Help me pick a starter toolkit

[Deleted User]

Hi,

I'm struggling to figure out which is the best toolkit to be used for ocassional DIY around the house. So far I've found:

£29.40 Draper 45973 36-Piece Household Tool Kit
£36.02 Draper DIY Series 19728 95-Piece Automotive Tool Kit
£29.73 Draper DIY Series 19775 105-Piece Home Tool Kit
£15.00 Rolson Tools 36808 52 Piece Tool and Socket Set

Any advice is welcome, thanks!

phill99

The 2 household tool kits you identify are, to be frank, about as much use as t1ts on a fish. They have very few basic tools. The automotive one is only any use if you arte a budding mechanic.

As a very basic tool kit, you may be better off with something like this. http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/7001404/Trail/searchtext%3ETOOL+KITS.htm

However, I would be tempted to say that even the above would really limit you on what you could do. The quality of these basic kits tends to be quite low and you would be better off making out a list of the tools you think you would need and then buying the best quality you could afford on say a weekly basis. Then within a few months you would have a decent quality kit that will last you a long time and enable you to do jobs more easily.

iamcornholio

You don't normally need a socket set or any automotive set for the home.

Avoid Rolson, and Challenge (Argos) sets. Draper may be OK, but unless the pro series, quality is cheap Chinese grade.

Also look at the Screwfix site - Forge Steel are their own brand and should be OK

But generally its best to buy a few higher quality tools that you will use, rather than a box full of useless ones. And cheap ones will still break even if "used occasionally". Concentrate on the basics that you know you will need or have needed in the past, and then get others as and when needed

1984ReturnsForReal_2

Don't buy Rolson tools

[Deleted User]

Thanks for the advice so far. I'm buying this as a present so separates aren't really possible. I appreciate for my budget the quality won't be great but I was struggling to figure out which might be best to sort out the odd job around the house. I'm not expecting the toolkit to encompass everything, just the essentials.

iamcornholio

Deleted_User wrote: »

I'm buying this as a present so separates aren't really possible.

Ignore the sockets, and just look at what is in those sets ..... some grips, pliers, a knife, hammer, drivers, tape etc.

You can buy small packs of the very same cheap tools and bung them in a tool box for less than the price of those sets.

Or, you could get the equivalent from better makes and make up a better quality set for the same or not much more

freezspirit

http://www.screwfix.com/p/forge-steel-tool-kit-23pcs/96578 or this one http://www.screwfix.com/p/forge-steel-professional-tool-kit-53pcs/42465 might be what your looking for as a general present?

To be honest I was given a very cheap toolkit, you know the ones with 100+ bits and I never used most of it. In the end I boughts seperates as I mostly use about 3 screwdrivers, flathead, philps and pozi., 2 pliers, wire strippers, spirit level, set square, couple of saws, tape measure, pen knife, hammer, cordless drill and most recently a magnetic touch (great when you lose screws behind the units or under the floor coards).

If your really stuck for a present get gift voucher towards the toolkit.

ic

I agree with everybody - the general purpose sets aren't great, and don't last. The one thing I'm glad I spent my money on was a decent set of screwdrivers - something like this: http://www.screwfix.com/p/fatmax-screwdrivers-set-12pcs/44414. There's nothing worse than helping somebody on a DIY job and they have some crappy screwdrivers where the handles spin or worse the rubber grips on the handle give way. Or in fact even worse have one of those all-in-one ratchet driven interchangeable bit things...

27col

It is amazing what rubbish some people use to try to do DIY. I once bought a friend a cold chisel and a wood working chisel of the same size, as it was apparent that he did not know the difference. It used to make me cringe to see him using the wrong tools.

Careful_with_that_Axe

If it's for your own use, I would suggest just getting things you need as you go along. You don't know what you are going to need until you need it!
I would always invest in a decent electric screwdriver, drill, and adjustables/mole grips.

bobhawke

To quote Walt Kowalski from the movie Gran Torino:
Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone.