Tools
Buy and sell tools in Costa Rica.
A carpenter in Costa Rica still buys boards by the inch and four varas long, the plumber cuts PVC sold in half-inch and three-quarter sizes, and the bolts on a concrete mixer are metric. The tools for all of that change hands here, new and pre-owned, from a single spirit level to the whole kit of a maestro de obras who has put down the trowel for good. Drills, grinders and saws sit in one branch and hand tools in the other, and some of the best second-hand buying is in mixed lots cleared out of a workshop in Cartago or a garage in Liberia.
Electric tools, manual tools and where the line falls:
a motor earns its place through repetition. Cutting one length of varilla is a hacksaw job; cutting fifty is a job for a pulidora, and forty anchor holes in block call for a rotomartillo. Electric tools are for that kind of volume, and there the battery platform and the state of the motor matter more than the brand on the case. Manual tools cover the work no motor improves: marking out, levelling, plastering, tightening, and the hammer every toolbox starts with.
A mason’s kit, a carpenter’s kit and a plumber’s kit:
have less in common than people expect, which is why a full lot is only a bargain if it matches your trade. A mason works from a cuchara, a plancha for the repello, a long aluminium level and a plumb bob, and moves the mix in a carretillo from wheelbarrows and carts. A carpenter needs a square, a handsaw, sharp chisels and a tape he trusts. A plumber needs pipe wrenches and a PVC cutter. Buy the lot that fits the work you do and pass on the rest, or build the box piece by piece and spend more on the few tools you will pick up every day.
Inches, millimetres and varas on a Costa Rican tape:
the country is metric on paper and mixed on site. Lumber is still sold by the inch of thickness and width in lengths of four varas, about 3.36 m, PVC pipe and fittings come in fractions of an inch, and the bolts on most cars and small engines are metric. A tape with both scales saves a conversion on every cut. The same goes for wrench and socket sets: an estándar set fits inch bolts only, a milimétrico set fits metric only, and a lot that mixes the two with gaps in each is worth less than it looks. Check drill bits the same way, because a fractional-inch bit and the nearest metric one do not drill the same hole.
Levels, hammers and socket sets with years of site work behind them:
tell you their history if you know where to look. Set a spirit level on a flat surface, read the bubble, then turn it end for end in the same spot: if the reading changes, the level is out, and an aluminium level that has been dropped often is. A hammer head should not move on its handle, and a chisel or punch with a mushroomed, cracked striking end throws chips and needs grinding before it is used again. Work every wrench and ratchet: rounded jaws slip on a bolt, and a ratchet that skips under force is worn inside. On a tape, a hook that slides a little is meant to; a bent hook or a blade that will not retract is not. Ask why a large lot is being sold and whether receipts exist for the expensive pieces. A pile of mixed brands with the owners’ names ground off is one to walk away from.
Listing one tool, a full set or a whole workshop:
lay everything out on a tarp or a bench and photograph it in one shot a buyer can count, then move in on the brands, the sizes and the wear. Say whether sets are estándar or milimétrico and which pieces are missing; an empty slot in a socket case is the first thing anyone notices. Decide before you post whether you will split a lot, because someone will ask for just the level or just the pipe wrench. If your initials are engraved or painted on the tools, say so: it explains the marks and shows they were yours. A buyer coming for a mason’s kit will want to sight down the long level and flip it on your bench, so keep a flat surface clear for it.