The Tool Thread

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
I have a heap of tools accumulated over many years plus my fathers and grandfathers old tools, some hand made, some almost unidentifiable as to their purpose. Somewhere is a hand made auger used to bore timber railway sleepers that my grandfather, who was a fettler, made. I have a die I made from a block of tool steel while on vacation practice at uni.

I was a bit amazed last year when visiting a heritage place to see many of the old leathermaking tools I have marked as from the 1800s! I bought specialist bike tools one by one as needed. And then other tools depending what I was working on. Add to that one son is an electrician and the other worked with a mechanic during his gap year.
 

Miguel75

Likes Dirt
Park do a version of the Crombie which is cheaper, the FR-5H, unless you are after the double sided version?
Also I have a set of CP-1 cassette pliers, they are much better than a chain whip.
Yeah, there are lots of other good tools out there though my mate has a few abbey tools and I think I may have drunk the cool aid... They're just so green:)
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
Old rail is speccd by its mass per yard. 60lb rail is 60lb per yard length, typical narrow gauge stuff. New rail is kg/m, so 50 - 80kg per metre for standard or wide gauge. In case you were interested. I want a proper anvil. Mounted on a tree stump. I can move it around with the tractor!
 

stirk

Burner
Old rail is speccd by its mass per yard. 60lb rail is 60lb per yard length, typical narrow gauge stuff. New rail is kg/m, so 50 - 80kg per metre for standard or wide gauge. In case you were interested. I want a proper anvil. Mounted on a tree stump. I can move it around with the tractor!
Father in law has an anvil, big almost unmovable thing it is, family heirloom apparently. It bloody awesome even though I'd never use it, I want it!
 

slowmick

38-39"
Gotta love handed down tools that make you wonder what they're for. My dads collection included odd tools he packed to drive his brand new mini across to WA in the 60s and weird tools for he had for setting offset printing machines (including old whitworth spanner that had been "converted" to metric).
 

link1896

Mr Greenfield
Gotta love handed down tools that make you wonder what they're for. My dads collection included odd tools he packed to drive his brand new mini across to WA in the 60s and weird tools for he had for setting offset printing machines (including old whitworth spanner that had been "converted" to metric).
One makes do with what's on hand. Modifying a tool for a specific task is always fun.

Many of us have our grandfathers tools. So much of the shit these days, when it comes time for the following generations to clean up, will just get thrown away. Consumerism gone mad.
 

wesdadude

ウェスド アドゥーデ
In relation to my earlier question, I just need something for stripping down and reassembling a bike every now and then. The only things that are bike specific are cassettes, cranks and threaded BBs.
 

John U

MTB Precision
You can get by on a lot of jobs using non specific tools. I used to strip down my bmx as a kid using a shifter, screw driver, and a hammer. A tool designed specially for a particular job will make some jobs a shit load easier. It’s a matter of how long you want to spend on a particular job,?how much you want to spend on tools, and the quality of the end result you’re expecting.
My favourite tool is my Park pedal spanner. So much power with so little effort.
Considering this after shop charged me $90 for an internally routed cable change.
https://www.parktool.com/product/internal-cable-routing-kit-ir-1-2
 
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link1896

Mr Greenfield
I used a mates set and am really liking these hex keys;

https://www.kctoolco.com/wera-073593-multicolor-hex-ball-end-hex-metric-l-key-clip-set/

They felt really nice in my hand and fit into the bolt head with no slop. Think I'll drop for a set shortly....
Wera colour coded hex balls are nice.

KC Tools, used to sell socket sets under their own names. Big fuck of text everywhere "unconditionally guaranteed". Until it came time to claim warranty on a worn 12mm 1/2" drive socket. Dishonest pricks
 

Miguel75

Likes Dirt
Wera colour coded hex balls are nice.

KC Tools, used to sell socket sets under their own names. Big fuck of text everywhere "unconditionally guaranteed". Until it came time to claim warranty on a worn 12mm 1/2" drive socket. Dishonest pricks
Wera stuff = me likey. Not honoring "unconditional guarantee" = not so cool.
 

Nambra

Definitely should have gone to specsavers
I have a heap of tools accumulated over many years plus my fathers and grandfathers old tools, some hand made, some almost unidentifiable as to their purpose. Somewhere is a hand made auger used to bore timber railway sleepers that my grandfather, who was a fettler, made. I have a die I made from a block of tool steel while on vacation practice at uni.

I was a bit amazed last year when visiting a heritage place to see many of the old leathermaking tools I have marked as from the 1800s! I bought specialist bike tools one by one as needed. And then other tools depending what I was working on. Add to that one son is an electrician and the other worked with a mechanic during his gap year.
My old man was a bower bird and took after his father when it came to being self sufficient and resourceful, including building his own house and various outbuildings in Emerald (Vic) in the late 60's / early 70's. He had an old donkey engine that spun a radial saw bench via a 8" wide canvas belt, which he used to cut timber harvested from the block.

I recall those old wide-flute augers too, except my old man preferred to use them to insert gelignite into stumps to move them the easy way. Imagine being able to walk into Bunnings these days and buying a few sticks of dynamite, slow and fast fuses and some priming caps. Pretty sure I remember an anvil made from a section of I-beam that must have weighed 40kg or so too.

Of course all that nostalgia is no good for fixing a bike.
 
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