Top tools

[RBailey]

Maybe not new to some here, but another recent discovery to me, a pointing hawk.



I have normally used the back of a trowel or plaster hawk but this makes the job easier.

The handle is at an angle which makes holding it easier, there is a lip on two top sides to stop much slipping off and there is a lip under the front to help locate at the groove.

Cheers,
Richard B.

 

[Gothichome]

Oooooooo, I need a pointing hawk, always thought there must be a better hawk than my large trowel, one scoop for the joint another for the ground. Also, I can never get the hang of pointing the verticals. Start at the bottom of the joint and work up but I find by the time I get my pointing trowel vertical most of the mix ends up on the ground with the rest. Any how I digress into wallowing self pity.
My new favourite tool,

Just purchased a couple weeks ago. It’s not pretty but it will get to the peaks of the Gothichomes roof.
Ron

 

[Feltwell]

And I thought having 2 scaffold towers was a bit flash......

 

[RBailey]

Oooooooo, I need a pointing hawk, always thought there must be a better hawk than my large trowel, one scoop for the joint another for the ground. Also, I can never get the hang of pointing the verticals. Start at the bottom of the joint and work up but I find by the time I get my pointing trowel vertical most of the mix ends up on the ground with the rest. Any how I digress into wallowing self pity.

Your not the only one, I always find the verticals harder. I point all of the horizontals first then vertical bottom and work up, but it is no way near as efficient as the horizontals.

Just purchased a couple weeks ago. It’s not pretty but it will get to the peaks of the Gothichomes roof.

Very jealous !!!

 

[a twig]

Very jealous, I’m getting too old and fat for ladders and we have a roof that sheds a slate or two every few months, so been on the look out.

One of the downsides of the internet is that people watch these restoration videos and suddenly think their junk is worth money.

You used to be able to pick up small machinery like MEWPs, garden tractors, mowers etc as non runners for £100-200, throw £100-£150 of parts at them and be off and running.

Now even non runners seem to be getting on for £1k

 

[Gothichome]

No need to be jealous, I bought it cheap cheap. It has some electrical issues I need to deal with and it will need a complete set of batteries. I rented a 60 footer five years ago, it cost me $1500 can. (875£) for a weeks hire. Got a lot of work done in that week. But I have a lot of restoration up high so had been looking for one for awhile.

 

[a twig]

That’s exactly why I’m jealous! I’ve been looking for a cheap non runner for years!

 

[Flyfisher]

Me too, on both counts!

I used to think that buying a mini-digger was a bit of an extravagance (and I suppose in truth it was) but it's so incredibly useful to have on hand and it's amazing how much serious work can be got out of a 19hp engine. I've often thought that a cherry-picker would be similarly useful.

Mind you, I wasn't so pleased to have it last week when the exhaust pipe broke and the silencer fell off

 

[Feltwell]

I suppose the only consolation is, on these type of items, if you buy them used & carefully then you can get back what you paid when it comes to sell them on. That's the theory on my big scaffold tower - it was £1000 in good used condition, if I keep it that way then it's still worth £1000. Trouble is, the theory falls down when it's time to actually part with these things, as I'm not very good at actually parting with them :lol:

A cherry picker (or MEWP to give it it's official name) is a hell of an investment in most cases, but the trailer mounted "Niftylift" type seem to be more reasonable. Still a few £k. I suppose could be good if bought for a specific set of jobs and then sold on. Once you've got it though.....

 

[Gothichome]

Selling off is my plan after all my work is complete. I bought at not much more than a weeks rental so have some room to spend on getting it to work. I have managed to bring some life back into the batteries but not sure they are fit for service, I have had the pump working so hydraulics shouldn’t be an issue, still got to work on the the drive systems. My biggest issue is the electrics, it’s a rats nest of bypass’s and rewiring, all in one colour so I have to trace those wires.
Man lifts in our area are selling in the eight to fifteen thousand (Can $) with the electrics at the lower end and the sixty footers with diesel at the upper end.

 

[Flyfisher]

Does it have a mains-powered option? I've seen them in the UK but am not entirely sure if it's just for charging the batteries or whether it can actually operate the lift as well. I imagine it wouldn't be such a useful option for most applications but it would be perfect for my intended use only around the house and would save on battery costs.

I have an 'arrangement' with a local tree surgeon whereby he uses a corner of our paddock for storing stuff in return for keeping our trees in trim. In truth I think he gets more value from this arrangement than we do, but since he regularly hires a NiftyLift for his tree work it means I can 'nab' a day of use at the end of his hire period when necessary, which has only been 2-3 times in the past few years and rather counts against my vague aspiration to buy one!

Anyway, the last time he trimmed some trees for me earlier this year one of the hose fittings burst, the machine shut down and he was stranded at almost full height. Worse still, the handle for the manual override pumping mechanism was missing from the machine so he had to wait until the hire company service van could come out to rescue him!

Maybe I'll stop looking for one

 

[RBailey]

Selling off is my plan after all my work is complete. I bought at not much more than a weeks rental so have some room to spend on getting it to work. I have managed to bring some life back into the batteries but not sure they are fit for service, I have had the pump working so hydraulics shouldn’t be an issue, still got to work on the the drive systems. My biggest issue is the electrics, it’s a rats nest of bypass’s and rewiring, all in one colour so I have to trace those wires.
Man lifts in our area are selling in the eight to fifteen thousand (Can $) with the electrics at the lower end and the sixty footers with diesel at the upper end.

Reminds me of your fellow countryman Deboss Garage and his battles with cherry picker.

Worth a watch on YouTube of you are so inclined.

Cheers,
Richard B.

 

[Gothichome]

No, it won’t run on the mains. It’s a 48v system system, the best I could hope for to plug it in would be to keep the charger plugged In, using the batteries as a sink for running the functions.

 

[Feltwell]

Dry cut diamond core drills. Having cut 3 x 5" holes through 9" solid walls today for soil pipes, the core drill was worth every penny of it's £45 - it was a size that wasn't in the set I've got, typically.

Still bloomin' hard, noisy, dusty work but a very clean hole straight through is the reward. Surprising how much the brick varies in hardness - 1 hole took 2 hours, another one took 20 minutes.

I've got a cheap TCT core drill set as well, it's rubbish, spend extra on a diamond set if you've soil pipe / waste pipe / extractor fan ducts to put through walls. You need an SDS drill with a clutch as well - most of them have one. I'm quite surprised my SDS drill survived today, it's a cheap and old one and the clutch was going mad at times with the big 5" core drill on it!

 

[RBailey]

Hi All,

Another one to add is Japanese pull saws.
I've been using them for about 18 months now and I really like them, I'll not swap back to an "English" push saw.

The speed they can cut through wood is amazing, the blades are a lot thinner hence (in part) why they cut so quickly.
Also the pull means (at least for me) because you pull they track straighter so tend to cut a LOT straighter. (There is also a traditional Japanese method there you cut a notch all the way around the piece and then the saw follows in the notch and makes a straight cut.)

The down side is you can't effectively sharpen them. However, in practice I didn't sharpen my "in use" English saws.
They are also bloody (literally) sharp so you need a case or somewhere safe to store them as they are brutal on skin.

Cheers,
Richard B.

 

[Feltwell]

Another one to add is Japanese pull saws.

I'd second that, I've got a couple and they are good. I still use a mix though - standard "jack" hardpoint saws are so good and so cheap now, I still use them for all rough carpentry, fencing and suchlike.