Tools

I have at some time had one or more of just about every power tool available.

This is remarkable in that I have never had to buy one brand new.

They have been given to me as a birthday present, I have inherited them or they have just turned up in my tool box.

My latest possession (inherited from my late Father) has been a power washer which is very satisfying to use and on its first day I operated it non stop for about 6 hours attacking just about everything from driveway to decking, garden paths and the front boundary wall.

This was in spite of me not having any of the correct fittings from the appliance to the hosepipe supply and the hosepipe to the tap on the house side. The machine worked wonders in the removal of the accumulated moss and lichen on all of the aforementioned surfaces but I still wonder what would have been the result if, with the appropriate fittings, I had achieved full stripping power.

Any hand tools I have are also hand me downs from my grandfather who was a carpenter although he would be upset at my use of his trusted screwdriver to bang in nails,his beloved  hammer to do everything but hammer and the graduaded and beautiful wood planes to smooth down masonry and copings.

Power tools do not last long in my hands.

I have cut through a number of mains cables with the electric hedge trimmer, burnt out my late father in laws Black and Decker drill by pushing it hard into a hole in reinforced concrete and I frequently forget to whip around the supply lead for the lawn mower at the end of each foray up the garden. Luckily for me I have a good domestic electrical system installed and the trip switch has, many a time saved me from a right hair raising frazzling. The demise of these power tools is unfortunate because all of the tools mentioned were top of their range, trusted and proven names and wonderfully crafted in the case of Grandad Dick's equipment.

I have a number of tools essential to my daily work.

The favourite is a huge wrecking bar that I wedge into and lift drain covers with or rip up floorboards in the understairs cupboard where the damage is less likely to be discovered for some time.

When approaching an occupied house to do my inspection I hang the solid metal bar over the top run of my folding aluminium ladders and it makes a great clanging and clanking sound which must fill the soul and spirit of the homeowner with dread.

Perhaps my longest serving tools are those I have used for maintenance on my collection of bicycles.

Campagnolo, an iconic manufacturer of components from Italy, has a range of tools which are not only perfect for the job but also aesthetically pleasing.

I have one of their long, slim, matt finished wrenches for undoing the mysterious bottom bracket which holds in place the axle for the cranks. Just handling the silken smooth tool it sends me into a bit of a daydream about fast, efficient and silent cycling and in this special place I have imagined, many times, a victory in the Tour de France or Giro d'Italia.

My other bike tools have remarkably survived being thrust into the back pockets of my race jerseys, taped up to the crossbar or seat tube or otherwise roughly treated when being dragged out on a ride.

The chain rivet remover is a work of art. I have only had to use it once for a running repair since 1979 but it is still  the first tool to be packed into any essential tool kit.

Any other tools I have are likely to have come out of a Christmas cracker but they are made of cheap, soft metals that just fold when touching a phillips head or slotted screw.

I can see the sense and long term reliability in going for the best makes, the leading and time served brands as they are of quality materials and forging and even with the worst abuse possible they prove to be almost indestructible.

This explains why the scruffy oldish man running a car boot sale stall exclusively dealing in old hand tools, antique power tools and the like is the most popular man in the field at 6am.

There is always a two to three deep crowd milling over the oil burnished metal and sweat worn wooden handled items on display and keen to hand over coins and notes, potentially many, many times the value of the goods when they were first purchased by craftsmen, keen amateurs and young, newly wed husbands looking to impress their new partners.