Tool Talk
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: john k on January 27, 2012, 10:52:58 PM
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I am thinking that here where yesterdays tools and methods are not scoffed at, and some here have some very slight tendencies to be on the hoarding side, maybe theres some, that when presented with a good deal on something oudated, outmoded, it still goes home with them? I"m starting to see good 35MM cameras in the thrifts, got my last one with lenses and all for $15. Thursday I was in a thrift and spied a little Smith/Corona typewriter, a portable in very good shape with case, for $2. Right behind it was another black case, Panasonic something. A complete in perfect condition VHS cam-corder, $2.50, darn. at least they can be hooked up and used for stationary monitoring, look kinda neat up on a tripod too. This one weighs a bunch less than my RCA VHS cam corder. So, what obsolete technology draws the rest of the crew here?
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Cameras do it for me, along with old letter openers, kitchen tools, and old flashlights.
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Cameras do it for me, along with old letter openers, kitchen tools, and old flashlights.
Oh yeah.....flashlights are a problem, I mean opportunity for me as well.....
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I don't see much of it any more but I always have an eye out for old audio gear. Old, vintage, obsolete, analog; especially anything with tubes ... I'll check it out. It is out there, just not in the quantities I used to see. USA tools will be that way some day soon too, I believe.
We will look back fondly on the days when you could walk into any pawn shop, second hand store, flea market or garage sale and find at least one USA made tool, even if not all that special. The end is near!
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Mmm... Old kitchen tools do it for me. I like old wooden spoons, the ones that have bowls deep enough to hold some liquid for one thing. I have an old vegetable peeler that has a blade I can sharpen, and it works fine. I recently found a big old rotary grater that sure makes things easier -- four separate grating blades. Old cast iron skillets. I like old guns, too. My deer rifle is an 1873 Winchester in 44/40. "But it's no good past 100 yards" people say. The last deer I took at maybe 30 yards. Where I hunt, you seldom see farther than 60.
Sometimes convenience things aren't really so convenient.
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I like old sporting items. Especially fishing related, but I do have a lot of old guns too. I can't pass them up if they are priced reasonably. In fact I actively seek them out. How sick is that?? The problem is they pile up and I'm afraid to use them, as I have newer equipment that I trust and that functions great. So yes, old technology is good but then again so is new technology.
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Vintage radios. Old AM transistors, early AM-FM-Shortwave & Scanners.
Most of them are operational, to drive my wife crazy.
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Do you turn them all on at the same time, tuned to different stations?
The following will distract you for hours and hours...
http://www.transistor.org/
also http://www.jamesbutters.com/
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Home shop machinists (like me) thrive on trailing-edge technology. Old methods can be cheap and accurate (although time consuming). The machine tools of the Industrial Revolution were brought to a high state of accuracy using files, stones, and scrapping (that's scrape, not scrap) and a lot of hand labor. This is a lesson lost on a lot of folks.
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I have a good friend that likes things that are simple. He took the jet pump off his well that kept failing every few years and installed a windmill. The wind is always blowing near him and is free. He has wood stoves in his houses and out buildings. He has a wood cook stove that also heats his water. Cuts his wood with a 36 inch saw run off the rear wheel of one of his trucks. Many hand powered tools. He has a large gate leading into his wrecking yard. The junk hardware store hinges kept breaking, so he cut a Model T front axle in half a used it for hinges. He put a put a large steel shaft in some concrete and drilled 2 holes in it. He bolted the Model T spindles thru the steel shaft and bolted the 2 halves of the axle to he gate turning them in the very larges hinges. Then he put a wheel on the other end of the gate to support it.
EvilDr235
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Cameras do it for me, along with old letter openers, kitchen tools, and old flashlights.
Oh yeah.....flashlights are a problem, I mean opportunity for me as well.....
Collecting flashlights may become problematic ! Incandescent bulbs are being banned, good grief!
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Someone else likes old FLashlights eh? Have two from the 20s, one still works, original bulb, but newer batteries. Hate to think of converting them to LED's. Been collecting tools thats don't need electric power, can work in my shop without electricity pretty easily. Drill press, grinders, drills, forge blower, no problem. Heat house with wood already, will heat the shop the same. May have to keep watch out for a windmill. Already working on wooden wagon wheels.
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Working on wooden wagon wheels? Whacha doin with them?
