Thanks! Those are the kinds of questions I have, things like hardness of steel, reverse thread, that sort of thing.
And I have gotten tools from China in the past, won’t make that mistake again, if it has chrome I think it’s hand painted, anything without chrome will rust out if you don’t keep it stored in an oiled rag...
At 55 I have had the luxury of being called a very gifted fabricator. But anyway probably the best thing to do just starting from scratch is to do an internet forums search, its amazing how their can be a forum for just about everything, including the left turning tap groups.
A top of the line number and letter drill set to start you hou with the chart that tells you what size drill to use for what percentage of a cutting thread depth is VERY important.
I have taps from 1980 that I still use, they are from Snapon Tools. Tap s don’t last forever especially around stainless steel with I hate to have to drill and cut, its a tough one to cut if you work too fast, aluminum is my favorite but it too must be drilled and tapped with a special fluid unlike ferrous metals that use oil.
And then we have a growing use of metrics and their definitions of grades. Learning to read the marks on bolts is very important, its what makes your fastener “fasten”.
Hope I helped..you will get a chart usually for drill and tap sizes and such..also charts for hardness grading on bolt heads and so on...All the charts are easily copied off the web.
I have an old Audel’s Millwrights and Mechanics Guide That’s about 6” thich and 1000 + pages that cover the topic you are interested in and more in detail, its an old one that covers everything that you could want about mechanical technology, but I suppose you could get an updated version.
They have some guides on Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Audel-Millwrights-Mechanics-Guide-Thomas/dp/0764541714