A FEW OF MY FAVOURITE THINGS

ALTHOUGH NOT ESPECIALLY FANCY, HERE’S A SHEDDIE’S SELECTION OF TOOLS THAT HAVE PROVED TO BE INDISPENSABLE

One of my problems is that I have Scottish as well as Swiss genes, a combination that drives me to fiendish economy!

It is really satisfying to have highquality tools and I do have some — but a number of them are only used occasionally. There is also much satisfaction in achieving a good result without sophisticated or expensive tools.

My parents were busy GPs so my father’s talents were hidden from me. I knew that as a medical missionary he made a wooden leg for a patient, the socket of metal and leather — and famously later added a foot a short way up the leg to enable the owner to cross a muddy river bed.

He taught me basic woodworking skills when he built a canoe with me, aged 13, and a few more, when, at 16, I built a kayak. This may be why they gave me a handsome tool set for my 21st birthday.

1. My Mechanic's and Carpenter’s Tool Kit

What do I use and enjoy almost every day? Still (after all these years!) several tools from the Mechanic’s and Carpenter’s Tool Kit given to me for my 21st. The open-ended and ring spanners are nearly outmoded by a socket set but all the rest, including the brace and bits, still see occasional use and sometimes there is still no substitute for careful use of the Stanley hand plane.

2. My little cross-peen hammer

Coming from the kit, this is without doubt my most frequently used tool. It seems just the right weight for any number of little jobs, whether it is putting in fine pins or bending over some light sheet brass or copper in the vice. It’s so useful that I bought a similar-size ball-peen hammer but I find I rarely use even its hammer end, and pick up the favourite instead — it may be the balance. A lighter one of course has a quicker blow, and using a big one for greater effect isn’t the whole answer!

3. My Goscut

Another particularly favourite tool is the Goscut, which my wife gave me years ago. I don’t recall ever seeing one beforehand. Their history on Google is interesting.

I quite enjoy a little simple sheetmetal work. Very early I inherited a curved pair of sheet-metal cutters from the few in my father’s toolbox in which there was also a brace and bit, and a set square.

Using curved cutters it is easier to see where you are going and you can face them the other way. There is a joke about surgeons who use curved scissors to cut straight. I later bought a straight pair and much later a set of three ‘aeronautical’ snips. These are great but still have limitations of access.

Goscut’s great advantage is that

the cutting is done from the back and the other side of the cut doesn’t get in the way. The adjustable throat allows for cutting different thicknesses of metal, a small strip of which it necessarily and sometimes usefully removes. The broad blade can cut accurately to a line and the narrow blade around quite small curves.

4. My Panasonic offset snap-fit rotatable chuck drill driver

My wife also spotted this years ago and I quickly bought it. It was a cancelled export order. I haven’t seen any others with a similar chuck. It is getting quite dated and is only 9.2V but it’s so quick and easy that I use it almost every day. I can change a drill or driver bit with one hand. Replacement batteries are still available, although I’m only on my second. No centrally driven chuck can get so close to an edge, and being able to change the angle is surprisingly useful. It’s also lighter than the modern alternatives.

5. My vernier caliper

Yes, I do have an electronic one but the inexpensive, simple one comes in very useful for so many jobs, whether for checking a depth or the thickness of something that I’m working on, as well as accurate measuring. If I am planing wood, I can set it to the required size and instantly check both if I am down to size and that the faces are parallel and at right angles to the sides. All at once it replaces calipers, tape or ruler, and set square.

6. My adjustable drillpress vice

This allows fine adjustment for accurate placement of the drill in a way that hand adjustment can’t.

7. My B&D Workmate

This extravagant purchase as a young married was because Black and Decker (B&D) Workmates had just been produced and it was clearly particularly suitable for any job that I might decide to do. It also provided a workbench that could be folded away in a small flat.

Although I now have a large workbench with an antique wood vice and other working vices attached, probably half of all my work is still done on the Workmate. To my lasting regret and on the basis that it was stronger, the salesman persuaded me to buy the steelframed version rather than the lighter aluminium one. I am reasonably careful and there was no price difference. The legs and stays anyway are aluminium and have stood up well in over 50 years. The blue paint is now peeling and I have replaced the holding lugs and screw-in feet.

