Who likes vintage tools?

[BobHufford]

^^^^^ Looks great @Farace! So cool that you have that tie back to your Grandfather.

 

[Turnip]

Some vintage brain tools, both 1941 editions.

Cheers

Turnip

 

[1930artdeco]

Farace, check over on the Garage Journal for more info about your press. If I remember right that is a Model 100 and there is one person over there that collects nothing but sears power tools from that era. Great that you rehabbed it and are keeping it in the family.

Mike

 

[Farace]

Latest pandemic project, before and after. Needed a vise after the piece of Chinese junk that I got from my dad broke in half. Picked up this mid-‘40s Craftsman (made by Reed Manufacturing, patent date 1938) on Thursday for a *very* reasonable price. It was frozen up solid; I got everything moving with PB Blaster, de-greased, de-rusted, re-painted, and lubed up to “user” level (I couldn’t see much point in going crazy polishing, filling pits, etc.; I’m using it, not collecting it) and got it reassembled today. Much better, and that Chinese alleged “vise” will go into the scrap where it belonged in the first place. It’s a sad commentary when a rehabbed 75-year-old tool is better than what’s available new. But it’s nice to make it useful again.

 

[Bugguy]

Latest pandemic project, before and after. Needed a vise after the piece of Chinese junk that I got from my dad broke in half. Picked up this mid-‘40s Craftsman (made by Reed Manufacturing, patent date 1938) on Thursday for a *very* reasonable price. It was frozen up solid; I got everything moving with PB Blaster, de-greased, de-rusted, re-painted, and lubed up to “user” level (I couldn’t see much point in going crazy polishing, filling pits, etc.; I’m using it, not collecting it) and got it reassembled today. Much better, and that Chinese alleged “vise” will go into the scrap where it belonged in the first place. It’s a sad commentary when a rehabbed 75-year-old tool is better than what’s available new. But it’s nice to make it useful again.

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While a fairly new Craftsman is OK, I passed it on to my son-in-law in favor of my father's good old one - like yours. I used it growing up and it has an emotional attachment. It's solid, smooth, and "gives me joy".

 

[Bugguy]

My father had this pinned to his workshop wall as long as I can remember. This is a copy of the original print - advertising piece, I assume. Owatonna Tool Company (OTC) is still around in some form - progressed beyond gear-pullers to automotive test equipment.

Dad was a machinist, foreman in shop like this before and after WWII. These vintage factory pictures really strike a chord with me. This goes back to a time when employer-employee loyalty was a two-way street. My father was treated like part of the owners family... 35+ years.

 

[Turnip]

Here’s a pic I took in a maintenance workshop of a historic 40s wool mill.

Complete machinery such as column drill press, lathe, metal plane...is transmission belt driven like the pic you attached. Floor is clay, cobbled with wood cut from squared timber, called „brain wood, and is pretty well vibration absorbing.

 

[BobHufford]

^^^^^ I love these belt-driven shops. If I ever win the lottery I'm going to build one and power it using the water wheel (in our front yard) that was used to power a saw mill back in the day. Unfortunately just the cost of getting the wheel operational is around $10K. My wife's Granddad had this spinning again back in the 1980s, but nature has had it's way with it.

 

[BobHufford]

Some 1945/46 era pics from my wife's Granddad's time as a Quarterman (Building / Maintenance) at the Olathe Naval Station in Kansas.

 

[BobHufford]

My Mom's family's farm recently receive their Century Farm designation. I was up there picking up my Grandma's (later my Uncle's) 1949 Allis-Chalmers WD tractor that my cousins graciously let me have after my Uncle passed earlier this year. While there they invited me to dig around in the old barn for "treasures". I came out with my great-grandfather's anvil.

Excuse the oil stain -- I was trying to bring out the stampings.

PETER
WRIGHT
PATENT
ENGLAND
("SOLID WROUGHT" circular stamp with middle weight mark inside [usually])
X X X<-- English hundredweight marks

This dates it between 1890 and 1909.

The 1 - 0 - 8 translates into 120 pounds. Multiply the first number by 112, the second by 56 and add the third.

Oh ... here is the tractor:

 

[1930artdeco]

Dang that is a tank! And from what I understand they are bullet proof, have fun with it. Are you going to put her to use or just a restore?

mike

 

[BobHufford]

Dang that is a tank! And from what I understand they are bullet proof, have fun with it. Are you going to put her to use or just a restore?

mike

Mike -- it will get used some, but I would have to put a 3-point conversion on it to use my existing implements. I'm just happy to have the family heirloom to go along with my wife's Granddad's '57 Ford 860. A "restoration" will be down the road a bit. The Ford has been the go-to tractor and I recently bought a newer Kubota (with loader and 4WD) that has proved very handy so far. My neighbor is giving me a Farmall Cub project as well so I might have to build a new shed!

 

[BobHufford]

Got my late father-in-law's welding table in a bit better shape (cosmetically anyway). Still need to clean up and mount the vise.

 

[1930artdeco]

Sort of a tool....but found this for my daughter when she moves into her own place. Tells you how to buy and use hand/power tools and how cabinets/houses are made. How to fix things, just really good beginners how to book. And I love how woman is ‘swooning’ over the guy with brace

mike

 

[BobHufford]

Another little project. 1965 Delta/Rockwell 12” abrasive disk finishing machine.

 

[BobHufford]

Tried to buy this stand (as I didn’t need the grinder — having two larger ones already) from an estate sale on 1/2 price day, but they didn’t have a way to remove it before the following day as they had already sold the original owner’s offset wrenches. I was not going to be around to pick it up later so I asked if they would make me a deal good enough to keep the grinder on the stand and let it go home with me. They obliged...

Late 1960s Delta/ Rockwell 6”. I’ll probably use it for polishing/buffing duties.

Excuse the piles of drawers on the floor. Still trying to “move into” this shop.

 

[de Stokesay]

Ok, I’ll play. It’s been way too long since I posted, let alone visited this site!

Since I’ve been unemployed since January 2020 (best thing ever), and especially with Covid causing us to all stay at home, I’ve finally gotten my basement woodworking shop mostly together. It’s tiny, only about 7’ x 5.5’ work space, not including my woodcarving station that’s off to the side, so any woodworking I do must be done with hand tools since there’s no room for any power tools in this wee shop. I can do anything smaller then dining room tables in here though.

The workbench was rescued from an elementary school wood shop 35 years ago by my father, the vice-principal there at the time as they were going to throw it away. It probably dates back to the 1920s or 1930s and is solid rock maple with the original vices. It’s only 3’ 6” long, but is a great design and very sturdy, and it’s big enough for what I need, and fits in the available space. As it was designed for grade 7 and 8 students, and as I’m 6’ tall, I made some 5” high rock maple risers to raise it up. Took about 15 minutes to rip the 2” thick x 2’ long maple plank with my grandfather’s 100+ year old Disston D8 rip handsaw, but was good exercise. I also had to fix a corner of the top that got cut off sometime in the past, but that was easily done as well.

The chisels are new Narex Richter, but I have old ones as well, these are just so good that they are what I find myself using most often, so I keep them out. The panel saw in front is my grandfather’s Marshall Wells crosscut saw that I restored. The backsaw in behind is a late 1870s early 1880s W. Tyzack, Sons, and Turner 14” Sash saw I bought on Ebay and restored. The dovetail saw in the middle of the bench is the same brand as the sash saw, but is 1890s vintage. It was an Ebay find that I restored as well.

 

[de Stokesay]

Here’s a 150 year old plough plane that I restored. I don’t have an iron (blade) in it in these pictures, but I do have a full set of 8 irons that go with it. It’s a Sandusky #120, and works great.

These are my #4 (front) and #5 (rear) Stanley Bailey planes that I use all the time. The #4 was my grandfathers, the #5 was an Ebay find I restored. Both are 1930s vintage.

This is my workshop helper, Valaya, March 2020 vintage, who we adopted on early October. She finds the shop a very interesting place indeed when I’m in there working, and she is extremely “helpful”.

 

[de Stokesay]

Here’s my grandfather’s drill press. It’s a 1944 Walker-Turner 900 series from his shop as he started and owned a Massey-Harris, later Massey-Fergusson dealership as well as a Studebaker dealership from 1939 until he retired in 1976. This drill press came from the dealership’s machine shop. That’s why it’s painted Massey-Fergusson red, in case you were wondering!

Sorry for all the clutter and junk in the picture, but that’s what happens when you live in a small house for 20 years and have way too many hobbies!

 

[BobHufford]

Here's one of my retirement restoration projects. A hand crank American Scroll Saw from Delta in the rough. About 1921 vintage. Not too hard, as I've cheated and started cleaning and lubricating. One accepted modification is to add a belt and motor. If I can find one, I might actually use it.

I wanna play too! Found this yesterday...

I’m definitely a “man with a problem “.