely because of peculiar surfaces. That is where special utility knives come in. And in this category, you can find different styles of knives available for the job. For some of these knives, you may find a combination of scissors in certain bundles offers. Examples –

• Milwaukee Fastback hawk bill folding knife
• Klein folding utility knife
• Smith & Wesson SWATMB stainless steel knife

Hammer

Practically, common sense gives even laymen an idea of what hammer can be used for. When installing electrical cables for instance, you’ll likely need hammer to drive wire staples. In different other contexts, a hammer can be used for installation of appliances in the home or office. And then you can find different types from different brands in the electrical tools niche just like these examples below –

• Greenless 0156-11 electrician hammer
• Stilletto TB15MC Tibone hammer

Conclusion

At this point I believe you’ve gotten an idea of the essential tools for circuit based electrical projects. But please take note of the fact that this is not meant to be an exhaustive list. Besides, most of the tools mentioned here can be used in other contexts like carpentry, home gardening and landscaping.