Confessions of a tool junkie

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

A while back I bought a big Ryobi router for a table. It was fine for about a year then suddenly its bearings packed up with a nasty grinding noise. I replaced it with a budget de Walt that was OK for a while but its depth stop was not dependable.  I also had a de Walt jigsaw and a combination saw. Both functioned OK but not as user-friendly as Makita, Bosch or Festool.

[robgul]

What's the diameter of the katsu rip off?

Exactly the same as the Katsu and Makita equivalents - the spec says 64.8mm  - that's the body without the supplied base - the Makita accessories fit like plunge mechanism and tilting base.

[robgul]

A while back I bought a big Ryobi router for a table. It was fine for about a year then suddenly its bearings packed up with a nasty grinding noise. I replaced it with a budget de Walt that was OK for a while but its depth stop was not dependable.  I also had a de Walt jigsaw and a combination saw. Both functioned OK but not as user-friendly as Makita, Bosch or Festool.

Yep the Bosch router I have is pretty good - the budget Screwfix router has been cobbled into my plywood router table which works fine provided you lock the manual plunge lever VERY TIGHT otherwise it has a tendency to creep upwards under power.  For what I need from the table it does the job.

... and while I was re-organising some stuff yesterday I found that I have THREE pop-rivet guns?? 

[quixoticgeek]

Package arrived from the UK today. Contents: one Veritas mini router plane. It's tiny, the blade is only about 3mm wide.

I got it for a project I want to make, but I also need a few other tools before I can start.

It's my first plane since I started rebuilding my toolbox. I left my old B&Q one in the UK.

I should probably get a number 4 or 5 to go with it tho...

J

[T42]

Package arrived from the UK today. Contents: one Veritas mini router plane. It's tiny, the blade is only about 3mm wide.

I'm salivating.  Got no excuses to get one, though.

Yet.

[hubner]

I'm looking to treat myself with a new Veritas block plane for when I eventually return to work. No hurry though, I've still got my Record 09 1/2 at work which I haven't touched since March, was going to go in part time at least so I can try the new Ray Iles blade I got for it but the new lockdown has put that on hold.

Veritas block planes seem to be out of stock at many suppliers at the moment.

[quixoticgeek]

I'm looking to treat myself with a new Veritas block plane for when I eventually return to work. No hurry though, I've still got my Record 09 1/2 at work which I haven't touched since March, was going to go in part time at least so I can try the new Ray Iles blade I got for it but the new lockdown has put that on hold.

Veritas block planes seem to be out of stock in many suppliers at the moment.

Pretty much all Veritas products seem to be out of stock on this side of the Atlantic. One of the reasons i bought this one now, is that it was the last one I could find in stock, anywhere. I got it for a specific project, and didn't want to risk it not being available when i came to need it.

J

[Davef]

A while back I bought a big Ryobi router for a table. It was fine for about a year then suddenly its bearings packed up with a nasty grinding noise. I replaced it with a budget de Walt that was OK for a while but its depth stop was not dependable.  I also had a de Walt jigsaw and a combination saw. Both functioned OK but not as user-friendly as Makita, Bosch or Festool.

Yep the Bosch router I have is pretty good - the budget Screwfix router has been cobbled into my plywood router table which works fine provided you lock the manual plunge lever VERY TIGHT otherwise it has a tendency to creep upwards under power.  For what I need from the table it does the job.

... and while I was re-organising some stuff yesterday I found that I have THREE pop-rivet guns??

Can’t find pop rivet gun. Buy new one.
Can’t find pop rivet gun. Buy new one.
Can’t find pop rivet gun. Buy new one.
Find all 3 pop rivet guns hiding together.
This is a basic feature of the reproductive lifecycle of rarely used tools.

[robgul]

A while back I bought a big Ryobi router for a table. It was fine for about a year then suddenly its bearings packed up with a nasty grinding noise. I replaced it with a budget de Walt that was OK for a while but its depth stop was not dependable.  I also had a de Walt jigsaw and a combination saw. Both functioned OK but not as user-friendly as Makita, Bosch or Festool.

Yep the Bosch router I have is pretty good - the budget Screwfix router has been cobbled into my plywood router table which works fine provided you lock the manual plunge lever VERY TIGHT otherwise it has a tendency to creep upwards under power.  For what I need from the table it does the job.

... and while I was re-organising some stuff yesterday I found that I have THREE pop-rivet guns??

Can’t find pop rivet gun. Buy new one.
Can’t find pop rivet gun. Buy new one.
Can’t find pop rivet gun. Buy new one.
Find all 3 pop rivet guns hiding together.
This is a basic feature of the reproductive lifecycle of rarely used tools.

Did I mention the 4 brick-laying and 3 pointing trowels??    (Admittedly the extras were acquisitions (from my late father & father-in-law) rather than purchases I made)

Having had a really good sort out and cull I now have a box of tools ready to put on Gumtree as and when lockdown permits.

[robgul]

Two new tools:   A spring-loaded bradawl/punch - great for marking drilling positions in timber.    An angled gadget with two small spirit levels to get fence posts upright in both planes.

[pcolbeck]

I should probably get a number 4 or 5 to go with it tho...

J

About £10 or less for a good Stanley or Record one at almost every car boot sale. A number 6, 7 or 8 on the other hand are hard to find at a reasonable price. Took me years to find a 7 and that was £25. Don't want an 8 just too big for me.

[T42]

I'm looking to treat myself with a new Veritas block plane for when I eventually return to work. No hurry though, I've still got my Record 09 1/2 at work which I haven't touched since March, was going to go in part time at least so I can try the new Ray Iles blade I got for it but the new lockdown has put that on hold.

Veritas block planes seem to be out of stock in many suppliers at the moment.

