Tools you wish you'd bought sooner...

[M11rph]

I bought one of these last year, available in various guises from multiple outlets... https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/040215238/

I needed something for my new nuts, 160Nm to stop the wheels flying off, which was beyond the range of my other 3 torque wrenches.

It's handy for a rough check on the other wrenches too. Put one end in the bench vice, second torque wrench on the other end and compare. Better than nothing and gives me some confidence that my torque values are in the ballpark.

[bodhi]

OMITN said:

A “pouch”.

Specifically, this one by Holstery: https://www.tradecounterdirect.com/holstery-jm-13v....

As much as I try to be tidy when doing tradesman cosplay DIY, I’m forever putting things down and then finding myself unable to find them or having jeans pockets stuffed full with screwdrivers, a Stanley knife, tape measure and the screws I’m just about to put between my teeth.

I didn’t want a full on American framer’s tool belt, so this thing is just the job. It clips onto my regular belt and I can now have those items to hand, rather than wondering where I’ve left them.

Edited by OMITN on Wednesday 20th March 12:24

For my tradesman cosplay I went for the Site trousers from B n Q - loads of pockets to stash stuff, fairly comfortable and hard wearing. I also got a De Walt hoody from the same place for an extra pocket / cosplay points.

Only issue is if I wear them into B n Q people assume I know what I'm doing - like the till attendant who was sure I had a trade card rather than a normal one given how I was dressed.

I asked if they did a "All the Gear and no idea" card

[MajorMantra]

On the subject of tradesman cosplay, I've found you can get new branded gear, e.g. Dickies trousers and sweatshirts on ebay for about half what it'll cost in Screwfix et al.

I'm full-time renovating at the moment so my kit is authentically filthy and well-used now. (But I still feel like a fraud in the builders' merchants.)

Edited to add: forgot the 'on ebay' part!

Edited by MajorMantra on Thursday 21st March 12:51

[bodhi]

Of course when I got the De Walt hoodie this is what I really wanted

https://www.bosch-professional.com/gb/en/products/...

Looks great for a winters day (on the golf course)

[Collectingbrass]

bodhi said:

I asked if they did a "All the Gear and no idea" card

Coming to B & Q, Screwfix or Greggs on April 1st probably

[Rustybanger]

mickk said:

dickymint said:

They're duburrers for deburring things.

You deburr, I ream.

Is that one of those irregular verbs?

You deburr, I ream, he's doing a 10 stretch in the Scrubs....

[Cold]

I bought one of these the other week. It's a template for making accurate cuts in pipe lagging. Pointless and invaluable in one 3D printed widget.
Along the same usage idea as tile levellers, a competent professional will have no need for such a thing, yet a keen but hamfisted DIYer (like me) will find this tool a helpful addition to their armoury.

[EggsBenedict]

ovlovlover said:

I could do with some advice from this threads extravagant tool buying experience.

My mitre saw has died. It was an Erbauer EMIS 254S which although fine was never the most accurate thing. Anywho I've stripped the thread of the blade mount thing with half a bolt left in it and the fence was bent after some stupidity.

I want a replacement for DIY purposes. Basic cabinetry, skirting, sheds etc. It'll be well used.

I'm struggling to decide what to buy. My main concern is precision and I don't want to have to adjust everytime I change the mitre setting etc.

Max £500.

Any thoughts?

TLDR mitre saw; which?

Think as your post was the last on the page, it got missed.

You're a bit unlucky as these things seem to have got way more expensive in the last few months. The saw I just bought is now £100 quid more expensive.

I bought this one's bigger brother: https://ffx.co.uk/products/makita-makita-ls1018ln-... but this one fits in your budget and I reckon will serve you well.

You may note that in my OP on this thread all those pages ago, I'd bought a Metabo saw and a matching stand. It was this saw, I think: https://ffx.co.uk/products/metabo-metabo-613305380...

That saw was great - way better than the Evolution one I was using, and the stand is still a game changer. However, I broke 2 of them. I broke them both cutting bits of irregular shaped apple wood. I shan't be doing that again with my new saw. If I hadn't done that stupid thing, I think my Metabo saw would still be going strong (noting that I'm a DIY'er and not a tradesperson who uses the tool every day and carts it about in a van.

My new Makita is this one: https://ffx.co.uk/products/makita-makita-ls1219l-2... It's definitely a step up from the Metabo one, but had I not broken the Metabo, I'd have been very happy.

