who has what?
I have a utility knife that was my GrandDad’s …
It’s a “General” brand … fixed blade. Aluminum.
Lightest and most comfortable knife I’ve ever held.
My GrandDad gave it to me Dad … so it’s already crossed one family ….
my GrandDad was Mom’s dad … making my Dad … his son in law.
lost yet?
anyways … my Dad gave it to me years ago …
I think I was about 15 or 16 …
not sure how my older brother lost out on that deal … Dad probably knew he’d lose it or trade it for new rims for the van?
Anyways …
It’s the only tool I’d really miss if I was wiped out and had everything stolen.
And when using it … I really do think back to my GrandDad … and old time flooring contractor.
Sooner or later … it’ll go in the kids tool pouch.
For a coupla years … when I was in sales … I had it “displayed” with my beer stein collection …. now … it goes to work with me. Somedays … I need “it” more than others.
Anyone else have “tools” with a history?
I also have a coupla of his Diston handsaws … don’t break them out too often …
and a brace bit that sees some action.
But the utility knife is somehow more special.
probably because of the loving ceremony my Dad held when handing it over …
“here … this was your GrandFathers … don’t F it up ….”
Jeff
Replies
Yea, I've got one of those manual push-type snowblowers. Kind of looks like the old time lawnmowers that you had to push. Doesn't work to well. I think it's circa 1936.
well, I've got g-grandpa's tool box - three tray dovetailed poplar - still have the key - very few of his tools tho - dad has a couple of wooden bodied planes and a corner chisel and mallet at his house, but most everything has dispersed over the years -
I've also got 'uncle Joes' tool box - Joe Doyle from St Louis - my wifes side - WW1 doughboy - not quite as nice a box, but came with some pretty decent tools - stanley 45 plane with the basic set of cutters - Stanley #4 jack plane that I use all the time - several other interesting minor things -
I've collected quite a few interesting older hand tools over the years - nothing particularly valuable by itself, but it's easy entertaining tool appreciaters...just pop the lids on the tool boxes...
now, if any of my kids (or hoped for grandkids) get interested, they will have a hell of a legacy of 'dad's tools'....
do you use them?
I think that's why I like that utility knife so much ...
it's still a daily driver.
in a world of shiney new tools ...
Jeff
ya - I use tools - that's what the're for - - the neat thing about it is, if ya got the right tool, it lasts basically forever, hence, you need one of each (except the ones that you need sets of...)
here's a tool I picked up a couple weeks ago - a large marking gauge - - into the box it goes till I need to scribe a line a foot into some project...."there's enough for everyone"
I think it is properly called a panel gauge. FWIW
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Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
thanks - I wondered - I've never seen a gauge that big - had to have it - lucky it was in possesion of a buddy that owed me <G> - whadda you use it fur? n'
wot's this?"there's enough for everyone"
The one looks to like it's a cooper's plane - Used to round ou the inside of wooden barrells. The other picture looks like quite a collection of what I've heard called "carriage planes". Supposedly they were called that because they were made to cut specific profiles of wood for the trim in the old Pullman cars. But I don't know fer certain that's true..My Dad has an old Stanley plane set that I'd sure like to have. It's one of those things with a handle and adjustable fences, and a whole bunch of different blades. Don't really know the correct name or part number. It's apparently a complete set in the original box. It even has a legible label inside the lid. He keep them put up, and has only shown me the set once in my lifetime. I don't even know where he keeps them hidden.
You can fool some of the people all the time – those are the ones to concentrate on.
looks like a plane for the inside of wagon wheels.
Adam
BTW: if you have to many of those straight wooden planes, I can..... store them for you. :-)
You have way too many planes...........I'm on my way to relieve you of many of those, I wouldn't want you to get introuble for having too many!
EricI Love A Hand That Meets My Own,
With A Hold That Causes Some Sensation.
that's a pict of my buddy's score - he's an antique dealer - got what appears to be a collecters accumulation - lot's of different tools with no common theme - duplicates - molding, wood bodied, hybreds, steel - some interesting units, but nothing I needed and the gauge is the only thing I really 'wanted' - -
if you have specific desires, email me and I'll check - those picts are from a couple weeks ago, I'm sure some have been moved by now - "there's enough for everyone"
Thanks Dave,
That's kind of you to offer. I'll takem' all!!
Just kidding. I love old stuff. Not many new things intrigue me.
EricI Love A Hand That Meets My Own,
With A Hold That Causes Some Sensation.
