Great Cheap Tools

[G S Haydon]

I noticed on the "What Chisels" post a link to some Aldi Chisels that the user found to be great to use. I like the premium tools as much as the next person but the higher price may not always be within the reach of everyone. I know quality second hand is a good option too but which new cheap tools have you purchased and been very pleased with?

I bought a set of six blue faithfull plastic handled chisels for my "hobby" woodworking and have found them to be a great general purpose set. Cheapest option on ebay right now is http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Faithfull-Too ... 2324094662

I also have a faithfull 9" try square which has nice heavy brass work too.

So far they have done what I have asked of them at a modest price.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Mine would be the Marples marking knife I bought twenty-odd years ago. It cost a couple of quid, and has done really sterling service since. Since it's single-sided, it won't easily mark dovetail pins from cut tails, but it does everything else very well indeed. I've got a Japanese spear-point knife to do the dovetails. That only cost a tenner from Axminster, I think.

The high-end spear-point marking knives look very tempting, but I'm not sure that I can justify £40 or so for a tool that does what my existing two do perfectly adequately.

P.S. - The Marples is great for sharpening pencils, too. You can put your thumb on the back of the blade and get a really controlled cut.

 

[DTR]

I noticed on the "What Chisels" post a link to some Aldi Chisels that the user found to be great to use. I like the premium tools as much as the next person but the higher price may not always be within the reach of everyone. I know quality second hand is a good option too but which new cheap tools have you purchased and been very pleased with?

I bought a set of six blue faithfull plastic handled chisels for my "hobby" woodworking and have found them to be a great general purpose set. Cheapest option on ebay right now is http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Faithfull-Too ... 2324094662

I also have a faithfull 9" try square which has nice heavy brass work too.

So far they have done what I have asked of them at a modest price.

I bought one of those Faithful chisels earlier this year (I needed a specific size for a job). I found the handle very uncomfortable after using it all day. Nothing wrong with it apart from that though. I've got a bunch of chisels that need new handles so the Faithful chisel might get the same treatment

 

[bugbear]

Of course, the really cheap tools are second hand:

£1.00

£3.00

£1.00

£3.00

£4.00

£1.00

£3.00 (I think)

£1.00

BugBear (rummaging in his already uploaded photos)

 

[chipmunk]

What about homemade? - free or almost free.

One old Allen key a couple of stainless hex head machine screws and a 10mm dowel drill depth stop.

One old 3/8" spade bit and half a kn@ckered spring centre punch.

...with thanks to Derek Cohen for inspiration.

Jon

 

[MIGNAL]

Lidl chisel set. Bargain.
Set of antique wooden planes: Jointer, Jack, Smoothing - less than £30 (sometimes a lot less) with blades and chipbreakers that should be the envy of Lie Nielsen, Veritas and others! The only reason they aren't is because of the seriously low price tag.
Zona saws. Not such a great bargain but you can resharpen them!

 

[rafezetter]

I have a set of faithfull chisels, but they have soft rubber grips with a full length tang and striking plate - they were given a professional first sharpen and fettle and now all I give them is a quick once over and they are razor sharp.

I'd buy them again with no qualms.

 

[graduate_owner]

Hey Bugbear, you look to have had some real bargains there. The last time I bought a second hand bill hook it cost me £15, and a moulding plane cost me £6. Where do you shop? (Nowhere near me I'll bet).

K

 

[bugbear]

Hey Bugbear, you look to have had some real bargains there. The last time I bought a second hand bill hook it cost me £15, and a moulding plane cost me £6. Where do you shop? (Nowhere near me I'll bet).

K

Low price; high quality; available at short notice - pick any two.

In my case, I picked the first two, and replaced the last one with patience.

BugBear

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

Axminster's own LA block plane are really good for the money. Better than the Stanley 60 1/2 by miles, less than half the price. Better blade, better blade bed, machining superior. Got about 10 for school D&T dept, not for me, I already have too many planes :?

Mike.

 

[disco_monkey79]

Lidl hand tools are often rather good, in spite of the low price. Non-woodworky, but that's where I got my ring spanners and various pliers/grips.

I got a set of HSS drill bits from them the other week. Only had limited use on steel so far, but have worked great.

