Reply by Loren

I have a couple of angle grinders. I have grinding wheels, a cup
brush and a box of “Radiac” cutoff wheels. I use the cutoff
wheels a lot to cut steel and have become pretty good at
making accurate miters and things like that in steel.

A set of drills and taps comes in handy. I just have a small
set for smaller machine screws up to 1/4” and I use
them a lot. Thread cutting oil is good to have, though
in a pinch most any oil will do.

Shinto saw rasps work on aluminum.

A high quality jig saw like a Bosch or Festool is real nice
to have if you want to cut metal. The better jig saws
don’t vibrate as much.

I use a piece of railroad track as an anvil. If I want to
make a sharp bend in a piece of steel I heat it up
red hot with a propane torch and work it with hammers
on the anvil. A small (cheap) metalworking vise is far
better than no vise for bending and shaping metal.
I had a blacksmith’s leg vise for awhile but sold it
when I moved several years ago. It was nice to have.