Boss is right,it's a "croize" used to true up the head area inside the cask, so it can be followed by the next plane that makes the groove for the head to seat in. That plane cuts a dado like a router plane.The panel gauge was used just like a marking gauge but for ...panels. It is useful for wainscot panels, scribe a line and rip away maestro. Most old timey ww'ers and carps, hardly ever used a pencil, the technology was lacking, so almost every thing had been scribed. No table saw to rip the panel on, so scribe her, and use the armstrong saw.I have a slew of the old tools from my days working at Williamsburg, I love them all, and yes, the more ya use'm the longer they last. Ya don't happen to have a panel raiseing plane do ya? It has a skewed iron and a slanted bed. The skew is for the endgrain edges, cuts clean.The hollows and rounds sets are pretty abundant (even new ones are being made) but some of the sash and specialty planes are HARD to find. I just today got a job re-creating some moulding for an OLD place in Versailles, gonna have to be ALL hand made..out of brown ash of course. Gotta plane an ogee with a fillet and a bead..will take me 3 planes to do it. FUN FUN FUN..I'll post a pic of it.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
'croize', eh? - - any possibility of it being for wagon wheels or such? - seemed like a large radius for barrels - there was a skew plane/panel raiser or two in the bunch, we talked about it at the time - want me to check on specifics and status?"there's enough for everyone"
I doubt I can afford a panel raiser, they fetch high dollar, if in good shape.That radius might be for barrels not casks, IIRC it ought to be an arc of a 32'' dia. keg, the wheelwrights felly shave was vastly different. A felly is a segment of the rim that was fabbed to hold the iron tyre..yes, tyre. often the fellies were not radiused on the interior in primative work. If so facto that it were a felly plane, the fence would NOT be there, the fence dictates the use against the ends of the staves. The fellies were more liable to have been wasted and faired with a few smart saw kerfs, knock out the waste, and spokeshave and compass plane to shape. The up/down grain of an inner curve proves this, if the fence were only "registering" from one direction, one half of all planing would be contra grain, impossible.The coopers were planing cross grain, hence the fence. That iron ought to have the ends dubbed a tad, and be convex SLIGHTY..a GOOD croize or what ever also had a skewed iron for the same effect as a panel raiser, skewing LOWERS the effective cutting geometry and behaves more like a low angle block plane in that respect.I'd still love to come see what ya scored..the van is weary tho', Greencu has me runnin 140 mile round trip each day..LOL..just an hittin 200K.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
Did you work with Roy Underhill while at williamsburg?
I got my uncles delta wood lathe that he bought when he was 16 . I also got his shaper and unisaw from the late 40s early 50s. All look like the day that they were new ,He took very good care of his tools. I got some of my grandfathers hand tools and lion trimmer . My older cousins cleaned out his shop after he died. tThey left the lion trimmer because they thought it was a shingle cutter .
I wouldn't call it "work"..it was more like preforming..lol
He is a trip.
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Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
"He is a trip."
He sure seems to be, based solely on seeing him on TV. Like a squirrel on speed or something.
I would think it would be interesting to work alongside him though. Not many people carry that kind of passion for their work.The only good loan is a paid loan
Ditto .
I think he would be a trip to have in the shop for a day .
Sphere , What did you do in williams burg?
Watching Roy on the TV years ago got me into wood working with old tools . I used to think that you needed power tools to get anything done .
Found out that it is funto hear the wood sing as a sharp plane cut a long ribbon . And ear protection is keeping the mother in law out of the shop. I and my friend Greg made the wooden plow frames for the Hammer in At GrandDetour this last August . It was to commemorate the 200 birth date of John Deere and the 40th year that the historic site was open to the public . I finaly got the shaving horse made that I have wanted for years. Needed it to help with the finnishing of handles and dowels .
Spent the spring in the housewrights yard, preparing timbers.
Spent the summer and fall in the cabinetmakers shoppe..
each place I was a bit mischievious, and wore out many pranks and jokes.
I returned to the real world b4 winter set in, i was bussing back and forth from my home in Pa. My weekends were Mon and tues..that got old quick. It also is really low pay..i was just there for fun.
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Jeff,
Got a big pry bar that belonged to gramps. (my mother's father). Gramp's mother died when he was in 8th grade, and his dad hit the bottle pretty hard. Gramps left school to work to support his brothers and sisters, as he was the oldest. He worked construction for awhile, until settling into a factory job. So when he died, myself and a couple of the cousins split up his tools. The pry bar and his set of "Fulton Special" chisels are on the job daily with me.
In 1995 I bought a small lathe from an 87 year old guy. As we were loading up the lathe, he pulled the pry bar out of my truck and said, "This is old. It is a Drummond bar. My dad made this." His dad was a blacksmith and ran a shop named the Drummond Blacksmith Shop. He showed me the anvil marks, and explained how they used to make them 20 at a time, for a large area contractor. And how the contractor used to joke that he had supplied all the carpenters in the area with a bar, because of the rate the bars disappeared off his jobsites.