 

[Reggie]

I guess my useful cheap tool is free 1/2" stanley bevel edged chisel, it's nice and sharp and I've been practising mortices with it.

My next favourite would be the free record no.4 smoothing plane, now it's been fettled a little, it's working well enough for me to have trued up 4x 29" lengths of 3"x3" pine, with those being the only bits of wood I've ever planed I'm really happy with the plane and what I've learnt so far with it, I'm now looking for a cheap no.5 of some description

 

[AndyT]

Hello,

Axminster's own LA block plane are really good for the money. Better than the Stanley 60 1/2 by miles, less than half the price. Better blade, better blade bed, machining superior. Got about 10 for school D&T dept, not for me, I already have too many planes :?

Mike.

and now on special offer at £24.95 ... just in case others don't yet have too many planes...;-)

 

[Vann]

...I already have too many planes :?

Too many planes :!: :?: :!:

No such thing, is there? :wink:

Cheers, Vann.

 

[Reggie]

Anyone got any idea what the other axminster planes are like? Their prices are insanely cheap, so they're going to be very tempting to people on a budget, £22 for a no.5 http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-ax ... rod377654/ but the reviews are a bit marmite, it's either loved or hated.

 

[G S Haydon]

Reggie

I cant say for sure but I think these are the same as the faithfull offerings. Depending on what level of performance you need you might want to look at stanley-no-5-transformation-t72476.html.
If your just going to use it for initial timber prep then it might not need any further work. If you wan to pop it on a shooting boards more time may have to be taken.

 

[Reggie]

Are you suggesting the the stanley as an alternative or the article for fettling a no 5 plane would be useful? Ideally I'd like to get an old working stanley/record but then again, do I really have the time to wait around for the right one to turn up or do I want to shave wood?

I believe I would like it initially for wood prep, that's my goal with it, those legs came true nicely with the smoothing plane but it took a heck of a long time to do them, thin shavings and lots and lots of checking, anything that reduces that time and effort will be good Now you mention it though, shooting would be an option in the future.

So a £22 plane that might need some fettling sounds almost too good to be true but worth a look if I can get enough personal opinions on them.

 

[woodbrains]

...I already have too many planes :?

Too many planes :!: :?: :!:

No such thing, is there? :wink:

Cheers, Vann.

Of course there is no such thing! I got one of the Axminster block planes the other day. :|

Hello,

Axminster's own LA block plane are really good for the money. Better than the Stanley 60 1/2 by miles, less than half the price. Better blade, better blade bed, machining superior. Got about 10 for school D&T dept, not for me, I already have too many planes :?

Mike.

and now on special offer at £24.95 ... just in case others don't yet have too many planes...;-)

Hello,

Actually, the one on offer is the Ryder, which, although I have seen, and they look fairly good, it is the Axminster LA block which is about £20.20, that I have experience with, and they are very good for the price, indeed. If the Ryders are better I doubt, though may look a bit fancier, could be worth it at a few pounds more. I do think that the Ryder on offer is wider, the one I mean is the slightly narrower version similar to the Stanley 60 1/2. Some find the wider one better, though I prefer ( perhaps just used to) the narrlower one.

Mike.

 

[G S Haydon]

Are you suggesting the the stanley as an alternative or the article for fettling a no 5 plane would be useful? Ideally I'd like to get an old working stanley/record but then again, do I really have the time to wait around for the right one to turn up or do I want to shave wood?

I believe I would like it initially for wood prep, that's my goal with it, those legs came true nicely with the smoothing plane but it took a heck of a long time to do them, thin shavings and lots and lots of checking, anything that reduces that time and effort will be good Now you mention it though, shooting would be an option in the future.

So a £22 plane that might need some fettling sounds almost too good to be true but worth a look if I can get enough personal opinions on them.

Hi Reggie,

From the point of view of fettling really. As I have read here before you could get lucky or consider it a group of components that need finishing off. If you have plenty of time go for it. I bought a faithfull #4 and thought for the money it was OK (depending on your expectations)

 

[Reggie]

oooooh, that's what I wanted to hear, for £22 I think I might just pull the trigger on that one. I don't want absolutely perfect but that doesn't seem like a huge amount of fettling that he had to do, an hour or so is a good investment if it produces the results.