Art & Inspiration Whats your sentimental shop item?

My cousin who is a car guy has a drill like the one you have pictured. Whenever he uses it it is plugged in a wall socket where the drill can barely reach. That is so when the bit catches the drill will unplug itself IMMEDIATELY!! Those drills have a reputation that makes me laugh but only when I am the guy not using it!

 

Adding a pipe handle opposite the handle with the trigger helps immensely

 

People thought the end of hand crank start cars was the end of broken arms and wrists.
Then those drill motors came along, and it's not just the big old hurky ones either, every time I use my big Milwaukie with anything over a 1/2" bit I pucker a little.

 

My favorite hangs above my door from my garage to the house. I have hung in that position everywhere I have lived since 1962. It is the license plate off my first car, California LNH 878, a yellow and black 1956 plate with the last registration tag from 1960. The only thing close to that is a pit box given to me by the son of a great friend that passed away several years ago. Russ Pendley and his partner Bobby (last name lost to the ages) races sprint cars at ASCOT from '59 to '69. They quit when roll cages were required. Claimed that the cars became "sissified".

 

He Is No Longer Governor And Moved To Bliss Idaho...Thanks...

 

I have a Industrial Craftsman 1/2 in drill that was my dad's that I hated using when I was young and when my son uses it to this day he calls it the f------ widowmaker! I just grin!

 

I would do that but Thor doesn't have the threaded bung that most newer big drill motors have. If I used this drill much at all I guess I could connect a bar to the handle on the rear to get some leverage. I have another newer drill I use, this one sits on the shelf most of the time.

 

I have all my dad's old tools and toolboxes. Also, stashed up in the rafters is a tote containing all the stuff he cleaned out of his locker at work after he found out he had the cancer, and knew he would never be returning. I could never bring myself to toss it out, even though its just useless stuff like a half used container of instant coffee.

 

I still have my first set of tools,almost gave them to a kid that lived next door but he did would not have appriciated them as he left everything out side scattered all over the yard so they will probably stay in the rafters of the garage.

 

A brass hammer with the wooden handle wrapped in electrical tape that my dad gave me 64 years ago when he developed Polio and could no longer drive his precious little 1948 MG TC. The hammer was part of the MG's tool kit to remove and reinstall the knock off wheel hubs. Also dear to me is my Thorsen 1/2 drive ratchet wrench, sockets and extensions set. I wanted tools for my birthday and Christmas ( they closely came together ) and we went together downtown and he purchased it for me. The 9/16", 1/2 "and 5/8" 12 point sockets are nearly rounded out from so many years of service but there still usable. I'll have these till I die.

 

Hey 2m,
How was your trip out West to Carlsbad during Thanksgiving with your wife? I am sure there were some great photos and stories as the weather was fairly nice. We took off for Santa Barbara to see friends and relatives. But, we also had a great time, exploring some old stuff and some new. Our trip was a sentimental journey as we visited stuff we had not seen in 10-15 years. The Santa Ynez Valley has changed tremendously, but, was still part of the sentimental journey for us. (the old homestead and all.) The roads, traffic/drive and views were still outstanding.

Having been given new tools, like a Craftsman, “click” torque wrench from Sears and several Craftsman wrench sets one those Christmas mornings, for us the season was a way to get free stuff. (Teenage boys’ outlook on Christmas always had room to grow.) Besides still having my old 1960s Craftsman Wrench Set and various old tools, I have this remnant of our old model building days. (The original complete, Craftsman socket set/torque wrench has already been given away to our niece and her family.) Although, it was not given to me as a Christmas gift, it was right around that time. This old flame emitting tool changed the way we did our models and other necessary heat source situations.

This little flame thrower had been sitting around all of the houses we have lived in as a decoration.
It fit the need of an antique item (to display), to go along with our then, antique furniture. But, when those were exchanged in the next furniture purge by you know who, it was given a nice resting spot in the garage cabinets.



But, when those were exchanged in the next furniture purge by you know who, it was given a nice resting spot in the garage cabinets.

To me, it has always been a miniature flame thrower. The wick made the flame go upwards and the needle valve outlet shot out a stream of air to push the flame towards whatever direction it was pointed. Those little green plastic toy soldiers had no chance against this flame thrower.

Over the years, it has occupied any garage cabinet. Once in a while, I will get it out and look at it. It was used as a flame thrower against the hordes of little green army men and cars, but, also as a pin point heat source to bend those “wax resist” rods for model dragster frames and header pipes. Later on during the hot rod days, the flame thrower was used to heat shrink the thin rubber tubing. It was better than birthday candles or even zippo lighters. (Every teenager had a zippo lighter handy!)

