What tools are you buying?

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I recently got a copy of Readers Digest "Back to Basics." Reading through it renewed my awareness of the importance of having the right tools. For example, being a city slicker all of my life and being newly arrived to the country, I'd never heard of a log peavey, which is used to safely handle freshly cut logs. Such a device seems handy for when I chop wood for my wood burning stove.

What tools are looking good to you as we approach 2000? And by the way, just as a mention, I bought all of our gardening tools from Lee Valley Tools (www.leevalley.com) and they are very hardy. The one tool that impresses me most is their U-Bar digger. For double-digging beds and our root cellar, this thing loosens up the dirt wonderfully, making the shovel work much easier. We plan to buy the remainder of our tools from these guys. So in the same line of thinking, what companies are attracting your business?

-- Brett (savvydad@aol.com), March 20, 1999

Answers

Lee Valley Tools link

-- PJ Gaenir (fire@firedocs.com), March 20, 1999.

Excellent question Brett.

I recently made a foray into the Lancaster, PA area (Amish country). I purchased a two-man tree saw & a buck saw for cutting firewood. Also picked up cast-iron cookware, oil lamp wicks of various widths, misc. files for sharpening tools.

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), March 20, 1999.


Brett,

Yes, Tools for water, cultivation and solid fuels.

Our ancestors tools and work horses are gone.

Back to our ingenuity and muscles.

Thanks,

-- Watchful (seethesea@msn.com), March 20, 1999.


Yard sales yield great bargains. Found one of those old-fashioned hand-drills with a few bits to match. Kitchen tools: manual egg-beater, meat grinder, coffee grinder, knife sharpener. You can sharpen scissors by cutting sandpaper with them.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), March 20, 1999.

If one has a good generator may I suggest a air compressor and large tank. One could use a old propane tank. The compressed air acts as a storage medium for energy and there are a wide variety of tools. It is my experiance that 7/16 reverse thread bolts are always what you need when they are not available. A good bow saw and lots of blades would be a good idea for the worst case. Monkey wrench and Vice grips, clamps, hose clamps, banding wire.... lots of stuff. Oh and a portable computer with a solar charger :o)

-- Brian (imager@ampsc.com), March 20, 1999.


I worked for an antiques dealer for 43 years, and he received crates of furniture from England. They were held together by Lag Screws, which, IMHO will be VERY usefull in construction in the not to distant future. Saved, wire brushed and coated several dozens of same with Can't Rust and stored in sealed bottles. Mauls will be at a premium as will wedges to split wood. Eagle ... Got pot bellied stove ? (I have !!)

-- Harold Walker (e999eagle@freewwweb.com), March 20, 1999.

I've just gone through all our tools & gardening equipment.What we have has been overhauled.Chisels,axes,drill bits,axes,screwdrivers. etc sharpened.Varnished wooden handles,greased or oiled moving bits.Got rid of rust on wheelbarrows.Bought metal bucket for carrying out hot cinders.Checked out hose pipe & connectors,supply of PFT tape for mending leaks. Bought extra screws,nails & jubilee clips,extra saw blades,spare copper piping & connectors,oil & grease. Next stage to check out tools/supplies/maintenance book for maintaining cars & bikes & buy downpipe fittings for water butts.

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), March 20, 1999.

Ignorance being no excuse, and I've never let a stupid question go unasked, WHAT THE H*** IS A "JUBILEE CLIP"??

Chuck who probably knows the answer just by some other name.

-- Chuck, a night driver (reinzoo@en.com), March 20, 1999.


A spare tire and rim. Not exactly tools, but anyway. . .

-- Puddintame (dit@dot.com), March 20, 1999.

Chuck, A jubilee clip is a circular band of metal with a screw tightening device fitted on one side.The bands come in different diameters & different widths.They are very useful for securing say a hosepipe directly onto say a metal tap or a water hose to a radiator.You probably do know them by a different name. They are the kind of thing that my grandfather was thinking of when he use to say "For want of a nail the horse was lost,for want of a horse the warning was lost,for want of a warning the battle was lost" or something like that.Anyway they cost under a dollar,probably.

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), March 21, 1999.


Chris, I thought it was Charles I who said, "for want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost," and then something about the kingdom being lost. However, Bartlett's says it was Benjamin Franklin in Poor Richard's Almanac, published in 1757. Wonder if he plagiarized the expression? In any event, it's a great maxim by which to prepare for and live through Y2K problems.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), March 21, 1999.

I stand corrected !

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), March 22, 1999.

Not really a tool but how about tape...?

electrical, duct, metalized, clear plastic, freezer, masking...?

j

-- j (sandpine@juno.com), March 22, 1999.


I just bought an entrenchment tool - you know, one of those folding military shovels. Its small enough to carry in a backpack. If I'm gonna bury or dig up stuff away from my property, I don't want people seeing me carrying a shovel around. It's also easier to carry on a bike. Maybe I'll also make a longer handle for it for use at home..

If possible, get one that is a pick as well as a shovel. Mine is a 1952 Korean war surplus.

-- y2kbiker (y2kbiker@bellatlantic.net), March 22, 1999.


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