Fast forward to last fall. I took the bar up to deer camp, to pry stuff out of the frozen ground when we picked up to leave for home. It got left behind when we had to leave quickly in a snowstorm. Couldn't stand the thought of losing that bar, so I rented a metal detector and drove the 550+ mile round trip in one day. It took about 45 minutes of searching, but I found it. I drove there and found it on the day Saddam was captured.
Got some other stuff like clamps, squares and handsaws that stay in the shop with "GK" (gramps initials) stamped in them.
Bowz
now THAT is a cool tool story!
Jeff
It seems like noone had tools before grandpas were invented because I have a 65 year old Craftsman table saw that was my GP along with a equally old bench vise also Craftsman.
Neither of which do I have to worry about being in a fire cause they have enough steel in them to build a truck. The saw alone has to weigh 150 with the stand--Lets just say I leave that one in one place.
I've collected some 24" and 30" Disston and Stanley levels over the years and the vials still read true--Made of wood no less.
A old B&D circular saw that must weigh 15 pounds or more --sidewinder with all the steel left over from the table saw.
I guess it is up to me to start the family collection of tools that I can hand down as a GP.
I'm the first in my familiy to have framed or plumbed or done eletrical. But I do have my grandfather's leather working tools and have used them since I was a teenager. He was a harness maker in the Army in WWI (all those mules!) and made suitcases and occasional shoes for my mother afterwards.
Never knew either one of my grandfathers, so the only 'history' tools I have came from Dad. Probably the one that really says, "Dad" to me is the 1970's era Troy-Bilt tiller.
He used the heck out of that thing from Day1. Between his various gardens and his friends/neighbors, I think he must have tilled half the county. It is on its second set of tines and wheels (and engine...he wasn't good at checking the oil).
Fired it up a couple weekends ago to till up some flower borders for my sister. That tiller can turn hard-pack into broken dirt with the consistency of snow...sink right into it.
Having the correct tool for the job just really does wonders.
My grandfather was a tool and die maker. After he passed away, I have all the metal cutting bits and jigs of all sorts in our basement now. Anyone know if they have any value?
Also have more metal files and custom made tools of which I have no idea what they do than you could possibly imagine. I could keep the "What tool is this" thread going for decades.
Also have a pentograph (sp?) engraver, which I'm told will still work. Just needs new brushes in the motor and a new cord. He used to make signs and etc.
Larry
Funny how tools just keep getting passed on. When some were stolen from the back of my truck the insurance company didn't depreciate them much. Trouble is I still walk to the truck looking for that certain tool and THEN remember that it was stolen. Have certain stuff that my Granddad either used or made. Carry at least two things in my pouch to this day--used one last night. Rosewood handles.
Still use my Dad's Delta drill press. My Grandad's vise. When Dad died my sister and brother were arguing over a plane. A plane? One is an Occupational Therapist and the other a disbarred lawyer--probably rusted up by now.
Dad was into white collar research but had a woodshop in the basement. Everything was mounted on the wall (no, not the table saw). I memorized exactly how everything went--like where did the round side of a half round rasp go? Right? Left? Against the board? Just before he came home it was sweep up time and tool time--siblings begging me for info.
I even had to go look at Dad's utility knife just now (which I never liked--don't use) and it turned out to be a Craftsman. But I can tell you this. There is some kind of karma in those tools I use. A certain respect. If someone pockets any tool on a job site they are looking for trouble. If it happens to be Granddad's tool (died before I was even born) they have no idea what their fooling with. I consider other's tools untouchable. Great topic to post. Tyr
I have my great grandfathers knife sharpening steel. He had been a butcher in Cornwall England. Gave it to my grandfather, he passed it on to my mother and she to me. It has a big ring on the end to hang on a belt hook. My son thinks it is real cool.
Gramps was a funeral director/embalmer.....I've got most of his tools of the trade...nothing you'd want to play with. I have a cool saw....for. ...hmmm......making things fit into boxes, when they get to stiff to fold into the box. Got alot of memories and stories too.
Great topic Buck
I have a draw knife that was my 5thish? great granddads 1870ish he was a cobbler in matqota IA. The story goes that after the civil war General Grant was a traveling leather salesman and that he would go around and stay at diferent peoples houses that he was doing business with...well I have this hand made rolling pin made with this knife that rolled pies for Grant y-know how stories get passed.. anyhow old drawknife that its real slick to debark logs with makes you wonder the heritage of stuff. My realitives (Blackburn's) one was blinded in the sawyer pits makinf the flagship Niagra in Erie. A really neat history the war of 1812 and all. I often wonder if the knife was used there.
Dan