Confessions of a tool junkie

[hubner]

I recently bought a 600mm precision steel straight edge (DIN 874/00) for £100.

The problem is it's too heavy for one of my intended uses for it. I'll probably get an aluminium one and use the steel one to check the alu one for straightness.

[robgul]

New cordless routers arrived today - nifty set-up from Einhell with a single motor unit that fits two bases - one plunge router, one palm/trim router . .  to go with all the other Einhell codless tools I have on the same battery platform. 

Sold a Bosch router I hardly used and a Makita knock-off palm router plus a Ryobi corded jigsaw and ended up almost neutral on funds.

[T42]

Looks nice.  I have a few Einhell battery items.  There's a sort of double pleasure to them - getting a decent tool at a decent price and cocking a snook at the expensive brands.

[Pingu]

Broom handle + paint scraper + 2 x cable ties = 1 drain cleaning tool.


2023-04-30_05-06-25 by The Pingus, on Flickr

[JefO]

Wanted a set of T-Bar Allen Keys with square ends.
Had to go through Bro in Law (wifey has an account on his business as an employee) and he got some for me.
Couldn't get the cheaper ones, had to get some really nice Carlyle P Allen keys instead. 
They saved me a couple of minutes doing a 5 minute job, because they were exactly the right size and form.

[sam]

Yeah, that didn't work.

[D.A.L.E.]

Yeah, that didn't work.

...are you turning it the correct direction? Non-driveside is righty loosey.

[sam]

Pic was taken a number of years ago; I was prompted to unearth it after seeing the drain cleaning tool a few posts up. Afraid I don’t remember anything other than that I broke it. I may have just set it up that way for the picture.



Anyway, Park Tool ended up with some of my money via Wiggle.

[TheLurker]

This is just to save me sticking pics on imgbb.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

This is just to save me sticking pics on imgbb.

I've some like the bottom left set probably first bought by my grandfather who liked good tools. Apart from surface corrosion, still perfect.

After having quite a lot of building work done on the house a while back I couldn't find a valued screwdriver I'd bought when I had a VW camper.  Deep in the engine bay a screw need to be removed and was difficult to get a purchase on with enough force to avoid damaging the head so I bought a Stanley Blue Head Pozidriv 2pt, back then still made in England.  Like the long one in this picture:



It has since proved a lifesaver on several occasions. 

After hunting high and low, no sign of my missing screwdriver so I replaced it with a new one, but the tip is not as good and shows signs of wear already.

Ebay has now provided me with a proper replacement that I will look after more carefully! 

[Kim]

I invested in a couple of Wera Pozidriv screwdrivers for the upstairs toolbox (electronics, for the fettling of), after the demise of my 90s Stanley ones through simple wear and tear.

There's a full set of Stanley drivers in the downstairs toolbox (which does more mechanical stuff), but the Wera Pozi tips work much better.  Not sure if that's by design (better modern materials?) or just on account of being newer, but they seem to be the place to go if you want properly made screwdrivers these days.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

You have solved a mystery for me!

In the late 70's I used to do admin stuff on trade cars from Germany. It involved organizing the keys and of course they had to be tested (the cars, to check they started). The Capri 3 Litres were my favourite although we also got the Jack Regan Granada in large numbers. 

I soon found it was a good idea to look in certain places like under the seats and maybe find the odd spanner left there (apparently human beings used to do the assembly).  One time i got this really nice screwdriver. I had it a few years before it was nicked (I know who and they are no longer with us).  I have often tried to remember the brand.  It looked just like this one only the handle was grey:



I still have the spanners.

[Mr Larrington]

A pendant writes: The Sweeney's motah was a Consul GT.

[Tim Hall]

A pendant writes: The Sweeney's motah was a Consul GT.

Shut it, you slag.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

A pendant writes: The Sweeney's motah was a Consul GT.

It was a legal nicety:

Initially, the Consul name was chosen, not for continuity’s sake, but because of a threatened law-suit by Britain’s Granada Group Limited. After all, you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between a service station, a rented television or an executive saloon. Luckily, sense would end up prevailing before too many solicitors became too rich from the action.

