I have visited the Axminster Power Tools show for several years, both when it was at Shepton Mallett and now at Westpoint near Exeter.
I've found it a very good way of seeing what is on the market already, what is new on the market, to look at and feel a very wide range of tools in one place and to talk to their vendors.
Broadly, I know what I am going to be looking for in the coming months and can form opinions of what is good, what is mediochre and what I should avoid.
I like to spend some time wandering around and comparing, if need be several times.
This year, I bought tickets in advance for the Thursday and Friday. Thursday, the preview day, is generally quieter, and I arrived at lunchtime. By around 1500, it had become quite a bit quieter and I was able to wander around and spend time without pushing through crowds. On Friday morning, I went with both Grunff and Phil Addison and we all had another good look around.
Generally......
The show was quite busy, although I had the impression that the organisers might have had difficulty selling all the stand space to trade exhibitors and had done low cost or possibly free deals for craft exhibitors. Having the turning and carving exhibits is fine, but a local model aircraft club seemed a bit of a stretch. Nevertheless, I would rather have something than empty stand space, which always looks crap. It's also a shame that venues like this let themselves down by having mediochre catering and not making enough effort with cleaning the place
- especially the toilets..... However, to be fair, it is not the most horrendous exhibition venue that I have visited, by a long way.
I was in the market for a number of things:
- marking tools
- spindle tooling for panel doors
- clamps (you can never have too many)
- small drill driver
Then I wanted to look for new ideas and technologies and at what is available and becoming available
=3D Veritas (from Canada)make a very nice range of standard and unusual fine woodworking tools. I was particularly looking for a good quality square but they don't seem to make one. However, I did find a very solid straight edge and a marking knife.
=3D Utility and Craft knives. I've been disappointed with Stanley knives in recent years. The handles aren't that good any longer and either the blades are crap or materials tougher. Either way, not a pleasure to use. Grunff pointed out a knife range and blades made by Irwin. Took a close look at these. First of all, the blades are manufactured such that they are claimed to have three times the life of plain steel. Secondly, there are a number of well thought out features in the handle such as magnets to prevent the blades falling out. I bought two and tried one out on Sunday. They do what they say on the tin..... nice product. I needed some smaller craft knives as well. Previously I had used X-Acto that I had bought in the US. Here they had some Swann Morton ones. Bought a set, haven't tried yet.
=3D Spindle Tooling. I had been debating whether to go for a set of router cutters or some 30mm spindle tooling for making door panels. I was also looking for additional profile tooling. Whitehill really hadn't bothered to make much effort with what they had to show and talk about, so I was looking for alternatives, of which there were really three - Freud, Trend and a newish one (at least here) Brueck. Again, Freud didn't have that much to offer. Brueck had some good offerings, a good catalogue of tools and cutters. However, I was concerned that the cutters seemed to be proprietary to the blocks. Trend, in their industrial range, have a good range of products and pricing seemed fair in terms of value for money and choice - plus they use standard sizes. I went for a profile block and a special offer on a set of two blocks for door and frame cutting.
=3D Gorilla Wipes. I allowed myself one product that was being sold on a fairground basis and this was it. I had used impregnated wipes before and they were OK but not exceptional. These ones seem to have an alcohol, a detergent of some kind etc. I've used them for glue cleanup (aliphatic and PU) as well as grease, silicone etc. I was especially sceptical about silicones but they will clean it up if uncured.
=3D Small drill driver. I have been looking for some time for something in between the DW 7.2v screwdriver and the Makita 14.4v products that I have. Both are workhorses and do excellent work. However, I was looking for something that could achieve the torque without being overly massive. For mixed work, I have been using the Trend Snappy tools for a while. These are OK, but some are not a brilliant fit in their holder. I looked at Makita - all good products but nothing that fitted the bill; same with Hitachi and Bosch. I had looked briefly at the Festool stand but had not noticed anything special. I'm glad I went back on Friday. Grunff spotted what has turned out to be exactly what I wanted - the C12. This is an impressive product, and I am not easily impressed. The motor is brushless and controls are electronic. The torque selector controls the electronics such that the motor gently cuts when the desired torque is reached - no clicking gearbox. It's well balanced and light with a choice of NiMH or NiCD battery packs in different capacities. The motor runs at high torque and low speed from a light touch on the trigger - better than even Makita manage, and that's pretty good. I bought the version with swappable chucks. There is a standard chuck and then three more. One is an angle chuck that canbe oriented and locked at any angle. A second is an offset chuck which allows a screwdriver to be positioned no more than 10mm from an edge and still straight. This makes a big difference to straight driving in certain situations. Finally, Festool have their own quick change adaptor, Centrotec. This is similar to the Snappy idea. Normally I don't like proprietary stuff, but their implementation is good. Also, I can change things like drills in the holders so anything is easily replaced. I have a feeling that this technology will find its way into other Festool products in the future, but for the moment this is a very pleasing product that's a pleasure to use. There's a complete set of parts lists, drawings in the Systainer box along with warranty and service information.
=3D Other things
- Over the next few months as projects indicate the need, I am going to go for some additional hand planes. I have some very old wooden ones and some slightly less old original Stanley ones, which although looked after have been "well used". More recently, I've added to them with certain planes made by Lie-Nielsen from the U.S. These are also a pleasure to use -feeling solid and behaving predictably and doing what I wanted. I had been sure that there was more to be learned, and I found on Lie-Nielsen's stand a set of three DVDs with David Charlesworth demonstrating sharpening, planing and shooting techniques. These are well done and I've learned quite a lot from them already as well as some useful tricks and techniques. Recommended for anybody liking hand plane work.
- Look at machines. There was not a lot that was remarkably new. Perhaps the most noticable addition was Rojek with quite a comprehensive set of woodworking machines from former eastern Europe. Quite well positioned and I thought better than Sheppach in their class.
- Interesting power tool. Arbortech are known for making a range of rather lethal looking tools for doing large wood carving. They are Australian, and like most things Australian, subtle is not an adjective that is used a lot. However, they make an interesting product called an AS160.
- Look at power tools. Apart from the Festool C12, I didn't see much else of note. I reconfirmed earlier decisions about power tools that I had bought - mainly Makita, a few Hitachi and DeWalt and Fein. Nothing has changed to make me alter that decision.
Looked at what was available from the entry level and midrange suppliers. Toolbank had a display of the Techtronics Ryobi home improvement brand tools. There were assorted drills, drivers and combination drills. The product manager was demonstrating one to a potential customer and the clutch mechanism jammed. He was able to free it after jiggling it for a little while. Took a look at this and a couple of others and no these don't have the solid feel of Makita and others. Asked the product manager how he positioned TTI Ryobi. His reply was that they are better than the =A330 jobs in B&Q, but clearly not in the same league as Hitachi, DW, Bosch blue, Makita or the workhorse, Skil.
The only other product range there nominally in the same league is Axminster White. Unsurprisingly, there was quite a range. I looked at a few, and some seemed potentially quite reasonable - especially the better lathes. It was clear though, that there is inconsistency across the range - some tool and machine types were a lot better than others. As an aside, I dropped by the Axminster showroom (in Axminster, funnily enough) on the way home because there were a couple of things I wanted to pick up rather than having them sent. On waiting to pay, there were three different customers with various of their drill products, all bought within the last few weeks. One had a knackered battery, another (new one) had a chuck that was obviously eccentric and a third had a very graunchy gearbox new out of the box. Two replaced and one refunded. I don't think I'll buy anything from Axminster White without seeing and touching it first.
All in all, well worth the trip....