History Do you remember the 1st tool you ever bought?

1961, bought a set of Thorsen end wrenches from Silver's Hardware Store in Mustang, OK. Good enough for working on '49 Fords. Didn't need a hammer, just hit whatever needed persuaded with the 1 1/8 boxed end and it would move. Surprisingly, I still have most of them

 

Somewhere around 1970, I bought a new bench grinder. Still have it and use it today.

 

Funny side story. Early 70's , 73 I think. The International Six Day Trials were being held in western Massachusetts in the Berkshires, where I grew up.

And I used to partake of the libation frequently, in one of 3 or 4 watering holes in the town of Lenox. Poor Richard's Tavern being at the center of this story.

Anyway, me and a buddy, Jim Toole, a first generation US born of Irish parents, were in the bar on the Wednesday of the trials week, when in comes the mechanics from the Irish team. Whereupon Jim immediately strikes up a conversation with them, and has no problems understanding them, given his parents brough.

And they were buying! Eventually we get around to talking about tools and such. They ask us where's a good place to buy wrenches, screwdrivers, and all sorts of assorted hand tools. We tell them about Sears, and the Craftsman line of tools.

A quick aside, as they got more ale into them, I was able to understand most of what they were saying...

Back to the story. They had heard of Sears of course, but didn't think they'd have time for a trip to the store. We told them that on Thursdays Sears stayed open until 9 pm.

Great, but we're not too sure of how to get there and back after a full race day, they responded.

No problem was Jim's reply, we'll take you there tomorrow after 6. I had a 67 SS396 Chevelle, Jim had a 65 Malibu wagon. Plan set, we continue partaking of the libation such that instead of killing myself, I sleep in my car, and go to work the next day still a bit in the bag...

Go home after work, shower, go back to Lenox and the same bar. We all arrive at the prescribed time. They pile into our cars, I scare the crap out of the 3 riding with me. Hey it was a fast car! And get to Sears, whereupon these guys pretty much buy out everything in the store. We had tools in my trunk, in the back of the wagon, and loaded the rest on the laps of the Irish guys. The ride back to Lenox was much slower...

So we asked them how much this was going to cost them for customs fees. Nothing was the answer. They swapped 1 for 1 tools with the less than Craftsman quality tools they had brought with them just for this purpose!

And we drank on them that night too. 2 nights in a row sleeping in my car...

The wee touch of the Irish in me still gets a chuckle out of this!

 

I spent my entire childhood hanging around and watching and learning auto repair at a one bay gasoline station that was two doors from my home.
While many mentioned socket sets, the mechanic I learned under rarely used sockets. Most work was done with combination wrenches. My first tool purchase was a combination wrench set, probably purchased at the local Western Auto store.
I still have the entire set and those wrenches live and travel in my hot rod, tool set. They have a lot of miles on them and have wrenched a lot of cars since the early 1960's.
When a wrench is needed, my first choice is still a combination wrench. Old habits really do die hard.

 

nope

 

1990, first real job at a gm dealership.
Bought a Mac air hammer, 3/8s air ratchet, air drill and Viking air file.
All US made. The air hammer died but the rest lives on.
Also bought a trade day special cutoff wheel.
Also still chugging

 

CS>>>Yep, you didn't want to see the ground prong on the plug missing with those>>>

Absolutely. 40s era B-D chrome jobs didn't yet have grounded or polarized plugs. Cuz most 20s era houses like ours didn't yet have receptacles that could accommodate these modern conveniences.

So I'm probably still here thanks to my my sister. She heard me yell 'Joyce' when I couldn't let go of the thing in the cellar. She came running downstairs & pulled the plug. I probably coulda pulled it out myself if/when I passed out & fell on the cellar floor. But it was a nice sibling gesture anyway. Joyce is still around. And I'm still fond of her.

 

My dad had a mishmash of old tools so when I turned 17 in 1967 went to the Sears store on holt in Pomona and bought a $40 craftsman tool set with box. The set of quarter inch drive sockets did not come with a ratchet so my dad let me have one of his extra ones from his tools. PLUMB brand. I still have it and still works. Ever since then I’ve had a much better set of tools than my dad. still have 95% of them still.

