Top tools

[Feltwell]

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

[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-Pen- ... Swt9BeZitZ

[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
- 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.