So, on Metabo you can get a saw and a stand for well under 500 quid: https://ffx.co.uk/products/metabo-metabo-kgs254m-k...

All that said, I think this is a really nice saw: https://ffx.co.uk/products/bosch-bosch-gcm305-254d...

[EggsBenedict]

Danns said:

Looks like this got overlooked, I have a Bosch GCM 12 SDE - I'm sure I only paid £400&something but it appears prices have crept up a fair bit.

They bloody have too!

The 240v version of that is over 700 quid now. It's more or less the Bosch version of my Makita in earlier post.

[donkmeister]

Collectingbrass said:

bodhi said:

I asked if they did a "All the Gear and no idea" card

Coming to B & Q, Screwfix or Greggs on April 1st probably

From personal experience, Screwfix automatically upgrade you to Plumbfix if you start buying plumbing supplies in bulk. Useful if you want to avoid a queue at lunchtime caused by someone who has mistaken Screwfix for Google.

If you feel a fraud walking into a B&Q in Dicky's, just try walking into Plumbfix in a suit

[B'stard Child]

Cold said:

I bought one of these the other week. It's a template for making accurate cuts in pipe lagging. Pointless and invaluable in one 3D printed widget.
Along the same usage idea as tile levellers, a competent professional will have no need for such a thing, yet a keen but hamfisted DIYer (like me) will find this tool a helpful addition to their armoury.

Great tool except it’s only made for cheap DIY shop lagging - if you want thick walked lagging he doesn’t do one to suit

[MajorMantra]

EggsBenedict said:

ovlovlover said:

I could do with some advice from this threads extravagant tool buying experience.

My mitre saw has died. It was an Erbauer EMIS 254S which although fine was never the most accurate thing. Anywho I've stripped the thread of the blade mount thing with half a bolt left in it and the fence was bent after some stupidity.

I want a replacement for DIY purposes. Basic cabinetry, skirting, sheds etc. It'll be well used.

I'm struggling to decide what to buy. My main concern is precision and I don't want to have to adjust everytime I change the mitre setting etc.

Max £500.

Any thoughts?

TLDR mitre saw; which?

Think as your post was the last on the page, it got missed.

You're a bit unlucky as these things seem to have got way more expensive in the last few months. The saw I just bought is now £100 quid more expensive.

I bought this one's bigger brother: https://ffx.co.uk/products/makita-makita-ls1018ln-... but this one fits in your budget and I reckon will serve you well.

You may note that in my OP on this thread all those pages ago, I'd bought a Metabo saw and a matching stand. It was this saw, I think: https://ffx.co.uk/products/metabo-metabo-613305380...

That saw was great - way better than the Evolution one I was using, and the stand is still a game changer. However, I broke 2 of them. I broke them both cutting bits of irregular shaped apple wood. I shan't be doing that again with my new saw. If I hadn't done that stupid thing, I think my Metabo saw would still be going strong (noting that I'm a DIY'er and not a tradesperson who uses the tool every day and carts it about in a van.

My new Makita is this one: https://ffx.co.uk/products/makita-makita-ls1219l-2... It's definitely a step up from the Metabo one, but had I not broken the Metabo, I'd have been very happy.

So, on Metabo you can get a saw and a stand for well under 500 quid: https://ffx.co.uk/products/metabo-metabo-kgs254m-k...

All that said, I think this is a really nice saw: https://ffx.co.uk/products/bosch-bosch-gcm305-254d...

Another suggestion... I've been using a DeWalt DWS774 for a few years and it's great. The shadow line feature makes for very accurate cuts.

Ofc you may be after something bigger, but it's good for most DIY purposes.

[Teddy Lop]

MajorMantra said:

EggsBenedict said:

ovlovlover said:

I could do with some advice from this threads extravagant tool buying experience.

My mitre saw has died. It was an Erbauer EMIS 254S which although fine was never the most accurate thing. Anywho I've stripped the thread of the blade mount thing with half a bolt left in it and the fence was bent after some stupidity.

I want a replacement for DIY purposes. Basic cabinetry, skirting, sheds etc. It'll be well used.

I'm struggling to decide what to buy. My main concern is precision and I don't want to have to adjust everytime I change the mitre setting etc.

Max £500.

Any thoughts?

TLDR mitre saw; which?

Think as your post was the last on the page, it got missed.

You're a bit unlucky as these things seem to have got way more expensive in the last few months. The saw I just bought is now £100 quid more expensive.

