Top tools

[Feltwell]

New toy ordered from Amazon!

I've never liked just twisting cable ends. I did have a ferrule and crimper set but the ferrules ran out years ago and don't seem to be made any more. The above looks like a good set.

 

[RBailey]

New ESSENTIAL TOOL ordered from Amazon!

There you fixed your typing mistake :lol:

 

[Zebra]

My favourite tool, because it symbolises everything I've done with this house - skills I didn't have before and have learned as I go along - is my Marshalltown tuck pointer.
Not only used for pointing, it's handy for doing the edges of lime plaster around the timber frame, and I'm currently using it to fill gaps between floorboards. My faithful friend, now much worn down, as am I.

P.S. What is an onion board? I'm assuming not just a board for chopping onions, that wouldn't raise much enthusiasm on here.

 

[Feltwell]

It's one of these:-

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/U-POL-On...036258?hash=item2a77b5e6e2:g:1ykAAOSwX2xat8ja

Mix your woodfiller / whatever up on it then just peel off & throw away the top sheet at the end of the job, leaving a nice new clean sheet for next time. Works a treat so long as you don't mix too vigorously and tear the top sheet off by accident! A 100 sheet onion board lasts for ages, definitely one of those cheap "Why didn't anyone tell me about these before?" items.

 

[Zebra]

Mix your woodfiller / whatever up on it then just peel off & throw away the top sheet at the end of the job, leaving a nice new clean sheet for next time.

Oh, how clever. Doesn't everybody just pull a piece of cardboard out of the recycling then, mix on it shiny side up so it doesn't stick, and just throw it away afterwards? Got that habit from my Dad, I think.......

 

[Gothichome]

It's one of these:-

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/U-POL-On...036258?hash=item2a77b5e6e2:g:1ykAAOSwX2xat8ja

Mix your woodfiller / whatever up on it then just peel off & throw away the top sheet at the end of the job, leaving a nice new clean sheet for next time. Works a treat so long as you don't mix too vigorously and tear the top sheet off by accident! A 100 sheet onion board lasts for ages, definitely one of those cheap "Why didn't anyone tell me about these before?" items.

I just use a cheap nylon cutting board from a dollar store, I guess that would be a one £ shop for you folks. Once the epoxy has cured you just give it a twist and your back to a clean surface.

 

[Feltwell]

Oh, how clever. Doesn't everybody just pull a piece of cardboard out of the recycling then, mix on it shiny side up so it doesn't stick, and just throw it away afterwards? Got that habit from my Dad, I think.......

I had a habit of wanting that bit of cardboard just *after* the recycling lorry has been........... :roll:

I used to mix woodfiller up on a old plastic lid, but the filler is so flexible if it's thin that it gradually won't part company from it even when flexed to extremes.

 

[Zebra]

I had a habit of wanting that bit of cardboard just *after* the recycling lorry has been........... :roll:

Well there's nothing to stop you taking the side off the cornflakes packet that's still in use......

 

[Feltwell]

Well there's nothing to stop you taking the side off the cornflakes packet that's still in use......

Heresy! I'll disrupt the cereal cupboard karma. The feng shui will be decimated Darling. Such radical actions are the beginnings of the path to anarchy....and I wouldn't be able to look at the picture of Boris Johnson on the side of the Sugar Puffs packet any more.

 

[LadyArowana]

Heresy! I'll disrupt the cereal cupboard karma. The feng shui will be decimated Darling. Such radical actions are the beginnings of the path to anarchy....and I wouldn't be able to look at the picture of Boris Johnson on the side of the Sugar Puffs packet any more.


honey monster.jpg

That’s not Boris, that’s the soon to depart President from across the pond.

 

[Feltwell]

Fake news! It's definitely Boris - if it was Trump it would have big white circles around the eyes :wink:

 

[Gothichome]

Heresy! I'll disrupt the cereal cupboard karma. The feng shui will be decimated Darling. Such radical actions are the beginnings of the path to anarchy....and I wouldn't be able to look at the picture of Boris Johnson on the side of the Sugar Puffs packet any more.


honey monster.jpg

That’s not Boris, that’s the soon to depart President from across the pond.

