making picks

[MrB]

Yes, large rectangular boards are the way to go for attics, like Mick said. MDF, plywood, whatever. It's pretty handy to cover the joists even if you only want to store stuff up there. An installed and retractable ladder is pretty handy too.

Regarding tools, sometimes cheap tools just aren't worth it. Good quality files may cost more, but they will remove material much better and they won't go blunt in an instant. Another thing with files, you need to clean them regularly with a file card. Otherwise they get clogged up and act like they are blunt even if they aren't.

On house prices in the USA, it really depends on how desirable the region is. For example, everyone wants to live in San Diego and $250,000 won't get you the tiniest hovel here. Nobody wants to live in Houston and $250,000 will buy you a mansion there.

[Mad Mick]

A note about quality tools... Kudos to MrB for bringing this up again. Don't buy decent files and just lump them all together in your tool kit/bag. This is the surest way to ruin them. If you have to store a selection of files together, clean them with a file card before putting them away, spray them with something like WD40 and separate them with some old rags.

Another point is: Don't buy the cheapest tool available. Buy the most expensive you can afford. Generally, the higher priced tools are made to a better quality and offer better (usually lifetime) guarantees. There is a reason why professional mechanics spend fortunes on the likes of Snap-on & Mac tools. We've all started with the cheapo stuff and bought more than once, twice etc. Buy the best you can afford.

[NKT]

That's a good point, actually.

Files should always be stored apart. They are very much harder than most things you would ever try to file, but, over time, they go blunt. The hardest thing in your bag is likely to be another file, which will destroy both files!

Keep them in a wrap is easiest, just a long strip of cloth that you wrap each file into like a dirty snowball. Stops them wearing on each other, or a screwdriver, etc. when travelling.

I'm not so sure I agree about the cost of tools, though. These days, everything is disposable cheap. Go for a low cost branded tool, NuTool are good yet cheap, as are Power Devils. For £10 to £25 you have a tool that will do the job of a DeWalt costing ten times that, and as long as you are only playing, it wouldn't be critical if it failed one day two years down the line.

I've got four angle grinders, all together cost less than 1 "quality" branded tool, so dropping one, cutting the lead, etc. wouldn't bother me at all. I just get the next one. And if someone robbed it, it is a lot less hassle and cheaper to replace.

My point is, I bought them as disposable, yet they have lasted really well. The Power Devils one is a bit too vibrat-ty to use for a long time, but I use that one with a wire cup, so it vibrates badly anyway! And I save a lot of time on tooling changes, too.

Same with the two drills I use - one has the drill bit for the screw holes, the other has the driver bit. Saves a lot of time, even when you are using the quick-change chucks, plus I know that the batteries are both ok, and can stagger the charge times, etc.

Don't buy a cheap plane, though. They are a waste of time if they aren't level and square, and you will wreck a lot of doors and waste a lot of time otherwise.

HTH

[Mad Mick]

NKT: Perhaps I'm different here...(some of you will say I'm definitely 'different' )
I'm a mechanic and have been for many years. The majority of my hand tools, i.e. sockets, ratchets, extensions, torque wrenches, spanners, screwdrivers, pliers etc. etc. are of the well known makes - Snap-on, Mac, Sykes Pickavant, Koken, Stah Wille, Facom, Britool (now owned by Snap-on) and can be considered the best available. These are tools I use many times a day, every day, and thus can't afford to be without if they break. Very occasionally something will break, but a quick call to the tool guy usually gets it replaced asap, no charge. Some of the tools, I have had for close to 20 years, and they are still going strong, even after being used outside the purpose they were designed for. (impact sockets being used as drifts etc )

Where I will agree, is power tools. A lot of power tools, air tools and diagnostic (electrical) tools only have a 90 day warranty. These are tools I don't use every day. If I were in a different trade and relied heavily on the power tools, perhaps my outlook would be different.