The dockers didn't care; when taking them off the ship they loved to race up the lines of cars, Sweeney style, to park them. Two were being raced up the line one day and at the end they both went for the same parking spot with interesting results.  Not sure what they did with the wreckage.

[Jurek]

A pendant writes: The Sweeney's motah was a Consul GT.

Shut it, you slag.

My driving instructor did the stunt driving for the first three series of The Sweeny.
As we returned from my having successfully passed my driving test, he drove the Escort 1100 on two wheels and a door handle around the corners.

[robgul]

A pendant writes: The Sweeney's motah was a Consul GT.

It was a legal nicety:

Initially, the Consul name was chosen, not for continuity’s sake, but because of a threatened law-suit by Britain’s Granada Group Limited. After all, you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between a service station, a rented television or an executive saloon. Luckily, sense would end up prevailing before too many solicitors became too rich from the action.

The dockers didn't care; when taking them off the ship they loved to race up the lines of cars, Sweeney style, to park them. Two were being raced up the line one day and at the end they both went for the same parking spot with interesting results.  Not sure what they did with the wreckage.

The model name Consul wasn't new for the Sweeney car (although I think it was a Granada) - Consul was a model in the 1950s as the base of the trilogy Consul, Zephyr, Zodiac which ran on with several body shape changes.  IIRC the first Ford Granada model was the car with the very long bonnet and a short boxy boot (car dealers called it the "aircraft carrier")

[Cudzoziemiec]

I have finally bought a Campag peanut butter wrench.

Campy peanut butter wrench.

If your peanut butter needs wrenching, it might have crossed the line from "crunchy" to "concrete".

[Mrs Pingu]

I got a gift from work, some points to spend in a catalogue. I decided to go for a package of Makita bits (drills, screws, nut setters etc). In the catalogue were 7 different sets of these, all similar but different. So then I had to google them all to examine the contents and then make a list to compare them.

That took a while, being an analytical type makes these things a bit of an effort!

[Mr Larrington]

A pendant writes: The Sweeney's motah was a Consul GT.

It was a legal nicety:

Initially, the Consul name was chosen, not for continuity’s sake, but because of a threatened law-suit by Britain’s Granada Group Limited. After all, you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between a service station, a rented television or an executive saloon. Luckily, sense would end up prevailing before too many solicitors became too rich from the action.

The dockers didn't care; when taking them off the ship they loved to race up the lines of cars, Sweeney style, to park them. Two were being raced up the line one day and at the end they both went for the same parking spot with interesting results.  Not sure what they did with the wreckage.

The model name Consul wasn't new for the Sweeney car (although I think it was a Granada) - Consul was a model in the 1950s as the base of the trilogy Consul, Zephyr, Zodiac which ran on with several body shape changes.  IIRC the first Ford Granada model was the car with the very long bonnet and a short boxy boot (car dealers called it the "aircraft carrier")

I think that was the Mk IV Zephyr/Zodiac/Executive: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Zephyr#Mark_IV  The Mk 1 Grandad was the shape familiar from "The Sweeney".  They did do a 2-door coupe as well because the Germans like that sort of thing.  Our neighbours had one when Fort Larrington was first established in Woking in 1975.

[ScumOfTheRoad]

My father owned a Consul. It was the car he courted my mother with, and the one this precious bundle was taken home from hospital in.
Or maybe not so precious - family legend has it that my mother was so pleased to see my father and so keen to escape the maternity ward that she left me behind and a nurse had to rush out and insist that she leave with precious bundle.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

My father owned a Consul. It was the car he courted my mother with, and the one this precious bundle was taken home from hospital in.
Or maybe not so precious - family legend has it that my mother was so pleased to see my father and so keen to escape the maternity ward that she left me behind and a nurse had to rush out and insist that she leave with precious bundle.

Are you sure you were the right one?

[hubner]

I just got a mini 2m tape measure...in METRIC ONLY and whole millimetres. What a revelation! I can use both the upper and lower edges!


STANLEY® FATMAX® Keychain Tape Measure

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Such a brilliant idea! I first bought one in France from Super U.

Now I have one of these that gives the top reading including the case.

[T42]

Nifty.