patches

Ordered one of my wife's Christmas prezzies from Amazon and needed to add a few bucks to qualify for free shipping so got myself one of the FastCap Flatback tape measures (right) to make things the little bit easier when trying to accurately mark workpieces. Also useful for measuring curved surfaces.

Yeah, T-handles are a life-saver when working on dirt bikes. The Motion Pro spinning ones are particularly nice, but not cheap. As for Torx, my bikes (both Huskies) mostly use the Hex (outer)-Torx (inner) combo bolts, which are very convenient, although I mostly found myself using the hex option, just out of habit.

Oh yeah, I completely forgot about T25 rotor screws... show's how long it's been since I paid mu bikes any attention 😅 As for bit quality, I had an issue just this past weekend trying to drive in T30 Ramset concrete screws. The 2 provided bits were both munted after about half a dozen screws each. What's more, I wasn't even using an impact driver, just a high-torque cordless drill. As a side note, very impressed with the fact my little Milwaukee drill was able to drive these and other heavy duty screws. Sadly I don't have the latest version with "kick-back control", so I did need to watch out not to break my wrists.

The dreaded T25. When most of my pottering was on bicycles I loathed the T25 as apart from my Reverb seat post, everything else was hex. So I didn't bother investing in a decent Torx set and relied solely on the el-cheapo free one they give you with a Reverb. Then I started working on dirt bikes, and torx fasteners became more common. And now that I do a bunch of DIY building and carpentry I've come to appreciate torx as the superior format for screws 😅 But yeah, the Wera set I got earlier this year has the infamous T25 in it Next on my Wera wishlist is the Zyklop pocket set 😍

Not really woodworking, more carpentry, but recently I was faced with the challenge to create a very specific transition between my garage and courtyard (where I plan to put down some nice 35mm long artificial grass). The transition piece needed to be a very shallow wedge/tapered shape to allow the garage door to open, and span the width of the threshold (approx 2.7m). If I had a bandsaw with a tilting table, this would have been relatively easy, but as I don't, I had to devise another method. This was that: The "sled" with packers to angle the workpiece, and send through the planer. The workpiece on the sled, with the waste side marked. The 3m long sled and workpiece after a few passes through my little Dewalt lunchbox planer. The end result... So not the most elegant or efficient solution, but it got me there in the end... albeit after creating a lot of sawdust and noise.

Was ordering a replacement smart downlight from amazon and was about 30 NZD short from the free shipping minimum... so naturally I had to add some tools to make the cut, otherwise I would be financially irresponsible. These were the additions Wera ball end hex drivers in 3mm and 5mm (the 4mm is still on its way). Having hex/allen key with a regular/screwdriver grip is pretty handy at times (like for grub screws) where a fold-out or L-shape set can be awkward to use.

I was recently over in Aus and Sydney Tools had this very tempting deal I like the idea of a 1/2" impact wrench and 1/4" hex impact driver in 1, and I could have easily spent $300 on drill bits, hole saws, and the like... but I decided to be financially responsible for a change and walked out with just a tape measure and some spade bits 😅 @Alouette3, how're you finding the wrench/driver a few months on? What would you estimate your usage split between wrench & driver is?

The house thing is exciting but also not, haha! It's just a little investment property, which initially will require a significant rent top-up so it's going to cost a small fortune and we don't even get to enjoy it, haha!* RE: Orewa... indeed, far worse places one could spend their summer. I think Jaffas take the beauty of the Hauraki Gulf for granted at time. As I've probably mentioned before, when I went to Hawaii for the first time, I was left somewhat underwhelmed and thinking "Auckland and Northland have better beaches than this". *As an aside: it's crazy how one is willing to sign u for a 30yrs of debt (or drop some crazy cash) on a property they've visited once or twice for like 15min each time, but when it comes to buying a new bike part, headphones, or most other gadgets, we watch 20 YouTube reviews, read 5 articles and still question the heck out of the sales person, before committing. Wild! haha!