I have plenty of clamps (you can never have too many) but the Gripmate holdfast is particularly useful. Though the top of current models may be the same, I feel the frame design and bent metal legs are less satisfactory. Mine is perfectly safe to stand on!

8. My Bosch jigsaw

I find this incredibly useful. I almost always use a T101B blade, which gives a very fine finish. The adjustable oscillation means that I can cut veneer or laminates without spoiling the edge. I even occasionally cheat a bit as I can use it almost like a mini planer to straighten an edge.

The angle baseplate works well. I bought the fence as an extra and use it quite frequently although I often clamp a straight edge to the work. I cut large panels this way. The fence’s facility for cutting circles is occasionally useful.

9. My Scheppach linisher/ sander

This is a relatively recent addition. I should have had it long ago — my saw table bears the scars of trying to use a belt sander on its side.

One with a longer flatbed would be useful but a lot can be done by offering the work slightly obliquely across it. If a much longer piece has to be straightened this can be done by scribing a line, holding it in the Workmate, using a planer or belt sander, and looking along the finished edge.

The disc with adjustable baseplate makes sanding small or even tiny things straight or to a precise angle a breeze. One can safely hold tiny pieces closely with the fingers using the down-going side of the disc. Caution though: nasty kickback can happen if one uses the up-going side!

10. My Ryobi table-saw bench

Why should I feel slightly ashamed of this?

Yes, it is cheap (and remember my genes). Yes, I would love a nice, solid castiron saw bench with extension rails and more sophisticated adjustments (which would take up a lot of floor space). I don’t use a lot of large panels and seem to manage remarkably well with this. It is stable enough on its stand and light enough to be easily moved. Some of the other brands that are more than twice the price don’t look very different.

The 5mm spacing of the ribs on the bench allows accurate adjustment of one or other side of the (reversible) fence to within 1mm. This applies also when I’m using my Bosch router, for which holes are very conveniently arranged.

If I’m cutting a large sheet I can place it on this and the Workmate, using two lengths of 4x2 if necessary. Using a clamped straight edge and probably my Bosch jigsaw with smooth blade I can get an edge that needs barely any finishing.

11. My Bosch router

In its day it was quite modern. It has a ‘plunge’ feature and even a depth guide. As it’s mostly mounted on the sawbench, I now rarely use the fence that came with it.

12. My narrow-gland nut pliers

Like the light cross-peen hammer, these came in the toolbox that I was given for my 21st.

It’s a good-quality chrome-vanadium tool and, although quite slender, can grip very firmly. The slim jaws reach easily into smaller corners than most, where the angle seems particularly good for bending sheet metal, and they can reach in narrow places to tightly grip a nut. Unlike some others, the adjustable jaw is reliable despite having had heavy use.

13. My 300mm pry bars

This strong tool comes in useful in very many ways, not just for levering things or removing nails.

The long end is narrow enough to open quite small tins, and sharp enough to spare chisels’ inappropriate ‘careful’ use scraping off glue, ‘gently’ levering, or worse. It is useful as a wedge and for separating things (one can hammer on the other end), as well as for heavy jobs such as lifting the edge of pavers. I have two and quite often use them together or in opposition.

14. My scribing block

I should use this more often.

When you have mastered the trick of holding it firmly, watching the grain direction, and making a deep enough mark without being dragged off the line, it is often better and easier than a pencil line — particularly for marking the wavy side of a piece of wood near the edge that needs planing, for matching the thickness of one piece to another, as well as in a number of other situations.

15. My combination set square

This old tool is very useful for edgemarking, checking, and copying an angle, as well as as a set square.

The inbuilt spirit levels are occasionally very useful, as is being able to protrude the ruler behind the square, or advance it. I use the 45-degree side quite often, and marking two lines using the V-block simply and easily finds the centre of a circular piece. The various sections are easily removed (watch the inserts and springs) and they replace, locate, and lock accurately as required.

16. My mini hacksaw

I find I choose this frequently for cutting small things quite accurately — wood as well as metal. The ends of a small, halved joint or cutting off small extras can be done with little need for filing, so it joins the list of frequently used tools.

Part of the satisfaction of not having every possible tool is that of achieving a good result without them. Our predecessors set great examples with the pyramids, etc.