Author Topic: Confessions of a tool junkie  (Read 121448 times)

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #175 on: 04 November, 2019, 09:41:18 pm »
Is that like a Birmingham screwdriver? (Having googled, I know what it is and have even used one, but had never heard the name.)
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Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #176 on: 04 November, 2019, 10:03:55 pm »
Yankee screwdrivers - why the hell did these fall out of fashion !

I have picked up a couple of small ones at carboots over the last couple of years but never really used one in anger. This summer I picked up a big one with a hex but adaptor for a couple of quid.
I cleaned and lubed it and left it on the workbench.

I was putting up a hammer rack (that's another story I have far too many hammers) and the electric screwdriver had a flat battery so I tried the big Yankee, oh wow what a revelation !
So much torque and controllable torque at that, you can feel it and the screw never cams out. Much much better than an electric driver plus its long and narrow so gets into places that you can't get an electric screwdriver. Since then I have used it on a couple of other projects and now its my go to tool for screwing thing into rawlpugs in walls or into wood.

I would still use an electric screwdriver for non torque applications like computer cases where there are loads of machine screws that need removing or screwing in, much faster but for screwing stuff in against resistance Yankee screwdrivers are the dog danglees..

I assume you are talking of the Yankee pump driver

You might think so, but in my dim, distant and speckled past I used to be paid to screw things up (as opposed to it just being a by-product of my employment). In this case, it was curtain fitting (includes rails and blinds) and I can tell you that the Yankee Pump, whilst being a thing of wonder and beauty is not suited for repetitive fixing requiring high torque. It is also precarious using to face fix on the top of a ladder, somewhat better at top fix for obvious reasons. Instead the tool of choice at the time was the Yankee red handled stanley ratchet driver, which I still have (a quick eBay turns up these)

As far as I know the pump action were preferred by cabinet makers/shopfitters.

Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #177 on: 04 November, 2019, 10:05:45 pm »
They are brilliant.  My FiL gave me my one as a Christmas present 38 years ago and I still have it and use it regularly


Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #178 on: 04 November, 2019, 10:07:05 pm »
Oh, I assumed that this meant a Stanley ratchet screwdriver, which is what I have.

Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #179 on: 04 November, 2019, 10:30:35 pm »
They are both Yankee ratchet drivers, one is a pump action which is what pcolbeck was describing. As I recall the pump could be locked in and function as a "normal ratchet" but (a) the ratchet wasn't as good (b) if it came loose (which it did more often as it wore) it would make REELY NARSTY indiscriminate mess of anything, surfaces, objects, flesh.

Possibly where the expression "you'll have someone's eye out with that" originated.

andytheflyer

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Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #180 on: 05 November, 2019, 07:53:33 am »
When my father died I raided his tool collection for the tools that I wanted.  He had a couple of Yankee screwdrivers.  I have his spanners (the Whitworth ones are particularly useful for that "what is that size" moment when spannering on my classic Triumph motorcycles) and some small socket sets, a portable vice and some lovely Stanley planes.  The Yankees I passed on.  IIRC they were particularly adept at mangling any fine surface when the bloody things slipped.

I will confess to being a Tool Junkie, but even I have to draw the line somewhere.


T42

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Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #181 on: 05 November, 2019, 08:16:07 am »
The Yankees I passed on.  IIRC they were particularly adept at mangling any fine surface when the bloody things slipped.

I will confess to being a Tool Junkie, but even I have to draw the line somewhere.

This.  I have a couple of the things but I stopped using them years decades ago.  Just for fun (fun???) I cleaned & lubed one a few months back, tried it, cried "bloody horrible" and put it back on the rack.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Gattopardo

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Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #182 on: 05 November, 2019, 05:39:02 pm »
Machine Mart is now selling JIS screwdrivers https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/6-piece-jis-screwdriver-set/ there are also the more expensive laser ones too.

Wombat

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Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #183 on: 05 November, 2019, 07:15:24 pm »
Machine Mart is now selling JIS screwdrivers https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/6-piece-jis-screwdriver-set/ there are also the more expensive laser ones too.

Ooh, thank you for telling me that!  Why are JIS drivers so hard to get, but essential for all owners of aged Japanese motorcycles, etc.?
Wombat

TheLurker

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Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #184 on: 05 November, 2019, 08:46:19 pm »
Yankee (pump action) screwdrivers?  No thank you very much.  Dreadful bloody things.  I've got two festering somewhere in the garage and they can rust in pieces.

