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.

[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

When will it ever end????

[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......

[paulc]

just the need the time & energy to dig some foundations......

<cough> Mini-digger - Takes all the backache out of digging trenches, ripping out tree stumps, and leveling the garden. Hired one last year, and did in one day, what would have taken me six months to do by hand.

[RBailey]

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

Glad to be of assistance
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000BQMZ9C/ ... UTF8&psc=1

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.

Make sure to let it have a good long warm up, it seems slow at first but once at temperature seems a lot more efficient. The first 20 minutes it feels very slow but after half an hour its okay.
(I have started plugging it in upside down on a heat proof surface and coming back 30 minutes later. However, it is really NOT recommended to leave a heat source un-attended.

powered sharpening and honing machine, wetstone on one side and leather honing wheel on the other.

I have been thinking about getting one for a while. I need to get some more whetstones as my stones are bowed and the diamond plates are worn so I was thinking to splash out on a machine. Not that much more (**) that a decent set of stones.
(**) when worked out using the official 'man' math's tool purchase calculator.

woodworking shed, and keeping all that dusty stuff out of the garage

My dad has a woodworking shed and he has a recirculating ceiling dust filter, he says it makes a big difference.
One is on my wish list(but its a long list). I like the idea of being able to blow down with compressed air and then letting the ceiling filter do its job.

Cheers,
Richard B.

[Feltwell]

just the need the time & energy to dig some foundations......

<cough> Mini-digger - Takes all the backache out of digging trenches, ripping out tree stumps, and leveling the garden. Hired one last year, and did in one day, what would have taken me six months to do by hand.

Yes, I'm tempted. I've a dead, and very large, privet hedge to dig out as well, a mini digger would make it a lot easier. Only problem is there is the remains of an old hand pump where the shed is to go, I don't know if it's sat on a borehole or a well. Several tons of bricks have been sat next to it for the last 11 years ( ) and have yet to disappear with a splash. Hand digging has yet to reveal anything!

I'd see if I could borrow Flyfisher's mini digger, but it would take a while to track it here from Norfolk

[Flyfisher]

Have you tried searching the BGS borehole and well records?
I found the details of our borehole that was drilled in 1933, since capped when mains water was connected.
This is the borehole link: https://www.bgs.ac.uk/information-hub/borehole-records/
There was also a link to wells but I can't seem to find it now.

You'd be welcome to borrow the mini-digger, though transport would be a problem. At 2800kg it's very close to the payload limit for 3500kg trailers and if carrying all buckets definitely over. That's why I got it at a bargain price because it's too large to easily transport for small builders and too small for large builders. I'm having a 'thumb' fitted to it next month for a specific clearance project, so that should be fun.

So many toys, so little time

[Feltwell]

Very generous of you FF, but I was only joking on the digger! A proper boy's toy though.

Not heard of that borehole site, thanks for that, but no sign of anything for us. It shows the well for what was the mineral water works / brewery behind our house, which owned our house. That is actually a Roman well, we're next to Watling Street. It also shows a borehole for the long-gone steam laundry near us, but that's it. Our neighbours have a well in their front garden, that's not shown. On an old map dated only 10 years before the house was built there is a well shown where my garage is now, but it's definitely wrong, we went down to virgin ground with no sign.

I think I need to have a more determined dig down next to this hand pump - the old supply pipe is still in-situ. It might make me revise my shedly ambitions!