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Tools.
Jun 20, 2022 16:20:10 GMT -5
Post by John on Jun 20, 2022 16:20:10 GMT -5
Not strictly mining, but let's be right, we tradesmen needed them to keep the equipment working.
What brands did you buy?? I tried to stay with high quality tools, yes expensive, but other than being stolen, or lost in the "fines" lasted me out, and I still have most of my NCB issue I got docked 2/6p a week from my wages until paid off. I built my socket set up weekly as an apprentice, usually one socket,extension or ratchet handle sometimes two, depending on what overtime I'd worked!! Elora was my brand of choice. Funny thing about sockets, only Elora fitted in the counter bored set bolts on Belmos 3.3Kv switchgear!!
I now have many top brand hand tools I use, three tool cabinets filled with them, plus other power tools. Newest toy is a burning and welding kit, I use propane and the small 20lb oxy bottles. Mobile sand blaster is next on my list, it will be well used as my workshop has metal roof and sides that is showing rust spots.
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Jun 20, 2022 16:26:28 GMT -5
Post by John on Jun 20, 2022 16:26:28 GMT -5
I might add, I did buy a cheap Chinese 3/4 drive socket set, needed that for farm impliments I have, I couldn't justify $400 plus for branded ones, as I don't used them very often, but since I bought them I came across some expensive branded 3/4" impact sockets, extension and ratchet handle for free a couple of years back. I estimate they would have knocked me back a pretty penny had I bought them new.. So I have 1/4", 3/8th, 1/2' and 3/4 drive sockets etc, all get used.
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Jun 21, 2022 7:18:04 GMT -5
Post by John on Jun 21, 2022 7:18:04 GMT -5
I was brought up at one of the last pits operating the old Mech/Elec scheme, where the face electrician was also the face fitter. One night we had a job where we needed a 3/4 drive ratchet and sockets, the NCB usually had the best brands of large tools, and this one was King Dick, a top brand of spanners, sockets and ratchet handles, normally on par with Britool. Anyway, we stripped every tooth on the King Dick ratchet handle!!! And still hadn't loosened the nuts. Left only with a 1/2" Britool ratchet and socket, plus a tube type strut for extra leverage, we proved Britool the best, not one single tooth damaged, and every nut loosened.
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Jun 23, 2022 14:19:52 GMT -5
Post by colly0410 on Jun 23, 2022 14:19:52 GMT -5
I wanted a cross head screwdriver earlier on as the garage door handle had come loose, went to where my screwdriver box was in the garage & it wasn't there. Wife Sue had been tidying up the garage & I couldn't find owt at all, found them after lots of looking underneath a pile of box's, she's always moving stuff so I can't find them...
All my tools I've inherited from my late Dad (who borrowed most of them from Bestwood workshops when he worked there, lol) & my late Father-in-law who was a kitchen fitter, mind you he sold his router & some other power tools when he retired...
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Jun 23, 2022 16:11:22 GMT -5
Post by John on Jun 23, 2022 16:11:22 GMT -5
I wanted a cross head screwdriver earlier on as the garage door handle had come loose, went to where my screwdriver box was in the garage & it wasn't there. Wife Sue had been tidying up the garage & I couldn't find owt at all, found them after lots of looking underneath a pile of box's, she's always moving stuff so I can't find them... All my tools I've inherited from my late Dad (who borrowed most of them from Bestwood workshops when he worked there, lol) & my late Father-in-law who was a kitchen fitter, mind you he sold his router & some other power tools when he retired... Over the last several years I've almost doubled my hand tool collection, last added was two large old tool cabinets and a large tool box that fits on top, they need a good clean, paint stripped and repainting, a job I'll do when I feel much better. They came from a house my wife sold for her client, together with an assortment of tools, including an air impact driver and sockets etc.... I've picked up dozens of sockets, high quality, including ratchet handles, extensions up to 3 feet long!! from various places we trashed out years back. Re possessed houses yielded a treasure trove of stuff, from books to appliances.