Jnaki
The old, reliable flame thrower is still old and still hanging around. It has been my friend for 66 years. Will I ever get rid of it? Who knows, there are fewer items from back in those days that have stayed with us over the years. Many house to house moves always created a situation that the “extra junk” from the old house gets stored or thrown away. So, since we are on our last house move, it is safe from the “roving junk, purge character” that has been with me for a long time running. Still safe and hiding behind a few, old, car model boxes. For now…

 

I'm another one with some of my dad's OLD tools...…...

 

If I had to pick just one. It would be this seamer. My Dad bought an HVAC company in 1962. All of the trucks and the tools were painted green. I've had these in my tool box since 1972. Dad's 87, and is still running the company. This is the only tool that's left from 1962. RON....

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Dads tools for sure. He gave me and my brothers tools of his when we were kids. I'm the only one that still has all of them. He engraved everything.

 

My sentimental shop item? The shop itself.

After working in everybody else's shops for my whole life, I determined it was time to build my own. But it couldn't be done without the continuous help of my Dad and brothers. They were there helping at all times, from the foundation all the way to the roof. Many, many days/months of work.

Every time I walk in the door I am so very appreciative of their help.

 

I have a Black and Decker 1/2 inch Drill motor with a 12 inch piece of pipe for a handle, that also has no quit in it. I was mounting a 40,000 lbs winch on a truck. Needed to drill some 3/4 in holes, put a 3/4 in three sided drill bit in, proceeded to drill through some 1/2 inch plate, drill dropped through after completing the hole and snagged on some more steel,slammed my hand up against the winch in a way I couldn’t let the trigger go, in a split second every thing got tight and luckily the 3/4 drill bit split and shattered. But only after smashing my hand. Thought it busted it, but no, just beat it up. It swoled up, looked like a boxing glove.
I’m alway real careful now when I use that widow maker.



Bones

 

This is gonna sound weird, but mine is a piece of 2x2 angle iron.

Few weeks before my dad passed, we were out in the shop, he had one of our last pieces of soapstone. We were yammering back and forth, so I grabbed the soapstone from him and wrote on the 2x2 "Dad had the soapstone and put it away"...something to that effect.

Well, he passed and the angle iron I wrote that on is still in the same spot, writing on it faded to where you can't read it.

I've worked around that fucking piece for over 10 years now, but it still lay's where it's at.

 

A Plomb 1/4 drive socket set from WWII that my mother bought when she went to work to build P-38 fighters for Lockheed. Also, some Craftsman wrenches my dad bought during WWII. They have the “war finish” (bare steel-no chrome plating). When he bought them my dad engraved his initials and the month and year: 6/43


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I get sentimental about the amount of free space I once had before I filled it with “stuff”

 

I forgot to add, I got a 40 lb steel car made by my son in high school, sits on my wood stove, he's almost 50 now, still doesn't know what it means to me, gotta tell him one day.

 

my 357

 

Should retitle this too “dear thief, this is what’s most important to me”


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My sidekick "Trixie"

 

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Can't blame ya, CA. That's a beauty. Looks like multiple scales on it, too.

(Sorry, boys. Just realized I replied to a post that's 3 years old.)

Roger

 

For me, it's a Harris torch head that was left behind after my father in law passed. He passed four years before I met and married his daughter, and his (then) son-in-law half raped his shop afterwards. They left this torch head behind, I suppose because it was an orphan. When I and the wife inherited the place from Mom, I found it in the back of a drawer, had it rebuilt, and have since used it on numerous occasions. With a little luck, I am able to use it as well as he was able to.
Oh, I now own that 24x24 garage that was his shop, as well.

Roger

 

I have two daggers that my grandfather made in the forge shop, probably in the 30s. He died in '52, two years before I was born. Nothing fancy, about 12" with guarded babbit handles. Very pirate looking I always thought. I used to use one of 'em to open oil cans when I first started driving. They're now on the wall in the garage.

 

I've got a Binks model 19 spray gun that my dad painted my first car with in 1963 and it was pretty old then. I learned how to spray by shooting primer with it. I bet I painted 40 or 50 cars with it over the years and still have it and it still works fine. Don't use it any more but I would never get rid of it.

 

My Dad had a license in every trade. Keep them hanging on the wall in the garage.