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Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #185 on: 07 November, 2019, 05:43:52 pm »
I had a  a Yankee pump-action screwdriver.
I'm not sure what happened to it - ie: it's lost.
I cannot say that I am saddened by this.

T42

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Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #186 on: 08 November, 2019, 08:50:46 am »
I'm just remembering the moment when the wife of a visiting chum came into my workshop, looked at my array of chisels and exclaimed "gosh, what a lot of screwdrivers!"
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Kim

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Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #187 on: 08 November, 2019, 12:37:00 pm »
I'm just remembering the moment when the wife of a visiting chum came into my workshop, looked at my array of chisels and exclaimed "gosh, what a lot of screwdrivers!"

Better than the other way round  :hand:

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #188 on: 08 November, 2019, 01:38:30 pm »
Oh, I dunno - using a screwdriver as a chisel won't get you far but driving screws with a chisel will bugger the edge. Regrinding is a bore unless you've got a Tormek or similar. I haven't.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Mr Larrington

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Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #189 on: 08 November, 2019, 05:15:01 pm »
Opening paint tins with a chisel is certainly grounds for divorce.
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Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #190 on: 08 November, 2019, 05:17:08 pm »
Opening paint tins with a chisel is certainly grounds for divorce being killed utterly to DETH and buried under a suspiciously new patio.

Gratis.   ;)
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andytheflyer

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Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #191 on: 08 November, 2019, 05:52:18 pm »
What he said ^

Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #192 on: 08 November, 2019, 05:55:05 pm »
Further to the above, the same should also apply for cow-okers who "borrow" Lindstrom cutters in order to attend to their manicure.
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Freidrich Neitzsche

robgul

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Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #193 on: 08 November, 2019, 08:43:21 pm »
Seeing the mention of "spiral ratchet" screwdrivers - as in Yankee or Stanley - they are simply brilliant - I have 2 .... small one from about 1969 and the big one I bought when I did a massive house renovation in about 1983.  Looking after them, oiling the spiral etc and they go on for ever.

I have to confess that the old slotted head screws weren't ideal for it but the advent of Pozidriv (and whatever they call cross-head screws nowadays) and the screwdrivers come into their own (although I do have a couple of battery drill/drivers)

..... I'm still hankering after a bandsaw and am considering a seasonal request letter for late December.

Rob

PS: Not exactly tools but I'm acquring some PVC interlocking heavy duty "checkerplate" tiles for my newly expanded workshop.

T42

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Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #194 on: 09 November, 2019, 09:50:08 am »
Opening paint tins with a chisel is certainly grounds for divorce.

Sorting through the Inlaw Paw's stuff after he died I discovered a very nice Marples chisel encrusted with paint.  It gets quite a lot of use these days.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

T42

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Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #195 on: 09 November, 2019, 10:13:31 am »
..... I'm still hankering after a bandsaw and am considering a seasonal request letter for late December.

Sore point with me, that.   I only needed a small one, so I bought an 8"-throat Metabo BAS 261 in 2017 and a worse POS for the money I've yet to see - bad design and sloppy assembly.  I had to invalidate the guarantee half a dozen different ways to make it usable.  I get the impression that if you're going to pay less than 800€-1200€ you might as well go to Aldi.  Unfortunately, most low-end machines use the same style of upper blade guide arm, which is specially designed to stop you seeing the blade with both eyes at once. Oh, and if you use the built-in LED illumination on the Metabo it casts a deep shadow right where you don't need it.

I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #196 on: 09 November, 2019, 10:44:47 am »
Crappy blunt and abused chisels made from soft steel (or tempered to be soft) make excellent paint tin openers!

T42

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Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #197 on: 09 November, 2019, 01:50:40 pm »
I don't believe in opening paint tins.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #198 on: 09 November, 2019, 02:10:05 pm »
I still have, and often use, a wooden-handled ratchet screwdriver I bought in Woolworths over 40 years ago.

I also have a T-handle ratchet screwdriver with 6 interchangeable bits, made in China, bought in a Japanese 100-yen (=70p) shop about 15 years ago. I keep this in the house rather than the garage for minor domestic maintenance jobs, along with an Aldi cordless driver/drill combo bought about 2 years ago for £29.99.

Oh, another old tool is a double-sided Japanese saw (fine and coarse toothed) bought in a Daimaru department store 45 years ago. These saws cut on the pull rather than push stroke, so the blade is very slim to achieve fine cuts.


Re: Confessions of a tool junkie
« Reply #199 on: 09 November, 2019, 06:08:34 pm »
I have a purpose made paint tin opening tool.

Do I win the tool junkie thread?