We send tools to Africa in response to requests from our partners. So we only need certain types of tools. As the tools will be used to help people earn a living they need to be good quality and in good working order.

The tools we need are:

• blacksmiths tools – especially anvils, leg vices and hand-operated pillar drills


• carpentry tools – especially large carpenters’ vices, metal jack planes and tri-planes, and drawknives


• engineering and metalworking tools – especially HSS twist drills, metric taps & dies, hand-operated bench grinders


• bicycle repair tools – especially spoke spanners


• Shoe repair tools – especially complete sets of individual lasts


• auto-mechanics tools – especially heavy duty screw jacks, tyre pressure gauges and foot-pumps


• electrical repair tools – especially multi-meters and desoldering equipment


• arc welders (240V)


• industrial quality power tools – especially heavy duty drills and bench grinders.

We also send certain types of sewing machines.

The tools we don’t need

Sorry, we don’t need any of the following:

• imperial spanners


• hydraulic car jacks


• broken, poor quality or disposable tools


• typewriters, computers, books, lawnmowers, cooking pots, bicycles, knitting machines, domestic quality power tools.

Nor do we send gardening tools (except heavy duty spades and shovels, used for building).

What happens to the tools we’re given that we can’t send

We are sometimes donated tools, sewing machines and other items which haven’t been requested, or which are in some way unsuitable or surplus to requirements. We may then:

• pass them on to other charities who operate differently from us


• use them in our own workshops and warehouse


• sell them – at car boot sales, auctions, on ebay or to specialist dealers, or if all else fails


• recycle them (the metal is melted down for re-use, and wooden items are used to fuel woodburning stoves).
  

Further information

Further information about the tools we need is available as an A4 poster – useful if you need to print a list out.

Tools we need and don’t need poster

(201 KB)

If you ‘know your tools’, here is a more detailed list of the tools that are currently in short supply.

Current tool shortages

(47 KB)