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Post by hemdale on Dec 18, 2015 13:29:24 GMT -5
For me, other great tools are:
- Knew coping saws ( cuts like butter with Pegas blades) - Incra rulers (just asked myself how did I survive without them)
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R cash
Junior Member
Posts: 73
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Post by R cash on Dec 21, 2015 20:24:50 GMT -5
Here's a shelf in my shop with many brands of tool porn for tool nerds like me.
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Post by charley1968 on Dec 22, 2015 6:39:54 GMT -5
A pretty plane collection you got there!
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Post by holmz on Dec 22, 2015 7:20:18 GMT -5
What are those ones on the top shelf?
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Post by Red on Dec 22, 2015 8:24:16 GMT -5
Man! I thought I was the only person on earth who owned one of those clocks!
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Post by Knight Woodworks on Dec 22, 2015 9:14:42 GMT -5
Nice! Have to say, I'm a wee bit jealous of the BCT dividers.
John
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Post by Red on Dec 22, 2015 9:32:34 GMT -5
For me, other great tools are: - Knew coping saws ( cuts like butter with Pegas blades) - Incra rulers (just asked myself how did I survive without them) Yes, those Incra end references come in REAL handy.
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Post by wolfhound on Dec 22, 2015 13:26:52 GMT -5
I really like the Bessey ban700 clamp. Very easy to use and extremely versatile !
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Post by Red on Dec 22, 2015 13:52:11 GMT -5
Wow! Those Bessey Band Clamps look like the cats meow! NICE!
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Post by ohan on Dec 24, 2015 5:38:56 GMT -5
How do you pronounce Bessey?
For that matter, how do you pronounce Mafell?
I've heard at least two different versions of each. Just curious.
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Post by charley1968 on Dec 24, 2015 6:57:25 GMT -5
Ma as in master and fell as in fell creature. Pronounciation on the second syllable.
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Post by Red on Dec 24, 2015 11:05:34 GMT -5
How do you pronounce Bessey? For that matter, how do you pronounce Mafell? I've heard at least two different versions of each. Just curious. Bessey is pronounced just like the famous first name "Jesse" (as in James).
Mafell, on the other hand, can be pronounced like this sentence: My Ma fell down or like our forum, MU-Fell. As Charley pointed out, the emphasis is on the "ell" part, but I've spoken to more than person who deals directly with Mafell and I've heard both pronunciations being used.
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Post by huntsgemein on Jan 14, 2017 3:25:40 GMT -5
I have some firm favourite tools: as I'm of rather limited means, most are of older & less extravagant provenance than many of those previously mentioned. (a) Nobex Quattro Folding Square. Now superseded by an "Octo" model I really, really like my 20 year old original. One of the few hand tools that I bought new, it has nevertheless served me faithfully. As indicated by the name, it folds, making it eminently pocketable, and ALWAYS on hand as a consequence. The etchings won't last, but it's still as spot-on accurate as it was on day one! My 200mm bladed model covers almost all but my sheet work, for which a rafter square is better suited anyway. www.toolexchange.com.au/our-tools/stanley-squares/nobex-octo-sweden-angle-square-200mm(b) Stanley 60 1/2A block plane. A unique & extremely short lived product from Stanley UK, its unique features just make it a "better mousetrap" for a fraction of the price of imitation & replica models from the likes of Lee Valley & Lie Nielsen et al. The best features are its wide, elongated lands & low angle cutter seat that are perfect for mitre & end grain shooting, an elongated & improved lever cap that clamps much closer to the cutting edge than other block planes, and its lovely heavy but narrow form factor that for me makes it an ergonomic triumph for my smallish mitts Can still be had for about GBP 25/ AU $40-ish from the usual second hand sources. Eminently pocketable & therefore always on hand for those essential trimming jobs from arrises to whiskers, overlaps to glue lines. Dislikes? The lever cap is aluminium, and tends to shed it's paint prematurely. www.leevalley.com/en/newsletters/Woodworking/7/4/collection.htm(c) Record T5 Technical Plane. Take a standard Record 05 Stanley Bailey replica Jack Plane, lop an inch off the back, mount the rear handle an inch further back too, give it wider and longer lands for shooting, extra webbing & weight for gravitas, stability and strength, and add an interchangeable handle for mounting to the side wings and you have the Record T5. Made tough to withstand the depredations of generations of schoolboys, apprentices & technical college students, it is a surprisingly sophisticated Mitre Plane/Shooter/Jack and general allrounder that is still an ideal companion to the above for site work. Still available (S/H) for less half the price of a new Jack. www.record-planes.com/record-no-t5-technical-jack-plane/(d) Machinist's scribe. Nobody will ever be able to perform precision woodwork without accurate, careful marking out. Forget pencils. Forget Texta pens. Nothing but a fine, thin single bevelled blade is appropriate for fine woodwork. My favourite is a fine smith-made laminated original by my long dead uncle Bill. My father's twin, he was an old school smith, wheelwright and toolmaker who could barely read & write, but was a wizard with forge & anvil. The ultra thin laminated blade is kept scary-sharp and sharpened from one side only to suit my right handedness. A distinct advantage of pre-scoring along a cut line is that it virtually eliminates splintering or feathering. A careful follow-up with a fine (0.5mm) B or even 2B pencil line along the scribe allows for better vision if you, like me, no longer have youthful eyesight. A modern iteration is illustrated below. www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-machinist-s-scribes-953422(e) BMI TopoMat construction/layout laser. There's cheaper lasers available. There's more high-tech features available elsewhere too, like more easily seen green