Woodwork and metalwork

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

Good day today, made a start on clearing out my shed/workshop it's only 8 x 12 but the amount of junk in there is unbelievable. You know the sort of thing some 20 years ago I thought "That will come in handy" and stowed it away to be found once more TODAY!!!!

[denshaw 2,871]

I know the feeling, I have got 3 electric sanders 4 sets of Allan keys and about 6 hammers. All stuff that comes in handy.

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

Only 6 hammers do you want to lend a couple

 

From memory I have 14lb sledge, 2lb ball and pein, 1lb cross pein, tilers spike hammer, brass head, copper head, rubber head, 4oz tack hammer, miniature tack hammer, claw hammer, 3lb lump hammer and finally a wooden mallet.

 

Mind you I only have two sets of Allan keys.

 

I blame that bloody Screwfix book

[plantfit 7,580]

Talking of hammers NBL

 

 

Rog

[Oztalgian 3,270]

1 hour ago, plantfit said:

Talking of hammers NBL

Plantfit  A great selection of hammers there! Some looking new and shiny, others well used.

The one on the far right looks like a Thor mallet with a copper head one end and a rawhide head the other. One of my favourite accessories when setting up jobs for machining when "clocking" one edge square.

[plantfit 7,580]

It is a good hammer Oz used for when you don't want to damage/mark parent metal, most of them are cleaned up using fine wire brush in the angle grinder but all of the heads are oiled before being put away and a couple of times a year I wipe the shafts down with vegetable oil, I know what a sad life but always taught to look after your tools, there's four sets of Allen keys as well

 

Rog

[Oztalgian 3,270]

Plantfit,  I hope the Allen Keys are "Unbrako" over the years I have found all the other brands inferior, yes cheap but crap.

I flew to a trade show in Melbourne one and the rep gave me two sets of Allen Keys, the type with the ball on the long part of the key, both metric and imperial. When getting on the plane to come home some jobsworth on security told me they were not allowed in the cabin and had to be put in the hold. What did he think I was going to do with them on a one hour flight, take the bleddy plane apart!

 

My old man always used to say buy good tools, look after them and they will last you a lifetime.

[plantfit 7,580]

Buy cheap buy twice,always stuck to that rule, yes the Allen keys are Unbrako but my "Torx" keys are all German,

Does anyone still buy boot laces or are they a thing of the past?

 

 

I always keep a few pair in the drawer 100cm and 140cm

 

Rog

[oldphil 331]

Talking of hammers........still got my dads - only four, he used to call them his "fine tuners", and swore that the only reason they were on the rack is because they wouldn't fit in the case with the micrometer. My uncle called them "yer dad's paying out sticks"

I remember the pair of them using one each to dislodge a drive shaft on my Mini - Health and Safety took a (long way) back seat in those days.

[MargieH 7,599]

4 hours ago, plantfit said:

Talking of hammers NBL

 

 

Rog

 

I've just showed this picture to Paul and he says he's got all of them bar one - the fourth from the left - but he has got another one with rubber on one side and solid plastic on the other side.  He's got a couple of pick axes as well - do they count?  He says he's thinking of coming out of retirement and going into a small demolition  business!  

What will be the next photo of tools I wonder.... hope it won't be various screws and nails because he has jars and jars full of them!

[plantfit 7,580]

Picture please Margie, can never have enough tools,even if you don't use them they're nice to look at

 

Rog

The fifth from the left is a solid rubber mallet the first on the right is a copper/copper head hammer and the one fourth from the right is a chipping hammer as used by welders, that one has seen some action

[oldphil 331]

is that why blokes like me have them on boards in the garage? so we can see all of them at the same time?

my excuse is - it makes putting them back easier, and lowers the risk of losing one.

[plantfit 7,580]

Can't beat having your tools on a shadow board oldphil, saves having to bend down and pick them up off the floor

 

Rog

[oldphil 331]

2 hours ago, plantfit said:

Buy cheap buy twice,always stuck to that rule, yes the Allen keys are Unbrako but my "Torx" keys are all German,

Does anyone still buy boot laces or are they a thing of the past?