 

A Craftsman 1/4 inch ratchet I bought at Sears in Passaic, NJ probably around 1967 if not earlier to work on my bike......I still have and use it. My uncle had given me a new set of 1/4 and 3/8 S-K sockets and 3/8 ratchet but the set did not come with the 1/4 ratchet. Still have all that equipment too except for a couple of sockets I lost.

 

About 1972 I took my paper route money to Sears to buy some tools.I Picked up a set of combination wrenchs and because they were cheap, a set of ignition wrenchs (still have them).

 

I had received numerous tools as gifts or hand me down used tools however, the first tools I bought with my own money was in probably 1962 when I bought a S&K Wayne 3/8” drive socket and ratchet set. It had both 3/8” and 1/4” with an adapter. Still have and use that set today some 60 years later with all the original pieces.

 

Probably the first would have been a set of combination wrenches that came clamped together from the bargain table at the local lumber yard. Probably a $1 for the set. Anyone remember these? For use on my bicycle.

Gary

 

I started as a line mechanic , co oping everyday at noon , Jr and Sr year . At that moment I started with the Snap On Tool Pirate !
I think I have only lost one line wrench in 45 plus years . I loaned the Snap On line wrench to a “ Buddy “to work on his Harley . He never returned it , as usual . I was helping him , later on , the only Snap On wrench in his possession is a line wrench ! My line wrench , I offered to buy him a complete set of Craftsman line wrenches in trade for the one Snap On wrench . He says “ NO “ it’s the only Snap On tool I own , don’t know where I ever picked it up at !

 

My dad had a pretty complete set of tools which I used when I started working on cars. After having borrowed a torque wrench a couple of times, I went to the parts store and bought one. I made sure it had the Stuyvesant mark on the back. I think I gave $25.00 for it. My dad thought it was a waste of money. I still have the wrench.

 

That was probably my first tools, too. A set of India made combo wrenches, 1/4” to 3/4”. Thin and flimsy, but good enough for bicycle work. First real automotive tools I remember were a Spartan 3/8” socket set from NAPA I got for HS graduation. Used them for several years, stripped some of the sockets, lost some of them. Next sockets I bought were Stanley from Walmart. Still have them, along with many other brands I acquired through the years buying old tool boxes full of odd tools.

 

Geez you guys are good. Too much bourbon under the bridge for me. I have a vague memory of being at the Blue Chip Stamps redemption counter.

 

I was always told by my Dad not to buy anything he already had and he had most of the basics. The earliest memories of tools I bought were a small 2 amp battery charger and a pair of Wiss metal shears. Still have both those and a ton of Dad's old tools I just kept for their nostalgic value.

 

But that 9mm socket will be with you forever, shiny like new, except for the slight scratches from when you've purposely tried to get rid of it time and time again.

 

Back in the day, my Dad bought a Michigan 75A loader,my job was to clean out some of the leaves and grease a junk around the rig. While digging under the radiator,I found a Mac 9/16s combination wrench! I offered it to my Dad, he told me to keep it! After that I started collecting tools and it still continues to this day! I have absolutely no idea of the value of the tools I own today! But it started with that wrench!





Bones

 

Age 9 my father gave me a small set of sockets, pliers, adjustable, and small combos.
The next decade I pilfered now and when from my Stepdad and my Uncle.
Then I met a Cornwell man And bought 3/8 and a 1/2 inch socket sets. They were so pretty The ratchet handles were smooth and flowing with a contour from skinny to to wide for grip.
A year and a half later I left my chest ( a used top box, no name ) at my buddy's gas station while I took a 3 month tour of the 'Old Countries'
Upon my return I found a near empty box.
"Oh well".... The experiences that I'd had that summer left me feeling richer than the next dozen guys.

 

I got my first "real" tool set for my 16th birthday present from my stepdad. It was an 12pc J.C. Penny
3/8" socket set. Best present I ever had. That was 58yrs ago. Still have the set. The 3/4 socket is
cracked, but will still work in a pinch. Tools are your true life-long friends.

 

I had that set myself, think it was $59.99 for 100 pieces. The box wore out from being toted everywhere. I lost the allen keys over the years and about 1/2 of the 1/4" drive sockets.

My 1st tools were mainly found. I found a 9/16" Par-X combo wrench when I was crossing the street to buy a model kit, I was 9 and still have the wrench. Same with channelock pliers and various screwdrivers I found on the road.

 

My brother bought this set at a local hardware store, he was about 15. A wise buy, I blew most of my cash on booze and weed in those days.

 

In my experience the Chinese stuff was even worse back then. My first tool when I was 9 was a socket set purchased at the local flea market in '76 for $3 you could get the same one advertised in full page ads in comic books right next to the sea monkeys.

Very first time I tried to use it I twisted the drive tang off the ratchet without hardly any effort. It became "a thing" for me to twist those off of every chinese ratchet I ran across and they were everywhere. pissed a few people off who actually were trying to use them haha.

Recently the boss brought in his fathers(RIP) old tool box. In it we found one of those old socket sets had to resist twisting the tang off that one.

 

My uncle Frank donated some tools he had when I was young and started to fix my bike then the dirt bikes. In 1973 I went to work at Cleveland Brothers as a mechanic and I spent some money up to sears for tools just to get going. I have been a tool hoarder all my life and I am the most popular guy when they need a puller or some other specialized tool. I have Mac, Snap-On, Proto, S-k, some Craftsman, My grandad had a car repair shop on the property where I live and I have a lot of his tools and My uncle George was a mechanic and I ended up with a lot of his tools.

 

I bought an Industro 1/2” drive socket set in ‘78, several of the sockets were lost or broken but the ratchet and breaker bar still see regular use.

 

I bought my first set in 1984 from Sears at Lindale Plaza in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. My Dad “financed” them and I had to pay him back at $3.00 a week. I think the set cost $59.99. It had 1/4”, 3/8”, and 1/2” drive sizes with ratchets and extensions. I still have every piece. This started my lifelong obsession with Craftsman Tools. When Little Truckdoctor was born in 2009, I started buying every USA made Craftsman tool I could get for him. He currently has more tools than some of the guys that work for me.

 

I grew up in a family owned business so we had shops full of tools since day one but my first set was given to me by my parents at a somewhat young age was a craftsmen tool set with carrying box.

But for my first tool purchase it had to be specific laundromat equipment tools. My dad went with me to a class one afternoon to fix laundromat equipment at a parts house and I immediately brought some specific tools when the class was over seeing we were in the same building. This was at age 17, shortly before my 18th birthday. I brought a run down laundromat when I was 17 and brought it back to life. That was my first loan in life, $20,000, maybe $25,000. Also my first legit business of many to come throughout my years. I didn't count flipping stuff in school or shooting pool for money even though that is where my down payment money came from.

Anyways my best memory/ gift of a tool would be when the snap-On vice president gave me a gold plated ratcheting screwdriver in a box. This was in the early to mid 80's I believe. He said he would never use it and knew I would get more use out of it and gave it to me. He was right, I use it all the time and still have it but most of the gold is gone and so is the box. I should have never use it but back then it was a tool to me. He brought the cabin next door to my parents on the lake so we got to be good friends. Only handful of upper management got gold plated ones for some anniversary Maybe 50th and everyone else just got a regular ratcheting screwdriver with the anniversary logo on it and those are easy to find for sale..

I think my favorite tool now is my Miller plasma cutter.

 

The first tool purchase was a good set of Challenger combination wrenches that I sold when I needed some money, I regretted that so much I have never sold another tool!

 

No, I don't remember the first tool I ever bought. My dad gave me my first socket set (which I still have), and bought a few more tools for me, as I needed them to fix the family cars. I probably bought something somewhere along the way. But I know I started buying my own tools when I started working at the junkyard, not long after I turned 18.