Hand tools - what not to buy!

[Guest111]

I have a friend who is the UK sales manager for a well known foreign tool company,when I first met her,yes she,s female,I was surprised how much she knew about tools,and I mean she really knows her stuff,she can tell you anything you want to know about how different metals affect tool strength etc,blade tempering,all the important stuff.Anyway I asked her how come she knew so much about tools and it turned out she was brought up in Sheffield and her dad worked for Record tools,so she grew up learning all about them,I went to a large tool show and her firm were there,I buy stuff from them every so often,but only ever deal with her,some of the blokes faces are a picture when they realise she knows more than most of the blokes do.

 

[Geordie Spark]

I think most young 'uns would think it was a G-clamp.

I still have my 0" - 1" micrometer that I got when I was 14 ready to start work at 15. Every one then had their own personal 0"- 1" with the company providing the larger ones for whichever job you were doing.

Mine isn't a Moore & Wright though - it's a Shardlow which I think is / was an American make and I preferred it to the Moore & Wright. It fitted my hand better (felt "right" to me) and is easier to read.

Back then, when I was younger and my eyesight was better than it is now, I could - and did - work to tolerances of two tenths of a thou. OFTEN!!

 

[uksparks]

Knipex are still German made I believe. Mine are still sharp as the day I got them a year ago. I would send them back under warranty, that's just not good enough. They used to offer lifetime warranty but not sure these days.

Likewise, all my pliers and cutters are Knipex and still as sharp as day one. The only one I had a problem was, was the high leverage cutters from knipex, not sure what happened but I was just trimming cable and they jammed so jammed I could not shift them. I called knipex who said post them to thm and they will either fix or replace for free.

Anyway, I managed to resolve it by forcing them and a tin of wd40, but even after the incident, they work like new.

 

[Geordie Spark]

Likewise, all my pliers and cutters are Knipex and still as sharp as day one. The only one I had a problem was, was the high leverage cutters from knipex, not sure what happened but I was just trimming cable and they jammed so jammed I could not shift them. I called knipex who said post them to thm and they will either fix or replace for free.

Anyway, I managed to resolve it by forcing them and a tin of wd40, but even after the incident, they work like new.

My builder mate likes to go fishing with his rod off South Shields pier and he uses WD40 as bait !!

He sprays the line and hook area of it & casts it into the sea.

Apparently, WD40 has fish oil in it - or so he tells me - and the fish can smell it and are attracted to his line, but whatever .. he always catches something to bring home.

 

[tidyboiler]

My builder mate likes to go fishing with his rod off South Shields pier and he uses WD40 as bait !!

He sprays the line and hook area of it & casts it into the sea.

Apparently, WD40 has fish oil in it - or so he tells me - and the fish can smell it and are attracted to his line, but whatever .. he always catches something to bring home.

Pity he's so dense, it was a cockney boot.

 

[telectrix]

i used to get the ex. to dive off the pier. the resulting tsumani washed no end of fish up on the beach.

 

[billyblade]

I still have my 0" - 1" micrometer that I got when I was 14 ready to start work at 15. Every one then had their own personal 0"- 1" with the company providing the larger ones for whichever job you were doing.

Mine isn't a Moore & Wright though - it's a Shardlow which I think is / was an American make and I preferred it to the Moore & Wright. It fitted my hand better (felt "right" to me) and is easier to read.

Back then, when I was younger and my eyesight was better than it is now, I could - and did - work to tolerances of two tenths of a thou. OFTEN!!

(Ambrose) Shardlow was an English company based in Sheffield. My Dad used to work for them as a steel moulder. They used to make crankshafts for Spitfires during WW2 and were one of the reasons we got blitzed!!

Here's an advert for Shardlows micrometers:-