"A bad workman...": the tool-chat thread.

Exactly. For things you don't care about the appearance (plumbing inside a cupboard, that bastard rusty nut on your fence post...) left wins everytime. For nice things (bike parts, visible tap fittings...) or things that need a press fit and can't go in a bench vise, right wins.

Basically, get both, you won't regret it.

I thought putting this here first maybe better than straight to the main forum.
Recently upgraded a few tools and got very carried away with the idea of a #toolboxwars style lovely flight case for bike tools and a second one for car tools.
Reality is that I just don’t have the time to follow this through and don’t use a multitude of tools at the same time at enough frequency to warrant laying all these out in a beautiful and easy to grab display within a flight case.

Result - I have 2 Explorer flight cases with layers of shadowfoam cut to the case size that are now taking up space in storage.

Please shout if anyone is interested in either of these.

Can update with case model numbers.

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Where abouts are you at? I'm not in London, litttle further north but some cases are on my shopping list for mobile mechanic duties

I’m in central London, but occasionally travel up to Manchester area, not sure whether I’ll be going any earlier yet but I’m heading north beginning of May

where do I buy a SINGLE one of these?
I love them but I have lost the 4 mm :--(

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wera-05022608001-Metric-BlackLaser-4-0x137mm/dp/B01ASVTKL0/

I have found Wera UK to be very customer focussed. Give them a call/email.

Toolbox stack for sale
https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/379420/

Managed to pick up a (I believe) 60's Stanley No. 4 for cheap. Bit of rust and the iron had a very free hand grind on it. An evening in the shed and it shaves again.

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Big beefy shaving for the lolz

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• PXL_20230212_215847171.TS~2.mp4

The nail polish sets it off nicely.

I like the sharpening setup too.

A suitable place for this lovely thing..

https://www.spectator.co.uk/poem/the-tool-chest/

Decided to clean up my three main planes. Spent a good hour regrinding the iron on the big Faithful No7 jointer as it had a few chips on the edge. Only to then test it out on some very soft pine and immediately get a ton of new chips. Guessing that the temper was either non existent or has been fucked by someone else before hand. Regardless, I have now asked for a wet grinder for my next birthday. To rub it in, when I finished the primary bevel, my watch congratulated me on a good 17min session on the eliptical machine.

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Looking for recommendations for some Vernier calipers and a torque wrench for bike stuff. Not silly money but built to last. Mitutoyo any good ?

Mitutoyo

That's the signal for @gbj_tester to drop by imminently.

I have some verniers I got from maplins about £15 and a proper mitutoyo pair which the cheap ones are copying. The difference is night and day, if you need precision then spend the money on the mitutoyo ones but if it’s just for bikes or something occasional and not super critical to be dead accurate then don’t waste your money, get a cheap vernier. There’s probably a fairly good cheap version out there.

Actual vernier or digital?

I thought I'd be old school and bought some half decent verniers but a couple months later my dad got me some cheap digitals and a digital micrometer for my birthday.

The verniers very quickly got relegated to 'kept in the garage and used to mark things out' and I use the cheap digital ones for anything that matters.

Mitutoyo any good ?

Yes, but probably overkill for home gamers. By all means get Mitutoyo if, like me, you love fine things which will last a lifetime, but I got away with £20 chinesium digital calipers for a decade before splashing out on the coolant-proof absolute digimatic #tartmode ones

if it’s just for bikes or something occasional and not super critical to be dead accurate

Yeah, I wouldn't place much faith in the second decimal place on the chinesium ones, but there aren't many places on a bike where you need to

and a torque wrench

There's a thread for that although it's not that helpful. In addition to Norbar, people seem happy with Wera, Britool, & Park. Strictly speaking, you probably need two torque wrenches, 2-20Nm for the small stuff and 20-60Nm for the bits which love the gronk

Note eBay is full of shameless fake Mitutoyo branded digital callipers complete with branded cases, manuals, certificates etc. If it’s under £150 it’s not the real thing.

I bought a couple of the really cheap digital calipers, always found the battery flat when I wanted to use it, or nearly dead so the display was too dim to read. Satisfying to know the $5 non-digital one I finally bought will work like new every time, forever. Would probably spring for a spendy name-brand digital if I used it frequently.

This, amazon, ebay etc, full of fake, almost no real ones I would guess!
Buy through local tool supply shop.

Cheap digitals, anything from about £15-30 are much of a muchness, there are some slightly better ones, but first time any grease, oil or dust gets in them they pack in or just start making garbage numbers.

always found the battery flat

I found that, but then I just started taking the battery out after use. There was even a slot in the foam to hold it. (Which I assume is meant for a spare)

always found the battery flat

Use the thumb screw to lock the slide when putting it away, otherwise every little movement turns the display on. In general, I suggest getting the ones which take a CR2032 rather than an LR44 precisely because the battery always runs out at in inopportune time and you can get CR2032 at the supermarket