Pretty much all Veritas products seem to be out of stock on this side of the Atlantic. One of the reasons i bought this one now, is that it was the last one I could find in stock, anywhere. I got it for a specific project, and didn't want to risk it not being available when i came to need it.

J

Paul Sellers probably has a video about making your own.

[Tim Hall]

Funny you should say that...

https://youtu.be/B_2a_FwjAgk

[quixoticgeek]

About £10 or less for a good Stanley or Record one at almost every car boot sale. A number 6, 7 or 8 on the other hand are hard to find at a reasonable price. Took me years to find a 7 and that was £25. Don't want an 8 just too big for me.

A peculiarly British phenomena, car boot sales don't seem to exist here.

J

[Kim]

A while back I bought a big Ryobi router for a table. It was fine for about a year then suddenly its bearings packed up with a nasty grinding noise. I replaced it with a budget de Walt that was OK for a while but its depth stop was not dependable.  I also had a de Walt jigsaw and a combination saw. Both functioned OK but not as user-friendly as Makita, Bosch or Festool.

Yep the Bosch router I have is pretty good - the budget Screwfix router has been cobbled into my plywood router table which works fine provided you lock the manual plunge lever VERY TIGHT otherwise it has a tendency to creep upwards under power.  For what I need from the table it does the job.

... and while I was re-organising some stuff yesterday I found that I have THREE pop-rivet guns??

Can’t find pop rivet gun. Buy new one.
Can’t find pop rivet gun. Buy new one.
Can’t find pop rivet gun. Buy new one.
Find all 3 pop rivet guns hiding together.
This is a basic feature of the reproductive lifecycle of rarely used tools.

And tape measures.

[Polar Bear]

Somewhere in this house there must be a stash of about 20 or more tape measures.  It feels that I buy one almost every year.

There is a decrepit orange-coloured Wilko 5m measure which cost just 99p (bought I believe in the last century) which survives unscathed but all my Stanley ones have mysterious vaporised.

[quixoticgeek]

Somewhere in this house there must be a stash of about 20 or more tape measures.  It feels that I buy one almost every year.

There is a decrepit orange-coloured Wilko 5m measure which cost just 99p (bought I believe in the last century) which survives unscathed but all my Stanley ones have mysterious vaporised.

At an IT conference in the before times, the swag bag included tape measures branded by one of the event sponsors. Quite a few got left behind so i grabbed them. I found them in a bag when tidying up the other day.

I tend to keep all my tape measures in one place central to the flat so i can easily find one. Along with the big spirit level.

J

[Polar Bear]

Somewhere in this house there must be a stash of about 20 or more tape measures.  It feels that I buy one almost every year.

There is a decrepit orange-coloured Wilko 5m measure which cost just 99p (bought I believe in the last century) which survives unscathed but all my Stanley ones have mysterious vaporised.

At an IT conference in the before times, the swag bag included tape measures branded by one of the event sponsors. Quite a few got left behind so i grabbed them. I found them in a bag when tidying up the other day.

I tend to keep all my tape measures in one place central to the flat so i can easily find one. Along with the big spirit level.

J

There is about in our under stairs cupboard marked "Tape Measures".  It contains no tape measures!   

[Kim]

I distribute tape measures in the same^[1] manner as Ventolin inhalers, on the basis that if there are enough kicking around, there's usually one to hand when needed.


_{[1] Not quite, as there isn't a tape measure in all my bike luggage.  Only when I think I'm going to need to measure an anti-tricycle gate or something.}

[pcolbeck]

Tape measures are like cheap biros, they have an ability to just disappear, travel through alternate dimensions and distribute themselves all over. A few months ago I tidied the garage and Mrs Pcolbeck did one of her periodic draw tidy/throw out frenzies in the house. All the tape measures were rounded up and put in one draw in the toolbox in the garage. I think there were about fifteen of the things. Last week I went to get a tape measure from the toolbox and there were two! No idea where the rest have gone bar the one that turned up in the car glove box yesterday and no one can remember putting it there.

[Jurek]

Mine live in the drawer which has the label (Dymo embossed) 'Measuring, Metering & Marking'

[robgul]

To some extent I have overcome the tape measure issue - in my workshop I tend to use either a 30cm or 1m steel rule if I can . . . both hard to mis-place!

That said I'm pretty anal about putting tools back in their storage space immediately after use (that's both my woodwork and cycle tools)

- the Steve Ramsey YouTube video the other day could have been me with the putting tools away and sweeping up messages
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBIcl3cV1Yc

[T42]

To some extent I have overcome the tape measure issue - in my workshop I tend to use either a 30cm or 1m steel rule if I can . . . both hard to mis-place!

That said I'm pretty anal about putting tools back in their storage space immediately after use (that's both my woodwork and cycle tools)

- the Steve Ramsey YouTube video the other day could have been me with the putting tools away and sweeping up messages
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBIcl3cV1Yc

Me too. I positively detest taking tools from the workshop over to the house.  Mind you, part of that is laziness: during a job I'll nip over and get something as I need it, and find at the end that I need N trips to carry everything back again.  I keep meaning to get a bunch of cheapos to live in the house permanently, but I can never quite bring myself to spend the money.

[TheLurker]

Me too. I positively detest taking tools from the workshop over to the house.

The solution is obvious.  Convert the living room into a(nother) workshop. I'm sure MrsT would give her wholehearted and overwhelmingly enthusiastic support to the idea.

More seriously, don't buy cheapo tools.  You'll loathe them when they don't work as well the good stuff.

[Mr Larrington]

Mine live in the drawer which has the label (Dymo embossed) 'Measuring, Metering & Marking'

You might very well think that; as soon as your back is turned, though, they're on walkabout.  Unless you’re some kind of Tool Whisperer who uses witchcraft to make them stay put.