Ta-Da

Hello Everyone,

So I finally persuaded myself that buying tools will not immediately precede the end of the world, wandered down to the russian market, and began the process. You can see pictures of the russian market in one of my earlier posts. Also, for those who have interest, I wrote a list of what I bought, most of which you can see in the picture below, hanging from a sheet of plywood attached to the masonry wall of the shop.



I decided to use 51 screws to attach that plywood. Drilling that many holes in a brick/masonry wall is miserable and tough on the ears. Despite that annoyance, we could probably attach a moto to this sheet of plywood without it coming off the wall. So that's good. Also, you can see the workbench we commissioned, which is quite sturdy, although the top is kind of thin. I may add another sheet of plywood, so it bounces less if you hammer things on it.

Right - here's the list:

1. short #2 screwdriver - $1
2. Screwdriver set, #0 - #3, long - $5
3. combination wrenches 8mm -24mm (2 sets) - $28
4. Mechanical Impact Driver - $10
5. Diagonal Pliers (cutters) - $1.50
6. Rubber Mallet - $3
7. Allen Wrench set, .5mm - 10mm - $6
8. 1/4" socket wrench set w/ 4 -12mm sockets and some other bits and bobs - $17
9. 1/2"socket wrench set w/ 12-24mm sockets - $16.50
10. Circlip pliers - $2.50

So this is a reasonable start to the collection, and was about 90 dollars. These are the prices they quoted me. I don't really like bargaining, And found it hard to believe that they were charging inflated prices. A rubber mallet for three dollars is pretty cheap. Maybe I paid 50 cents to a dollar too much. Say overall I could have argued ten or so dollars off the price. I just found it hard to justify arguing with them about it. I made a half hearted attempt by saying "these are barang prices, give me Khmer prices." They assured me they were Khmer prices, and that was pretty much that. Hopefully they will provide me good prices in the future, and be willing to change out a tool if we break one of the ones that says it has a guarantee.

Still though, mabye I'll get a Khmer guy to price check for me this coming weekend, to dispell my admittedly fairly small fears of being ripped off.

So now I'm not sure what to do with/in the shop. I'm meeting with Leb Ke this coming monday or tuesday, and may see what he thinks. His brother has a super beat up moto sitting around that I may purchase to try and re-hab, or at least have something tangible to teach with. Hopefully that will happen soon.

Anyway, take care.

Ned.