Did you buy any cheap tools that surprised you with being actually good?

[Ttrees]

Best value tool I've bought, gotta be this welder for 50 euro, so about 40/45 pounds.
Coulda got something secondhand with a fan so I could weld for longer, but it wouldn't be the wee size of this wee thing.

And this Soba 150mm engineers square for a tenner from Axi

 

[D_W]

I woud've added this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FPTS12C/ref=emc_b_5_t
but it's already discontinued. I bought one of these at the beginning of the year to do backs of chisels. It has enough tension, enough power and runs fast enough to actually use ceramic belts, it's direct drive, and has enough power to use a coarse belt and make knife or tool handles and I've had it running for an hour straight. There's still a 4x36 with 6 disc version (I bought the one with 8 - but don't have a use for the disc and the sheet metal over the disc from shipping is still on it. It actually had decent dust collection for a vac hookup (like fein size hookup - not exactly pentz approved, but caught most dust.

The rest is a joke, but a person using the platen will never care about that, and the platen is graphite and smooth/slick, replaceable.

I'd guess the 6" disc version will be replaced - shockingly good for the equivalent of $220 with shipping ($170 for the 6 disc version).

Figure it's probably not available in the UK and I don't know what one would do with this kind of thing for woodworking, it's more of a supplemental tool for woodworking and knife making - but a good one that uses a cheap common belt size.

discontinued for a replacement that uses the same design of belt and idler that the cheap over under belt drive sanders do, $100 more and the reviews say after 20 minutes, the new version overheats.

The one I have draws 625 watts under load, which doesn't sound like much, but with direct drive, it's enough as the belt speed could need (you can't stall it without overheating whatever you're grinding).

 

[no idea]

Faithful no.7 plane and a modern, plastic handled Stanley no.5 plane.

They both worked extremely well with only a little fettling out of the box. I have since replaced both their plane irons with ones from Ray Iles and they are lovely. I got these when I started to really get into woodworking 8-9 years ago and, once I got them working well, couldn't understand why anyone would need to pay more for Lie-Nielsen or Veritas planes. I do own some of those now too for the pleasure of it but the Stanley and Faithful are still the ones I use regularly.

 

[D_W]

mex stanley this year, too. But I did things to it that the average person might not do.

Has a couple of quirks that older planes don't, and wasn't that cheap (about $50). Surprisingly good iron that appears to have some carbides in it - not just cheap lower carbon steel. No exactly a small mouth, but mouth size to control tearout is a beginner kind of thing. A 16th inch mouth here would be a lot better, though. I guess they cut them from the top with chainsaws these days.

 

[Ozi]

I'm a fan of Irwin, bought some spade drills and a set of chisels, if your a professional cabinet maker you wouldn't go near them but for the work I do they hold as good an edge as I know how to put on them. With a limited budget it's buy cheep until I have the minimum to do the job and upgrade if I have the cash next time. Most of my jobs go out at mates rates ie materials plus a bit towards the tool fund

 

[southendwoodworker]

I have a few things:

The Halfords screwdrivers, brought these years back for similar price and they have replaced all my other cheap screwdrivers.
https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/ha...ection-lifetime-guarantee-at-halfords-3856235
a 400mm ruler and line scriber for £15 delivered from china
https://www.banggood.com/VEIKO-TS-P...0mm-p-1879415.html?cur_warehouse=CN&ID=517376
nice strong track rail clamps for £25 for a pair delivered from china. i will use them on my track saw rails, but i also use them to hold down stuff to my bench. works way better than my aldi/lidl clamps
https://www.banggood.com/VEIKO-2PCS...p-1894619.html?rmmds=myorder&cur_warehouse=CN
t track hold down clamps for £13 for a pair delivered from china:
https://www.banggood.com/VEIKO-2-Se...p-1862888.html?rmmds=myorder&cur_warehouse=CN
The links to the banggood stuff I ordered from china and it was delivered very quickly - one to two weeks, no customs duties or anything. At the time (november last year) they were on sale and I got for the prices I said above, it looks like they have increased them and added shipping costs. Hold out until they have their regular big sales. I'm guessing the price increase is because it is now approaching chinese new year and the shutdown for february.

 

[Lefley]

mex stanley this year, too. But I did things to it that the average person might not do.

Has a couple of quirks that older planes don't, and wasn't that cheap (about $50). Surprisingly good iron that appears to have some carbides in it - not just cheap lower carbon steel. No exactly a small mouth, but mouth size to control tearout is a beginner kind of thing. A 16th inch mouth here would be a lot better, though. I guess they cut them from the top with chainsaws these days.

View attachment 126241

Those big slots are for beginners so they can try and take an 1/8 of an inch off each pass. You need the clearance to eject the chips. Just gotta go to the gym first to pump up the biceps

 

[skeetstar]

Aldi/lidl clamps, metal ones good, plastic pistol grip squeeze ones OK, just.
Ditto a drill bit set, excellent vfm
Best of all is their plastic handled pull saw, got two, use them all the time.
Had some junk from there too which has gone straight back.

Got a block plane from Axi that was 8ukp in the sale down from 28ukp, been excellent. That was some years ago though.

Upthread comments about Snap on.. when I had a Series 2 LR, I used to buy Elora brand spanners as and when I needed them. Expensive, but built up a set over the years. High quality, and worth every penny.

 

[Insanity]

The links to the banggood stuff I ordered from china and it was delivered very quickly - one to two weeks, no customs duties or anything. At the time (november last year) they were on sale and I got for the prices I said above, it looks like they have increased them and added shipping costs. Hold out until they have their regular big sales. I'm guessing the price increase is because it is now approaching chinese new year and the shutdown for february.

