Thread: Travelling to US from Aus, what to bring back?

Originally Posted by DaveVman

I have just done this. I took 2 suitaces. One was empty to be filled with tools. While in LA I went to a Rockler store. I spent over US$500 but that stuff would be double here. This put me under the maximum $ limit required to declare the goods on entry to Australia.
Avoid anything with a motor in it at all. Also you need to avoid heavy items and anything too large to fit in a suitcase. Surprisingly this leaves a lot of scope.
For example I got an aluminum router table insert and leveling fittings.
I'll try and post a picture of my haul.

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So here are my goodies. Including
4 bar clamps (just fit diagonally in my suitcase)
2 toogle clamps
2 sets of lateral clamps
Router table insert and leveling hardware
Feather boards
Stop blocks
2 Grrripers
2 squares
Glue brush etc.

I ruled out anything to do with measuring because it would not be metric.

The guy in Rockler Pasadena was really helpful. I explained where I was from and what I was doing. He got some scales and weighed everything for me to help me make sure I would be under my weight limit. The bar clamps had a sale label on them but the sale had closed. He gave them to me at the sale price. He also said if you bought these on separate days you would get a discount voucher so let's ring this stuff up, get the voucher and then use the voucher to get a glue brush for free.

Make sure you know the inside dimensions of your suitcase in inches or take a little tape measure. I did not plan to buy bar clamps but they were such a good price I couldn't resist. I had to estimate which size would fit and they just fit in diagonally. You win some.

I had to haul all this stuff through 2 countries before I came back to Australia. I was questioned by customs in one. I just inexplicably and suddenly forgot how to speak Spanish and became a stupid tourist trying to explain they were only for hobby use. Like doesn't everyone travel with this stuff? The customs officer had more important things to do than deal with me and waved me on. [emoji6]
(In reality I speak decent Spanish).

I'm very happy with my haul. I just wish I had more time to play with them. Unfortunately I have to complete the renovations in the house first.





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Originally Posted by DaveVman

Avoid anything with a motor in it at all. Also you need to avoid heavy items and anything too large to fit in a suitcase.

oh, don't be a wimp ...

if we're telling war stories ...
I've brought back one of these (around 58 cm long)


and one of these (around 7kg)


I will admit that it was separate trips

If we're telling war stories ......12 suitcases bought at flea markets posted back full of planes.
Also a ply box for sending a ceramic piece over brought back on a Quantas flight full of planes for nothing.
Oh for the 1990s when the internet hadn't pushed prices sky hi.
And U.S. Postage was very reasonable even more so if it was books.( 4th class mail) and we think the yanks are stupid! Cheap mail for books !?
It's about 35 here in Idaho and I'm having a Millers or two, heading across to the coast and then down thru the Redwoods etc to Phoenix were we'll leave the rig and fly back from SFA.
H.
Stayed last night at Wallmart in Missula Montana with a few of the locals, tonight at a KOA on the 12.
And yes that is a Tassie plate on the front, I just tell the U.S. Border guys that I boarded the ferry in Devonport and this is Melbourne isn't it?

Good luck to you I say. It has been said that good luck takes a hell of a lot of hard work.

Cheers

I'm there at the moment and I'm looking at things like different sized clamps that are heaps cheaper at the moment to bring home


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Thanks all for your mostly helpful advice! I placed my orders yesterday, If I was there myself, I would certainly visit stores and check them out, but since I had to do it online, I had to be sure.

I ended up ordering ~$650 AUD worth of stuff, around 8kg's. Calculating local retail prices, I save ~$400

The main things I ordered from Best Sharpening Stones, Amazon and Lee Valley:

4x DMT Diasharp Diamond Plates - Huge savings
PEC 300mm Metric Combination Square
4x Plane blades, Hock and Veritas for 4/5 and 7 planes
FastCap flatback measuring tape
Dial indicator + base
Engineering Square 6"
150mm Digital Caliper

Looking forward to next time I can go myself

More war stories visiting USA/Canada.

