Walko Portable Bench

Henrik R / Pingvinlakrits said:
Eric; it is the "at home" bag which has a little bit of everything in it to combat the small (ever ongoing) need-to-fix-it-ups. I started by chucking in the most used small items and then as something came up I added the necessary tool to the bag to the point where it is now "full to the brim".

In short I have: Hammer, sharp chisel, blunt chisel, sharp steel punch, set of small screwdrivers, bit driver, slotted screwdriver (small and large), small prybar (adjusting stuff and pulling nails), sliding bevel, small folding square, spirit level, another smaller spirit level, Talmeter, small pruning knife, cable stripper, cable ties, insulated slotted and philips screwdriver, voltage checker, hex wrench set, 1/4" ratchet/nut set, scraper, marking pen, marking pencil, electricians tape, some other tape of the week, copper wire, bit box with misc items for the screwdriver, two wrenches, folding rule, small torch, small telescopic inspection mirror with magnet on end and a pair of pliers for every occasion: side cutting plier, locking pliers, cutting pliers, polygrip, long nosed bent plier (radio plier?) and a window carpenters plier - my favourite allrounder. Oh, and a small base box with the most used plugs, screws and nails and other small items like washers and stuff like that.  Makita BDF 440 drill/driver, Peltor ear protection (with radio and the ambient/voice/noise control thingy), eye protection and a pair of slim gloves.  Oh, and a knife/utility knife and some extra blades.

The bag is almost too heavy to do biceps curls with but it sees most small things through and my fianc?e has actually been impressed at more than one occasion when I have managed to sort out some tricky task.  ;)

Hi Henrik, I'm not sure what this is. Could you post a picture sometime?
 
Michael,

Go here........http://www.walko.nl/


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

..........this was a reply sent to me after I inquired about North American distribution back in February of this year:


Hello Roger,

The WALKO Workbench will be available in the US this year. I will inform you
by then.

Kind regards,

WALKO Werkbanksystemen (BSP Special Projects)
Bart Groot

Noordereinde 209
1243JS 's-Graveland
T 035 - 65 50 191
F 035 - 65 50 192
M 06 - 15 44 33 23

WWW.WALKO.NL 

-------------------------------------------------------------

p.s. I have yet to be informed.

Roger

 
Roger Savatteri said:
Michael,

Go here........http://www.walko.nl/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

..........this was a reply sent to me after I inquired about North American distribution back in February of this year:


Hello Roger,

The WALKO Workbench will be available in the US this year. I will inform you
by then.

Kind regards,

WALKO Werkbanksystemen (BSP Special Projects)
Bart Groot

Noordereinde 209
1243JS 's-Graveland
T 035 - 65 50 191
F 035 - 65 50 192
M 06 - 15 44 33 23

WWW.WALKO.NL 

-------------------------------------------------------------

p.s. I have yet to be informed.

Roger

I really hope this happens. I definitely could use one of these.

Pedro
 
Roger, I'm all over the Walko, but not holding my breath.

It's the "window carpenters plier" I'm wondering about now.
 
Eric: yup, I mostly do window restoration and frame repair, but it can be a little bit of everything. Lately I have done kitchen solutions for people - mostly rebuilding IKEA stuff to fit awkwardly planned kitchens.  ::) And som custom designed solutions to fit the need.
On my spare time I like (or rather I would like) to do more furniture building. I make all sorts of shelves and compact living solutions and have built loudspeakers and stuff like that. I am not in the same league as some of my fellow FOG:ers here but I am a decent designer, I am working on honing my skills in the fine carpentry department.

Rebuilding windows and rot repair is actually a good way to improve the hand tooling skills, after a few hundred windows I know which way to PULL the Japanese saw and how to work that chisel and planer. ;)

Michael: I will post a picture on the Window Carpenters Pliers today after work, they are not expensive but I have only seen them in one shop (that has them on special order from a factory in Japan, I think). The have a slight angle to them and they pinch, cut, are excellent for removing pins, staples, nails in awkward spots, grappling broken off screwheads etc. It is the only pair of pliers that I find irreplacable. It is the angled head that makes the difference. The people that have them swear by them. Stay tuned - I'll even take a picture with it lying on the Walko Bench for you.  ;)
 
I'm restoring some double-hung windows right now so I would be interested in seeing these pliers also.

Justin
 
Justin I don't know how much use you would have for it in your case but here it goes, on popular request:

Note the angle which makes it easy to gently pry out staples and nails. There are two indents for nailheads and they are sharp so it is also used for cutting sealing/silicone strips as well.
It opens up wide yet it is very pocketable and is 165mm long, some six and a half inches.

angle.jpg


backside.jpg


sayaaah.jpg
 
Everyone,
Two interesting notes.  First, if you do a search on Google for "Walko Portable Bench," guess what comes up right on top!  That's right -- this discussion.

