help me spend my money

[sunnybob]

Dont get too excited though.
I have been given a £30 amazon voucher for my birthday. i have not so far bought anything from amazon.
I cant find any woodworking accessory to buy with the voucher.
I dont want to put too much money with it, so dont get carried away here.

 

[shed9]

Get a few books on woodworking aspects that may interest you, i.e. steam bending, routers, etc.

 

[Graham Orm]

Type 'woodworking hand tools' in the search box. There's lots of junk there but you might spot something that you might use occasionally that doesn't warrant an expensive version

 

[Alexam]

Do you have to spend it? I'm sure that Amazon would not be dissapointed if you saved it up until later in the year when you can buy something you need.

 

[Racers]

Easy, David Charlesworth or James Krenov books.

Pete

 

[Stanleymonkey]

They supply kreg screws, plugs, clamps etc.

 

[MattRoberts]

Decent safety gear - glasses, ear defenders or mask

 

[graduate_owner]

I keep my vouchers until I have a decent amount. I get Axminster vouchers for Christmas, birthday, Father's day etc. It suits me because I don't have to answer the inevitable "what would you like for ........, Dad?". And it's easy for everyone else too.
Be careful to write the date on the vouchers though - they are only valid for 2 years.

I recently used vouchers to buy a floor standing hobby rated pillar drill, reduced from £275 to £200. I'm very pleased with it. And I still have a few pounds left.

K

 

[sunnybob]

Not keen on instructional books. I find that 90% or more is stuff is either general background info or things that I already know, and the 10% i learn means I never look inside the book again.
I thought I had found something useful with the wolfcraft portable drill press, very interested in that untill I realised my makita drill doesnt have a 43mm collar.
Got all my safety gear, available locally for peanuts. Nuts and bolts also plentiful here. I have a shop I can buy single items, even washers, so no need to stock up.
Didnt know the vouchers were valid that long though, I shall have to look into that even though I am very impatient.

 

[Benchwayze]

Bob,

What you say about books is pertinent, but there's more to books than instruction. I also read them for inspiration. :wink:

 

[sunnybob]

Books are very important, no question. I have read literally thousands in my life. But I have spent more than 50 years learning how to make and repair things in every material you can think of. So any instructional book will spend chapters explaining stuff that I did in the 60's 70's 80's etc etc.

I recently bought a booklet on milling machines as I was considering buying one. That whole book gave me nothing useful for my situation. The first half explained milling machines (which I worked with in the 70's), and the last half showed how to do complex operations that would have given a time served engineer a headache. £25 wasted for me. I gave it to a friend who was just starting out and he was pleased to receive it.

Now a book of plans, that might have been useful before the internet. I just surf till I find something I like, copy the image and play with it till I like it even more, and then build it, and if I get stuck on a certain procedure, theres always utube to give me a guided tour.

So no, my book buying days are over now (g)

 

[Roughcut]

What about Socks and Slippers?

 

[sunnybob]

Nope, never made socks and slippers. I have repaired them a few times mind.

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

A book on veneering?

Mike.

 

[sunnybob]

I've just had a crash course on veneering, and I use the word "crash" in its most literal sense.
Way too expensive and difficult for a rank amateur like me. I was stupid enough to think I could by an 8" square x 1" thick block of ebony for a tenner. Oh how he laughed.

My new thicknesser arrives tomorrow, I might have to buy a new set of blades if I screw them up soon.

 

[AndyT]

The days when Amazon was just a bookshop are long gone. Whether it's something they stock themselves, or something an independent vendor offers in their marketplace, the range is immense - literally millions of items. I guess Cyprus is a place where ordinary clothing and household goods are pretty cheap already, but you could just wait until there is something you need where the local shops don't have the choice you want.

You can then spend an hour on Amazon trying to distinguish between a thousand variants on the same thing, reading one-star reviews contradicting 5-star reviews, until you decide it's all a waste of time and you have too much stuff already... :roll:

 

[woodbrains]

I've just had a crash course on veneering, and I use the word "crash" in its most literal sense.
Way too expensive and difficult for a rank amateur like me. I was stupid enough to think I could by an 8" square x 1" thick block of ebony for a tenner. Oh how he laughed.

My new thicknesser arrives tomorrow, I might have to buy a new set of blades if I screw them up soon.

Hello,

What precisely was expensive, the wood or the veneering course?

Mike.

 

[glynster]

I get these off Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00 ... UTF8&psc=1

Now, for under £4 I feel like every day is 100° summer and it's done wonders for my outlook on life

 

[sunnybob]

I'm not spending my voucher on household stuff! This is my birthday money. Boys toys and all that.

On the good side, I just checked that voucher and I cant believe it but it is valued for TEN years! Must be able to find something in that length of time, although I will most likely have forgotten about it by then.

My sunglasses are dark, because we have lots and lots of sun (34c now daily), but I buy them for 8 euro from the electrical wholesaler.
I never realised I was so hard to please.

Woodbrains... I was being a little bit flippant about the veneering, but here in Cyprus I cant get small quantities of anything. I have to buy a 5 metre x 80cm x 2 cm board of any wood, then make boxes till its almost gone so I can buy a different wood. And remember, I'm a rank amateur newbie woodworking old age pensioner. Thats a lot of money tied up in each type of wood. For me, here, veneering is a non starter.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Be wary of bad reviews - quite often they are from people who bought the wrong tool or material for the job. If you see e.g. a dozen three and four stars then one or two ones, you can often safely ignore the ones. I saw a good chainsaw get a one star because its purchaser objected because he had to go out and buy oil and petrol, and the Trend diamond plates here a few months ago one buyer gave a one star because it wasn't as listed, it was listed as used and he objected to its being wrongly described - it was new.