Old Tools

thurin

thurin

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For me, knives are a tool and I thought this might be an interesting idea for an off topic thread. Let's see some old, antique tools.

I've been up in Minnesota visiting my mom. We've been going through some of my dad's things and came across a box of his dad's old tools that we had never seen before. My grandfather was a Mining Engineer and worked in Colorado (where he met my grandmother), South Africa (where my dad was born), and all over South America. Here are some of his tools of the trade.

Gurley Surveyors Compass from the 30's/40's:



Clinometer:



This next one was the coolest looking. It's a combination compass and clinometer.



From what I can tell he had a belt that he carried all his tools on and made pouches to attach the tools to it. Here's an old rotary leather punch he used. They haven't changed much over the years.



I'm not sure in which country he found this but this appears to be a stone age hand axe:

 
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Very cool post!. I love old tools and the stories they tell. Unfortunately I'll never know where my grandfathers tools went, but I wish I knew. He did some interesting work through his life. You're lucky to have those and I appreciate you sharing.

Not exactly of the same caliber of neat but it is a very cool old tool that's been given a new life. A 70 year old hatchet restored by Nick Thrane of Thrane Axe & Saw company. Best axe I've ever used and the same weight and roughly, handle shape, as a GB Small Forest axe.

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Nathan, it sounds like your grandfather worked in some very interesting parts of the world, back when getting to those places was no picnic. I have an interesting story regarding both my father and grandfather. My grandfather was a finish carpenter in Philadelphia. The first ship that my father was stationed on in 1943 was a newly commissioned Destroyer Escort. Their first time at sea was to provide security for a supply convoy from New York to England. Along the way they hit a hurricane and 90 ft. swells. The flat bottomed Destroyer Escort suffered a cracked hull in the storm, and had to limp into dry dock in Liverpool. According to what my father described during his time in London, this must have been after the Battle of Britain. Long story short, he had picked up three Sheffield steel wood chisels for my grandfather while he was in England. He had told me this story as a boy. After he had passed, I was going through his tools in his shop, getting ready for an auction of his power tools. After the war, my father went to trade school, did an apprenticeship and also became a finish carpenter for the same company my grandfather worked for. While cleaning out his shop, there was a drawer full of wood chisels. Both my father and grandfather stamped their initials into their tools so that they could be identified at whatever job site that they were working on. In that pile of wood chisels, I came across 3 stamped DM, my grandfathers initials. Upon closer inspection, each one of these were made in Sheffield, England. Needless to say, these chisels are in the toolbox that belonged to my father with some other hand tools that I have kept.

If I get a chance over the next few days or weeks, I will try to dig out the toolbox along with the chisel to grab a picture or two to add here.
 
Very cool thread Nathan! And great replies with photos so far!

Grandmom (my father-in-law's mother) visited our new home recently and told us we should come by the house and take whatever tools from the basement we need. Poppee who passed away in the Spring was a carpenter, so it'll be pretty sad to look over his tools, but hope to find some things to share with you guys in the near future.
 
How do you guys protect those old tools. I've got an old crosscut saw that I used bowling alley wax on and it seems to be holding up. Also heard of Boiled Linseed Oil for use on axes and garden tools. Lately I've been using Renwax on my knives
 
swonut said:
How do you guys protect those old tools. I've got an old crosscut saw that I used bowling alley wax on and it seems to be holding up. Also heard of Boiled Linseed Oil for use on axes and garden tools. Lately I've been using Renwax on my knives
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Boiled linseed oil is what Nick Thrane uses on the axe handles. Not sure how often to reapply it at this point. 6 months to a year depending on use maybe? I'm just going to use mineral oil on the axe head as needed. That mirror polished edge won't take an even coat of oil. It just beads up.
 
Cool post Thurin. I don't have any of my old and antique carpentry tools anymore, my psychotic ex gave those away and broke my antique glass collection during the divorce...but I have several old soldier tools from WW-II I could post :)
 
Those are some real beauties Nathan. I would make a little spot for those and put them right up on display. They have a certain look of quality to them. I think they made tools different back then (especially the stone one!!!).
 
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