Also, I configured the forum so members can insert YouTube videos right into posts.  You don't have to post external links.  Just use the YouTube [attachimg=1] button.

Here's the Walko Portable Bench video on YouTube:


Matthew
 
Thank you Henrik -----anything to help remove nails and staples (glazing points) in tight spots is always useful.  Appreciate the photos.

Justin
 
You are welcome Justin.

Glazing points... ...gotta hate when you miss ONE when removing glass from an old window. Broke two windows today when removing them - one due to a forgotten point and one due to sheer clumsiness. Must have removed some 150 points today - tedious work.  :(
 
Henrik R / Pingvinlakrits said:
You are welcome Justin.

Glazing points... ...gotta hate when you miss ONE when removing glass from an old window. Broke two windows today when removing them - one due to a forgotten point and one due to sheer clumsiness. Must have removed some 150 points today - tedious work.  :(

I hear you man --- sometimes the slightest of pressure on a single point can cause a pane to break --- usually after spending considerable time being careful.  I now use a Fein multimaster with the segmented blade to remove the the old glazing as well as to "score" around the individual panes before removal --- cutting through the old glazing points (sometimes it just jiggles them free).  But this has helped with breaking glass.  Usually though the remnants of the points need to removed -- or at least I like to remove them -- so a tool for such things is very useful.  I think restoring double-hung windows has to be some of the most tedious, patience-demanding work I've done ---------must be why plenty of people just replace them with vinyl windows  ;)

Thanks again,

Justin
 
Henrik R / Pingvinlakrits said:
Justin I don't know how much use you would have for it in your case but here it goes, on popular request:

Note the angle which makes it easy to gently pry out staples and nails. There are two indents for nailheads and they are sharp so it is also used for cutting sealing/silicone strips as well.
It opens up wide yet it is very pocketable and is 165mm long, some six and a half inches.

angle.jpg


backside.jpg


sayaaah.jpg

Thanks for the pics Henrik.

Just looking at the photos I would have thought this tool would be at home in an electrician's bag. As in, maybe the notches are for wire stripping? Or possibly fisherman's pliers. In any case I can see how they would be good for grabbing small nails and such.

Do they actually market them as window repair pliers?
 
Michael: yes, they are actually sold as Window workers pliers, at a specialized store for window maintenance and restoration supplies. 
I haven't seen these pliers anywhere else (and I have worked in the hardware biz) but they buy them on special order from Japan.

As you suggest they might have been originally some sort of electricians pliers though the holes are really small in real life so the wires they would strip would be very thin.

They are very versatile and I use them practically everyday - bar Sundays when I keep my hands on anything but the tools. As ridiculous as it may seem I bought three of them as they from time to time come in short supply; one for work, one for the goody bag at home and one spare for when the work pair gets worn out. Guess I am a keep-a-spare kind of guy when it comes to the things I use everyday.   :-[
 
Henrik R / Pingvinlakrits said:
Michael: yes, they are actually sold as Window workers pliers, at a specialized store for window maintenance and restoration supplies. 
I haven't seen these pliers anywhere else (and I have worked in the hardware biz) but they buy them on special order from Japan.

As you suggest they might have been originally some sort of electricians pliers though the holes are really small in real life so the wires they would strip would be very thin.

They are very versatile and I use them practically everyday - bar Sundays when I keep my hands on anything but the tools. As ridiculous as it may seem I bought three of them as they from time to time come in short supply; one for work, one for the goody bag at home and one spare for when the work pair gets worn out. Guess I am a keep-a-spare kind of guy when it comes to the things I use everyday.   :-[

That's a good policy. Thanks for the info on the pliers. I'll keep a lookout for them here.
 
Henrik,

Can't find them on the internet.  Do you have a website or two where they can be purchased in Japan?
 
Dave: I don't know where in Japan they get them from. I buy them from the Swedish vendor - probably at a much inflated price, but it is cheaper than getting one from Japan I guess.  The Swedish vendor is probably not to keen on revealing his source (they don't want anyone to parallel import I guess) but I could ask next time I pass by the shop.

They used to be Blue, looked the same and were very cheap. Now they are yellow and more expensive but I think it is mainly because they make a special order a few times a year to stock up. Last time they got them in they said it would be the last lot ever - so I bought three - but now I noticed they have restocked once more.  ::)
 
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