Nathan Heafner wrote:

I have a large pile of ash from burning leaves, wood, limbs, pine straw etc, and I've read that ash can be helpful to plants if my soil ph is not over 7.5.

"large" is not an amount... large relative to what... a wheelbarrowful
won't do diddly to an acre of ground.

My questions is, how do you test your soil and what tools are used.

Im looking to test my soil soon and see some cheap and expensive testing kits on amazon.

I'd not bother with the cheapo kits, get something priced midrange.
If you bring samples most plant nurseries will test your soil for
free. Then see how their numbers compare to what your soil test kit
reads.