I bought this one's bigger brother: https://ffx.co.uk/products/makita-makita-ls1018ln-... but this one fits in your budget and I reckon will serve you well.

You may note that in my OP on this thread all those pages ago, I'd bought a Metabo saw and a matching stand. It was this saw, I think: https://ffx.co.uk/products/metabo-metabo-613305380...

That saw was great - way better than the Evolution one I was using, and the stand is still a game changer. However, I broke 2 of them. I broke them both cutting bits of irregular shaped apple wood. I shan't be doing that again with my new saw. If I hadn't done that stupid thing, I think my Metabo saw would still be going strong (noting that I'm a DIY'er and not a tradesperson who uses the tool every day and carts it about in a van.

My new Makita is this one: https://ffx.co.uk/products/makita-makita-ls1219l-2... It's definitely a step up from the Metabo one, but had I not broken the Metabo, I'd have been very happy.

So, on Metabo you can get a saw and a stand for well under 500 quid: https://ffx.co.uk/products/metabo-metabo-kgs254m-k...

All that said, I think this is a really nice saw: https://ffx.co.uk/products/bosch-bosch-gcm305-254d...

Another suggestion... I've been using a DeWalt DWS774 for a few years and it's great. The shadow line feature makes for very accurate cuts.

Ofc you may be after something bigger, but it's good for most DIY purposes.

Mines a DeWalt; I bought it on the advice of a chippie who reckoned it was the one to go for, amd as he was for the most part a total makita tart i figured it had to be sound advice.

[Teddy Lop]

Why are core drills so much more expensive than similarly specified non-core rated drills that makes them 3x the price? Don't bother to answer this I've been asking for years and never got a satisfactory answer, or indeed one from anyone with the faintest idea what theyre talking about.

The front has now completely fallen off my DeWalt core drill and I need to remove the chuck to see if I can reattach it, the chuck is something called "torqued" which in english seems to mean "forget it, chuck it in the bin and stop wasting time"

So the choice is spend about 500 nicker which is fine otherwise but my life's going to take a turn in a year and I may have limited further use for it.

So Im looking at this and thinking "how bad can it be" https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/375324038337

[dickymint]

Teddy Lop said:

Why are core drills so much more expensive than similarly specified non-core rated drills that makes them 3x the price? Don't bother to answer this I've been asking for years and never got a satisfactory answer, or indeed one from anyone with the faintest idea what theyre talking about.

The front has now completely fallen off my DeWalt core drill and I need to remove the chuck to see if I can reattach it, the chuck is something called "torqued" which in english seems to mean "forget it, chuck it in the bin and stop wasting time"

So the choice is spend about 500 nicker which is fine otherwise but my life's going to take a turn in a year and I may have limited further use for it.

So Im looking at this and thinking "how bad can it be" https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/375324038337

Fair enough i'll keep quiet then

[gtidriver]

Ill have this up on the wall later over the weekend, my final few bits arrived today. I'm on the hunt for a 150mm ruler, should have bought it but didn't and now an out of stock item. Ill leave a space just incase I find it.

[GeneralBanter]

Thus looks handy for the price:

https://www.eastendbas.co.uk/products/wrench-4-2-5...

… if only it wasn’t from a website called Eastend Bas

[RedWhiteMonkey]

GeneralBanter said:

Thus looks handy for the price:

https://www.eastendbas.co.uk/products/wrench-4-2-5...

… if only it wasn’t from a website called Eastend Bas

The material and build quality of that looks woeful.

[Sporky]

EggsBenedict said:

All that said, I think this is a really nice saw: https://ffx.co.uk/products/bosch-bosch-gcm305-254d...

That looks like the new version of mine, which I like a lot.

[donkmeister]

Teddy Lop said:

Why are core drills so much more expensive than similarly specified non-core rated drills that makes them 3x the price? Don't bother to answer this I've been asking for years and never got a satisfactory answer, or indeed one from anyone with the faintest idea what theyre talking about.

Core drills are built for high torque, low speed. If you use a standard drill for lots and lots of big cores, you knacker the motor controller and overheat the windings on the motor.

Less of a distinction these days is the clutch. Years back it wasn't that uncommon for someone to wallop themselves in the face with the handle and/or throw themselves off a ladder when using a core with a regular drill. These days drills all seem to have a safety clutch anyway, but I suspect this is set at a lower torque to a core drill.