Mini Tool Gloat

My Mother in law has been under the weather the past couple of weeks, so SWMBO and I have been spending a lot of time with her in the hospital and her husband (at home). The FIL is starting to lose his faculties, so we have to check up on him daily, make sure he gets enough nourishment and generally make sure he takes his meds and bathes once in a while. I often sit with him and "relive" his past. This past weekend, he told me that he wants me to "get those dam tools outa the basement..."I'll never use them so please get them to a good home".....

I expected him to have a couple of "Wen" grade tools, bent screw drivers and claw hammers with broken claws...SURPRISE

When we went down stairs, he took a couple of plastic sheets off of a table that contained the "cutest" little lathe...a 1952 Craftsman 6", with 3 and 4 jaw chucks, a dead center, a steady rest, a couple of mics, a bunch of tooling, a couple of gear sets, pulleys, and a box of stock (brass, "tool steel", rods and shafts, bushings, and aluminum....

If seems that he was a "Bowling Alley Mechanic" from WWII until he retired in the 70's and he bought the lathe to make bushings and shafts for the pin setters he had to keep running. He made a lot of the parts because he couldn't see paying AMF or Brunswick 50 cents for a bushing he could make him self..... Over the past 25 years or so, it has been sitting in his basement waiting for a new home. He hasn't run it since it left the bowling alley, but it has been lubed. Each year when he changed the batteries in the smoke detector, he went down to the basement and slopped oil on the ways, the gears and just about anything that got in his way. Through the years, the oil has built up and dried out so that It is just about like Cosmoline... Sticky and gooey. I cleaned the bed with "Brake Kleen" and it is flawless. Like wise the chucks, steady rest,ect. The tooling was wrapped in the rust resistant paper and all looked new.

As I was marveling over my good fortune, he dragged me over the the other side of the basement and uncovered a set of shelves with a great collection of wooden hand planes, chisels and funny little tools that I still have to figure out. It seems that my MIL's grand father was a cabinet maker and these are his tools, and he inherited some of them from his father and grandfather (both cabinet makers). I haven't brought the wood working tools home yet, but I expect them to have been cared for just like the lathe.

I feel like a kid in a candy store....

I know that I won't be "running with the big dogs", making the big chips like many of you with big iron, but I does feel good to "get off the porch" and be able to make little chips with my little lathe.

Greg Postma

Reply to
Greg Postma
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Very cool! Depending on the model of the Sears lathe, you could have a very fine machine. Some of those old planes could be worth some money to collectors! Lane

Reply to
Just Me

And a right bastard he would be to sell them, too.

Fourth generation tools are not supposed to be sold just 'cause they are worth some money.

Reply to
jtaylor

Damn!

All I ever got from my FIL were a lot of requests to fix broken stuff for him.

Some guys have all the luck.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Wisnia

Great finds! I hope you put them to good use, as tools should be.

Reply to
Eide

No point in keeping tools one would never use if another might appreciate them and use them well. I agree that they should go to the "best user", not necessarily the highest bidder. That kinda rules out Ebay.

Reply to
Don Foreman

"Greg Postma" wrote: (clip) This past weekend, he told me that he wants me to "get those dam tools outa the basement..."I'll never use them so please get them to a good home".....(clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ There is a part to this story that you are not telling us, either because you don't realize it, or because you are too modest. That old man may be losing his faculties, but he has known you for years, and he must realize how you will respect and value those tools. Your reaction shows me that those tools are going to the right person.

Reply to
Leo Lichtman

Cool.. Very cool.

Reply to
JohnM

There is just a great sense of satisfaction in working with the hand tools of your ancestors, it is as if the tools know what to do.

Reply to
bamboo

Lucky you on acquiring this treasure!

One word of caution though: I would refrain from using Brake Kleen (or similar solvents) for cleaning your machines for several reasons:

  1. They might remove or de-gloss (or otherwise damage) any paint on the machine.
  2. They will effectively remove *ALL* protective oils, greases, and waxes leaving your bare metal primed and ready for a massive rust attack. In fact, in a humid environment you could almost watch the surface rust bloom right before your eyes.
  3. These solvents are very nasty to breath or absorb though the skin.
  4. These solvents are very nasty to the environment as well.

On that last point, don't mistake me for a Greenie nut-job. There are valid applications for Brake Kleen type solvents (like cleaning brakes and other friction surfaces). But there's no reason to pollute the environment (and endanger your health) by using powerful and hazardous solvents for applications for which they are not intended nor needed. I am particularly concerned that you might have applied the Brake Kleen in the enclosed basement (which might be below your FIL's living spaces).

For cleaning of machines and tools, I recommend a 50/50 mixture of kerosene and mineral spirits. This solvent may not work as fast as Brake Kleen, but will be just as effective. Plus, it will leave a very light oily surface residue that will help prevent rust until you can get the metal properly oiled or otherwise protected. (Note: Because of this oily residue, do not use this mixture to clean a surface for painting. Use straight mineral spirits, followed by acetone.) And kerosene, mineral spirits, and even acetone, are fairly benign solvents.

- Michael

Reply to
DeepDiver

Seems He already was given very specific instructions . " get them to a good home " , no confusion I can see . The gentleman loved his tools and wants them in the hands of someone who will work them with respect . Isn't that the way we all feel ? Ken Cutt

Reply to
Ken Cutt

I find that when using my FIL's tools I use them in a way that would respect him. The tools that I buy I will use if I'm going to abuse the tool. lg no neat sig line

Reply to
larry g

Lane, I think that the Craftsman lathe will suit me fine . I don't plan on doing any thing with tolerances to close. Mainly just learning the craft. As for the planes, my beloved and I were at dinner tonight and she was trying to figure out how old the WW tools might be. She figures some of them might be from the 1840-1850 era. I plan on using those which are usable and displaying those which are not. She even offered to let me put "the prettiest one" in the display case with her Royal Dalton figures. Gotta love the woman......... In any case, I don't believe that they will leave my grubby little hands until I pass them down to one of our sons.

Greg

Reply to
Greg Postma

Yes, I am a right proper bastard and thank you for noticing.

How ever, I do agree about 4th generation tools. When my grandfather moved to Florida in the 1960, he gave me his tools. He also was a cabinet maker and never owned a power tool. He was a pattern maker at Pullman Co. from the 1920's til he retired in 1960. I still remember this tool box, flat black and butt ugly on the out side and cherry, mahogany and rosewood on the inside. A place for ever thing and every thing in it's place. I got married, moved about and when I went back to my folks place to collect the tool box after I bought a home, I found out that the tool box and tools were badly damage by a flood in the basement and my Dad tossed the whole works out. I was heart broken. I now have a second chance at owning experienced tools. I hope that my hands will someday be as good as the hands that once owned these tools.

Greg

Reply to
Greg Postma

Jeff, After my FIL gave me the tools, He asked my to help change his Depends, so I guess things even out.

Greg

Reply to
Greg Postma

Big snip

Another case where someone is rewarded for kindness to the old folk. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Reply to
Gerald Miller

Very nice. You have a great FIL. I am looking hard for a good deal on a MIG welding machine, I wish someone gave me one!

i
Reply to
Ignoramus28164

Michael, Thanks for your thoughts, I did use a "little" Brake Kleen,(in my own shop) on a rag to clean the bed. I wanted to see it it was as good as it looked (it was) and then I oiled the ways with some 3in1 oil to prevent rust. I plan on having a machinist freind come over this weekend to help me clean the lathe properly, lube it up and level it on a bench I am making out of a piece of bowling alley. I thought it poetic justice to set up the "Bowling Alley Mechanics" lathe on a piece of bowling alley.

Greg

Reply to
Greg Postma

Never had a FiL - he died when SWMBO was a year old; but I did rent a room from an older couple for 12 years when I refused to move my family to regional office. Before the husband passed away he passed on a few favoured items as something I might be interested in, latter, the wife passed on more things including several coins from a great aunt who had taken a fancy to her "young man". Two weeks ago, my youngest son was married and into the brides shoe went an 1893 silver sixpence from this collection. The elderly lady (87) attended the wedding and was pleased about the sixpence. I just talked to her and will be visiting Saturday to install a ceiling fan in her kitchen. She has now been a member of our family for 23 years and hopefully many more. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Reply to
Gerald Miller

I just had an idea that could kill two birds with one stone. Merge your time spent with him to time spent with him _and_ his tools, and see what you can learn from him while he's still "good." If he wants to relive his past, then perhaps having him share his machine knowledge as well would do you both a world of good. I'm not you, of course, so whether this will work is for your and your family to decide.

Reply to
carl mciver

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