Favourite tools?

[Wills gardens]

Maybe something like this already exists but could we have a thread for reccomended tools that we all use?

Write a little bit about tools you have used and reccomend for others

I need a new shovel, keep snappin/bending wilkinson sword ones and they aint cheap

and i need a decent broom, get through one on nearly every job somehow.

Whats everyone else reccomend as being good and lasting?

[mickg]

a brush on every job, you can't be serious - I have had plastic buckets last me up to 3 years if not longer, you need to look after your tools more carefully

[Wills gardens]

have tried loads, wooden with brace, metal brooms, they either get snapped, worn down or left behind, good job theres a hardware shop in my village and there only £5 each

dont get me started on buckets, i tend to sling tools in them and hole the bottoms, have had good success from the flexy tub buckets lately, the big ones are good for mixing small amounts in as well and clean up better that the barrow

[mickg]

Travis Perkins sell wide brushes for brushing in kiln dried sand and thats all I use that brush for, I also have 2 other stiff nylon head brushes for tidying up

clean your buckets out as soon as you have finished for the day and they will last a long time, start knocking any dried mortar mix the following day and they will crack very easily

spades I have had for 15 years plus, worn in and cuts the ground like butter, keep your spade in good clean condition without any concrete anywhere on it and they last a long time, if you don't clean concrete stains off them when you try digging earth or clay it sticks to the concrete stain making you work twice as hard to achieve the same task

wheel barrows I have for a couple of years because if you take a bit of care when filling with say large chunks of concrete you will not bend them out of shape, instead of launching the concrete into it place it if its heavy

picks, mattock, spades, graft, barrows, brushes, levels, smalls hand tools like brick laying trowel, pointing trowels jointer's etc all need to be cleaned every night otherwise you can't do a good job the following day with dirty tools

have one bucket for your hand tools which can have a hole in it but keep another clean for water etc

its common sense really "shrug shoulders"

[lutonlagerlout]

anything by estwing,marshalltown, hilti,stihl, makita,wacker, bulldog
if you stick with these brands you will be fine
I'm somewhere in between you on brushes and buckets
about 3 months for a bucket and a year for a brush
modern plastic buckets are rubbish,they shatter easily
LLL

[GB_Groundworks]

buy cheap pay twice all our spades and shovels are bulldog's from warrington we must have 60+ in every variation from mini grafts to coal shovels to long handled american style ones.

marshel town trowels, estwing hammers, stihl saw, stihl chain saws, all stihl garden tools aprt from john deere ride on to go with our big john deere

get yourself a tool box or tool bag lad, i have 2 stanley waterproof toolbox slide round in the back on my navara all day,

bosch or hilti power tools,

decent brush should last you 3 or 4 years accidents aside. buckets gorrilla tubs good but tony is right can't beat the old fashioned buckets tough as old boots

paslode nail gun

no one uses my spade, my mini graft, or my stihl saw they can use the general ones we have.

like mick says my digging tools don't go near concrete have old spades and shovels for that, digging spade should be polished

rakes always hosed down after concrete or diesel wash and fire after bitmac.

[Wills gardens]

i got old stuff for crete,i seem to have racked up about 6 spades and shovels of diff forms like the look of the estwing hammers, want a long handled one bu with the leather grip (dont think it exists though?)

Only stuff i need now is a wacker, new bucket!, 1800 level and possibly a nail gun for fencing with, think it will save a lot of time

[DNgroundworks]

On the talk of spades, i bought one of the long handled american spades (we nicknamed it the gangster spade as you always see mobsters in the films digging holes for bodies lol), and i must say with being tall 6' 2" its great on the back compared to a short handled shovel, cant dig soil with it but for shoveling pea gravel etc its great.

[DNgroundworks]

And also i bought a Belle block splitter which i thought was naff, my personal favourite makes are, estwing, marshalltown, footprint, caldwells, belle, probst and makita

Giles - how do you find the Navara? do you find its big enough? as i have a mwb medium roof transit and theres no way id fit all gear in the back of one of them, or do you tow a trailer everywhere you go?

[Wills gardens]

american spade? you mean irish spades, long handle with a rounded point end, kinda old skool gravedigger style?

[DNgroundworks]

Aye thems the ones, Sure there Irish?

[Wills gardens]

Thats the one yeah? If you can find those exact ones in b&Q there on clearance, I picked up 2 a few weeks back for the grand total of £1

They have new style in now so these are mega cheap. Take a while to get used to but for us taller guys they save your back a whole bunch

[DNgroundworks]

The one ive got is a caldwells one, and the blade is a bit wider than that but ye thats what i was on about.

[Wills gardens]

good for moving with but not for breaking ground so much, ideal for loading mixers with

[lutonlagerlout]

forgot paslode nail guns
have to say bosch used to be good but has gone now
LLL