60th birthday ideas for my guru

[chiba]

It's my Dad's 60th in a few weeks, and I'm a bit stumped as to what to get him. He got me interested in the engineering game, DIY and the rest, and I want to find him something a bit special - ideally something new, given that I'm too far from home to go browsing flea markets.

He's something of an all rounder rather than a pure woodworker - IMO there's nothing he can't fix on a motorbike or car, he built his own (stone) garage/workshop, does a bit of model engineering, can weld, plumb, etc, etc. Really, he's an old school "jack of all trades" ex-farmer who can turn his hand to anything. He's not really one for buying new stuff either - bit of a bargain hunter. Anyway, I need some ideas. I have the feeling that a beautiful LN plane or something would provoke rumblings of "too expensive... could have got an old second hand one... humbug...", etc.

What I'd really like to get him is some tangible, well made (maybe hand made?) thing that he'll find a lot of use for. Anybody got any thoughts?

 

[Adam]

Power screwdriver? (some people still don't use them!)

Set of Snap On sockets/spanners - or a Snap on Toolbox with the sliding drawers?

Adam

 

[Chris Knight]

One of those fancy "Leatherman" pocket toolkits?

The smallest LN - the little bronze block plane - it really is in many ways the best one!

An Opti-visor -really helps when doing anything at all intricate

 

[RogerS]

How about a Dremel?

 

[OLD]

Cordless drill driver two gear type just got a 14 volt Makita and it gets loads of use takes the load off my arm, less gripping and twisting.

 

[frank]

what about a nice bottle of malt now if he has a tipple purely for medicinal purpose he will think now that was very thoughtfull of him :wink: :wink: .


frank who got an x box and is fighting in pearl after saving the world in halo 2 :roll: :roll:

 

[Martin]

Well, this might not be in the price bracket you had in mind, but when my Dad turned 60 he organised his own party, along with cash contributions from those in attendance for his pressie - which was a beautiful hand made bronze cast of two greyhounds sleeping.

Purely ornamental, and therefore doesn't fit your "something he'll find useful" requirement, but perhaps fitting for someone who knows the time and effort that goes into hand-made things (be they wood, metal, ceramic etc.).

IMO, buying someone who is "handy" tools or the like is a bad idea - when it comes to tools I much prefer to choose rather than someone making the choice for me.

Just a thought....

Martin.

 

[chiba]

Thanks for the ideas, all. Now Martin's comments re tools and preferring to choose has me worried, as I'm like that too, and the old adage goes that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. A friend of mine had an idea - a track day, driving old racing cars or something. What better thing to keep than a good memory? Then I thought, well, my Dad reads a lot of military history, so maybe a day out driving tanks might be more interesting! :wink: