tools
I notice that socket wrenches come in a variety of sizes. For homeowners and DIYers, it's common to see socket wrenches which come in two sizes: a 3/8" drive, 1/4" drive and sometimes 1/2". The 3/8" drive is often 30% more expensive or more.
Is there an advantage to having a 3/8" drive over a 1/4" drive?
I won't do major automobile work with these tools.
I think what you need is a Palm Nailer. You can get these in air or electric powered versions. They are compact and are handy to drive nails in tight spaces.
Same thing you use a Marlin Spike for. (Tapered steel rod with a mushroom head on one end to strike with a mallet or dead blow) It's an alignment tool for drilled holes in metal building frames.
During assembly, the bolt holes don't necessarily line up, so you stick the tapered tail through the mating holes in the construction item, lever them around till the adjacent holes line up, slap a bolt through, affix a nut and washer and then use the wrench end to tighten.
Note: Landlubber term is Drift Pin or Bull Pin. Alignment Punch would be the technical name any machinist or mechanic would recognize. When an ocean going tug captain decides that it's more lucrative to run his boat up a slough, pull the engine and use it to power a sawmill operation, he's already been using a tapered steel rod to splice hawser cable. And when he needs to line up pieces of equipment on shore, he repurposes the Marlin Spike for more or less what he's been doing with it all along, using it as a multipurpose prybar, alignment tool and general persuader of anything that isn't quite in the right place. And the name he knew it as followed him into the big mill where he became head millwright.
Best Answer
That 1/4 inch drive may simply not be strong enough to do some work. For example, if I'm taking the lugs off of a car, a 1/4 inch drive may be overwhelmed. On the other hand, I like smaller sockets to get into a tight place.
So I like to keep a mix, up to impacts for the impact wrench, in case I need to do something on the tractor or to rotate the tires on the car. Those tend to be 1/2 inch drive, or at the very least, 3/8. I broke a 3/8 drive wrench last year, so sometimes the extra beef is nice to have.
If you will NEVER do anything heavy, you may appreciate the light weight and ease with which you can carry a 1/4 inch set. So is rotating the tires on your car major work for you, or is it something you might do?