Every High Street Should Have One!
The pictures show the latest shop to open on City Road between Old Street and Moorgate stations.
As it is by a 141 bus stop on my way home from the Elizabeth Line, next time I need something, I can just get off the bus, buy what I need and catch the next bus home.
It’s even open on Sundays.
Always Have A Flat Piece Of Oak Handy
I don’t have access to short lengths of greenheart cutting sticks from his state-of-the-art, made-in-Glasgow Grieg guillotine that my father used to use as padding to stop a hammer damaging softer woods.
Always Have A Flat Piece Of Oak Handy
So I just used a nice piece of oak! I could always go to B & Q and buy a rubber hammer.
How to buy a Power Tool
C once bought me an electric drill. I still use it to this day, as it fulfils all of my needs.
She didn’t go to somewhere like B & Q and buy something at the top of the range, but probably to a proper tool shop like Mackays in Cambridge and asked advice.
- She actually bought a Bosch , which had the following features.
- No batteries, as they’ll always flat when you want to use it.
- A simple chuck that doesn’t need a key. It still locks the drill tight.
- Variable speed.
- Hammer action if required.
- Side handle, although I’ve never used it.
Whoever advised her, got it absolutely right and I’ve used it for seven or eight years. Here’s a picture of the neat box with the drill inside.
Bosch PSB 6800 RE In Its Case
It was also once number one in the Independent’s list of 100 best tools.
This all proves it’s not difficult to buy good tools, but ask in the shop first and don’t be seduced by all the macho features.
Fixing the Stairs
I’ve found that the solution to my staircase is to replace the nuts with dombed brass ones like these.
Brass Dombed Nuts and Washers
They look much better and as they cost a couple of pounds each, you get a much better cosmetic effect for not too much effort. If you need anything like this I can recommend Clerkenwell Screws in the Clerkenwell Road.
I also bought this screwdriver there.
King Dick Super 2000 One for Six Screwdriver
It fits all six types of Phillips and Pozidrive screw, so now you only need one screwdriver for cross head screws. At just £8.99, this King Dick Super 2000 One for Six is very much a bargain.
More Engineering Pornography
I have a full-size electric drill, but I need something light to put plugs in the plasterboard walls, as although the hand-drill is good, the chuck is not very good and I can’t drill holes deeper than a couple of centimetres.
So I went to Franchi in the Holloway Road and bought a Bosch wine bottle opener.
Bosch IXO Vino
But it also puts in screws and drills holes.
Bosch IXO Vino with Drill Bit
It is actually quite powerful and is ideal for those small jobs, which don’t need the strongest of tools. It also sits in a small charger/holder, so you don’t have to charge it up, when you haven’t used it for a few months.
So ladies, you now know what to buy your man for his birthday! Or for yourself, if you’re an alcoholic with a penchant for expensive wine in corked bottles and you don’t have the strongest of hands.
Hail the Humble Hand Drill
The walls in my new house are probably very typical of modern houses, in that with one exception they are all plasterboard sandwiching air. So to put pictures up, the averahe picture nail is not the best and a plug and screw is better especially, if the picture is a bit weighty.
Given the fact, that my hands are a not the best, I’ve fund that a humble hand drill is the best way to drill the walls, as I have so much more control.
A Humble Hand Drill
My father had a couple of very smart hand drills, which you’d never see today. He also had a drill chuck, with just a T-handle on it, which was ideal for making holes in delicate materials. It was always in demand in the autumn for drilling holes in conkers.
Engineering Pornography
I needed a 17 mm. ratchet spanner to try to fix the stairs. They may be more expensive, but they are so easy to use if you have gammy hands. Or just one good one like me!
So I bought this double-ended one made by TengTools from Franchi in the Holloway Road.
A TengTools 17/19 mm. Ratchet Spanner
It looks, feels and works so good it’s almost pornographic.
Twenty years ago, this sort of hand-tool, might well have been made in the United States, but TengTools are a Swedish company. So perhaps the United States isn’t building on its traditional strengths to get itself sorted out.
The Juice Carton Spanner
I have a weak left hand due to a stroke and find opening the plastic cartons for things like Innocent smoothies, a little difficult. But I’m getting better and I had no trouble a few minutes ago. However, there must be many others who do, as perhaps their hands are worse than mine because of arthritis or missing fingers.
But all the caps are the same and it should be possible to create a small plastic ring spanner that mates with the cap perfectly. Companies like Innocent might even give them away free with an advert on them, as they’d only cost a few pence each to make.
There are still so many things that need inventing!
I always remember my father had a wonderful pair of round-jawed pliers, that were always being used to open difficult bottles at home. I’v never seen anything like them since.
The Anonymous Widower 