Hey, HEY! This is a family-friendly forum.

Anyway as I was offloading mulch today (5th truckload this week) it occurred to me that you all might appreciate my shovel. It's a #4 Coal Shovel manufactured by the Wooden Shovel & Tool Company of Piqua, Ohio. The Company was founded in1906 and close soon after it was purchased by Bissell in 1965.
I forget how I came to own it, just that I got it in 1982 in a swap of some sort to use for a snow shovel. They sure don't make them like they used to! Anyone else still using old tools? Not so much as museum pieces, just good honest labor savers!

I still use some hand tools that my dad used when he worked for Lockheed at the beginning of WWII. So my pliers were making Hudsons and P-38's.

Just yesterday I used a circa 1950's Stanley bit and brace to hang a new gate.

Chews right through old telephone poles.

Gears work like the day it was made. I doubt that the Chinese knock-offs at Home Depot will last 50+ years.

__________________
Life Member NRA Since 1985

Even though I don't have the knowledge to really use them, I love old tools. I had a number that were my grandfathers. After years of gathering dust and the start of some rust, I gave a Stanley brace & Bit, two planes, two finish hammers, a driving hammer, some chisels, and a Yankee screwdriver to a young friend who was in the middle of a home remodel project.

I don't know who was happier the kid who received the tools or me when he invited the "Lovely and Charming" and myself to see the finished project. He did a great job!!

Yep. Yankee - The original cordless screwdriver!

My post vise is approximately 500 years old and my anvil is over 400 years. I use them both regularly.

I'm too lazy to go out in the garage and dig it up out of the tool box...
But I have one that was my Grandfathers.. it went to my father and now to me..

__________________
SWCA #2306
DAV in honor of POP

I would love to see a photo please!

I still use this routing plane and a slew of other old planes that were passed down from my Great Uncle who was a Royal Navy cabinet builder during the Great War.

__________________
Regards,
Guy-Harold Smith II

My granddads Stanley plane, my dad's old Plumb hammer from about 1960, a couple old saws my Great Uncle had, along with a scribe of his as well. Don't have any old shovels, I think my brother and I broke 'em all!

__________________
Even older, even crankier....

I have a Wiss Newark shears that belonged to my coach-building paternal Grandfather. He used them to cut cloth for headlinings and upholstery. I also have one of my Father's knives. He was a butcher and this is a 16" carbon-steel blade from a manufacturer that now makes yuppie foodie knives. I can't remember the name right now. This is a working man's tool, not kitchen bling. I also have a couple of my Father's planes.

I use the shears regularly and the knife I use whenever there is carving to be done for meals. The planes have been mostly retired in favor of my 2.0 HP router. Sometimes progress is a good thing. I think of each of them when I use their tools. I hope to leave them to my daughter someday.

Russ

I don't have anything really old, but my pliers date from 1970 when I was 18, and I inadvertently walked off my job in Virginia with them in the back pocket of my Levi's. I think that is my oldest. And my wooden handled clawhammer dates from 1976, when I was newly married, for the first time, and living in Brooklyn. Have a couple of other tools from that time period, too. I use them all regularly for odd jobs around the house.

I like hand tools -- not that I am very good with them.

Did you buy them new? Larry

I have inherited a variety of old tools from older relatives over the last 20 years. I use a lot of the old hand tools, even an old brace and bit once in a while....well made tools will last nearly forever with a little care and continue to do a fine job.

I can't ever pass up an old shovel, rake, hoe, ax or hammer at flea markets or garage sales. Even if they're broken, good hickory handles are readily available, and then they're as good as new- sometimes even better. nothing you get in the stores can compare to the older tools. They were built with pride and quality, and IN AMERICA.

I love tools and can hardly walk in a hardware store without getting something I may need someday. Unfortunately, my old man is horrible with tools so he never cared to inherit any. His Dad was a mechanic of sorts, but he died before I met him. Hopefully my tools will find a good home when I'm gone. My niece might just be a tomboy, if not, maybe one day she'll have a husband who digs tools. These kinds of threads always make me jealous.

__________________
Hold on. SWAT's at my door.

There is an old Briddell cleaver tucked away at the back of he top drawer of my desk. I don't know how old it is, but it is pretty beat up, and somebody has done some hammering along the spine. My father used it in his kitchen for years, and it was old when he got it.

My wife is still miffed that the last time we had an intruder I didn't pull it down off the wall and split his skull with it, or cut off his hand, instead of just thumping him with a fist. I have explained to her very patiently that the days when we could engage our interlopers hand-to-hand are behind us; we have guns for that purpose now.

