My tools are a motley rag bag lot. Some I inherited from my father, some I bought cos I needed that spefiic size spanner, or I found them in old cars, or second hand shops. Church fairs used to be good places to buy tools, old geezers would die and the widows wouldn't know what to do with his tools (this was before Trademe) so they'd donate them to the church fair.
I still prowl through second hand shops and such like to see if I can score a decent spanner of a puller or something.
Many of mine have been bent, ground down, shortened, lengthened, mangled in some way, to make them work better on some particular bolt. I indentify them as "the spanner for the bastard barrel nut on Triumph 650s" or "the chopped down screwdriver for the inaccessible cover screw on T500s" , and so on.
I've very rarely bought sets of anything , except Allen keys (BTW who the hell was Mr Allen I assume there was such a one ?)
I don't really give a stuff about brand names (I must have at least 30 or 40 different ones), so long as they get the bloody nut undone.
Originally Posted by skidmarkOriginally Posted by Phil Vincent
Stolen more like - don't turn your back on a customer.These days most tools are made in the same place,a different name stamped on them for the night shift.I get to read a dozen different tool cateloges,same tools,different names.I've been handling these things so long I know a good one from a bad one - and good name doesn't mean good tool anymore.
Well I'm glad there are a few respected mechanics with that attitude, it's very easy to get a bit precious with high end tools.
I've bought some cheapo stuff that has failed & has been replaced with better stuff but I've also I've got lucky with some so it's stayed. Junk however will always be junk.
I knew I'd regret my I can tell a size by looking at it comment. Sunday I'm tinkering & manage to use a 13 on a 12 & pick up the 15mm socket instead of the 14. Pride cometh before etc. -Course I wouldn't have these silly sizes if it wasn't for euro bikes.
Worse was the bloody Beta. Had a bastard header flange that you could only get to with open ender & was 11mm head with a M7 thread. Gee thanks guys, Allen with M6 would have been a site more convenient & probably cheaper. Where the hell do you buy M7 thread? - Who cares now, not my problem.
I'll get around to updating the first list when I have some time.
I've had friends lose tools from work. People! Feel 'the man' owes them a living so it's ok to steal from people who are 'taking money from them' as by definition they are 'the man'.
Race meets are an excellent place to lose tools, most people are generous to try & help others but people then in the rush of getting the job done & back out sometimes forget the tools are to be returned. I've always been careful to return tools, however I usually take enough so I don't have to borrow. However I still have no idea where my 10mm Stahwille came from. Perhaps someone's mate returned tools to me?
Strangely on the subject of race meets. When I go far I take everything & every spare I have. Less so on med distance. But noticed in recent local meets I take virtually nothing, a few spanners. Odd as I'm unlikely to go home to get stuff.
Don't you look at my accountant.
He's the only one I've got.
"Allen wrench" was originally a trademark of the Allen Manufacturing Company in Hartford, Connecticut, taken out in 1943. In France, it is called "clef Allen". In Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and in Russia, this type of screw is known by the name "Inbus", after the company that patented them in 1936, Bauer & Schaurte Karcher in Beckingen, Saarland, Germany (stands for Innensechskantschraube Bauer und Schaurte). (It is still known as an Inbus-key—often misspelled as Imbus-key—in parts of Europe.) In Italy it is known as brugola, after Egidio Brugola, who invented it in 1926. In Sweden it is called insexnyckel (sex being the Swedish word for six). In the other non-English speaking parts of Europe, mainly in Norway, it is usually known as an "Unbrako key" (often misspelled "Umbrako") [1], which is a brand name established in 1911. The brand is owned by SPS Technologies.
(Burgled from Wikipedia and no mention of Alice or who the fuck she is).
Allen is part of the Danaher Group these days.Amongst many other things,the tool brands Danaher own are - Allen,Armstrong,Gearwrench,Holo-Krome,Iseli,K-D Tools,Matco,Sata and Spline Tools.In a Matco cateloge you will find lots of the older tool names...Old Forge,Cornwell etc.
OK. So who was Mr Phillips the Screwdriver Man ?
And was HE the one screwing Alice ?
Originally Posted by skidmarkOriginally Posted by Phil Vincent
To see a life newly created.To watch it grow and prosper. Isn't that the greatest gift a human being can be given?
Yeah,I've hurt myself far worse doing my job than riding motorcycles.Right now I'm ignoring a knuckle cut to the bone,the hand is locked up and can't make a fist.But I'll ignore it and go to work tomorrow as usual.No woman is going to caress my smooth baby like hands.
King Tony (I know why you bought that socket set) is one of those brands I would be too embarrassed to have in my toolbox.But being too tight to fork out for a 30mm impact - I used one for 6 months on a 1/2 hammer gun to remove quad axle nuts every day....pretty damn good I must admit.China is the new word for quality....
Here's a tool that is quite useful & cheap. It's a spring puller for those nasty powerful springs either on dirtbike or aftermarket pipes or sidestands etc. Using vice grips works some of the time but when they slip off expect bashed knuckles.
Old spoke with the nipple (schoolgirl laugh) ground to a hook & the other end through a piece of the ever shortening workshop broom.
Of course the other day I noticed motion pro or some crowd make one but this is for free & works very well.
Don't you look at my accountant.
He's the only one I've got.
I notice today I have a King Tony 3/8 flex head ratchet - Hard to remember what's in an 11 draw roll cab and top box,plus tools at home.I got the King Tony as a stand in while I tried to get a warranty on my 30 year old SK ratchet.It isn't as fast as the SK,which annoys me,but most annoying is the tell tale Asian non intuitive direction lever.On normal lever action change direction ratchets you move the lever towards the direction you want the ratchet to work - Asian tools have the nasty habit of working the other way.Maybe to some people it is intuitive to move the lever to the ratcheting direction - but it is not standard practice in the tool industry.This is how you tell an Asian ''Crescent'' tools too - they work backwards compared to genuine Crescents and quality copies.That's how I know my Bahco ''crescents'' are NOT made in Sweden,no matter what it says on the tool.
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