Tools

[Michaelr]

I hope this is the right section Mods for this theme.

About 2 months ago I made my yearly Pilgrimage to Bardwell's in Sheffield. I have visited this place every year for over 45 years , they have been mentioned before by others such as Yorkie and Joe.

They cannot offer what they used to being much the case for all of the other "legends" but I still try and buy something from them out of a form respect , a kind of pilgrimage.

Anyway I saw these small wirecutters and long nosed pliers and thought cheap Chinese crap again, but decided to buy them as they appeared to be ok and useable , how long for would be another matter. I paid about £3 for both pair after my Bardwell discount ( Yes I let them do it just out of respect).

Anyway I have been constantly using these said Items for over 2 months now and I must say just how impressed I am . They are fabulous quality, unmarked as far as a brand is concerned but work a treat and they have that "I know what I am about " feel to them which quality tools tend to have.

Trying to get quality tools is not easy nowadays and being from Sheffield it was always easy so for a Shefield born and bred Lad the quest for sourcing decent tools is always of interest.

Maybe we could have a section to dicuss tooling in general terms and where quality stuff can still be found.

Mike

[pwdrive]

Yep, how about some BA and Metric nut spinners (box spanners) "Guyloid" was the brand when I was an apprentice in Manchester.

Lawrence.

[Steve_P]

In Bolton, there is a shop in the same vein. Nobody of our bent should come here without a visit to Modern Radio.

http://www.modernradio.co.uk/default.aspx

Cheers,

Steve P.

[pwdrive]

We have Macsalvors down hear, if you want a reall boatancor then they have some big ones, apart from them naff all in the way of emporiums unless there is some i am not aware of. If you remember the Warspite then check the company history.

http://www.macsalvors.com/index.asp



Lawrence

[Andy M0FYA]

Ahhh, Modern Radio. I was a regular customer there during the 1960s as a schoolboy first interested in building radios. Mrs Burrows (or was it spelt Buroughs?) was mistress of her radio side of the shop. Without moving far she knew exactly which cubby-hole to go to for what a customer wanted, or turn round to operate the Mullard valve-tester. Her husband's domain was in the other half of the double-fronted shop where he presided over boat and aircraft model-making materials, but I rarely ventured into that half. Advice was always available. If something was out of stock the standard reply was 'It'll be in on Thursday" which it usually was. (I wonder if Thursday was the day the Radiospares rep called?). I remember on one occasion being presented with a cardboard box full of what were to me at that time were quite exotic components - apparently a local amateur who was 'downsizing' his component stock had asked that they be passed onto to a suitable youngster who would make good use of them.
Happy days!
My brother still lives in Bolton and occasionally buys from there, but I haven't been in for decades. Perhaps i ought to.
Andy