This…but bigger
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Bought a new soldering iron as my old Antex budget Maplin one was taking an age to heat up and generally done me well through the years from University 15 years ago 
Treated myself to a Weller upon recommendation from my Dad as his is still going strong almost 40 years later. It was an ‘open box’ from Amazon, about 25% discount on the new price!
And some vintage soldering iron action, inherited from my Grandad, the industrial Solon is a beast, not sure when I might need it…
And as a nod to my Grandad, some vintage Wera RS branded action, hence my love of new Wera kit! 
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You can’t go wrong with Weller soldering stations.
When I started work in the late 70s all the electronics benches had Weller soldering stations, nearly 50 years on they still do.
Says a lot for the company and the product.
I love my wera ratchet handle, gets loads of use
My only issue is I need to get some longer bits, as its quite stumpy so getting into some deep reccesed holes can be a problem.
Toffee hammering… 
Extension? The 2018 advent calendar was full of long bits.
There are a ton of different bits, and one of the many advantages with the Weller stations is they are a doddle to change and never stick in place unless you let it get super shitted-up (slappable offence).
Great purchase - should be the first thing even the absolute beginner buys: cheap irons never (usually) last, and are a great way to damage workpieces. Even if DIY’s not for you, you’ll get 80-90% of your money back from a Weller.
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I was thinking more of these, to reach into thin/deep holes
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000X1R2K2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_Z19RFbWD9N5SE
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I need spanners.
I don’t need them often but I want them to work.
I want the ones with an open jaw at one end and a ring on the other.
I definitely need 13mm and 15mm maybe worth buying a small set
I have loads of adjustables (metric and imperial), mole grips, slip joint pliers, so if suggestions could be kept to spanners that would be appreciated.
Just in case anyone isn’t sure, I am not looking for screwdrivers (although I appreciate that a few of you are fixated by screwdrivers) or socket sets, or side cutters or wire strippers, just spanners.
Thankyou : grinning:
Halfords pro kit is often on sale, and gets decent reviews.
It’s been made by decent firms in the past, including Facom, Britool and, allegedly, Snap-On.
Lol, no, that’s just wishful thinking.
They did sell Sykes Pickavant as their higher grade stuff for a while, maybe 20 years ago (I have a set of those).
The current Halfords pro/advanced stuff is the same as Gearwrench (just a different name on the box). It’s pretty decent and perfectly adequate for most home mechanics. I have some of the older pro and newer advanced stuff and it’s much of a muchness.
For a step up, get Toptul - it’s made by the same people who make the current Facom spanners, which are now made in Taiwan rather than France, but seem to be superb quality.
They definitely had facom making stuff for them at one point, and some of their torque wrenches were Norbar iirc. A mate of mine was a store manager for a while and that’s what he was told.
Yes, I recall they sold Norbar, a friend bought one way back. They’re super torque wrenches.
Lots of rumours about who has made it in the past, but it’s always been tricky to find any actual evidence (like I said above, I have a Sykes Pickavant combination spanner set which I bought in Halfords, but it’s not branded Halfords). In the past some may have been made by some of the top tier producers, but the current stuff absolutely isn’t and I’ve seen a couple of cases posted where people have got replacements with Gearwrench written on the tray. I’m not knocking it, it’s great stuff and I have a bunch of it. They do have good sales or promotions which makes it very good value, so it’s worth waiting for one of those to come along.
No idea about the current stuff, and just realised it’s like 25 years ago when my mate worked for them 
Yeah, time flies! (I do recall they used to sell some good stuff way back, but they always seemed to be changing). I guess that’s why they launched their own brand and got them OEM-ed.
Heer you go: check the brand on the tray:
Guess they’d run out of Halfords branded trays that day. 
(those are the older “Professional” style rather than the current Advanced" - some folks say the Professional are better, but I have both and I’d say there isn’t much difference, cosmetics apart.)
I’ve got a late 90s Halfords socket set - the big one.
It’s superb tbh. The spanners and the ratche spanners have taken everything. A tool kit for life.
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