Sort of a Rust Hunting Post
#11
But there wasn't any sport in the "hunt." Kind of a long story, but the ailing 87 year old father of a friend of a friend was a career aircraft mechanic and a hobby woodworker. He's dying, and he wanted to see his tools go to a good home before he passes away. He had in some folks who picked over the big ticket items--some lucky woodworkers out there got a free table saw, band saw, jointer, planer and drill press. I agreed to take everything remaining--I didn't want to just go in and pick and choose what I wanted, so I agreed to clean out his garage workshop as payment for whatever it was I was going to keep.

It's mostly odds and ends, but there's some stuff I am glad to have.

The most on point item is a Stanley 161 spokeshave. No doubt I will find many uses for it; it's a beast compared to the small LN spokeshaves I have had for a while.

   

In addition, There's a nice old Stanley (looks to me like a butt) chisel. It may be beyond repair; it's been ground with a back bevel an inch or an inch and a half up the flat side, I can see why people love these old Stanleys, though; it feels really solid. Then the standard plastic handled 3/8 chisel that everybody from his generation (and my dad's) always wound up with.

Some clamps, Bessey, mostly.

   

Some C clamps.

   

Probably the most valuable hand tool "score" from today's work: a beautiful, unused or practically unused, pair of starrett trammel points in the box.

   

I'm pretty excited to have acquired this cool old Disston 225 hacksaw. I have a Nicholson, but it is a gaudy orange, so I am going to tuck it away and display this one in its place on my pegboard. The chisels are in this picture, too.
   

This fella also served in the air force, which is almost like serving in the military, so I'm calling him a fellow vet. On the right are the navigator's calipers in their original presentation box, and on the left are some small dividers and tweezer looking things--I'm sure they have a name that doesn't relate to ladies' eyebrows, but they are tweezers.
Smile

   

These old files are going to be very handy. I have only recently discovered how gosh darn useful files are in woodworking. The few I had already got quite a workout on that block plane I made and posted last week.

   

Some old knives. That hooked wicked looking one is for leather, right? And does anyone know why the longer one has that hump on the back?

   

Look at this! There's over 100 drill bits here, I think. Yukon Tools, anybody know anything about them? Only the smallest 5 or 6 of these bits have been used, the others are literally like new. There's an old Dewalt hand drill somewhere in a box that will look spiffy hanging out with my newer Dewalt hand drill.

   
Lastly, there is this Dewalt radial arm saw and the bench it goes on. There's also a miter table, but we had to disassemble the whole set up to get it in the truck, so I just tucked the miter table away. This isn't mine, but I have it on long term loan. They years ago promised the RAS to another friend of mine (who worked with me today to haul everything). But he takes the "journeyman" part of his journeyman electrician title seriously, lives in a camper, and travels the west between job sites. So the RAS is mine until he settles down and buys a house, which he doesn't plan to do for at least 10 more years.

   

I understand that there's a sort of unofficial tradition that when you inherit an old timer's tools, you make him something with them. Any ideas for what I can make for his wife that will be small but meaningful? I'll be thinking about it myself, but if any of you have an idea, or have been there done that, I could definitely use some help with a project idea.

I seem to have maxed out my attachment limit for this post, but I have a few more pictures. I'll put them in a reply.
If you're gonna be one, be a Big Red One.
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#12
He had some really nice 2 by material, one nice oak board, and a bunch of small pieces of walnut I will definitely find a use for.

   

We took this wall organizer down. It fills up with a bunch f really nice wooden cigar boxes.

   

This was the workbench he did his model airplane building at. Not sure what I will do with it; maybe a sharpening station.

   
If you're gonna be one, be a Big Red One.
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#13
The drafting tools you called eyebrow tweezers are actually ink pens.  You adjust the two tips to the width of line you want on your drawing and then dip the tip in a bottle of ink.  With a little practice, you could draw a decent line.  The short one with no handle is screwed onto one of the compasses in place of the pencil holder to draw inked circles.
Back in the 1960's they were highly sought after as roach holders - I'll let you google that one.
Big Grin
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#14
(01-12-2018, 08:35 PM)RickinOakville Wrote: The drafting tools you called eyebrow tweezers are actually ink pens.  You adjust the two tips to the width of line you want on your drawing and then dip the tip in a bottle of ink.  With a little practice, you could draw a decent line.  The short one with no handle is screwed onto one of the compasses in place of the pencil holder to draw inked circles.
Back in the 1960's they were highly sought after as roach holders - I'll let you google that one.
Big Grin

no need for google; my friends got by with alligator clips, lol
If you're gonna be one, be a Big Red One.
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#15
(01-12-2018, 08:01 PM)MattP Wrote: ...
Some old knives. That hooked wicked looking one is for leather, right? And does anyone know why the longer one has that hump on the back?
...

The one with the hump on the back is a Herter's Improved Bowie.  The hump is meant as a thumb rest.  IIRC, there are grooves across it so you thumb won't slip.  The knife is about 50 years old.

Phil
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#16
(01-12-2018, 08:01 PM)Matt Wrote: This fella also served in the air force, which is almost like serving in the military...
I kinda get the impression that you were a sailor or ground soldier or, even worse, a Marine; but I suspect most flyboys and flygals would consider themselves to have been "in the military."
Nice acquisitions.
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#17
Hmm, my brother is retired Air Force.....he always got mad when this old "Grunt"  called it Air Farce


The other knife is called a Hock Bill......aka Flooring knife.....makes my knees hurt, just looking at it....
Show me a picture, I'll build a project from that
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#18
The "hooked" knife is for cutting/scoring drywall.
Mark Singleton

Bene vivendo est optimum vindictae


The Laws of Physics do not care about your Politics   -  Me
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#19
The hooked one is a linoleum knife.
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#20
(01-12-2018, 09:28 PM)gjohn Wrote: The hooked one is a linoleum knife.

Just a note. You are right about the id of the ink pen but you don't dip it in the ink bottle. You filled it with the small scoop on the end of the stopper of the India ink bottle. If you dipped it in the bottle you would have a mess when you registered it against a triangle or the T.
Nice group of tools.
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