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What's your favourite tool and why?
- Thread starter JPSmit
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healeylvr57
Senior Member
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Ingersol-Rand 231 1/2 drive impact gun. The most reliable daily used tool on my bench at work. i rebuild alot of hydraulic pumps and power take-offs and have the same one for 20+ years.
reddsprite
Senior Member
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I got a Schleyer carb airflow guage that I saw advertised in a JC Whitney catalogue-I sent away for it and I love it-much easier than the unisyn for adjusting the twin SU's for me
SilentUnicorn
Yoda
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My Brain- It keeps me from bleeding when i use tools. It has been with me a long time.
m
m
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From a nostalgic heirloom sort of perspective, my favorite tool is an old (late 60s) power drill my dad bought in the late sixties from K-mart.
My dad used it when he finished off the attic in the house I grew up in, at that time I was young enough that I was forbidden to touch power tools, but I was of course fascinated by anything that moved fast, made noise, and could make holes in things.
I remember my soon to be brother in law using it with a sanding disk attachment to strip the paint off the tank and fenders of a Honda 350 (remember when those were everywhere?) he had bought to fix up in the early to mid 70s.
I did the same, using it to strip paint and smooth filler on a rusted out MGB/GT I repainted in the early 80s, and used it with a 3M abrasive wheel (the kind that looks like a sponge and strips paint and rust) when I re-did my TR4A in the early 80s.
It drilled holes for the sway bar install in my brother's Sprite somewhere back in time too.
Plus drilling out innumerable rusted out nuts, and standard use for various carpentry projects.
The thing just won't die, it has a metal case like they used for all power tools back then, it did have a three prong plug, but I broke off the ground when I was young, poor, and stupid and didn't have an extension cord with a ground wire.
It was semi-retired when the wear in the bearings made it a little harder to drill a precise hole, but put back in service from time to time when the later model drills I bought (admittedly cheap ones, but so was the K-mart drill) gave up the ghost after doing less than a tenth of the work old reliable has done.
The last couple years I made a special place for it atop the peg board in my garage, but it stays there, ready for further duty when lesser tools inevitably fail.
My dad used it when he finished off the attic in the house I grew up in, at that time I was young enough that I was forbidden to touch power tools, but I was of course fascinated by anything that moved fast, made noise, and could make holes in things.
I remember my soon to be brother in law using it with a sanding disk attachment to strip the paint off the tank and fenders of a Honda 350 (remember when those were everywhere?) he had bought to fix up in the early to mid 70s.
I did the same, using it to strip paint and smooth filler on a rusted out MGB/GT I repainted in the early 80s, and used it with a 3M abrasive wheel (the kind that looks like a sponge and strips paint and rust) when I re-did my TR4A in the early 80s.
It drilled holes for the sway bar install in my brother's Sprite somewhere back in time too.
Plus drilling out innumerable rusted out nuts, and standard use for various carpentry projects.
The thing just won't die, it has a metal case like they used for all power tools back then, it did have a three prong plug, but I broke off the ground when I was young, poor, and stupid and didn't have an extension cord with a ground wire.
It was semi-retired when the wear in the bearings made it a little harder to drill a precise hole, but put back in service from time to time when the later model drills I bought (admittedly cheap ones, but so was the K-mart drill) gave up the ghost after doing less than a tenth of the work old reliable has done.
The last couple years I made a special place for it atop the peg board in my garage, but it stays there, ready for further duty when lesser tools inevitably fail.
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Funny how that works, g. I've a collection of "heirloom" tools as well. That plane was just the first thing I thought of.
My granfa'r was a millwright, I have many of his tools, still use 'em occasionally. A set of adjustable reams in a wooden box are prized possessions.
Several micrometers were my Old Fella's tools, they are used reverently too.
My air compressor is a home-brew unit three generations old now. The beast won't die, and if it does I'll likely move th' planets to bring about its resurrection. :wink:
My granfa'r was a millwright, I have many of his tools, still use 'em occasionally. A set of adjustable reams in a wooden box are prized possessions.
Several micrometers were my Old Fella's tools, they are used reverently too.
My air compressor is a home-brew unit three generations old now. The beast won't die, and if it does I'll likely move th' planets to bring about its resurrection. :wink:
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While I don't have a particular favorite, this old vise I acquired last year is in the running. Belonged to the grandfather of a good friend of mine; he was an auto body/mechanic his whole life and this was left in his garage when he passed away. No one in my friend's family wanted it so they gave it to me.
It's a small Ridge vise (3.5" jaws) made in Ohio quite some time ago. I'm quite sure it will outlast me and many generations to come.
One other one comes to mind. At the camp I grew up at (my mom was one of the administrators) there was a fellow who did quite a bit of carpentry work on the property and I used to follow him around everywhere. He gave me a little 6' tape measure and a tiny tack hammer, still have both -- tape measure is on my desk and still gets used, the little hammer is mounted above my work bench.
It's a small Ridge vise (3.5" jaws) made in Ohio quite some time ago. I'm quite sure it will outlast me and many generations to come.
One other one comes to mind. At the camp I grew up at (my mom was one of the administrators) there was a fellow who did quite a bit of carpentry work on the property and I used to follow him around everywhere. He gave me a little 6' tape measure and a tiny tack hammer, still have both -- tape measure is on my desk and still gets used, the little hammer is mounted above my work bench.
AN5Sprite
Jedi Knight
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DrEntropy said:
Doc,
Thats an early version of the #220. If the cutter is 1.75" wide then it's between 1898 and 1908. If it's 1.625" than it could be up to 1917.
I've got my grandfather's Stanley #4, same vintage as above. My grandfather used it but never abused it and my father didn't really work much wood so he tucked it away somewhere safe. Dad gave it to me when I started violin-making school. Out of respect for it and my lineage I use it for one job only. Making center joints on instrument tops/backs. That's my most sentimental tool, and probably my favorite, but It's hard to choose.