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Tools.
Jun 26, 2022 4:58:03 GMT -5
Post by colly0410 on Jun 26, 2022 4:58:03 GMT -5
The council cleared a nearby flat (apartment) out when the tenants did a moonlight flit, they left nearly everything there. Yabbering to the blokes doing the clearing out & they asked me if I wanted anything before they took it to the recycling yard, I had a few high quality saucepans & a couple of pint mugs. One neighbour said the electric cooker was better than his so I helped him do a swap, another had the flat screen smart TV. There must have been many hundreds of pounds worth of stuff that they'd left behind, there were no tools though, most of it went to the recycling yard...
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Tools.
Sept 9, 2022 21:42:20 GMT -5
Post by maverick on Sept 9, 2022 21:42:20 GMT -5
I might add, I did buy a cheap Chinese 3/4 drive socket set, needed that for farm impliments I have, I couldn't justify $400 plus for branded ones, as I don't used them very often, but since I bought them I came across some expensive branded 3/4" impact sockets, extension and ratchet handle for free a couple of years back. I estimate they would have knocked me back a pretty penny had I bought them new.. So I have 1/4", 3/8th, 1/2' and 3/4 drive sockets etc, all get used. I still have my original ratchet from being an apprentice along with several Bahco adjustable spanners in 10", 12" and 15" and several Blue Point screwdrivers and these were all issued by the NCB.
You have to remember all NCB/British Coal tools were made to their specifications and they had to meet and exceed these specifications and did, they used to do random tool testing and if they failed they tallied the failures up and if they hit a limit of failures they lost the NCB contract. I still have Bedford and Gedore spanners and I also have many obsolete sizes such as 6" Whitworth used on Lancashire boilers and some winder components and in a recent insurance assessment they claimed replacing a 6" Whitworth spanner would cost around £1500-2000 and take up to 18 months to replace as they only batch manufacture them when they have sufficient orders.
I still have my BOC Sapphire burning torch and regulators from BC days and plenty of nozzles for oxy acetylene and oxy propane and a BOC Transarc stick welder bought for the princely sum of £10 and when I collected it 2X100 yard drums of 50mm welding cable fell onto the lorry along with several electrode holders and earth clamps and a selection of waterproof connectors which are still in use today and Mick may remember the welding plant as it came out of the fitting shop. I got into recycling and didn't bother getting handfulls of electrodes as many did as I welded a lifting eye on the welding rod cupboard and just lifted the lot onto a lorry and as I have a small overhead crane at home it was an easy lift off.
Has Eleceng been on lately? ?
I tend to stick with quality and while I now use a lot of MIG and TIG I have Lincoln equipment as I have 3 phase and it is cheaply available in 3 phase.
Add up the replacement cost of your tools John and I bet replacing them all would be around the cost of your house.
I do remembner Snap On claiming their tools would stand the toughest tests and meet NCB/British Coal specifications and we got some to test and they were renamed Snap Off as we were breaking them with our bare hands.
Did I mention I also have a length of belt structure to put on tools which makes me feel at home.
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Sept 10, 2022 0:34:58 GMT -5
Post by John on Sept 10, 2022 0:34:58 GMT -5
Snapon are over rated, mechanics tell me the same, but still buy them as they have a no quible replacement free. I recall every Amderson Strathclyde machines had a huge box of tools made by Britools, but machines were sent to central stores what the tools were entered into central atores and never arrived at the pit with the box of tools. Mind, when we had our first ABDEC mounted trapanner, t came straight from Motherwell, We had a face that we were losing fast through weight problems, and it went from surface to face with hours of arring at the pit. Tool box went directly into pit stores.
Yep, I'll bet my tools are worth a small fortune by now, I did buy a few Sears Craftsmen tools 30 plus years back and these are US made, when Sears had their no fault lifetime warranty.
Mick hasn't been around in ages. I did send an couple of emails to him, no answer. I even did a search of Obits on the NEP, nothing. Where do you know him from, Bestwood or Cotgrave??
