Ron Hickman dies

He moved to Jersey the day he sold the Workmate to B&D. From memory he got £3 million but if he'd stayed here he would have lost a lot of it in taxes.

soon "improved" the design, resulting in it becoming a useless piece of s*it.

I only got the story second hand, so don't blame me for any mistakes, but I gather the original had a fold-out platform at floor level on which you stood, thereby making the whole thing very stable, especially for jobs which involve exerting a fair bit of forward force, because the table could then not move away from you. The revised design just has poxy feet and a small elevated platform, stepping on which with only one foot provides some stability but nowhere near as much as in the original.

Then answer this Harry.. If you just sold your firm for that sort of money and faced a huge tax bill .. would you pay up or move;?...

Surely you have to move before you get the money, not after

tim

My dad has an early one, if not the original. It is cast aluminium, and still going fine. Mine is later and pressed steel, and also fine (probably 30+ years old) except I lost one of the rubber feet, which is a bit annoying.

Andrew, I was able to buy new rubber feet on eBay. They are a touch large as I think they made the feet size bigger from the original ones and the only ones available appeared to be the newer ones, but I stuck them on with mastic and so far so good. I also replaced the overcentre catches (eBay) for the fold out legs as they had gone brittle and two had failed.

You can buy replacement feet for some types of Workmate on eBay:-

You can't move to Jersey unless you have that sort of money.

I imagine that it involved payment into an account in Jersey from the US parent company.

Colin Bignell

My memories of the early ones was that they were indeed very good.

Sadly bad money has driven out the good, and the general impression of such things now is that they're crap. Which the cheap ones are.

I ain't seen an expensive one up close to try, so I can't comment on them.

I've got one of these, built like a brick sh*t house & very good 'zoom' type jaws for faster closing.

Yes, mine is Ali and has the platform on which you can stand - probably 35 years old now. Having used some of the later ones, I am surprised that no-one has been able to convince B&D to make to the old quality or someone else to work around any patents.I would certainly buy another one like mine, but can't see the point in buying a pressed steel rickety version.

John

mistakes,

but that one with cast frames and standing board is in a completely different league to the normal pressed tin and MDF things that abound these days.

Modern ones are better than the originals. However they make a range of them now. The top spec (usually with plywood tops) is much stronger than the low spec (MDF or chipboard top). It's better than an original. A "real" toolshop, as opposed to B&Q, carries them.

The steel frame is stronger, and fails by bending rather than shearing, than the cast aluminium. I've a couple of aluminium ones and all have at least one foot of the H casting replaced, either welded back or a new one made in steel and riveted in place..

If you have one with a sagging top, make a new plywood one.

The only ones I've really no time for are the vertical clamping hinged jaw (nice idea, but poorly done) and the chain-coupled vice screws.

if you had 3m would you stay put ?

The trouble is that £3M isn't enough to lead a millionaire's lifestyle these days. OK, you could retire and lead a comfortable middle-class existence, but you wouldn't be rich, rich, rich. Especially if you had to buy a house out of the £3M.

Could you actually buy much of a house in Jersey for £3M?

There's only one house on Rightmove in Jersey. It's £12,000,000