Poor retired plumbers loot from Texas

Hi there fraternity,
Just a short one to show off my loot I brought back from Texas.

Done my rounds, visiting Home Depot and Lowes, and a few new ones, Ace and Northern. Bought a few hand tools that I really need, and can’t do without. I managed to get a few bargains past the good wife with the best being a two pack of Dewalt 12-inch (300mm) blades for my table saw at $39 and a Nova G3 Chuck anniversary bundle for $139.

As for my turning experience to date I screwed a bowl plug to my lathe, started it up and began to turn. Two seconds into my new bowl it the chisel jammed, whipped around and imbedded itself into my forearm. The scar on my arm is crescent shaped to match the chisel.


And if any of you guys read my posts on my last trip here I purchased the Very Super Cool Tools table saw fence system which I posted installing it, so I purchased the bespoke Jessem stock guides for it which broke the bank at $260 which is a lot cheaper than the stock guides as the VSC fence is set up for the Jessem guides and doesn’t require the additional guide rails.

The reason I purchased these was I am always bothered with chatter after my wood passes the blade and this eliminates this, also the guides are inclined 5 degrees towards the fence, so you don’t have to keep an eye on your wood wandering off the fence.

I have used them a few times and cannot fault them in what they are designed to do. Chatter is gone and they hold the piece hard to the fence. only down side is it is slightly more difficult to use a push stick, and because of the thin design of the fence you have to remove them for high sided pieces that protrude above the fence height, but that's miner as it only takes seconds.


Decided to get myself a new Weller soldering gun, the 550. The 200/260 watt one is quite difficult to get in the UK. Had an argument with the salesmen who kept referring to it as a soddering gun, and as much as I tried to explain it to him, he had substituted a D for an L I could not convince him there was no such word in the English dictionary. The box it came in actually stated soldering gun. Not sure why this situation arises in the US. Maybe our cousins could explain this change of spelling.

Eventually bought it from Amazon, next day delivery. They make a 300 watt one the 650 but mine was $36 delivered and the 650 was $73, so decided to give the extra 40 watt a miss. Already changed the plug to our 110v as I originally wired my workshop in 240 and 110 so I could buy UK site tools and USA tools, both which are a lot cheaper to get hold of.

As regards the Nova chuck, I am a complete novice and firstly have no idea whether my purchase was a good one as there was a Nova 2 as well. But my question is, do I need any additional bits or accessories or add on. Would appreciate any advice. Please don’t say should have bought the Nova 2. I have just ordered the Nova church adapter for my lathe.

Our mall had a Marshall’s, very much like TJMax and I purchased the Stanley socket set for $14. These shops are great for tool bargains.

Now the down side. I am a great fan of Rockler and over the years have bought a great many tools from them online, and decided to make a pilgrimage to one of their shops, so dragged my wife into the car and headed into the centre of Houston, an hour and a half drive. Trying to convince her she would have the time of her life is another story.

Arrived like an excited school boy on an outing, only to be met with what I initially thought was a rundown closed shop. You could not see through the main shop windows as they were filthy inside and out. Instead of using their windows to show piece their products, they were instead utilising them for a dumping storage area.

With some trepidation we ventured inside, and unfortunately was a reflection of the windows. Half the shelves were empty, machines lying all over the place, many still in their packing boxes. The place was again filthy. I commented to my wife the cleaner hasn’t been in today. A cleaner has never been through that door she replied.

So, determined to go home with something I ended up picking up a height gauge. My wife insisted I take one from the back as the front ones were covered in ages old dust.

Trip back was a little subdued, well that was a time of my life I’d rather forget was just part of the one-way conversation I had to endure on the way home.

Colin
Scotland, and occasionally Texas.