STILL USING ANTIQUE TOOLS?? I STILL DO ON OCCASION. .

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I've got pretty much every modern power tool one could ever want, including half a dozen power drills. I even have a very good quality floor model Drill Press. That said, once in a while when I have only one or two small holes to drill I will break out one of my vintage hand drills or Brace. I get a kick out of using them and for small jobs I get them done in a jiffy - quicker than pulling out a power drill. Great when you don't feel like making noise. :)

Today I had to drill two small screw holes on a shelf and I used the medium sized drill pictured below. It was my Grandfather's and then my Father's. I got that warm fuzzy feeling! :)

Any of you guys do the same?
 

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I have a brace like that in my toolbox at my Japan house. I think I bought it in 1976 to put a proper cylindrical lock in the door of my third floor apartment rental in Brooklyn. (It had a padlock when I moved in.) I later used it to make holes for wall anchors to mount shelves on the walls of subsequent apartments on the Upper West Side.

I brought my hand tools with me when I returned to Japan in 1986, but don't recall using the brace in Japan. I bought my first electric drill there in the late 80s.

I've got all sorts of things from the past 50 years or so in that toolbox... A couple of pins from my high school letter jacket. Spare brake pads from a bicycle I bought in the early 1970s. A nipple wrench from a reproduction 1851 Colt I built back then. A campaign button from 1972. Old lighters and a throwing knife. Watch bands and money clips. And, of course, assorted hand tools, nails, screws, saws, wire, hooks, hinges, metal braces... You name it.

Lotta memories in that toolbox.

I've had a place here in Oregon since 2016 and have built up another toolbox for this house. Last time I was in Japan I picked up some small metal files and a wood chisel from that toolbox to put in this one.

I have a pair of needle nose pliers my mother gave me for Christmas in 1982 or so, but no tools from my dad. My little brother has those (and is welcome to 'em).
 
I also occasionally use one of those hand-operated drills (much like the middle one pictured above), but only if just one or a few holes are needed. Some years ago I ran across one of those hand-powered drills made by Ruger at a garage sale. Wish I has bought it. Most of my drilling today uses a battery-powered drill. I hate corded drills, but I still have two of them. Seems I always need to use an extension cord. I still have and use "antique" wrenches, chisels, hammers, screwdrivers, etc. that pre-date me.
 
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Your uppermost eggbeater drill looks like a Millers Falls #2. (It may be a Goodell-Pratt, almost as good as the Millers Falls) Yours has the little railroad wheel that prevents main gear deflection, and I think the few versions that had that little roller are the best of the series. I liked mine so much, I built a collection of the whole evolution of that drill. I have 15 generations of the 16 generations of the evolution of that drill.

I've been using cordless drills before Dewalt ever sold one.

They are particularly handy for things like curtain rod brackets, or any job where you need to control depth and position without risk of damaging what's around or beneath the work surface.
 
My dad was so upset with me for buying a 12 piece set of Italian made Jewelry Files in 1974. I have used then hundreds of times to work on guns and work-related stuff, but most satisfyingly, over a dozen times to work on his guns! $4.99 at the hardware in August 1974, $99 in a catalog last year for the exact same set!

Ivan

I really wanted to inherit my grandfathers watch repair tool kit. All loose and jumbled in an old wooden cigar box. We would use them to adjust speed on pocket watches and install new bands, I last used them to remove a link on a new to me Rolex in 1994. But after dad died, his wife says there aren't any tools! I would assume her nephew has them.

Ivan
 
My grandfather was an amateur woodworker (taught it at school I think) and I inherited some of his tools. Not many survive (alas) but I still have a couple of old Disston saws, Stanley planes and wood chisels. I remember his "Yankee" drill like the one in your pic. I also have his Stanley #239 grooving plane, which I've used from time to time:

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There is something satisfying about using an old tool that has stood the test of time and been used by others long gone.
 

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My dad was so upset with me for buying a 12 piece set of Italian made Jewelry Files in 1974. I have used then hundreds of times to work on guns and work-related stuff, but most satisfyingly, over a dozen times to work on his guns! $4.99 at the hardware in August 1974, $99 in a catalog last year.

Ivan
I was given a set of Sears jeweler's files as a birthday present back in the late 60s. Still have them, still use them. Sears sold good stuff. I miss them.
 
As a wood worker, (and one who repaired antique firearms) I have many hand tools. Complete selections of hand planes, router planes, scrapers, inshaves, outshaves, scores etc. As a commercial finish carpenter, I always had a No 1 hand plane pouched in my tool belt. It came in handy many times and saved me from dragging out tailed tools and making big messes.

Kevin
 
That silver one in the middle is a "Gota have" for most of us handy men.
Used the old "Bits" as well as chewed up my hand with a "Yankee" screw driver, when not holding it correctly. That really hurt!!

Thanks for the picture, of old friends.
 
My dad was so upset with me for buying a 12 piece set of Italian made Jewelry Files in 1974. I have used then hundreds of times to work on guns and work-related stuff, but most satisfyingly, over a dozen times to work on his guns! $4.99 at the hardware in August 1974, $99 in a catalog last year for the exact same set…
Have you been binge-reading the Esslinger catalog again?
 
I have a protractor and compass that I used for almost 38 years when I was working. Tbey were tools I used for drawing the legal descriptions for parcels of land. Computer programs to do the same thing were eventually developed but I could never make those work. It was a skill that amazed a lot of people. I tried to teach the skill to others to make sure it was kept alive.
 
We've all seen the folding carpenter's ruler. Depending on the brand & model they are 6'8" to 10' long. When my brother and I were apprenticing in the late 60's, that old boy had no use for a tape measure! Every day that I have pants or shorts on, I have a Stanley 1' folding ruler in my pocket. I also have been known to carry a Lufkin 2' folding ruler! (with the Stanley's brass trim, it might be accused of too much bling)

Ivan
 
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