Recent content by dutchgray

There's a scrap yard a couple hours from me that sells good stuff on ebay, some used obviously but a whole lot of new surplus stuff, tools, materials, electronics, hydraulic fittings, building materials, etc, everything and anything. They currently have 19,000 listing's on ebay, there's plenty...

How many techs, mechanics, fitters, maintenance men etc that would have daily used a hex key 30 years ago now use a hex bit in an impact driver today, do you think? I would bet its a lot of them, because its fast and easier, certainly seems that way from what I see being used.

Or hydraulic assistance by using an excavator to push down on it, you do what you got to sometimes (modern battery powered impact wrenches have greatly reduced the need for such methods though)

Some 2x4" I was using in the last week was right around 4 growth rings per inch. I can remember using timber with 1/32" growth rings occasionally when I started in 2004, 2 decades gas really seen a decline in timber quality available over here in the UK.

I own two cordless Makita SDS drills. One Is the smallest and lightest they do in 18v and the other is the big twin battery one they have been making for years, both excellent tools in their own way.

Who here has the factory Bridgeport draw bar wrench with the bend in it, makes reaching by hand easier. The open end is a smaller size and fits the smaller nuts on the table power feed trips, which are really the only thing on a Bridgeport that you need to adjust regularly that isn't 3/4"

For employees to use in a shop, corded, good ones like German made Metabo or Fein or the higher end Makita ones. If your employees are the types that push tools really hard all the time than going cheap and keeping a bunch of new ones in stock may work out cheaper over all, Hitachi used to make...

Im looking at getting the Fein one that takes Bosch 18v batteries, not bought it yet so no first hand knowledge but it looks like i will be buying one soon.

I would expect the galvanise to wear through pretty quickly if you didn't paint it, all the cold rolled sections i have ever worked with are very lightly galvanised so I would think painting is a must, maybe a grippy truck bed lining type of surface in a suitable colour.

I picked up this "Metabo" cordless drill recently at a car boot sale, had to have it even though I have no real need for it.

I didn't mean flex, I meant permanent bending. Of the full sized flat bars, the only ones that have held up have been Vaughan. I have tried (or people I work with have tried), Hultafors, Roughneck, Estwing, Stanley, all those are not good enough. I should dig out my small hultafors bar and...

Unfortunately they are not very durable if you put them under any real load, you can permanently deform them very easily. The full size version snapped across the nail pulling hole on me.

I often see "expired" cut off or grinding discs at the car boot sales we have over here, (think flea market, estate sales, auto jumbles all rolled into one thing) not allowed to use them at work because of "health and safety" but never had a problem with using any at home as long as it's only a...

Oil stones just wipe off the excess oil, water stones, just leave to dry except my real course grit stone which is kept in a small plastic box submerged in water, I change the water when I use it, don't let it freeze, been fine for 15 years stored like that.

Stanley Fatmax, you can get them easily in the UK, fully metric, on the top and bottom of the tape blade