These days I would prefer that she not be able to find it too quickly.

My pappy gave me a bunch of wrenches and sockets, dating back to post WW II. I have my granddaddy's brace & a box of bits.

Earlier today, I bush hogged my neighbor's lot with my 1949 Ford 8N tractor.

__________________
John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

My Grandfather worked in the Washington Navy Yard from the mid 20s till after WWII. I have some of his shop tools, and use them from time to time. Lots of weapons development happened there, and if you served in the Navy, you used equipment designed and likely built there.

I read up on the Wash Navy Yard several years ago because of those tools, and was astounded at what went on at that installation.

My grandfather was a carpenter and cabinet maker. I still have a couple of pieces of furniture he made. One has special meaning; it's a sea chest he made for his son; the uncle I'm named for, who was a sailor and died in the 'flu epidemic in 1919. It's been around the world a couple of times in a square rigger before WW I.

I have quite a few of my grandfather's tools: a great brace and bit, with an assortment of drills. It really cuts. A couple of planes, but unfortunately none for fancy woodworking. I keep the blades as sharp as I can with a stone. A saw that fit inside his tool box, Stanley, I think, and a Stanley hammer.

I also have a 'man and a half' saw that my father got somewhere. It's about turn of the century. Has teeth an inch and a half long. In the 1950s there used to be an old geezer in the next town who knew how to sharpen and set it. My father would get it sharpened and set and then tell me to go at it. The soil was quite thin above the granite on our property in Connecticut and about every 10 years or a hurricane would come through and blow down a bunch of trees. They were oak, and it was my job to make firewood out of them after they had been down a couple of years to dry out. That oak was the hardest stuff I've ever had to saw, a 28 inch log would take almost half an hour to cut. We had a big fireplace and it kept the house warm in the winter, but I was away at school and didn't get the benefits of it. Life is unfair! Boy, that saw was sharp: you'd bleed almost if you looked at the edges.

I'm still rolling over the intro...............................

__________________
Go big or stay home

Back then, most companies had the mindset that what you sell had to last. Nowadays the mindset it how to make the most profit and let the customer "deal with it". I have some old pipe wrenches that were made in the 40's and they are still going strong. The ones I bought at Home Depot did not last a year. Have a few New Britian 1/2 ratchets that are still going strong except one that my buddy broke the gears on using it as a breaker bar! LOL!

James

Just rebuilt my father's old Skil Sabre Saw. Aircraft grade aluminum. Still works like a charm. Will be polishing it up and shooting some pics soon.

Most of the tools I use in my leather work is the ones my Father bought back in the 1950s. Here's a picture of the tools and then one of a purse he made in the 50s along with a holster I made a while back using the same floral pattern.


Been 14 years this month, miss you Dad.

I have a Saddle and Harness stitcher from the late 1800's, a Landis No 1 .....I use it from time to time...it is perfect for repairing heavy leather goods. One day, I hope to have enough free time to sew up some holsters with it.

__________________
On the Oak Savannah

This is an old tool of sorts, its an old apple peeler that you mount to a counter top and it cores and peels your apples, and believe me, don't let its looks fool you, it can do that in about 2 seconds flat.



I inherited my grandmother's old meat grinder that was from the early 1950's. I have put alot of meat through it myself to grind down, surely alot better than anything out there now. When my wife and I bought our house, I actually found another one in the basement still in a box ready to be used. We found alot of old tools in this house, some I have used including a couple of old files and pliers, and a very old wheelbarrel with a solid rubber front tire that came from who knows where. I also found a two man saw and a giant scythe blade in the shed.

I pick a few tools here and there myself including this old Helios caliper I bought a few years ago which is for reloading. My latest old tool is this older 310 Ideal I picked up a week or so back and it looks very nice. I'm not sure when this was made, but it's probably older than me. Anyone know when Lyman took the Ideal name off of the side?

__________________
Vaya con Dios

Great thread.
I have some tools that came out of my grandfather's equipment. He was a blacksmith. He died in 1927 when my Dad was 3. The stuff is in good serviceable condition and some of it gets used fom time to time.
I buy Lyman Tru-line & 310 dies and accessories whenever I see them.
I have 3 Tru-line jr. turret presses and 4 # 55 powder measures, and a fair assortment of dies. I have the parts list for nearly every combination of die setup, and for a few wierdos and obsolete sets. I do all my heavy resizing on a more modern RCBS, but all the operations can be done on the old stuff. I also have a bunch of 310 tong tools, and some Lyman literature that dates to around the mid 40s. The gear is top quality precision equipment and also has a historic, nostalgic charm that evokes technology and culture from earlier times.
I love the stuff. It ain't new but it works just like the day it came out of the factory.
Don't know when they dropped 'Ideal' from the trademark.