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When I get two done it will be a cart! but when I get four done, it will be a wagon!! Have the rotted down remains of a complete wagon, we have found the hard way that not all the spindles are the same size or taper. Same with the hubs. Around here a decent wagon brings good money so the people with money can park it in the yard of their mini estate, plant flowers around it and watch it rot down, I just want to get a complete wagon together to say that I did it. Also have the remains of a sand wagon.
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Cool project! I hope you're going to take pictures of the process. I've done a lot of research on wheelwright work, but I've never tried it myself. Roy Underhill did a program that would be worth watching. It shows Williamsburg wheelwrights setting the iron tires, which is probably the hardest part (other than mortising the hubs).
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I believe the photos in the Foxfire book are probably better than anything I could accomplish. There are books, Practical Carriage Building, Wheels,wheels,wheels. Putting on the tire is difficult, need at least 3 people, and a solid wheel stand. Have a mortising chisel I have yet to try out. The Amish still sell new hubs, spokes, feloes. Just need more OLD TOOLS!
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I've got the attention span of a fruit fly in a farmers market.
Old bottles.
Old tools of all kinds!
OK all the rest of this list? Just put an "old" in front of it, so I don't have to type it 20 times willya?
Cutlery of every type
Scissors and shears in every size and type in case you didn't know these were cutlery
Gold watches
Clocks in general
Silver tableware (pre 1900 only)
Glass tableware (ditto)
Kitchen tools
Toys large and small of all ages
Musical instruments and other audio equipment. The only area I will take new, when I have to
Lamps, both oil and electric but nothing past the late 1920's
Fire gear
Cameras if they are really early
Pearl opera glasses
Glass Christmas ornaments, but have to be -really- early. They don't really go back before 1910 though
Beaded handbags if highly elaborate
Did I mention old bottles? (1900 being the cutoff date, anything newer, yuck)
Sewing machines, treadle and electric but nothing past 1965
Chinese immigrant stuff from the mining/railroad days (except its not all Chinese, they just called all short people with black hair and slanted eyes Chinamen)
Gold Rush stuff of any kind
Slot cars from the 60's
Scientific, optical and electronic instruments
yours Scott
Oh, PPS
I really need a left handed archery bow!! Even a high class child's bow would be better than nothing. I am drying some yew but that is a long ways away.
Also, nobody ever offers me guns! Ever!!
I would love a few more, but only zillion dollar, mostly plastic modern things I would have no use for, is all I ever get offered. I want on old side by side scattergun in the worst way!!
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PS
You can have a truly great professional microscope for almost free, if you go back only a few generations of them.
Same applies to telescopes and many other things.
Fortunately, yuppies only want new new new, so anything a little older is nearly given away.
I am typing to you on a $200 computer, free shipping!
My wife helped construct the University of Missouri and the City of Chillicouthe websites on the same kind of computer.
Every photograph you ever saw from me was done on an "obsolete" camera.
5 cents on the dollar and 98% as effective.
yours again Scott
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I believe the photos in the Foxfire book are probably better than anything I could accomplish. There are books, Practical Carriage Building, Wheels,wheels,wheels. Putting on the tire is difficult, need at least 3 people, and a solid wheel stand. Have a mortising chisel I have yet to try out. The Amish still sell new hubs, spokes, feloes. Just need more OLD TOOLS!
I saw it done once as a child. We had a wagon that one of the wheels had shrunk to the point of where the rim wouln't stay on. Took it to the local blacksmith. Beside his shop he had a ring of 6 or 8 rocks which were level. He built a coal fire between the rocks and laid the rim on them. As sections turned dark red he raked part of the fire out to keep them from overheating while the other sections were heating. When the rim looked right to him he quickly raked the fires out and with a few ( don't remember how many) guys set the wheel inside the rim. Placed a few thin wooden shims between the rim and the wheel. Drove the shims in and let it all cool. The wagon lasted several more years until we got a rubber tired one.
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I use lots of obsolete technology,
I use DVD’s and not blu-ray
My sawzall has a cord and not a battery.
My phone sits on my desk and is not smart by any means.
You get the picture…..
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I'm more used to seeing the tire dropped over the wheel. Three men on the tire make it easier to keep the tire level than two. I've got two pair of tongs with the jaws set at right angles to the reins for just this purpose. I think that the fellow in the Foxfire book used a scrap of hickory to check for the right temperature of the tire so it's not so hot it just burns the felloes, and not so cold it won't shrink enough. My first teacher used scraps of hooves. If they just skate across the metal, it's right.
