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Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Mon Jan 03, 05 5:51 pm Post subject:

wellington womble wrote:

joinery? I was thinking of chopping bits off things! Anything more than that is generally a get a man in job around here! I shall pop out to B&Q and see what I can find.

Thanks Treacodactyl

You will not be interested in details of a mortising attachment to a bench pillar drill then?

It's fun drilling square holes.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28233
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Mon Jan 03, 05 6:16 pm Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

wellington womble wrote:

joinery? I was thinking of chopping bits off things! Anything more than that is generally a get a man in job around here! I shall pop out to B&Q and see what I can find.

Thanks Treacodactyl

You will not be interested in details of a mortising attachment to a bench pillar drill then?

It's fun drilling square holes.

Pillar drill with mortising attachment is high on my list, but could not quite be justified

jema

mrutty

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 1578

Posted: Mon Jan 03, 05 6:36 pm Post subject:
Jema, remember real men drill round holes and then chiesel them square

mrsnesbitt

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 1576

Posted: Mon Jan 03, 05 6:39 pm Post subject:
chisel

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Mon Jan 03, 05 6:53 pm Post subject:

It's not worth it just for the odd job, but when I got it I was off work for a while and intended to use it a fair bit. I still will. I dare not remind you all of the next vat free Machine Mart day?

Like with most things, it's the age old question of where do you keep them? OH got a little fed up of pillar drill and a cement mixer in the kitchen for a year or so.

That reminds me, the cement mixer has been a good buy and, as long as you clean it well after use, far cheaper than renting one after a few uses.

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon

Posted: Mon Jan 03, 05 8:23 pm Post subject:
Ignoring things like hammers and screwdrivers, probably the most useful thing I've bought relative to its price is a steamer for stripping wallpaper. Our current and previous houses both had a lot of layers of wallpaper, and for 20 quid it has been a godsend. Allegedly you can use them for cleaning things as well.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Tue Jan 04, 05 1:28 pm Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

You will not be interested in details of a mortising attachment to a bench pillar drill then?

It's fun drilling square holes.

I misread that as moisterising! It was an amusing moment, but I guess I'd better pay more attention in future!

Chopping bits off things will do for me!

Gervase

Joined: 17 Nov 2004
Posts: 8655

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 05 4:07 pm Post subject:

I'll second the cement mixer and wallpaper stripper things that make you wonder how you ever did without.
The mixer has been brilliant; rumbling away for hour after hour without complaint and saving a huge amount of sweat knocking up the muck. We got a Clarke 240V one from machinemart for about �160 flat-packed, and it's been worth every penny.
The stripper's a little cracker, too particularly with heavy papers and painted-over vinyl.
High on the list of other tools that make life easier has to be the cordless screwdriver. OK, so it's crap if you're cabinet-making, but for everything else it's bloomin' wonderful.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 05 4:09 pm Post subject:
How's the build going Gervase?

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 05 5:53 pm Post subject:
My most useful tool may be our really long extension cable. That allows the sander, drill, or anything else that needs some juice to be worked wherever we need it. Other than that, my big plastic mallet is invaluable. It's used for bottling wine, glazing, separating frozen steaks, getting into crabs claws... With a big lump on a stick one can accomplish so much, don't you think?

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28233
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 05 6:12 pm Post subject:

Cab wrote:

My most useful tool may be our really long extension cable. That allows the sander, drill, or anything else that needs some juice to be worked wherever we need it.

Other than that, my big plastic mallet is invaluable. It's used for bottling wine, glazing, separating frozen steaks, getting into crabs claws... With a big lump on a stick one can accomplish so much, don't you think?

Rolling pin is quite effective for many of these tasks

jema

alison
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 05 7:02 pm Post subject:
Jema The only problem with bashing with the rolling pin is that it can make holes and dents, and effect rolling out things like roll out icing. My mum always tries to use mine when defrosting the freezer

Lindsay

Joined: 03 Nov 2004
Posts: 61
Location: Stuck in the suburbs

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 05 10:35 pm Post subject:
My rolling pin is a marble one, a present from Dh's parents some years ago, I wouldn't dream of cracking crab claws with it!

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 05 8:41 am Post subject:

On the subject of rollng pins, I picked up a sweet old pyrex one in a charity shop on New Years Eve. One of the ones where you put cold water in to keep the pastry cool. The corks at either end need a little attention (I think I'll cut them off the 'pyrex' labelled ends entirely and stick new ones on), but it's a pretty little toy.

Our house seems to be getting more and more full of strange glassware.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28233
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 05 8:45 am Post subject:

alison wrote:

Jema

The only problem with bashing with the rolling pin is that it can make holes and dents, and effect rolling out things like roll out icing. My mum always tries to use mine when defrosting the freezer

Ours is a cheap, but solid wooden one, which does seem to take the abuse of function

jema

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