I happened to be visiting the US just before my brother (who was then living in Denver) moved back to Oz. He was shipping a sea container including two motorbikes back to Oz so I just went down to the local hardware stores and bought two toolboxes and filled them full of stuff (mainly measuring gear) and stuck them into his container. The best thing I bought that time was a 4 x4 ft long adjustable T-square which I use on sheet goods all the time. 3 of the times I visited the US I purchased guitars for my son. The most expensive one cost US$2k but it was worth AUS$5+k at the time - I had to pay the 10% GST on it when I brought it into AUS. The AUS customs bloke asked me if it was new or used, I said it had been played a couple of times by myself and my Bro so he marked the value down by 20%. Other trips to Canada I sent back, several packs of timber and planes, and brought back spanner sets and more planes, and a Lee Valley Spokeshave kit. The most unusual thing I have brought back with me was a Vintage McCulloch chainsaw body which raised a few eyebrows in customs.

Sorry to rehash an old thread, but i had a thought (may be a brain fart).

So I know that buying power tools from the US for use in Australia is fraught with issues, but what about smaller corded power tools? Specifically something along the lines of an ROS?

I figure some of the bugger power tools (Mitre Saws, Table Saws etc) would be impossible with some form of Step Down transformer thingy, and Battery powered tools have also been covered, i just thought that maybe something like a corded ROS won't pose as much of an issue. Again, I have no clue about electricity and Amps and Volts and stuff (other then the usual don't stick a fork in the power point type stuff) so i thought i'd get the Forums more educated memebers advice.

Amazon have the Dewalt ROS for $60! So if avoiding the Australia Tax is possible, i'd be keen on it....

By the time that you add a stepdown transformer with enougth capacity to run the sander you are not that much better off.

You can buy that sander in AU for ~$175.

The tranformer at ~AU$89 and the sander at USD60 will cost you ~AU$165 and you have no warranty and have to lug a transformer around.

To save $10 it is not really worth the effort.

Originally Posted by Bohdan

By the time that you add a stepdown transformer with enougth capacity to run the sander you are not that much better off.

You can buy that sander in AU for ~$175.

The tranformer at ~AU$89 and the sander at USD60 will cost you ~AU$165 and you have no warranty and have to lug a transformer around.

To save $10 it is not really worth the effort.

Thanks Bohdan. I'd been looking at the Freight Forwarding as well and that's also cos prohibitive now that the AUD isn't as strong... Guess its back to paying stupidly large mark ups and/or scouring the gumtree adds...

Originally Posted by Dibbers

Thanks Bohdan. I'd been looking at the Freight Forwarding as well and that's also cos prohibitive now that the AUD isn't as strong... Guess its back to paying stupidly large mark ups and/or scouring the gumtree adds...

The AUD is currently stronger against the USD than it has been in years...

And next financial year the 10% GST on all imports will be introduced so there really hasn't been a better time for a long while.

I more meant when we were at parity. When you factor in the conversion now, and the freight forwarding costs, the savings are minimal... plus you have to wait up to 3 weeks for it to arrive... then if you need a step down transformer you're in the red (at least for the one item i'm looking for, the transformer is a one off cost).

But for the minimal savings you make at todays conversion rates, it isn't as attractive an option as it used to be.

Yeah, it certainly doesn't make sense in that particular case.

But for various other tools (non-power tools) the current exchange represents good savings. Though I do wish we could go back to parity, even just for a week or two. Then I would be completely broke haha.

Also the dollar is strong against the GBP, however because the GBP is also weak against the USD their prices have increased significantly and thus eroded much of the benefit for us. However there is no issue with voltage and frequency when buying from the UK. Might be worth a look.

I don't expect we will see the AU dollar anywhere near parity with the USD for a long-long time so in my opinion that ship has sailed.