John Rumm wrote:
wrote:
In the DIY Dunces thread, a couple of people have mentioned putting
together basic toolkits for their son or daughter.
So what is a basic toolkit? The obvious component is a large bag of
common sense, which looks to be in short supply. Beyond that, what
should there be? There are some things you would expect, like a
selection of Standard, Philips and Pozidrive screwdrivers - but the
question is, what exactly would you get - I have lots, of which I tend
to use only about three or four. Similarly, what fixings would you
include - what type of nails, screws, rawlplugs etc. If I want
chipboard screws, all I ever seem to have is woodscrews and vice
versa.
If you use something like twinthread screws (quicksilver from screwfix)
then they can be used for most applications.
For some, the basic toolkit is a credit card and a nearby 'shed', and
a large garden shed to store all the tools you've used only once!
I did look in the uk.d-i-y wiki (possibly not hard enough) - and I
don't think there is an article on a 'Basic Toolkit' there, so perhaps
answers to this thread could eventually make it into the Wiki as a
useful article?
That is a good question actually...
Much of the answer depends on who is using it, where, and what range of
tasks you expect them to take on.
You could go for something as simple as a good swiss army knife or
better still a leatherman tool. That would take care of basic screwing,
snipping, stripping, and gripping tasks.
Beyond that I would have though a small box or bag with screwdrivers,
pliers, tape measure, small torch, wire cutters and strippers, medium
sized adjustable spanner, small multimeter, hammer, box of assorted
twinthread screws, small cordless drill, and assorted multi purpose
plugs would cover a good deal of jobs.
To that I'd add waterpump pliers, pointy nose pliers, duct tape,
snapoff bladed knife, sets of twist & masonry dill bits, coarse tooth
saw, assorted nails, and I'd go for a hex bit type screwdriver set
before traditional screwdrivers these days - but avoid the junk end of
the market, those are really a waste of time. Maybe add a miniature
spirit level too. And maybe add a note that eyes were currently out of
stock so goggles were included instead.
Trouble with this question is to get any more precision on it you'd
have to answer several questions:
- whats someone willing to spend
- what diy jobs will they try and what will they run & hide from
- what else will they do with the tools, other than diy
Plus ultimately it seems academic, since beginners' tool kits are
available from ok suppliers (eg draper) at peanut cost.
NT