I have this mid 50s Craftsman vise. A 1 megaton nuclear explosion wouldn't hurt it. I think it would just clean 55 plus years of crud off of it.

__________________
LIVE FROM THE DAWGHOUSE

I inherited my Dad and Grandfathers tools. I got the mechanical stuff and my brother the woodworking.
My Dad was a tool and die maker since WWII and I have his old tools which come in real handy for gun work. They are all in his machinist's tool box same as the day he retired.
I also have a lot of Dad's old gardening tools along with a shovel he hand dug a basement when we lived in Canada. The metal is worn away from the blade from that much digging.
I also have his roll around tool cabinet with some old hand tools I still use in my shed. All of them are well built US and Canadian built that have lasted these many years.

I'm sorry to disagree with you on hurting that vise but my grandson (five years old) could have it totally destroyed in minutes. He has a future in demolition waiting for him when he grows up.

"....Anyone know when Lyman took the Ideal name off of the side? ....

Ideal Mfg was in New Haven Conn and owned by John Barlow. He sold the company to Marlin around 1909/1910. (Not sure of the dates).
They sold it to an individual named Talcot or Talbot(sp?) just before WW1. He in turn sold the company and name to Lyman in the mid 20's.
Lyman continued to mark some of their wares with the Ideal name till the early to mid 60's.

I'm sure the exact dates are available with some web-searching but that's the short story as I recall it.

I have a number of old tools. In the 70's, I bought a complete set of mortise chisels for 25 cents apiece at a garage sale. They were all stamped 1880. I found one of them on a site listed for $175 a couple of years ago.

Another interesting tool is a shipbuilders adz. It has a peg driver spike on the side opposite from the blade.

I even have a 1/4x20 tap and die that was made in the US!

__________________
Corripe Cervisiam

I'm old.
Some former members (and probably some current ones) have referred to me as a "tool".
I'm still of some use around here.
Does that count?

__________________
Regards,
Lee Jarrett

OP talks about a coal shovel. I stil remember (ca 1942) the sound of coal being shoveled off a truck, onto a metal chute, into our coal cellar through a window on the basement. We had a coal furnace in the basement (in Connecticut) and every night my father would have to go into the basement and bank the furnace so there would be enough coals to get the fire going in the morning. I wonder how many others remember that.

Sounds are almost as evocative as odors. I remember the scent of cintronella from sitting outdoors in the Connecticut summers tyring to keep the mosquitoes off, again ca 1942.

I have my dad's old wooden framed wood plane, the key's and deadman switch from his time at the railroad, bunch of old sockets and wrenches, and the motor from his old table saw running mu metal polishing setup. Never did find the bottle of slivowitz that he kept in the basement. Frank

We had a similar setup in our basement (1959-ish). Dad stoked that sucker for years until we could afford an auger feed.

Wonderful thread! Like so many of you, I am indebted to my dad for teaching me about tools, how to work on the car, etc. he was a lousy carpenter, tho, but a helluva a shadetree mechanic. And thankfully, at 91, he's still around.

I have an old 12" pipe wrench that I use rarely but glad I have when I need it.

Last time I needed it - or more correctly, found a use for it - was loosening the oil filter on my motorcycle. Some gorilla (errrr...me) over tightened the last one.

Thanks dad!

Man, I have so many old tools that I inherited from my dad and wife's grandfather I can't count them. I use them too although not as much lately as in earlier years when I built guns.

I am still using some old tools from my Dad, a retired machinist.

__________________
Always bet on stupidity.

I have a vise out in my garage. My father in law gave it to me for my birthday a couple of years ago. He's an retired union painter and he got it from a friend that retired out of a rail car depot. They used it for working on rail car parts. It's jaws open about 15 inches and it closes with the power to crush a small car. It weighs a little over 400 pounds and I had to build a special bench to put it on. I has to be dozens of years old. It's great.

100,000 years from now someone is going to find it and think it's some important part of our civilization.

Easy.
rburg

__________________
Forum consigliere

I use some Blue Point wrenches from the 20's.

I don't have any really old tools. Just some Snap-On tools that date from the 1960s. Somehow a lot of my tools didn't seem to survive my son's high school years. I have the feeling that many of those tools that went missing with my son might still be in service at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in Jacksonville. Of the older stuff I have left, please do not yell "Attention on Deck" around them.

CW

__________________
μολὼν λαβέ