Thread: Please suggest a tool for a birthday present

Good choice. I hope he loves it as much as I love mine.

Originally Posted by meredith

Then next challenge was finding a place that didn't charge 90 pounds in postage!

If you don't mind us prying, it'd be helpful to know where you were able to source it - I for one should probably get myself a good combination square, and the fact that the Lee Vally unit was imperial by default and needed an additional item to be bought caused me to pause... maybe it's a good thing I did!

Originally Posted by meredith

Wow- thanks so much everyone - I think I have enough ideas here to last for gift ideas for the next few years!! ...

Ask us this time next year and you will probably get wildly different responses - except maybe the classic style of tool

Originally Posted by Midnight Man

If you don't mind us prying, it'd be helpful to know where you were able to source it - I for one should probably get myself a good combination square, and the fact that the Lee Vally unit was imperial by default and needed an additional item to be bought caused me to pause... maybe it's a good thing I did!

Sure - I found it in a few places, my first choice would have been this place - https://www.hroberts-di.com/all-metr...et-300mm-p5622 for metric only, or metric/imperial https://www.hroberts-di.com/all-metr...300mm-12-p5624
but the salesman I spoke to said they can't send through British Mail, they had to use TNT couriers which was 97 pounds. He said however that he would be willing to package it up and I could organise my own delivery, he even sent me links to companies they've had other customers use, being https://www.parcel2go.com/ and https://www.parcelmonkey.co.uk/- really helpful guy, but as it turned out they were out of stock and it would be a 4 week wait so.... I kept on looking.

Finally found it here - https://www.onlyqualitytools.com/cat...rrett/430.html - where postage was still about 50 pounds, but it was the best I could find so went for it. Should be about $260 AUD give or take after MasterCard takes their cut with conversions and fees etc.
Haven't received it yet, but I have a tracking number that shows it's on it's way. They are still showing 2 in stock if anyone is interested. I suspect it might have been less postage going through the first option, but I didn't get quotes so can't say for sure.

I'm really looking forward to his birthday Thanks again

How about a biscuit jointer? I don't know where you are, but I bought quite a good one from Aldi for about 50 bucks. That's 3 years ago. It's not something you'd use a lot, but very handy when you want to join boards to make a panel, such as a table top. Good for making cupboards too.

Originally Posted by Midnight Man

If you don't mind us prying, it'd be helpful to know where you were able to source it - I for one should probably get myself a good combination square, and the fact that the Lee Vally unit was imperial by default and needed an additional item to be bought caused me to pause... maybe it's a good thing I did!

Originally Posted by meredith

Sure - I found it in a few places, my first choice would have been this place - https://www.hroberts-di.com/all-metr...et-300mm-p5622 for metric only, or metric/imperial https://www.hroberts-di.com/all-metr...300mm-12-p5624
but the salesman I spoke to said they can't send through British Mail, they had to use TNT couriers which was 97 pounds. He said however that he would be willing

Finally found it here - https://www.onlyqualitytools.com/cat...rrett/430.html - where postage was still about 50 pounds, but it was the best I could find so went for it. Should be about $260 AUD give or take after MasterCard takes their cut with conversions and fees etc.

I'm really looking forward to his birthday Thanks again

while congratulating you on your choice, can I offer a word of caution.

In my experience the metric/imperial rules are not particularly useful.
while the imperial rule measures inches and fractions from both ends, the metric rule only measures one way. The other end zeros at 304.8mm meaning that it's very difficult to easily and accurately measure any length from that end.

I discovered this flaw with an inexpensive rule, so when I could afford a Starrett, I made sure to buy separate imperial and metric rules.

Originally Posted by ian

while congratulating you on your choice, can I offer a word of caution.

In my experience the metric/imperial rules are not particularly useful.
while the imperial rule measures inches and fractions from both ends, the metric rule only measures one way. The other end zeros at 304.8mm meaning that it's very difficult to easily and accurately measure any length from that end.

I discovered this flaw with an inexpensive rule, so when I could afford a Starrett, I made sure to buy separate imperial and metric rules.

You might be right- I guess we'll see soon enough. At least with this kit, if it's really a pain I can buy the metric blade separately to compliment it - in which case I'd get it in the better finish - so it would even be an upgrade. I was trying to avoid the extra expense but we'll see how things go. Thanks for the warning - I'll bear it in mind.

Meredith, your decision to get the Starrett combination square was an inspired choice. This is something that I use all the time. I use both Imperial and Metric interchangeably, and have a blade with both. This gets used a lot. One gets used to using it upside down and inside out I also have dedicated Metric and Imperial blades, and these are used on a second Starrett combination square. As Ian noted, it is all about preferences. Bottom line however, you cannot go wrong with your choice. It is a life time gift.

Regards from Perth

Derek

You have made a great choice, it's one that will be used constantly. That seems to be the case with pretty well any quality tool, even ones that are initially bought for show. The pleasure of using them gets to you, and this one is extremely practical as well.

If it's not too late for you, consider this lovely and exceptionally useful block plane: Veritas® Skew Block Plane - Lee Valley Tools
Get a Left or Right hand as you think fit (Lee Valley has a great return policy) , and add the optional depth stop. The PM-V11 blade is said to be exceptionally good. I regret I didn't buy it!