I still try to buy the best I can afford though...which is why my toolkit is now probably worth around $35k to $40k, to replace completely. And, as new fasteners or odd-ball make-specific parts are being produced, I still have to buy new tools...
/NKT

RANT
For those who have never realised the personal cost involved in being a mechanic/locksmith, please think about this:
When you look in the garage workshop/locksmith van and see the large tool kit which has been built up over many years, please understand that this kit is not usually supplied by the company (more applicable to the mechanic, unless the lockie is self-employed)...it is the mechanic/locksmith's personal collection. Compare this with the tools required to be a plumber, bricklayer, general carpenter, office worker etc., and then compare the wages...

Don't get me wrong here, I'm not bleating about the choice I made to be a mechanic, I don't regret it for a single minute as I love my profession. The problem I do have, is with the uneducated customer who thinks the charges are too high for the work being done. He/She drives a desk all day and only has to buy a pen to be fully equipped for his/her job, and is completely ignorant of the costs involved to service his/her needs. Then comes the "$xx for that? That's scandalous!"...the reply to this should be "Soooo, could you fix it with your pen?"

Unless you're opening a tubular lock, the outcome of the challenge is obvious!

/RANT

[pretender]

Most lockies pay for the tools they have themselves, and either run the business at a (hopefully short) loss, or they just stick in there - liking their trade, seeing the light on the horizon at 10 years from buying it all...and they're the people who show up, do exactly what you need done, fix it all, and leave - there's the bill, or you've had the heart to pay them.

I think they deserve a lot more respect. It's easy to crowbar and hammer yourself into any place, but do it yourself without stolen goods or desperation being involved.

I remain impressed, and if I have to call a locksmith, I really think I'll pay him a bit extra and invite him to a good dinner - he has a family, great...they can come, too.

Nevermind all that Snap-On investment, or having to rebuild something from what knowledge and factual experience you have, or to just somehow get the job done - the doers in all our societies get far too little respect, in my opinion.

Call them every name in the book, then call them up when you're in need, and you'll either beg to know their experience, or you'll hate them for it.

I think it horrible, but what can I do? You offer a service or product, and you become invincible.

Good luck, all.

[NKT]

Mick,

no, I think we agree quite well. Expensive hand tools and cheap electrical tools are the way forward, I think.

However, as a hobbiest, you can live with cheap hand tools, too, but they just aren't up to the job a lot of the time.

I only use branded screws now - SPAX, in fact (they are good enough to get a free plug!) and I spend a little extra on things like driver bits, etc. too. The difference is incredible. They cost 1.5 to 3 times more, but you save time by not drilling a pilot a lot of the time, the heads don't get mashed, they are straight, and they aren't going to fail suddenly for no apparent reason.

It makes for a quicker, easier, better job, and when you (or someone else) comes back to the job, in ten days or ten years time, at least they can get the screws out without a powerdrill!

[digital_blue]

Now I gotta say that I'm the other way on this one. I have a workshop in my basement. I am hardly anything remotely resembling a pro. When I buy tools, more often than not I'll buy the cheap stuff. Power tools and hand tools alike. For the 8 times I'm apt to pick up those vise grips in the next year, I figure the $6 I paid for them is about right. That goes doubly for my pipe wrench (don't do much plumbing really) and even screw drivers and the like. Then we get into power tools. My table saw is a real piece of junk, but I suppose it gets a current run throught it about 5 times a year, so how much should I have invested in it? My drill press was middle ground, but it is something I use pretty regularily so I chose to spend a bit more than the absolute cheapest. But a similar theme continues as I move through my jigsaw, drill, miter saw, circular saw, bench sander (which actually gets tons of use making picks) bench grinder (see previous), etc.

Truth is, I'm not really a cheap guy in most instances. I will often spend a good buck going out to dinner, spend probably more than is healthy indulging my many hobbies - all fairly expensive - and still manage to find some scratch to eat and pay a mortgage. But when it comes to tools, this is where I definately go "on the cheap". I just know I won't log enough hours on the thing to make it worth buying premium. I could spend more, but I choose not to. In this instance the "Buy the best you can afford" doesn't really make a lot of sense to me. Though there are certainly times where buying the cheapest just isn't worth it, I find I've done ok with my method so far.