Being his cross boarder neighbour his departure can’t happen fast enough.

 

[Feltwell]

Yes, I'm surprised the Canadians haven't decided to "build a wall" to keep him out!

 

[paulc]

Going to add a cement mixer to my list. Been busy laying a patio after having a minidigger & dump truck in for the day (very handy tools, especially for gardening). Having a mixer has taken the back breaking effort out of mixing concrete - Just wish I had invested in one sooner rather than struggling to mix everything by hand in a wheelbarrow.
Will need to mix some lime plaster up before too long. I might bung a tub of putty in the mixer and see how it copes. If it doesn't pan out, I'll finish it off with a paddle in the electric drill (another tool that gets abused).

 

[Feltwell]

A cheap one for once - A "Marxman". It's a sort of aerosol for marking through things, mounting holes for drilling is the obvious one.

Today I was hacking out walls to fit some recessed electrical back boxes for some new power sockets. The brick was very hard and inevitably the surface behind the new box was uneven - stick the Marxman up to the fixing hole, push it in and a quick "pfft" later and it's sprayed a little dot of bright green chalk paint exactly where you need to drill. A pencil wouldn't have made a discernible mark, and it's less faff than holding it all steady whilst you put a smaller masonry drill through to make a mark.

My old trick used to involve painting a bit of Tippex on the end of a bolt and passing it through the fixing to leave a mark on whatever was to be drilled behind - that would still be the best way if it's a deep hole in the item to mark through, but otherwise this is definitely quicker and easier.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Marxman-...183172&hash=item2aedea4162:g:RSoAAOSwt9BeZitZ

 

[RBailey]

Going to add a cement mixer to my list.

I have a cement mixer (albeit a small one) and I use my paddle mixer (a proper two handed slow speed one) a lot more. Up to a large bucket sized mix it does great job for lime (in all its forms) and even concrete.

If you do buy a mixer a couple of lessons I learnt the wrong way :roll:
- Make sure it is large enough for a decent sized mix, I would say at least two bags with ease.
- Make sure that it is tall enough to get a wheel barrow underneath.

A cheap one for once - A "Marxman". It's a sort of aerosol for marking through things, mounting holes for drilling is the obvious one.

I have recently swapped from a carpenters pencils to one of these and I love it.

 

[RBailey]

I'm stripping the wood work in one of our rooms and I thought I'd show my favorite scrapers.


Left to right
- Wide flat carbide scraper
- Small teardrop carbide scraper
- Small triangle / flat carbide scraper
- Shaped steel scraper x2 sets

The shaped scraper takes this range of blades


My preference is the carbide scrapers as they stay sharp but for beading / curved profiles the steel scraper with multiple profiles is great.
The big flat scraper can produce some very smooth uniform surfaces with minimal sanding needed which great on big panels.

I also find having at least two scrapers really useful so you can use the right scraper (or more likely combination) for the right profile.

What are your favorites?

Cheers,
Richard B.

 

[Feltwell]

I wish to raise a complaint against one RBailey esq, he's costing me too much money!

First of all I bought the speedstripper paint device he posted up, as I've got loads of paint stripping to do and I thought it's worth a try, it's a slow old job with a heat gun and a blowtorch is just too aggressive. Turned up yesterday, not tried it yet.

And then today he posts up a very useful looking Allway shaped scraper set, and again my credit card takes a hit :roll:

When will it ever end???? :lol:

 

[Flyfisher]

I gave up reading the Axminster catalogue for much the same reason!

 

[Feltwell]

It's fatal. Axminster sent me a marketing message before Christmas with £50 off their powered sharpening and honing machine, wetstone on one side and leather honing wheel on the other. I hate working with blunt chisels so I splashed out (pun intended).

It's very good and when I hit an old nail with a chisel yesterday it didn't reduce the swearing but it did take the damage out of the chisel no problem - but - it's yet another "Oh I could really use that" device.

I'm not sure it ever ends! I'm seriously thinking of building a brick shed at the end of the garden as a woodworking shed, and keeping all that dusty stuff out of the garage, reserving that for more mechanical things. I've got the bricks and the roof tiles, just the need the time & energy to dig some foundations...... :lol: