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Hot Rods Old tools with memories

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by birdman1, May 12, 2020.

  1. ronzmtrwrx
    Joined: Sep 9, 2008
    Posts: 1,137

    ronzmtrwrx
    Member

    Adjustments.JPG
    Lost my dad almost 2 years ago at age 92. These are his old SnapOn boxes from the 50’s. Probably at least once or twice a week I’ll find myself in there looking for that “just right” wrench or socket to get at what I’m working on. As has been said earlier, it’s almost like they’re here guiding you to that toolbox and helping you find what you need.


    Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
     
  2. Claw hammers are great personal-defense weapons, I am a hatchet man myself...
     
  3. My dad used to have a big box in the basement with old Ford tools in them. When he fled to Florida, those tools vanished when the house was cleaned out by some crooks they hired. He also lost his tool box he had for years while in Florida, again, crooks his wife hired to help them move again.

    He had a set of combination wrenches in a red roll, I forget what the brand was... not something I'm familiar with. I borrowed them lots of times as a kid. They had an odd cut to the profile. Anyway, I ran into something y'all should like regarding old tools.

    http://alloy-artifacts.org/trademarks-and-logos.html

    I used just a few days ago a pair of bolt cutters that came from my grandfather's farm. I have to look to see what the brans is, have to go back to 1930 or earlier. I have a 1-man and a 2-man saw they used too. I have some hammers as well that are from the same era.
     
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  4. Jimbo17
    Joined: Aug 19, 2008
    Posts: 3,959

    Jimbo17
    Member

    I have been a carpenter my entire life because when I was 12 years old I had an uncle who was in the home building business so I spent every summer or vacation days from school working for my uncle.
    When I was in high school I was doing remodeling projects on the weekends for customers and friends.

    A good friend of mine told me his father was retiring from being a carpenter and asked me if I wanted to buy any of his old tools and I told him sure.
    I purchased things like a few cats paws, hammer, and some other tools he had.

    Fast forward 41 years later my friend contacts here in Florida and asks me if I have any of those old tools his dad had sold me back in 1964 and I told him I still had all of them because I never get rid of anything which is another problem with growing up poor and it turns out his dad had passed away and he realized he did not have anything from his dad so he asked me if he could buy the tools back?
    I said to him I will give you the tools back because the memories are so important to you.

    He again offered to pay me for the tools but I told him what I have always told my sons and that is tool don't really cost you anything if you are in the trades because those tools had paid for themselves years ago.

    Jimbo
     
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  5. 41rodderz
    Joined: Sep 27, 2010
    Posts: 6,540

    41rodderz
    Member
    from Oregon

    The silver lining is that stereo has probably quit working and in a land fill and you still have usable tools. But I know the feeling, personally.
     
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  6. 41rodderz
    Joined: Sep 27, 2010
    Posts: 6,540

    41rodderz
    Member
    from Oregon

    Good on you .
     
  7. jimgoetz
    Joined: Sep 6, 2013
    Posts: 517

    jimgoetz
    Member

    I have old tools from my dad and grandfather but the one I always think about whenever I pick it up is a 6 inch adjustable wrench that says Power Craft on it. It came from JC Penny and was the first tool I ever bought with my own money. I was probably 10 or so and I'm 73 now and I still use it now and then.
     
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  8. I do have an old Plumb roofing hatchet that my dad owned, I use it when I camp or cut wood for the fire pit. Some odd hand tools he left behind when he moved too. I really don't use them.

    I have a screwdriver that I made in 8th grade metal shop. The blade was case hardened and we made handles from this long bar of yellow handle stock. I also have a gear puller I made in college, maybe around 1974. That was my 1st time using a shaper. Nothing hardened, all mild steel. I used it once on something light. I'll take pictures of these.
     
