Thread: Singapore??

Maybe ask around in little India, if no luck there pop over to Johor Bahru, it's a relatively quick trip.

Jeff

I lived there for over 2yrs and found the same thing. mind you I wasn't as tool focused as I am today. I still managed to find a few rosewood block planes very cheap from a hardware store in Holland Village. Fishing rods, I'm all over. Mustafa's sells tools, open late hours (so I was told) there was also a shop near Suntec city / millenium walk. Next door to a John Lewis dept store, but this tool shop sold many things including Wolfcraft drill Jigs, only thing i remember distinctly as I was going to get one but waned to price it elsewhere and never went back).
Forget the tools though, get the food man. go here as rated number 1 street eats. its opp. OG's on Albert st, near Sim Lim square (5 floors of electronic goods, cameras, iphones etc) at Bugis.
Here's a pic of the stall, sorry couldnt help myself, I love this place. all this for A$

+ 1 for Mustafa City, yes, you can get almost anything there.

If you want to get out of the the usual tourist rat race, go down to Changi Village. Its the most laid back enjoyable place and the food down there rivals anything else in mainstream Singapore and take a full day to do Gardens by the Bay.

Damn! I was hoping my Singapore based daughter might be able to buy some gear for me. I suppose backyard sheds are a bit thin on the ground in Singers.

Does anyone know about cheap tools in HK?

mick

I lived in HK for a long time but I have not been there for many years.
Basically anything made in China and even surrounding countries can be found in HK. However this is not easy because they probably are not selling it retail to the local market. Someone somewhere will be running an export/import business for that item. Finding them is another thing entirely. I used to know where to get all the factory supplies stuff in Mong Kok but my knowledge is all out of date now and I wouldn't suggest a tourist wander around there aimlessly.

I just found this old thread. Where to buy tools in Hong Kong?

mick

I was directed to a thread on this forum just yesterday when i googled woodworking in Singapore. It was an old thread that went nowhere because of the lack of available space and machinery to do anything worthwhile. Ill be there for a week next month for my usual yearly visit with the in laws and was hoping to look up some galleries or community workshops to visit. But anyway ill head for the mans candy store which is Mustafa's

Well, I visited Mustafa's today, and I stand to be corrected but I was disappointed.

Whilst there was a limited amount of Bosch blue available, and some homebrand rotary polishers, that was effectively it for power tools. Hand tooling was centred around pliers and plumbing tools/wrenches etc. Timber hand tools appeared to be limited to the one (1) single 13mm chisel that I saw.

The upshot in my opine, is that if you are considering buying tools to take back to Australia, whilst you may be lucky, chances are that you will be disappointed.

seeing as you haven't used up the space for tools, can I put in an order for some Bak kwa? mmmmmm, nevermind.

I found the little hardware store stuck in the corner of a shopping complex could sometimes harbour a god mine of little treasures.

Originally Posted by Fumbler

seeing as you haven't used up the space for tools, can I put in an order for some Bak kwa? mmmmmm, nevermind.

I will see what I can do. It might be a little bit cold, but can you pick up from Melbourne??

Bingo.

Horme Hardware has four (4) locations in Singapore, and I went to their flagship store near MacPearson MRT. About 650 mtr walk.

Whilst it is small in area, it was reasonably comprehensive. The brandnames in prominence were Stanley, Irwin, Milwaukee, Makita etc and the type of tools ranged from truck tools, sockets, saw blades, clamps, chisels, paint, grinding wheels, cordless drills, multitools, circular saws, wrenches, plumbing tools etc.

Pricing not including electrical products, appeared to be circa 40-60% of Australian prices - but don't hold me to that. Generic glue guns (240V) started off at just under S$20.

Sandpaper was well covered with sheets from 60-1500 grit in packets of 5 or 100. The packets of 100 (230 x 280mm) were all S$29.90. So I picked up a packet of 400 Grit Dae Sung Abrasive Paper (Water proof silicon carbide abrasive paper).

Not being au fait with sandpaper pricing or the various types, is this a reasonable price? If so, and SWMBO has given me the green light if required, I just might have to make another visit and load up a little.

$29.90 for 100 sheets is $0.2990 a sheet they run between $0.82 and $1.20 a sheet so, yes damn cheap. That price can't be beaten. Shame they don't do a 5grit box of 20sheets per grit.

Now, the challenging part of trying to figure out what grits to get. ie do I concentrate on the lower or higher grits.

Bit the bullet and now have an ample quantity (probably more than I realistically need) of sandpaper in 100, 180, 240, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500 and some loose sheets of 2000 grits.

Now I suppose SWMBO will expect me to produce something.