A trip to Tony's house

[phil d]

Over the weekend I got a call from Tony's son, they were clearing out his place and were kind enough to offer me all his tools and test meters, he'd always said he didn't want his gear going to the skips when anything happened to him, he wanted it to be used.Well I drove down today and picked it all up, a nice multimeter, an insulation tester, and a clamp meter that I had got him several years ago, there were several boxes of assorted tools too, spanners, sockets, screwdrivers, allen keys, stilsons and a couple of boxes of drill bits as well as some taps and tap wrenches, I even got his old Black and Decker drill, lol.Some of the stuff was a little rusty as it hadn't been used for several years, but it was all quality kit and in good condition, it shows the kind of bloke he was.

I will use most of the gear and it will be a pleasure to do so, I thought a lot of the guy and feel priveliged that I was the one to get the tools, I shall enjoy removing the surface rust, it will give me something to do over the holiday, and I will enjoy using them too, knowing that they are not rusting somewhere, or lying idle in a box, I was also given several books, one his little red motor faults book and another being a 15th edition electricians guide, remember them, they were from the EEPTU, well it so happened that I qualified to the fifteenth and lost my little book many years ago, now I have one again and I shall make sure I don't lose this one.

Hopefully it won't befor many years yet, god willing, but I hope that when my time comes my family find another electrician to hand my tools on to, I'd like to think that someone would look after them like I have, and maybe think about me from time to time when they use them, as no doubt I will think of Tony when I use one of his tools on a job.

 

[roys]

I have cleared out a couple of tool sets over the years after requests from the wife’s of good friends that have passed away, it is always with a heavy heart when I do it and it usually brings a wee tear to my eye. It is however the right thing to do though as it means the tools still get used and it always brings back a wee memory when you lift their pliers or spanner etc and use it.

 

[ruston]

Phil, I am so pleased that you have his tools as I know how much you respected Tony.  I know you will look after them and that they are back in skilled hands.

 Take care mate.

 

[OnOff]

I inherited a load of gear a while back from a mate's BiL who sadly succumbed to the big C. Everything from Rawlplug tools to pyro tools, a clamp meter, a couple of Eaton CUs etc. In amongst it was an 18V Makita drill, one of the black and white special editions. In immaculate nick it needed a new fwd/rev lever. A couple of quid on that and happy days...or so I thought. Every time I whacked the torque up the battery would fall off. This kept on. I'd pick the battery up and stick it back on. I eventually found the issue. He'd obviously dropped it and broken one side of the casing that clips round the battery. Repaired with good old fashioned Evostick,  the glue was acting as a "hinge" under high torque.

 

[phil d]

it's nice to have something that belonged to a friend, when I'm swearing and cursing trying to untighten something with one of the big spanners I will be imagining Tony doing the very same somewhere with the same spanner. lol