Tools

Question One.

Does anyone still use a Wheel Brace - I think that's what they're called? Those little drills where you turn the handle.
Can you still buy them?
I've never had an electric drill, probably be scared to use it anyway, but I do still use my Dad's old wheel brace to drill holes in the bottom of plant tubs and pots etc.
It is very old and the handle you turn keeps dropping off, and although I keep fixing it back on, I wondered if I could buy a new one?

Second question - I need to take just a fraction of the side of wooden gate as it keeps catching on the gate post.
Probably seems daft to you more capable ones, but could I do it with a chisel or would only a plane work?

Third question - I have just bought a small plane this afternoon. It has two knobs on it. One seems to move the blade backwards and forwards, but what is the other one for?
It was only a young lad in the shop and he had no idea when I asked him!

Ta muchly.

Re: Tools

Yes you can buy wheelbrace still.

Both chisel and plane can do the job, or just sanding depending on how much removal reqd.

Two knobs sound like the fore and aft handles to push and pull the plane

Re: Tools

You might be better buying a cheap cordless drill, not as scary as a mains powered one, just make sure the battery is a lithium ion one and not nicad
Sanding might be best on the gate at first, you can get carried away with a plane, but it could be just a case of adjusting the gate at the hinges
One of the knobs on the plane could be for adjusting the blade, as well as for holding onto it

Oops, just re read your third question, you obviously know about adjusting the blade
PS, try using the plane on a scrap piece of wood, then when you've got the hang of it you can move onto the gate or post with a bit more confidence

Re: Tools

Mups I use a 35 year old Black and Decker electric drill which weighs a ton and makes a noise like one of those they use on the roads but it does the job .

If the gate only needs a fraction removing you may be able to fix it with a a sanding block and coarse then fine sanding paper .

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Ah! It's not about Piers Morgan then.

Re: Tools

question one
the cheapest place would possible be a car boot sale for a brace, that is where I would look first. Yes you can still buy them Google "Hand wood brace"

Question 2
First of all wait until dry weather as wood swells in the wet. If you used a chisel (not a good idea) you may split the wood anyway and it would have to be a wood chisel.

There is a product called a surform file google "surform" which is safer than a plane which might be better for you. Bit late now anyway as you have a plane.

question 3

One knob you have found out you think moves the blade in/out, wrong it more than likely alters the attack angle of the cutting edge and the second knob tilts the blade to the left or right.

There might be a third option of being able to remove the blade completely

Tip

If you have to take off a bit on a gate pull it until it hits the post and mark with a Pencil or marker which part of the gate is causing the problem. This way when you start you can see how much to take off. If using a plane Don't plane towards the end always from the end inwards. Doing it the other way could tear off a piece of the other wood it is attached to.
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Why employ young lads than don't have a clue about tools they are there to sell, So frustrating for the shopper. Far better to take on a retiree who has the knowledge and can give tips on safety- how to use -and what parts do.

It is one thing that really annoys me, you go into a shop and know what you want and some snotty spotty kid has less idea than a banana. Why on earth do stores take them on? oh I know, because the manager has only been to uni. and no practical experience either.

I went into a camera shop to get an expensive lens last year.
I asked one of these "know it all "kids if I could see one as they had them so called in stock on the internet. So this young twerp dives into a computer screen and pushes a few buttons and comes back an says they don't have any it the store.


GRRR blood starts boiling as behind him no more than 7 ft away in a show case was the very lens I wanted, all he had to do is turn around and look.

He got it out and i said after checking it I would buy it but not at full price as it was a display model. Frustration again this by now PRATT could not even agree to a percentage off without diving into the back to ask someone.

As I was doing a P/X on a couple of lenses I no longer needed he even tried to say there was fungus in them and out of focus, I could have hit him trying that on me, again he went into the back and then said no their wasn't.

Kids should NOT be allowed to serve customers in my opinion they are totally useless, best let them stay in the back with the stock

Re: Tools

Just being pedantic, you understand, but you don't want a wheel brace:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/laser-tele...ce-500mm/13244

you want a brace:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brace_(tool)

at least if you want to drill something!

Re: Tools

No JBR, the drill I have got is not like either of those.
It has not got a big curved middle like your second one, it is just straight with a wooden handle on one end, the bit that holds the drill on the other, and half way along in the middle there is a little wheel with cut out bits all round the edge. This wheel has a wooden handle attached which you turn and it operates the drill.

I can't explain it any better than that.

Re: Tools

Re: Tools

I've heard you using it Meg.

I think perhaps I will try the sandpaper first.