Confessions of a tool junkie

[T42]

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.

Oh, loathing them is OK. I loathe doing stuff in the house. It always involves walls, and walls in this house are a nightmare.  This is what we found when we took the old plasterboard off our bathroom:





Ceilings and floors are in the same vein.

[Kim]

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.

There's the AvE method of labelling the tape measures themselves with "FUCK OFF - NOT YOURS".  Which I'm sure doesn't work, but gets a giggle from those familiar with the behaviour of tape measures.

[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

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.

Ah - we used to have a minimalist set of tools in the house when you had to go outside to get to the garage.   

I now have one of those open-top tote toolbags and load it with what I think I might need in the house/garden/shed etc ... and then unload it when I get back to the workshop.

[Jaded]

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

This is where I announce that I haven't been able to label anything since before the first lock-down, on account of my Dymo print labeller going missing. I've not been allowed to buy a new one as I've got two of lots of things...

[redshift]

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.

I found a remarkably nice No.5 on a car boot sale in the 90's for a couple of quid.  It was just like a Record, but had ?DTK (or something similar) on the lever cap.  Apparently it was "rubbish" and "won't cut anything properly."  When I turned it over, the owner hadn't sharpened it.  I think he'd bought it and hadn't realised they're ground but not honed.  I gave him the money and took it home and that was my 'good' plane until a few years ago when I inherited many of my dad's tools. It went to a good home though, a friend of mine did a traditional wooden boatbuilding course in Porstmouth Historic Dockyard, and I did her a 'starter set' including a couple of planes, spokeshaves, some chisels, brace and a few augers.  All stuff I didn't need, or had received multiples of. 

[Cudzoziemiec]

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.

Oh, loathing them is OK. I loathe doing stuff in the house. It always involves walls, and walls in this house are a nightmare.  This is what we found when we took the old plasterboard off our bathroom:





Ceilings and floors are in the same vein.

I think that explains why they put up the plasterboard.

[Kim]

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

This is where I announce that I haven't been able to label anything since before the first lock-down, on account of my Dymo print labeller going missing. I've not been allowed to buy a new one as I've got two of lots of things...

This is why you label your label printer.

[robgul]

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

This is where I announce that I haven't been able to label anything since before the first lock-down, on account of my Dymo print labeller going missing. I've not been allowed to buy a new one as I've got two of lots of things...

This is why you label your label printer.

Our grand-son took that one stage further with a label:  "Label printer label"  on their machine.   Mine just says "Label printer" - annoyingly mine is the Dymo with the ABC keyboard rather than the QWERTY ... my wife was too mean to spend the extra £3

[spesh]

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

This is where I announce that I haven't been able to label anything since before the first lock-down, on account of my Dymo print labeller going missing. I've not been allowed to buy a new one as I've got two of lots of things...

This is why you label your label printer.

Our grand-son took that one stage further with a label:  "Label printer label"  on their machine.   Mine just says "Label printer" - annoyingly mine is the Dymo with the ABC keyboard rather than the QWERTY ... my wife was too mean to spend the extra £3

Has he ever expressed a desire to be an ISO 9000 compliance officer? 

ObligDilbert: https://dilbert.com/strip/1995-11-07

[quixoticgeek]

Our grand-son took that one stage further with a label:  "Label printer label"  on their machine.   Mine just says "Label printer" - annoyingly mine is the Dymo with the ABC keyboard rather than the QWERTY ... my wife was too mean to spend the extra £3

Has he ever expressed a desire to be an ISO 9000 compliance officer? 

ObligDilbert: https://dilbert.com/strip/1995-11-07

Shouldn't it be one label saying "label printer" and another attached to that label that says "label printer label"? Then another on that saying "label printer label label"  ?

Blimey that dilbert's going back a bit!

J

[Tim Hall]

Our grand-son took that one stage further with a label:  "Label printer label"  on their machine.   Mine just says "Label printer" - annoyingly mine is the Dymo with the ABC keyboard rather than the QWERTY ... my wife was too mean to spend the extra £3

Has he ever expressed a desire to be an ISO 9000 compliance officer? 

ObligDilbert: https://dilbert.com/strip/1995-11-07

Shouldn't it be one label saying "label printer" and another attached to that label that says "label printer label"? Then another on that saying "label printer label label"  ?

Blimey that dilbert's going back a bit!

J

For completeness the label printer could be kept in a tin of Droste cocoa.

[Chris N]

My garage workbench:

 

It's better than this now...  The electrician has been to finish the sockets so the orange extension cable has gone, and I've got a bluetooth amp and speakers above the toolboard. 

[robgul]

My garage workbench:

 

It's better than this now...  The electrician has been to finish the sockets so the orange extension cable has gone, and I've got a bluetooth amp and speakers above the toolboard. 

Forgive me - what's the green machine? - some sort of drill press??? what's it for?

[ScumOfTheRoad]

Chris N  oh my.. I do like that setup

[Karla]

I am about to die of envy.

[T42]

Our grand-son took that one stage further with a label:  "Label printer label"  on their machine.   Mine just says "Label printer" - annoyingly mine is the Dymo with the ABC keyboard rather than the QWERTY ... my wife was too mean to spend the extra £3

Has he ever expressed a desire to be an ISO 9000 compliance officer? 