lasers, rubber bumpers, rechargeable batteries, the ability to hang upside down etc etc. But I still believe that even after some 20 years of ownership my TopoMat is still one of the most versatile lasers I've come across. In addition to standard vertical & horizontal points & lines like all the rest, the addition of a digital inclinometer allows for measured tilt layouts of any other angle too. Not just preset drainage/guttering angles of a degree or 2, but any angle you like from vertical to horizontal. Ideal for rooflines & any other uniform inclinations, this feature alone is the standout in my opinion. Not cheap by any measure, but quality seldom is. www.bmi.de/en/products-laser-technology-topomat-ipx5.php(f) Variable speed mini grinder. Small & light enough for one handed use. Lock on/lock off switch. Sanding with backing pad & abrasive discs down to a super rough 16 grit. Suitable for multiple layers of thick paint, where the initial grit quickly loads up & friction melts multiple layers of paint away from delicate substrates without damage. Swirl free, rapid random orbit sanding with a 125mm Triton Random Orbit Sander Attachment. Terribly messy (no extraction at all) but with a speed that makes a Rotex seem unbearably slow in comparison. Freehand carving, planing, gouging and sanding of complex concavities and convex forms with an array of Arbortech Woodcarving, Turboplane and Mini attachments. Rapid but controlled removal of unwanted wood fast, from finely finessed to deep and course as required. Rapid freehand and guided cutting of wood, stone, masonry, steel and ceramic with T.C.T., Abrasive & diamond discs in a variety of formats. Can be shrouded and dust-controlled & even rail guided as required. Probably the most used & most versatile tool in my workshop. My favourites are the smaller, lighter versions no longer made by B&D Professional in Italy, and the 900w WE9-125 Quick from Metabo. The key is to vary the speed to suit the job & material, but still have all that awesome power available if required too. Some (albeit bigger & heavier) V/S mini-grinders are now boasting 1700 & even 1900w! (g) Laser distance & angle measures are an amazingly rapid & surprisingly accurate estimation tool. Once the province of surveyors only (I can recall using some hideously expensive Wild laser prismatic survey gear in the 70's as a Forester) they are now small enough to be pocketable, cheap enough to justify, and useful enough to be in just about every tradies' tool or glovebox. The Hypotenuse function alone is a remarkably useful & accurate height measure for those otherwise inaccessible vertical dimensions.
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Post by kraftt on Oct 11, 2017 19:48:26 GMT -5
Picked up some tips on this thread. Would be great to see it continue with what others favorite ‘hand tools’ are. At the beginning of the thread someone mentioned how glad they were when they got a magnetic Stabila and also commented how much they liked a magnetic stud finder. I'll add that it’s relatively simple to convert any Stabila level to magnetic, far more powerful than Stabila offers, and change it back again just as fast. I try not to use anything less than N45 neodymium but you can go as low as N35 and still get great results… *Above - Handles pop off. On the electronic levels they use up one of the handle spaces but you can see there is still room. As far as magnetic stud finders I much prefer them to anything electronic too, except I could never find one powerful enough. Nothing new here - I just double up neodymium bar magnets and then encapsulate them in ‘Inner-Melt’ heat shrink. Magnets being so brittle, especially the higher up you go in gauss, the inner-melt (dual wall) shrink keeps them intact even when they hit concrete. It also doubles as wall protection, a hook loop, & when I use them to pick up steel fines from drilling where I shouldn’t have they wipe clean (or just wrap in plastic first and then pull off plastic trapping all the fines). This image below gives some indication of their gauss. I could have added more weight but it’s impressive because these are old - they been residing on my bag in a hot truck for years & years. Continuing with magnets - I had to add something to the cart to get free shipping so I decided I would try one of those wrist band magnetic bit and screw holders. They look like something that seems like a good idea until you try it, plus I can tell the magnets are weak. But they had a deal for 2.99 so I picked up two with the intention to cut them open, throw away supplied magnets, and install single heat shrunk bar neodymiums. I tested the theory first by taping my two existing magnets around my wrist with tape and couldn’t shake off that hammer in photo - I mean really shake.
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Post by kraftt on Oct 13, 2017 15:59:59 GMT -5
Here’s something else that’s fairly simple to do that I’m often glad I did. If you use a canvas bag you can take a 12vdc led self adhesive flexible strip (adhesive is not important, just how they come) and encapsulate it in clear heat shrink for protection, then clip or sew it inside bag near zipper. While it can take up to 12v and will be it’s brightest it will also run just fine off of a 9v battery. In fact I tested mine and it stayed on for about a day & a half before the battery was drained. After that it was a good 2 years of normal use before I changed the battery and only because it was getting dimmer. The battery can sit inside a small plastic case with a rubber push button switch drilled out the side. You can just make out the black nub of the push button switch in the top horizontal pocket. I think I used about 24” of led strip. Tools get thrown into the bag, the bag falls over and tumbles in transit sometimes, the zippers are in constant use and the led’s haven’t had one issue. You won’t use it that often but when you start getting frustrated looking for those small crucial tools that you know are buried in there somewhere it’s the greatest. *This is an old led strip and newer ones are brighter, but you could also use two COB 3” strips for a very, very bright florescent like even light effect mounted at the top. You would still encapsulate them in clear shrink and they are brightest at 4.5v. (three 1.5v batts) but can also run on less voltage with two batts at 3v.
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