Chateau DIY

[Peter Johnson]

I've recently discovered this C4 programme and have been watching it on catchup. One of the chateau owners said that it was important to do things sustainably - while at the same time he's encouraging hundreds, if not thousands, of Brits to fly and drive to his Chateau for weddings and other events. I've been struck by the number of times inappropriate tools have been used - I saw a 1in carpenter's chisel being used to remove tiles from a wall the other day.

[Andy Burns]

Yes, any fool knows they're just for paint tin lids ...

[Sam Plusnet]

One inch? They must be big paint tins.

The best tool for most jobs is an old busted-up screwdriver.

[alan_m]

I have a decent set of scary sharp chisels for wood work

I have a crap set of wood chisels that I would use for removing tiles from the wall etc. These occasionally get a rough sharpening on a grinding wheel. They have stood up well to 40+ years of serious abuse.

[charles]

years ago, when working in an amateur theatre, I aaw somebody rummaging in my tool box, so I asked what they were looking for. "A chisel" was the reply. Thinking that the person might not be totally capable with one, I asked what it was for "To open a tin of paint!"

[John Rumm]

Not to mention they are available in a multi pack for next to nothing any DIY shed, so can be treated as disposable.

[N_Cook]

What do the French call the tool for raking out old mortar from brick joints, prior to repointing, those old screwdrivers they've heated and bent the shaft. Brickies call them frenchmen because they know that Frenchmen have bent todgers.

[Chris Hogg]

As did the young man from Kent...

[Owain Lastname]

You could if you blew the egg contents out of the shell?

Omelettes are pretty sustainable. You get a lot of omelettes out of one chicken and if you have your own chickens they don't need a lot of inputs. Intensive egg farming is another matter, of course.

Owain

[Brian Gaff]

You can use old chisels for that, works well with the right hammer. Brian

[Brian Gaff]

No that is screwdrivers. Brian

[Brian Gaff]

Another great tool is the broken twist drill as a countersink bit. Brian

[RJH]

'sacrificial chisel' coll. - what chisels become after extended periods of inappropriate use.

Got several :-)

[HVS]

On 25 Jan 2024, John Rumm wrote

Yup. I think the last cheap ones I bought -- as in "assumed to be single-use" -- were from Poundland.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Bollocks. Once you have eaten the egg, its gone,. You have to get more eggs and that means feeding the chickens and all that is driven ultimately by a sun that is in no way sustainable.

As any nuclear reactor will, it runs out of fuel eventually. And, in the process, the chicken will pollute the environment with chickenshit. Nothing is sustainable, Everything takes some finite resource and uses it to create another finite resource.

[alan_m]

Every tool is a hammer.

[wasbit]

Yes, it's a spin-off from Dick and Angel Strawbridge's 'Escape To The Chateau' which follows a group of British expats who overhaul crumbling fairy tale French stately homes. Dick's vacuum lift in one of the chateau's corner turrets was ingenious.

Similar series is 'We Bought a Village' or it might be 'Help! We bought a village'.

[alan_m]

At one time tricky Dicky Strawbridge had a series promoting DIY green living with a water wheel to power a 5W LED light bulb and used chip shop oil to run his land rover.

A few TV series on and all that green virtue signalling has vanished.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Well it was all EcoCrap™ anyway.

They tried all this shit and proved it didn't work, just like they have done with renewable energy.

[Chris Hogg]

He took over a house in Tywardreath near St Austell in Cornwall a good few years ago and went to town on making it self-sufficient in energy. Something of a demo exercise I think; I couldn't imagine living in the place.