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  9. MeanGene427
    Joined: Dec 15, 2010
    Posts: 2,307

    MeanGene427
    Member
    from Napa

    I have a few goodies that were my grandfather's, he owned an International truck & tractor dealership in the fifties- early sixties, and some nice stuff filtered down to the "home" shop for the trucking business and farms. A Champion Plug Master 3/8 ratchet, long skinny handle with a head that will swivel past 90 degrees, Champion rep gave it to gramps in the 50's. My favorite ratchet, an S-K HD 3/8 with a long handle and swivel head. A heavily offsetted 1/2-9/16 box wrench, says Bluegrass on it. Have all his old Starrett and Central mics. These were special to me, used them all when he let me do my first complete engine, a Wisconsin V-4- I was 10 at the time
     
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  10. I guess the one tool that stands out in my mind that I cherish is a small hand made wrench that my granddad, "Highpocket's", made for a gentleman named David Peace when he apprenticed for my grandad at Foundry & Steel, he told me he used that small tool almost daily for more than 50 years.

    Many years after my granddad passed away Mr. peace came into my place of business and he knew my mom who had also passed away a good many years ago but didn't realize Highpockets was my granddad until he saw a picture of him & me hanging on the wall, he then started to put two & two together and related the story of the small tool and said he thought I should have it.

    I forgot about it but a couple of weeks went by and he came in and said he had found it in a old cigar box, That little tool is nothing special but it means a lot to me.

    David passed away just a few weeks after gifting me the tool. HRP
     
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  11. Boneyard51
    Joined: Dec 10, 2017
    Posts: 6,442

    Boneyard51
    Member

    My Dad had a full set of tools and a tool box he made himself. He worked with the same few wrenches his whole life! He rode heard on them and they had to be put up every time you used them. Well, he been gone now for eight years, the tool boxes are still in the ranch shop, but with the grandsons working there without his supervision....... most of his wrench’s are gone! I went to the ranch a while back and grabbed a few that I remember and put them up..... just for me!








    Bones
     
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  12. CA. 280
    Joined: Jan 8, 2010
    Posts: 269

    CA. 280
    Member

    Wood and brass square my Mom used when getting her degree in clothing
    design from the Glasgow School of Art in the 1930's. Use it for layout all the time. Lot's of memories. 100_1684.JPG
     
  13. had a small box of misc. car speciality screws.....oddball trim screws, hex nuts, assorted stuff that sat on my old mans bench for decades....He added to it from time to time, took stuff out as he repurposed it,but, was the only one to use it for anything . He passed in 2000, I kept that box when we cleaned out his shop,still closed up from the last time he used it. Over the years since I've opened it from time to time.....still smelled like his shop, each time......I paw through those fittings, amazed each time I found something old that was now brand new....and more amazed at how I felt ,knowing that he was the last to touch those pieces.
     
  14. Nostrebor
    Joined: Jun 25, 2014
    Posts: 1,278

    Nostrebor
    Member

    Tons of my tools are from my grandpa and his brother, my great uncle Bill. Bill had a little salvage yard, so my cutting torch and bottles were his. My Oxygen bottle has test stamps back into the 40's. There are a bunch of other bigger tools that were his as well.

    My grandpa was dirt-poor, so the hand tools I have from him are all mixed, and very worn. I don't use them much... they live in the house garage. His shop tools (drill press, pedestal grinders, etc.) reside in my shop and get used a lot. None of his tools were good really, but I use them because they were his, and because they were the foundation of my tool collection/obsession.

    He fabricated a lot of specialty tools, stands and carts, and such as well. We keep much of that in operation too.
     
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  15. I have my Grandpas old Kennedy cabinet with his tools inside at home, I love old tools. Even if the old tools aren't his I still feel like he's helping. I even have a few old ones at work too....far out last new ones and I don't like or need chrome either.
     
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  16. While he didn't have a big collection, I have all of my Dad's old Husky and Craftsman tools. I also have a WWII era Snap-On 1/4 inch set in the original old green tin case that I was given by one of my Grandmothers friends when I was small.
     
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  17. Atwater Mike
    Joined: May 31, 2002
    Posts: 11,625

    Atwater Mike
    Member

    I have some Plumb and a couple of Blue Point wrenches given me by my late great Uncle Bill, who was an automotive engineer in the '20s-'40s.
    Uncle Bill attended many dry lakes meets, so was surprised that I had the bug at age 14, and was building my first hot rod roadster.
    He gave me a set of combination wrenches, and some misc. others...I still have most of 'em. Sure miss Uncle Bill!
     
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  18. birdman1
    Joined: Dec 6, 2012
    Posts: 1,591

    birdman1
    Member

    Sometimes it isn't the tools, it's the memories.
     
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  19. ss823
    Joined: Aug 10, 2015
    Posts: 14

    ss823
    Member

    I liked going out to my uncle`s farm (60`s) . a few times I used this deep throat hacksaw that he made. 1/4 x 1 1/4 flatbar 6 inches deep. when I went to the estate sale I was after one thing & it hangs on the wall & is still used occasionally . RIP uncle Dale.
     
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  20. I wound up with my dad's Kennedy boxes from his Grumman years. He was a hammer man, did lots of forming. It looks like junk, but everything had a purpose.

    Back in 2007 I had a front wheel bearing go bad on the way to work on a cold winter morning. Got it home, air chiseled the old one off... needed some emery to clean up the spindle. Wait... the old man's tool box... sure enough he had a roll in it, saved the day. I later told him about it.
     
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  21. My dad didn't do much mechanical work so he only had a few tools of that nature. He did TV and radio repair for years so I have a lot of screwdrivers, assorted pliers etc that he used in his shop. I still have the first tool I ever got. He gave me an open end 1/2X9/16 wrench that I still use a lot. I have gotten rid of a lot of things in my life, but I never sold a tool, its something you just always need until they stick you in a home. You can never have too many tools.
     
  22. Jagman
    Joined: Mar 25, 2010
    Posts: 345

    Jagman
    Member

    My great grandfather built houses in a small town north of me in the late 1800's, carpenters in those days made their own box to haul their tools to each of the houses they would build. I have his tool chest with most of tools he used.

    Problem is, while I have tons of tools myself, including those of my great grandfather - my son already has his own tools box and plenty of equipment, only one of my grandsons has any affinity or desire to work with his hands, and he's fresh out of college and living in an apartment. The other boy is getting ready to move to Japan. None of my granddaughter's has shown any inclination to work on cars or anything mechanical - so who do I leave my stuff to when I'm done?

    No idea what I'm going to do with it all, and at my current age I doubt I have more than about 5 years to get it sorted out.
     
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  23. Atwater Mike
    Joined: May 31, 2002
    Posts: 11,625

    Atwater Mike
    Member

    I have an inordinate amount of tools, due to hot rod fever since 1952, and my 55+ years professionally in the automobile trade.
    When some bozo was visiting my daughter, he walked thru my shop, noted 4 rollaway boxes and my large dual rollaways w/topboxes on the chassis.
    "That's quite a 'tool collection'," he said.
    I was like, Collection? Well, ????? LOL
     
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  24. junkyardjeff
    Joined: Jul 23, 2005
    Posts: 8,588

    junkyardjeff
    Member

    My junkyard tool boxes are made up from tool from my dad,uncle and grandfather.
     