I've noticed this too. Personally, I think they're getting greedy as more and more people are shopping direct rather than through a local retailer. I hope I'm wrong because this won't pan out well!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Did you buy any cheap tools that surprised you with being actually good? Not that I can think of. I can however think of a few expensive ones that have been crepe.

 

[southendwoodworker]

Ditto a drill bit set, excellent vfm
Best of all is their plastic handled pull saw, got two, use them all the time.

I agree with the drill bits. Good value.

The plastic handled Lidl pull saws, totally agree. They are great. I noticed last time they have changed the handle to wood and twine, blade looks similar. There's the big saw and the small one both are excellent.

 

[Sporky McGuffin]

I bought an Ebay special mitre gauge last week, just fitted it to the router tabls. Under £40, stops every 5 degrees (and at 22.5° each way), the 90° is absolutely spot-on. I swapped the Imperial Allen bolts for the fence (also cheap off ebay) for metric thumbscrews, and it is now absolutely spot-on for a good chunk less than the name brand versions. Even has a set of grub screws for squaring the fence vertically - no reliance on shims and trial-and-error.

Ebay link (though its gone up in price already) - Aluminium Angle Miter Gauge For Bandsaw Table Saw Router Angle Woodworking Tool | eBay

 

[Austin Branson]

I buy old chisels off eBay. I generally only go for Marples or other premium manufacturers. Excellent value. I’ve recently bought a matching round and hollow, but they’re still in the UK. I live in France, and since Brexit the import charges are eye watering. 100% on some glue - and I still don’t have the glue.

 

[henton49er]

I bought a hammer and ring-spanner set from Lidl; they are ok.

I have given up on their power tools, life is just too short.

I bought a Parkside impact driver from Lidl to drive 4" screws as part of the assembly of a large polytunnel. Five years later the driver is still going strong. Cracking value for £40 (if I remember correctly).

 

[heimlaga]

As a rule cheap tols that I have bought have been useless junk.

Though there are a few exceptions breaking the rule:
1. A nameless Soviet made steel rule (I bought it as "new old stock" a couple of years after the Soviet Union fell apart)
2. My Soviet made Voskov scrub plane (actually it was secondhand when it came to me but it had been cheap in it's time)
3. Two cheap lump hammers and a ball peen hammer. The brand was "Red & Blue" and no country of origin was mentioned. They were sold everywhere for a short while some 25 years ago. I was a teenager then and did not know better so I bought my share of useless cheap tools. The hammers proved to be very good though. The nippers of the same brand were junk.
4. A set of Eastman spanners. Probably Chineese. I local industrial supplier tried to sell them as an alternative to the expensive brands and priced them accordingly but apparently they didn't sell. In the end they were sold off at what was probably the purchase price. I was short of money at that moment and in desperate need of spanners so thought they were worth the price as a stop gap solution until I could afford something better. To my surprise they proved to be good.
5. A set of cheap nameless turnscrews I bought in my teens before I knew better. A coupple were soft and useless. The rest were good and survive to this day.

Pretty much all other cheap new tools that I have bought have proven to be wasted money.

 

[Digger58]

Back in 1979 I bought a really cheap set of screwdrivers, obviously made from Chinesium, they were absolute s..it as screwdrivers but I used the biggest one to hold in the bucket pin on my digger, they were such poor quality that I was able to put it through the bucket pin and bend it around, Did the job for the day! So it was excellent as a makeshift clip but I wouldn't have rated them for what they were intended for!

 

[Digger58]

I learnt my lesson many years ago, cheap tools are cheap for a reason and I found they were either inaccurate or had a very short lifespan. With spanners I learnt that lesson like many others, that is when they spread and let go of that tight nut and you whack you knuckles followed by that spanner taking a quick flight.

I learnt my lesson many years ago, cheap tools are cheap for a reason and I found they were either inaccurate or had a very short lifespan. With spanners I learnt that lesson like many others, that is when they spread and let go of that tight nut and you whack you knuckles followed by that spanner taking a quick flight.

Same as that! Skinned knuckles because of this PoS so it got transformed!

 

[Jonm]

I bought a cheap unbranded set of ring open ended spanner’s from a local car accessory shop. Years later I was working on the suspension of a car, very tight awkward to reach nut. Could get a ring spanner on but not a socket. So I attached the cheap 14mm spanner, long tube on the spanner and heaved. Nut undid, bent the shaft of the spanner but it did not break and nut was in good condition. I have upgraded the spanner set to good quality, even though there is a bent one, I still use it.

Another purchase many years ago was a pair of pliers on the counter of a petrol station, cheap, made in China, at a time when Chinese stuff was generally rubbish. The jaws came together square and they looked good quality so I bought them. Used them extensively, lost them about 4 years ago.

 

[eribaMotters]

Evolution mains voltage 185mm circular saw from Screwfix. I think this is the current model:-
Evolution R185CCSL240 1200W 185mm Electric Multi-Material Circular Saw 220-240V | Circular Saws | Screwfix.com

Colin

 

[southendwoodworker]

I bought an Ebay special mitre gauge last week, just fitted it to the router tabls. Under £40, stops every 5 degrees (and at 22.5° each way), the 90° is absolutely spot-on. I swapped the Imperial Allen bolts for the fence (also cheap off ebay) for metric thumbscrews, and it is now absolutely spot-on for a good chunk less than the name brand versions. Even has a set of grub screws for squaring the fence vertically - no reliance on shims and trial-and-error.

Ebay link (though its gone up in price already) - Aluminium Angle Miter Gauge For Bandsaw Table Saw Router Angle Woodworking Tool | eBay

I have that same mitre gauge but not used it much because I bought the wrong fence :/

Do you have a link to the fence you purchased and the metric thumb screws too? - I'll buy the same