The toolbox thread

[patches]

Just got back from a 10 day visit to the in-laws in Aus... which means I get to go 2 varieties of tool heaven! (Total Tools and Sydney Tools) 😍

I was very restrained though and kept my haul to just these 3 items...

Knipex Carpenter's Pincers (got a bunch of nail removal in my next project, so thought I would do it properly), Titebond 3 (my favourite wood glue, and no, sniffing it doesn't do anything), and some Makita splinter-guard for my 3m track saw rail...

...and therein lies a clue as to why I was so restrained in tool heaven... it was because I'd already blown my tool budget on a new track saw, and the new splinter guard is to calibrate the old track to the new saw...

...and I betrayed team teal to join ze Germans

The Festool TS 60K. I decided to "upgrade" my Makita 40V cordless track saw to something with a bigger cut capacity, a little more refined, and with some extra features. Going from cordless to corded is a bit of a downgrade, but as 95% of my work happens in the garage and connected to a dust extractor, having a power cord is not a major.

Edited April 9 by patches

[patches]

Had an accident a few weeks ago where I slipped and ended up on ANOTHER battery platform.

This time for ze Green German cutting machines.

 

Which now brings it to 8 different battery platforms... I know, I have a problem 😶

Edited June 18 by patches

[dave303e]

8 hours ago, patches said:

Had an accident a few weeks ago where I slipped and ended up on ANOTHER battery platform.

This time for ze Green German cutting machines.

 

Which now brings it to 8 different battery platforms... I know, I have a problem 😶

that charging station must be growing rapidly

 

[dave303e]

I picked up one of these a few weeks back for a very specific job. I can safely say it has been used nearly daily ever since then on anything and everything. Definitely money well spent. Wood blade is a dream for trimming trees. Usual hacksaw jobs are faster easier and neater. Now I want the bigger one as well

[madmarc]

On 5/26/2023 at 9:17 PM, Baron said:

Got this bearing press set. Was very impressed with the quality.

 

I been wanting one of these sets for ages

Which site did you order it off ?

[Baron]

I bought the bearing press set from Amazone in the UK for £20. I see they now sell the bearing press set for £29 to £53. 

[patches]

12 hours ago, dave303e said:

I picked up one of these a few weeks back for a very specific job. I can safely say it has been used nearly daily ever since then on anything and everything. Definitely money well spent. Wood blade is a dream for trimming trees. Usual hacksaw jobs are faster easier and neater. Now I want the bigger one as well

Nice!

Yeah, one-handed recip saws are super useful.

Like you say, a dream for trimming trees, and that's probably where mine gets 80% of it's use, so the Diablo (or equiv) pruning blades make quick work taming that foliage.

 

[patches]

13 hours ago, dave303e said:

that charging station must be growing rapidly

 

😅

The charging station needs some rejigging. I've sold off most of my AEG powertools and with them one of the chargers, so a bit of space freed up.

The charging station is added to the long list of garage projects, which are at the bottom of my wife's list of round-the-house projects, haha 😅

 

[dave303e]

It is quite funny. I am in the process of installing a wood fired pizza oven. I have thrown a slab, built some walls and a concrete counter. We will install the oven part this weekend. On the tool list is not much more than a few screws, a spade, spirit level and some trowels. nothing fancy, but man i am happy with results so far. Will post pics when complete. Sometimes jobs need less tools and more hard work. The whole stoep has been a big labour, but a labour of love. It is going to be ready for summer.

[patches]

On 6/20/2024 at 7:33 PM, dave303e said:

It is quite funny. I am in the process of installing a wood fired pizza oven. I have thrown a slab, built some walls and a concrete counter. We will install the oven part this weekend. On the tool list is not much more than a few screws, a spade, spirit level and some trowels. nothing fancy, but man i am happy with results so far. Will post pics when complete. Sometimes jobs need less tools and more hard work. The whole stoep has been a big labour, but a labour of love. It is going to be ready for summer.

Nice work, keen to see the results!

Speaking of labour and pizza ovens..

...a few years ago my wife was keen on a woodfired pizza oven (I'm a simple Pizza Hut $5 pizza man).

So me being me, did some googling and presented her with a the most "designer" looking option I could find. A beautiful, but pricey, Danish option from Morsoe. She went for it. I was then tasked with building the rest of the outdoor kitchen around it (including casting a concrete counter top, which as you say, minimal tools, but very rewarding).

Fast forward a few years, and add living about 1km from the ocean and the cast iron went from this...

to this (despite being "marine grade" and having a special coating "tested on offshore wind turbines")...

 

I tried to hit up the importer for warranty, but they said "yeah nah mate!, you need to maintain that sucker" (which I missed when I glossed over the instructions).

So then came the labour of loathing as I had to sand back the whole thing and recoat with heat treatment.

I used one of those 3M rust remover pads in my drill. Was a lifesaver

Here it is almost restored to its former glory. I couldn't quite get the looking like new, so I just sanded, coated with rust converter, and threw a concrete paver on top to cover evidence of my past neglect.

Short-story-long, and all expenses and efforts included, this thing produces the most expensive pizzas and labour intensive I have ever eaten! 😐

But it's still worth it!

Oh, and get yourself one of these little guys if you don't already have one! Super useful for fanning the flames to get that oven up to temp!

[dave303e]

That concrete paver looks really good actually...

Thanks for the tip on the blower. I do have a stable of turquoise tools, but that one is missing so I guess I "need" one now... #hewhodieswithmosttoyswins

I grew up about 2km from the ocean as well, we used to buy cases castrol DWF. Everything got a spray down. But is works really well. Braai's, braai grids, outsdie lights, tools, toolboxes, trailer hitches and wheels. If it was metal it got coated.

Living in the platteland now is different, I hate the stuff, dust just sticks to it. But near the ocean it is a necessity.

 

I am very much looking forward to the pizza oven. Need to tile the floor and tile the counter. Held off installing the oven this weekend. Just to give the concrete counter top some time to set up a bit. Pizza oven is close on 100kg

 

[Shebeen]

On 7/24/2021 at 10:20 AM, patches said:

The battery battle. Subscribing to too many platforms. Added the Makita and Milwaukee to the charging station.

 

man the tradeoffs on this one.... an update would be interesting

[Shebeen]

On 6/20/2024 at 9:33 AM, dave303e said:

It is quite funny. I am in the process of installing a wood fired pizza oven. I have thrown a slab, built some walls and a concrete counter. We will install the oven part this weekend. On the tool list is not much more than a few screws, a spade, spirit level and some trowels. nothing fancy, but man i am happy with results so far. Will post pics when complete. Sometimes jobs need less tools and more hard work. The whole stoep has been a big labour, but a labour of love. It is going to be ready for summer.

Speaking of residential pizza ovens, In the depths of lockdown I went all the way down the homebuilt pizza oven youtube rabbithole. Wifey was not convinced, especially when plan A was using a yoga ball.

Instead I relented, and we got our builder to do this.

https://www.ecopizzaovens.co.za/

it cost me a little bit less than this then, but everything came out fine. even though it is in pieces the entire thing is really heavy, build your slab properly! I think it will definitely pay for itself if/when we sell so great move if you have the space.

 

[patches]

5 hours ago, Shebeen said:

man the tradeoffs on this one.... an update would be interesting

Oh dear... well there was the next (current-ish) iteration of this (as seen below) that added Bosch Professional and Makita 40V, but got rid of the AEG 12V and Ryobi (althogh I still have that for my small hedge trimmer, which I don't use very often, to my neighbours frustration).

Then I decided to sell a kidney and jump onto the Festool 18V platform via one of their "Energy Sets", which come nicely packaged in a Systainer... so that lives in there... until I 

 

As for trade-offs... the only major one has been money, and maybe charger organization/storage as a minor.

Nearly every other aspect is positives, like:

• Not limited to one brand and their range when eyeing out new tools - So back when Makita didn't (and still doesn't) make a gasless framing nailer, or Milwaukee didn't make a track-saw, I could mix and match to get what I need
• Can buy best-in-class-and-budget - Like Festool jigsaw is head-and-shoulders above the rest for accuracy, so traded in the AEG for that, but Festool drills and impact drivers are crazy expensive with no real performance benefit, so budget dictates Milwaukee.
• Plenty of batteries (and chargers) to go around - with the ability to charge 10 batteries at once, and a stock of about 19 batteries for 19 tools (as seen below). My battery/tool ratios are a little off, particularly on the Milwaukee 18V and Makita 40V, but I still don't have to spend too much time swapping batteries between tools when busy on a project.