ObligDilbert: https://dilbert.com/strip/1995-11-07

Shouldn't it be one label saying "label printer" and another attached to that label that says "label printer label"? Then another on that saying "label printer label label"  ?

Blimey that dilbert's going back a bit!

J

Damn, I just got caught in a Dilbert timewarp and suddenly it's ten to lunch.

[Chris N]

Forgive me - what's the green machine? - some sort of drill press??? what's it for?

That’s a small arbour press. For bearings, pins, clamping stuff etc.

[quixoticgeek]

I learned that my combination square, has a little hidden feature.



Unscrew that little wheel below the level, and...



Marking scribe! Didn't know that was there when I bought it. Don't know how useful it is. Did make me smile to discover it...

J

[robgul]

I learned that my combination square, has a little hidden feature.



Unscrew that little wheel below the level, and...



Marking scribe! Didn't know that was there when I bought it. Don't know how useful it is. Did make me smile to discover it...

J

Yep - I got one of those too BUT beware that type of square isn't always 100% square . . . .  test it by placing it along a known straight edge of a piece of board (e.g. manufacturer's edge) and draw a line on the material - then flip the square the other way on the same edge and draw a line as close to/on top of the first line . . . you may be lucky and they match up, or they may diverge slightly.  [I have WoodWorkWeb on YouTube to thank for that tip]   

Probably OK for most work but a good quality engineer's square is best for precision stuff.

[T42]

I learned that my combination square, has a little hidden feature.



Unscrew that little wheel below the level, and...



Marking scribe! Didn't know that was there when I bought it. Don't know how useful it is. Did make me smile to discover it...

J

Yep - I got one of those too BUT beware that type of square isn't always 100% square . . . .  test it by placing it along a known straight edge of a piece of board (e.g. manufacturer's edge) and draw a line on the material - then flip the square the other way on the same edge and draw a line as close to/on top of the first line . . . you may be lucky and they match up, or they may diverge slightly.  [I have WoodWorkWeb on YouTube to thank for that tip]   

Probably OK for most work but a good quality engineer's square is best for precision stuff.

Mine wasn't square when I got it, but the sliding bit has two little nubbins running on the rule, and I was able to file one of these down until the thing was square.

[Kim]

Yep - I got one of those too BUT beware that type of square isn't always 100% square . . . .
[...]
Probably OK for most work but a good quality engineer's square is best for precision stuff.

This extremely amateur wood-pixie has learned a thing.   

[quixoticgeek]

Yep - I got one of those too BUT beware that type of square isn't always 100% square . . . .  test it by placing it along a known straight edge of a piece of board (e.g. manufacturer's edge) and draw a line on the material - then flip the square the other way on the same edge and draw a line as close to/on top of the first line . . . you may be lucky and they match up, or they may diverge slightly.  [I have WoodWorkWeb on YouTube to thank for that tip]   

Probably OK for most work but a good quality engineer's square is best for precision stuff.

Yep, did that when I got it. Have been bitten before by non square squares, and do not tolerate them. I went through the hackspace workshop and binned 4 of them because they weren't square. This did not make people happy. I then got 3 new squares that are square. Which appeased people.

I have a couple of engineers try squares as well, nothing massively expensive, but they are pretty ok. Good enough for most stuff.

I'm pondering getting one of the Priesser squares from here. (Do a text search for "GG 0"). They are rated to an accuracy of 0.000007m (7µm) over a 0.1m (100mm) distance.

https://www.fine-tools.com/praezisionswinkel.html

A lot of the other squares out there only claim to be 0.0001m (0.1mm) over the same distance. Do I need that accuracy? Probably not. Is that going to stop me? no.

I want to get a set of gauge blocks at some point to. But I think I'll wait until I have some better tools to go with it.

Yep - I got one of those too BUT beware that type of square isn't always 100% square . . . .
[...]
Probably OK for most work but a good quality engineer's square is best for precision stuff.

This extremely amateur wood-pixie has learned a thing.   

Yay! Glad I could pass on my discovery.

J

[TheLurker]

I'm pondering getting one of the Priesser squares ...

Oh.  Perfect.  I *need* at least 3 of those, got to make sure that those fuselages and flying surfaces are truly square.  Starts rummaging down the back of the sofa...

[robgul]

The other squares I have, which are very square, are some Chinese knock-offs of Woodpecker tools that also double as bench clamps (they have a small cutout on the inside of the L to make sure corners fit snugly and screw holes to fix down to a jig-base) - they are 150mm x 150mm.

My tracksaw together with bench-dogs in an MFT top is certainly adequate for most cutting of sheet material (almost all plywood nowadays) for furniture making - mainly cabinets with drawers etc.

... for all that, quite a lot of the stuff I do can suffice by just using the "square" on the handle of a hand-saw

[pcolbeck]

I'm pondering getting one of the Priesser squares from here. (Do a text search for "GG 0"). They are rated to an accuracy of 0.000007m (7µm) over a 0.1m (100mm) distance.

https://www.fine-tools.com/praezisionswinkel.html

I make that 0.00007m over a metre (ratio of sides in similar triangles).
That's 0.07 mm over a metre length. Or about 1/2 cm out over 100 metres.
Nice !

Your'e going to need lazers to get more accurate than that, certainly any bit of wood wont be straight or stiff enough to worry about needing that kind of accuracy.