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Sept 10, 2022 16:07:59 GMT -5
Post by John on Sept 10, 2022 16:07:59 GMT -5
One thing I found out a week back C K tools are back in business with a large tool manufacturing factory here in the states. C K was a company who manufactured under many names years back, Elora was one. Most of my older sockets were Elora which stood the test of time down the pit and in outside industry and NEVER let me down. I forget now the Spanish trade name they also used. There comments are they are back to stay with quality tools at affordable prices. I checked their prices on their range of spanners, sockets etc, they aint cheap, bu tthey will stand by their products even old tools will be replaced free if broken and replaced with new tools. Elora sockets were the only one's I found that would fit in the machined doors of Belmos FLP switchgear.
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Sept 27, 2022 22:29:47 GMT -5
Post by maverick on Sept 27, 2022 22:29:47 GMT -5
Cotgrave, and I have searched the obituaries and found nothing either.
I still have a lot of Elora sockets and many are imperial indespersed with common metric, also a set of King Dick which were my fathers.
Quickie for you, asked if I could bring my big windy gun and so onto a pit top AFC installation and my windy gun was 1 1/2" drive and so powerful it had a hole in the casting for a 1" steam pipe handle to go through so 2 men could hold it while in use due to its power. Pans installed and pan sides loosely fitted and we had a thingy called Billy Boneidle who would do anything rather than work and if possible he would get any new tool and play with it or just ride around on the fork lift trying to look busy; with the tit bolts in and the pan sides installed it was set the gun to its lowest setting and crack them up which it did. Time for tea and Billy was hovering like a bad fart and we all knew what he was doing so I wound the windy gun right up and went for breakfast or so he thought and in reality we wemt around the corner and ran up the bank to the cross belt which ran over the top and gaps in the timber cladding meant we could see him but he couldn't see us.
He looked around and picked the gun up and put it onto the first tit bolt and bang, it just snapped and so did the second; but the third one didn't and it flipped him right over and he landed cleanly on his back and he never touched it again, we had weeks of ragging him.
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Oct 14, 2022 22:32:17 GMT -5
Post by maverick on Oct 14, 2022 22:32:17 GMT -5
One thing I found out a week back C K tools are back in business with a large tool manufacturing factory here in the states. C K was a company who manufactured under many names years back, Elora was one. Most of my older sockets were Elora which stood the test of time down the pit and in outside industry and NEVER let me down. I forget now the Spanish trade name they also used. There comments are they are back to stay with quality tools at affordable prices. I checked their prices on their range of spanners, sockets etc, they aint cheap, bu tthey will stand by their products even old tools will be replaced free if broken and replaced with new tools. Elora sockets were the only one's I found that would fit in the machined doors of Belmos FLP switchgear. Checked up on these as a constant niggling was there and these were so Belmos switchgear could only be opened with the correct socket and I machined many sockets down to fit in the past, they also thought it would be a nice earner to constantly supply sockets.
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Oct 15, 2022 6:07:59 GMT -5
Post by John on Oct 15, 2022 6:07:59 GMT -5
One thing I found out a week back C K tools are back in business with a large tool manufacturing factory here in the states. C K was a company who manufactured under many names years back, Elora was one. Most of my older sockets were Elora which stood the test of time down the pit and in outside industry and NEVER let me down. I forget now the Spanish trade name they also used. There comments are they are back to stay with quality tools at affordable prices. I checked their prices on their range of spanners, sockets etc, they aint cheap, bu tthey will stand by their products even old tools will be replaced free if broken and replaced with new tools. Elora sockets were the only one's I found that would fit in the machined doors of Belmos FLP switchgear. Checked up on these as a constant niggling was there and these were so Belmos switchgear could only be opened with the correct socket and I machined many sockets down to fit in the past, they also thought it would be a nice earner to constantly supply sockets. Anderson Strathclyde used to supply a complete tool set with everyone of there machines, they used to end up in the stores, I wonder if Belmos did the same??
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