Anyway... just my thoughts.

db

[Mad Mick]

And as usual DB, all good thoughts. I did notice you spent a little more on the stuff you use the most, that's the lesson I learned the hard way, as have many others who'll care to admit. When I first started to buy tools (hand tools mainly), I made the mistake of buying a really cheap 1/4 & 3/8 drive Draper socket set to fix my MX bikes (probably around the age of 12 to 13). The first thing to go was the 3/8 to 1/4 socket adapter...closely followed by numerous sockets and then the ratchet. It's not that I was using excess force, the aluminium threads should have stripped out before the tools failed! These tools may as well have been made out of chocolate...but they were the best I could afford at the time. And, as this was all I could afford, the same style crap was bought once again. Once I started working and getting a wage, the better stuff was within my price range. If I had known at that time that the tools were crap, I'd have saved up twice as long and bought some decent tools, but that is the lesson you learn to your own expense.

[NKT]

I suppose it is quite subjective.

I know a good chisel is only a few quid more than the crap one, but it holds an edge that bit longer. Is it worth it?

I know that a good powerdrill will last a lot longer than a cheap one, again, is it worth it?

I tend to buy branded consumables for the cheap power tools, which makes them as good as the good power tools, so I suppose that is the trick there. The cutting edge is what counts, so make sure that is good, but what spins it at 10,000 rpm doesn't matter, as long as it is fast and aligned nicely.

Having cheap stuff lets you away with things that are terrible for the tool, too. When I'm forging, I use a pair of no-brand pliers, and they eventually die. But so would a £100 pair of pliers - they just aren't designed to be heated to 1000 degrees every few minutes for an hour or two. But the loss when the jaws start sticking is only £3, so who cares? (The environment, I guess)

I use disc cutters/angle grinders a lot, which is why I have so many. I've also got a lot of drills. My bench drill is carp, but it is straight, so it drills a good hole - because I use a good drill bit. My cheap NuTool drills share batteries, and speed things up, and have yet to break. If they do, I have other ones, too. But if I'm up a ladder and drop the tool, or lose it, or it gets stolen, there is far less lost.

I think of it like I do batteries. What kind of batteries do you put in something? Do you go for cheap Zinc Carbon, which die after twenty minutes, but you get 30 for a £, do you go for name brand supermarket type batteries, which last an hour, do you go for Duracell, which last 2 hours, or do you go for Lithium batteries, which are half the weight, and last 10 hours? Or what about rechargables?

Everything is different, so they get different batteries. For a certain thing that gets left on by the kids, the batteries last until the toy isn't turned off. Even the 20 hour batteries are dead a week later when the kids try to play with it again. For your emergency flashlight in event of disaster, you put the best batteries in, and you don't use them up, so you are sure the light will work first time, for a long time, when your light may equal your life. Zinc Carbon or expensive NiMH just isn't the way to go there, since one is carp and the other will be flat in a month, so you pop lithium in there, knowing they will still be at 98% in ten years time.

But I digress.

[Mad Mick]

I don't think you're digressing, all the examples are valid.

The power tool example is especially applicable, considering the possibility of opportune theft, dropping from dizzy heights, the bit doing the actual work, etc. I have had a few cordless drills in the past (Hitachi, Makita, Bosch) and ended up throwing them away when the batteries no longer held a charge - a problem common to all makes, cheap or expensive. The cost of spares for some makes is sometimes close the initial kit price. Sooo, I currently have one 12v & one 18v B&D Firestorm cordless drill, both of which came with spare batteries, and when the batteries wear out, they'll end up in the bin too.

Normal batteries...good example, I hadn't thought about the kid's toys as I don't yet have any kids, but I'll take that advice on board. Thanks.

I still hang on to the cheap hand tools like sockets and spanners though, there is a drawer dedicated to these which have been bastardized to suit a particular application (including one or two Snap-on spanners ). If they last for the one job they were made for, then that's fine. If I can make up a custom tool from say, welding a socket to a piece of purpose-bent flat bar, which (this is an exaggerated scenario) saves me taking out the transmission to get to a certain bolt, then the time saved is worth far more than the cost of the tool.