Do we have any collectors of old tools?

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Member for

18 years 10 months

Posts: 4,796

I can't be the only daft ****** with this affliction...

I just dragged home a '53 SouthBend Heavy 10 lathe...which looks quite at home with the '37 13x40 SouthBend I already had.

I also appear to have become a vise collector as I now have 7 or 8 of the dang things in my garage/shop.

I almost titled this thread "Are there any old tool collectors?" but realised that may be misinterpreted ;)

Pics if anyone is interested..?

Original post

Member for

19 years 1 month

Posts: 6,043

Yes but my tool is not as big as yours :D
pics please :D

Member for

18 years 10 months

Posts: 4,796

ok, heres a few..

Latest vise, a Dunlap:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/ZRX61/ZRXGarage/3-27-10001.jpg

Wilton & a Paramo:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/ZRX61/ZRXGarage/Paramo002-1.jpg

Wilton as found:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/ZRX61/ZRXGarage/Wilton003.jpg

& it's previous home:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/ZRX61/ZRXGarage/2-24-10022.jpg

SB Heavy 10:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/ZRX61/ZRXGarage/3-1-10001.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/ZRX61/ZRXGarage/2-24-10013.jpg

The Dunlap last night:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/ZRX61/Projects/3-27-10a012.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/ZRX61/Projects/3-27-10a011.jpg

Member for

18 years 10 months

Posts: 4,796

There's also an ongoing floorjack resto..
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/ZRX61/Projects/Project5a010.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/ZRX61/Projects/Project5a002-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/ZRX61/Projects/Project5a003-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/ZRX61/Projects/3-1-10011.jpg

This is how it was found:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/ZRX61/Projects/2-18-10026.jpg

Member for

19 years 1 month

Posts: 6,043

Good job you are spelling it in americanese,otherwise you have many vices sir :D
Seems a harmless hobby ,unless you drop a vice on your foot of course !
I have mostly hand tools but a neighbour has a garage full of allsorts inc a lathe and bandsaw etc,so you are not alone in your hobby for sure.

Member for

14 years 1 month

Posts: 5,088

I have a beautiful 1950's socket set that lives in the back of my MG. Doesn't get used though- that's what the Halfords set's for!

Member for

18 years 10 months

Posts: 4,796

Good job you are spelling it in americanese,otherwise you have many vices sir :D
Seems a harmless hobby ,unless you drop a vice on your foot of course !
I have mostly hand tools but a neighbour has a garage full of allsorts inc a lathe and bandsaw etc,so you are not alone in your hobby for sure.

Expat living in California, sometimes forget to use correct spelling on whatever forum I'm on at the time... :)

Anywho, the Dunlap is finished.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/ZRX61/Projects/Projects6003.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/ZRX61/Projects/Projects6001.jpg

I'm making some aluminum/aluminium jaws for the British Paramo.. might even make some from brass.. but thats the *beater* vise/vice as it has 4 chunks missing & is going on the welding bench. :)

Member for

19 years 1 month

Posts: 6,043

I am a real squirrel with certain things LOL.My driver bit set (inc torx and allen bits etc) was rescued from our bin area along with the vacuum cleaner ( a vintage goblin i think- must take a pic !) that I use for the car.

Member for

19 years 1 month

Posts: 6,043

Good job you are spelling it in americanese,otherwise you have many vices sir :D

Hi ZRX ...yes I realised that you are a brit which is why i worded it that way :D
remember it is a mole grip...not a vise grip LOL :)
Dunlap is looking good !!

Member for

18 years 10 months

Posts: 4,796

remember it is a mole grip...not a vise grip LOL :)

Which work the release lever backwards compared to the correct British way. I'm always finding stuff over here that is the opposite of the *correct* way.
The taps have the hot & cold opposite the UK way.

The light switches are upsidedown.

Bicycle brakes are backasswards so they have the front brake on the left side... which damn near put me over the handlebars the day I discovered that one :(

Member for

18 years 10 months

Posts: 4,796

Here's the 2 South Bends together today:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/ZRX61/ZRXGarage/3-28-10SBx2004.jpg

Member for

14 years

Posts: 1,234

Lovely.

Stuff of this quality is harder and harder to find in the UK now. The real machine tools have been scrapped off and awful cheap far eastern rubbish fills the machine shops. The beds aren't even Meanite.
The bench vice's - likewise, so many places have gone bust and the metalwork left behind is melted for scrap. Some of it is auctioned, but they can't be bothered dragging a 100lb vice to the auction to get 2 bucks for it. So they melt it.

Member for

18 years 10 months

Posts: 4,796

The new (to me) SB had evidently been stood for at least 25 years or more & I just discovered it still had the original (very dry) leather drove belt it left the facory with... which just vaporized itself in a cloud of dust while I was messing about with it. :(

Just as well I planned on fitting a new rubber belt... I'll be at the auto store in the AM for a 63inch sepentine fan belt which is the standard fix these days.. just takes a bit of disassembley/reassembley to get it fitted... so I can take a look at the headstock bearings while I'm doing that :)

Member for

14 years 1 month

Posts: 5,088

On a far smaller scale, a friend recently passed away and left me many lovely tools ideal for looking after my MG and the other locally based ones I get summoned to with the phrase 'can you just...'
Some of them even originally came from the Abingdon MG production line and are still marked as such.
The quality is just so much better than anything you can get today without paying in arms and legs. And everything is in beautifully made cases, none of your cardboard and blown plastic crappy packaging. I'm sure they'll outlast me.

Member for

14 years 2 months

Posts: 316

Nice to see some restoration going on guys! I have a Denby Pillar Drill a real old one taller than me and weighs a ton!

In recent times with scrap metal prices so high too much of these faithfull old tools have been sent down the scrappy!

Keep the rescue work up!

Member for

18 years 10 months

Posts: 4,796

Found a new leather drive belt just like the original for $19.95 & ordered new felt wipers for the apron/cross slide etc.

Member for

15 years

Posts: 1,549

Nice to see some restoration going on guys! I have a Denby Pillar Drill a real old one taller than me and weighs a ton!

In recent times with scrap metal prices so high too much of these faithfull old tools have been sent down the scrappy!

Keep the rescue work up!


You are one impressive female.I wouldn't know a pillar wotsit if I found one in my porage.

Member for

14 years 2 months

Posts: 316

Well thanks Bumblebee!

On the subject of old tools I am soon to be black lead polishing a small Blacksmiths Forge and set of Footbellows, might have to replace the leather on those though.

Member for

17 years 6 months

Posts: 667

Not a collector of old tools (oo-er) as such, but I do appreciate quality.

I'm still kicking myself to this day for not snapping up the 2 old Myfords that my old secondary school was replacing (yep, for Far Eastern tat).

The price? A measly 20 quid each. We are talking 1996 -ish here! :rolleyes:
(Getting 'em home may have been a problem!!)

As for my toolbox, I try and fill it with quality equipment. I see it as false economy to buy cheap tools.

Don

Member for

14 years 2 months

Posts: 316

I have noticed that so called "cheap and cheerfull tools" tend to round off and lose it under load - go round boot fairs and autojumbles to find good old kit.

Member for

14 years 9 months

Posts: 69

Collection of old tools!

Some old tools I found!

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