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  25. BuckeyeBuicks
    Joined: Jan 4, 2010
    Posts: 2,705

    BuckeyeBuicks
    Member
    from ohio

    I went to the estate auction a few years ago that featured the tools of an old man that had been a mechanic from the 30's up through the early 70's. It was an evening sale and not very well advertised and to top it off the weather was really nasty that night. I could tell right away that the auctioneer just wanted it over. Before the auction started I was looking over the tools and did not find one piece of junk China made crap. There were only about 20 or 30 people there, nothing was going for much money. Most of the tools were in flats. I didn't really need anything but I could not stand there and watch full flat boxes of Snap-On, Mac, Plumb, Willams, New Britian. Bonny, Proto, Challenger, Blackhawk and many other high quality old brand tools go for $6 or $8 a box! I spent less than $100 and brought home a half a truck load of good old American made quality tools. Wrenches, sockets, screw drivers, pullers, pliers, you name it! I have given my son and brother anything they wanted out of the hoard and sold some things and still have some of it. I have one Mac 1/2 breaker bar that I call "Ole Luke" from the auction that I use a lot on tough jobs that makes me think of the old mechanic every time I use it.
     
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  26. Black_Sheep
    Joined: May 22, 2010
    Posts: 1,446

    Black_Sheep
    Member

    This 1/2” ratchet was the first tool I bought (1976) so I could work on my first car. I used it almost daily for the 30 years I pulled wrenches for a living and it still gets used regularly now that I’m only wrenching for fun. It’s helped put a roof over my head and food on the table. It’s been used on every vehicle I’ve ever owned so it’s definitely a sentimental favorite...
    image.jpg
     
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  27. jim snow
    Joined: Feb 16, 2007
    Posts: 1,807

    jim snow
    Member

    Contact Anthony Myrick on this forum. He is a auto tech teacher and probably would have a couple of students who could use your extras. Worth a shot.jmho. Snowman
     
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  28. speedshifter
    Joined: Mar 3, 2008
    Posts: 312

    speedshifter
    Member

    In 1948 , when I was 8 years olds I had already developed a life long love affair with tools. I was wondering through the Woolworth 5 & 10 cent store. I spied a 7" long fence cutting pliers I just could not live with out. I returned with the aprox. 75 cents & bought them. They are very good quality & I still use them to remove wheel bearing cotter pins. They are stamped Steelcraft Tool Co Germany British Zone. Of course Britain controlled part of Germany after WW2. I bought on auction.. what I thought was a cream puff 1/4" drive Snap On dial type ratcheting torque wrench, still in it's red box, along with instructions. Only trouble is it's 9/32' drive. Instructions say it was patented in 1943.I later heard these 9/32' tools were were specially made for the government. Greg
     
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  29. My dad gave me a set of Craftsman tools for Christmas in 1966,I still use most of them to this day.

    My 1/2" drive ratchet started slipping so I went to Sears to pick up the repair kit they use to have but not any more.

    The salesman said bring it in and toss it in the broken tool barrel and get yourself a brand new shiny one to replace that old beat up one.

    I went back home and got my old wrench and the same salesman was there when I returned with my old ratchet ,I walked over to the tool rack and removed a shiny new ratchet I then layed it on the counter in front of the salesman, then I removed my handy snap ring tool from my rear pocket and started taking the new ratchet apart and put the new internal parts in my 1966 ratchet.

    Then I tossed the shiny new worthless ratchet in the broken tool barbell the guy was shocked and he ask me why I would do that.

    I ask him did he work on cars, does he even own any tools? he said no to the first question and said yeah to the second.

    I just told him that the ratchet that I was holding in my hand is a part of my life that I was not ready to throw away and that my dad has been gone for several years but he rode in a couple of cars that those tools he gave me helped build. BTW ,I love my Craftsman tools. :) HRP
     
  30. WB69
    Joined: Dec 7, 2008
    Posts: 1,958

    WB69
    Member
    from Kansas

    IMG_4639.JPG I have all of my Dad's tools from the farm. Some were given to him by my Grandad and Great Grandad. He valued and used everyone of them. Now they are mine. I use several of them but have a few on the wall just for the pleasure of looking at them and remembering. My favorite one that gets used a lot is an old anvil. That, he frequently said, " is one of the most used tools in the shop ". Some day my son will end up with them. Hopefully he will use and cherish them as I do.
     
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2022
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