 

The trickiest part of the whole thing is not drawing too much attention from my better-half as tools appear to reproduce and multiply 😅

The fortunate thing though, is it's easier to sell her on tool expenses as I usually couple them with the promise of some project round the house that I need them for. Can't quite to that with my MTB and dirt bike spend 😅

Edited June 25 by patches

[patches]

19 hours ago, dave303e said:

That concrete paver looks really good actually...

Thanks for the tip on the blower. I do have a stable of turquoise tools, but that one is missing so I guess I "need" one now... #hewhodieswithmosttoyswins

I grew up about 2km from the ocean as well, we used to buy cases castrol DWF. Everything got a spray down. But is works really well. Braai's, braai grids, outsdie lights, tools, toolboxes, trailer hitches and wheels. If it was metal it got coated.

Living in the platteland now is different, I hate the stuff, dust just sticks to it. But near the ocean it is a necessity.

 

I am very much looking forward to the pizza oven. Need to tile the floor and tile the counter. Held off installing the oven this weekend. Just to give the concrete counter top some time to set up a bit. Pizza oven is close on 100kg

 

Those little blowers are of the best things yet. Although a little on the small side for leaf blowing, they're great for shifting dust out of the workshop (or off one's person after undertaking dusty activities).

The other useful teal air-shifter I recently acquired was one of their small dust blowers. Lower flow and more targeted nozzle, but higher pressure than the other.

Available in 18V & 40V, and useful for blowing dust out of nooks and crannies, like an air-gun on an air compressor, but cordless.

Also available in camo for outdoorsy types (or if you want to lose it in the bushes while out on an MTB ride... not sure why the heck you'd carry that on an MTB ride, maybe to cool your brakes as the ad suggests, hahaha)

Edited June 25 by patches

[dave303e]

8 hours ago, Shebeen said:

Speaking of residential pizza ovens, In the depths of lockdown I went all the way down the homebuilt pizza oven youtube rabbithole. Wifey was not convinced, especially when plan A was using a yoga ball.

Instead I relented, and we got our builder to do this.

https://www.ecopizzaovens.co.za/

it cost me a little bit less than this then, but everything came out fine. even though it is in pieces the entire thing is really heavy, build your slab properly! I think it will definitely pay for itself if/when we sell so great move if you have the space.

 

My team mate's husband went that route. His is a masterpiece and part of my inspiration. But to find the time is a big one. I just barely had time to build the base nevermind the oven itself. i got a ready made unit. Came as a base and a top. Insulation under the base and then some grouting and glue to assemble it. But it is a nice easy install and a good unit from what I have seen. We will start to cure/temper it today. They are costly, but I would not have finished one as well anyway.

 

I did the slab using a bunch on lintels and then threw a reinforced slab on top of that. It is properly strong. The oven is just under 100kg. I will still smooth out the one corner where my lack of plastering skills got away with me. I will then weld a door for the front and then we will tile the counter and put a wooden screen up behind to hide the bathroom plumbing.

It is part of a bigger project. I built a 36sqm patio, roof, concrete slab, tiling, new security gate. Still need to finish lighting and ceiling but it is totally transforming the little old farm house.

2 hours ago, patches said:

Those little blowers are of the best things yet. Although a little on the small side for leaf blowing, they're great for shifting dust out of the workshop (or off one's person after undertaking dusty activities).

The other useful teal air-shifter I recently acquired was one of their small dust blowers. Lower flow and more targeted nozzle, but higher pressure than the other.

Available in 18V & 40V, and useful for blowing dust out of nooks and crannies, like an air-gun on an air compressor, but cordless.

Also available in camo for outdoorsy types (or if you want to lose it in the bushes while out on an MTB ride... not sure why the heck you'd carry that on an MTB ride, maybe to cool your brakes as the ad suggests, hahaha)

Too many teal toys on my to buy list haha. But living off grid and on a farm means I absolutely hate corded tools. I just wish I had a petrol mig welder, the petrol stick welder is so useful and practical but the mig is just so much nicer to weld with.