We're about 5 days away from going unconditional on a little place in Takapuna. Once that happens and we settle (planned for late October), we're going to be broke as, haha! We have 1 last hurrah, 10 days in Sydney around labour weekend, but for a change we'll be doing Christmas the Auckland (with the in-laws possible coming over). Plus I'm on call at the hospital over this year's Christmas break (I manage to avoid it most years by going away), so not shaping up to be a very exciting summer. How about the Potgieter family? Anything fun planned?

Between the rubbish weather and the public holiday drought, this time of year is always a little bit of a slog. Labour day long weekend can't come soon enough!

Decided to show the hand-tool collection some love, for a change. Only tested out the #2 phillips so far and I must say, one can genuinely feel the "bite" of the Wera Lasertip blades.

Boy can he ever! I know when he first moved over he was commuting from Titirangi to Mt Wellington and back each day... and it's not a flat ride.

Not the finest craftsmanship, but this weekend's assignment was some sort of "screen to stop the baby falling off the back deck" in a number of places. I looked at pre-made trellis from the local big-box hardware store and was shocked at the price (about R1500 equiv. for the smallest on that would do the job)! Like seriously, I should quit my day job and start making trellises. So I wandered over to the lumber yard, looking for inspo on an alternate option when I noticed this... And that's per length (5m), not per metre. So I bought 2, and a bunch of trellis battens, which cost twice as much per 2.4m length, but still way cheaper than the premade trellis, which I would still have to modify to fit the gaps along the deck. Some quick work with the circ saw and brad nailer and tadaah... ...the result (well one of them)... For a change, it's nice to have a project that I could start AND FINISH within 1 day (he says while glossing over all the unfinished projects) 😅

Another useful tool for your pizza oven... Infrared temperature gun. Doesn't have to be a particular colour though, any will do. This one was a Christmas prezzie from my father-in-law for use on our pizza oven, however it has spent most of its time in my office for use on site to check pipe temperatures before we do big liquid nitrogen freezes.

Oh yeah, it's definitely down to personal choice (and slight obsession in my case 😅) Performance (perceived or measured) is part of it, but my main driver to branch away from my original platform (AEG) was the need for 2 particular tools during the renovation of our house. I looked to both Makita and Milwaukee, but neither could offer both the options at the time, so I ended up on both. Unfortunately there's no single tool brand that offers ALL the tools. Some do get close though, but I just backed the wrong horse from the start. Another reason to branch out is to upgrade for performance, function, or refinement purposes. I'm no master craftsman, but a quality tool with the right features sure makes the job more enjoyable. Similar to the reason us cyclists are always upgrading our bikes. No mamil really needs to upgrade a Giant to a Pinarello, and no weekend warrior needs a SRAM AXS groupset, but it's a passion and what brings us joy. As for the battery and charger outlay, it's not as bad as it seems when purchase in kits (as dave303e said below). With the exception of the Festool stuff, ALL my other batteries and chargers were bought as parts of kits. Often large 5-10 piece kits where one gets even more free batteries (or tools) via redemption, and can sell off most of the tools making the batteries and chargers almost free. Selling batteries or chargers individually is the real scam the power tool companies are running! Avoid buying them that way at all costs! And with all the tradies here in NZ, there's a huge 2nd hand power tool market. Some real bargains to be had, often with brand new tools from people splitting out kits like I do. Quality tools also hold their value well on the second hand market. Heck I've even made money off some tools I bought 2nd hand for a specific job, then auctioned off after I didn't need them anymore. Yup! that's exactly it! Totally! It essentially comes down to "what's your favourite colour?", and kitting your garage out to look like a YouTuber in all red, yellow or teal. I was initially a loyalist. Not too much to AEG (that was just my entry into the market), but more to Makita. But when when loyalty hindered function, I said to heck with it. Best tool for the job and within budget is my motto. That said, if I HAD to pick (and stick with) just one brand, it would be Milwaukee. Quality tools, with a huge range, and they seem he most interested in meeting their customers needs by expanding that range.