 

Rog

get some now and again - still a market for them = just checked Amazon - 38,895 hits for "boot laces"

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

Hey Rog, I recall I was on nights regular at Clifton, we had a Chargehand and an assistant Chargehand, assistant was Dave Watson, better known as "Whatto".. Dave came into work one night and said he'd picked up a good set of allen keys at the cattle market that day. First time he used one he put a full twist in it. The set ended up on the belt!! 

He never lived that one down, "lead allen" keys, he stuck to Unbraco after that. I'd sooner spend twenty bucks on a tool than end up spending forty bucks because the first one was crap.

[plantfit 7,580]

I remember some years ago we had an assistant quarry manager (female) said she was taking me to the tools suppliers to get my company van kitted out with some new tools, sounds great so off we went,got in the shop and she said to the counter assistant "we want a set of metric spanners please,cheap ones", I walked out of the shop telling her I would supply my own, how can you rely on a 32mm spanner 60 foot up a conveyor belt thats made of pastry?

 

Rog

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

1 hour ago, plantfit said:

the one fourth from the right is a chipping hammer as used by welders

I have one of those. It belonged to my father, who was a welder. Most of the others too.

 

According to my birth certificate, in 1957 my father was a panel beater...whatever one of those is! He was, apparently, regarded as a very skilled sheet metal worker. I still have some copper ornaments he made when I was little. I'm told they are exceptionally well made.

[plantfit 7,580]

Sheet metal workers,copper smiths,panel beaters,all very skilled people,sadly not many left now and not much call for them,more skills that made our country the best in the world sadly confined to history,  victims of the throw away culture

 

Rog

[Compo 10,328]

I, too, fell for the cheap Allen Keys thing....I didn't think I would need top quality ones for the type of jobs I was doing but oops! I didn't expect them to be made from what appears to have been the softest metal ever manufactured.

[Chulla 4,946]

My trade was coppersmith. We used mainly planishing hammers with smooth faces - marks in the face would transfer to the metal hit if you were not careful. As you can see, there are flat-face, domed-face, camber-face, cross pein, ball and extended versions of cross-pein and ball, the latter to get into restricted spaces. When I left the trade in 1979 I took the hammers home, thinking that they might come in useful. I have only used two of them, as general purpose hammers. Got them out of the storage box, dusted them down to take this photo.

 

[Compo 10,328]

I once tried to make a copper ashtray using planishing hammers.  I got the shape ok but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get a smooth finish. Hats off to anyone who can use these tools!

 

[Chulla 4,946]

37 minutes ago, Jill Sparrow said:

I have one of those. It belonged to my father, who was a welder. Most of the others too.

 

According to my birth certificate, in 1957 my father was a panel beater...whatever one of those is! He was, apparently, regarded as a very skilled sheet metal worker. I still have some copper ornaments he made when I was little. I'm told they are exceptionally well made.

 

If your father was a sheet metal worker then he was a skilled man. Panel beater is a common alternative name, as is tin-basher. My dad said don't go in the paint trade like him, become a sheet metal worker. When I applied for an apprenticeship at Rolls-Royce they said they had filled the SMW apprentice vacancy, how about a coppersmith. I had never heard of the trade, but said 'yes' and was successful.

   In the aircraft industry, a coppersmith is not someone who makes copper kitchen utensils, he makes pipework for engines and aircraft and test-rigs. Copper and aluminium became obsolete and was eventually replaced by Tungum ( a high quality brass-like metal) and stainless steel. The trade also takes in soldering and brazing.

[plantfit 7,580]

I remember you telling me you were a coppersmith Dave, proper tradesman, has the trade been took over by machines/robots or other or is there still the need for real tradesmen? Or,heaven forbid, been farmed out to China

 

Rog

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

3 hours ago, Chulla said:

The trade also takes in soldering and brazing.

Dad often spoke about brazing and soldering. Mum said when they were first married in 1949,  he worked in the evenings, in addition to his day job, for Cope's the clockmakers and jewellers, silver soldering. At one stage he made stainless steel exhausts for Borough Superior.

 

On odd occasions when I was very young, I remember going with him to his place of work. The smell of the place has always stayed in my memory!

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

Nice set of hammers Chulla, Rog I am missing the chipping hammer, now I feel under tooled.

 

With regard to panel beaters or lack of them I was most surprised about 4 years ago after a road accident, my then Vauxhall van went in for repair and there in the shop was my new wing and front grill all painted delivered from the store ready to bolt on.