There are special vises for shrinking tires, but you can do it with a wide leg vise. Same process. Make a bump in the tire, heat the bump and clamp it in the vise, and upset the iron back to reduce the circumference.
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Good grief, Scott, where do you put it all? I bow to a greater magpie than I am.
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I am just --really-- selective. Only a few examples of each thing.
I actually have a small house. Its fairly packed, but its small.
I can't get anything new, without something else has to go,
so it has to be better than what I've already got.
And I have been at it most of my life.
Actually you could probably say I collect research more than anything. Find out what was the best made in any particular field I am interested in,
then sit around like a fat alligator waiting for it to appear someplace I can get my teeth on it, cheap.
I have always tried to collect what is --not-- popular.
Trying to collect what everyone else already wants, is suicide.
You will never get anywhere that way.
Opera glasses are still free!!
You can still get the best ever made, fully pearl covered right down to the adjusting nut, and fine optics, mint condition, in a nifty leather covered molded paper mache' case,
right now,
for under $30 if you watch and wait.
But they are picking up steam.
In another 5 years they will be gone and the best of them will fetch very high prices.
15 years ago, mechanics tools were completely free. Down in the junk boxes underneath the sales table, and your choice for a dime.
Opportunities still come around, which is why all of us are here. But it is becoming a popular collectible.
In 10 more years they will all be gone.
40 years ago antique cabinetmakers tools were -completely- free. Nobody wanted them at any price. It took a long long time for the big tool clubs and auctions to gain any foothold so I had a good run at finding them. It would be pretty rare I could get anything good now.
This is how I operate. Always did.
Do your research, stay out ahead of what is popular, and you have a good chance.
My worst problem is that I always know. But there isn't anything I can do about it!
I always know what is going to fetch the high price someday. And I see it offered cheap.
But I am usually too broke to take advantage of very much of it.
I get a little taste of all of it though, so that keeps me going.
And my house is full of things I couldn't possibly afford to buy at today's values.
yours Scott
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With the rampant outsourcing of just about everything the past few years I'm a sucker for "old school" period! Even stuff I never even thought of. If I see an vintage made in USA item chances are I'll find a reason to snag it.
And I agree with Scott - within 10 years all of the old good stuff will be gone and all they'll be is new junk or what you have stashed!
A short list of things I've grabbed that just had to have:
most any kind of hand tool
pocket knives
egg beater drills
metal flashlights
analog multimeters
liquid thermometers
blank cassette tapes
light bulb continuity testers
small kitchen appliances
On the lookout for a decent, two slice toaster. My new-fangled, plastic-bodied Chinese job is giving up the ghost, and I ain't paying $40-50 for another new one!
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Keep that guy away from my ToaSTer!!!!
I've got an original 1953 Sunbeam tombstone toaster.
I've replaced the plug several times and the cord twice, but otherwise it has never missed a beat since 1979 (I got it NOS at an estate sale.)
But I'll keep an eye peeled for you George. I have a soft spot for toasters anyway.
BTW, you buy your toaster by-the-pound.
If you can pick it up very easy, its not for you!
yours Scott
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Years ago my buddy gave me a 4 slice sunbeam toaster, because I griped my toaster had died (in fact , it exploded like 4th of july, which I guess would have been fun, but not at 6am)
The thing was awesome, when you pushed the button, the lights in the house would go dim for 3 seconds, and it hummed like a swarm of angry bees. I swear the thing sucked $2 of juice every time I made toast with it.
(I ended up giving it to someone else, I never eat 4 slices of toast in the morning...)
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Vintage toasters only work for pre sliced bread. I like toasting bagels and hand cut bread. I had a cheap ($9) two slice toaster that lasted well over 10 years. It died two months ago.
The new one was about $25, and it had the widest slots I could find. It does a good job but takes forever.
Getting back to TOOLS, I don’t own a hand saw, With the exception of a Japanese pull saw. No hack saws either. Everything that cuts wood or metal has a motor.
I did have a few handsaws and hacksaws before the fire. I never used them. I see absolutely no reason to replace them.
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You are missing the joy of cutting wood with a properly set and sharpened saw!
Of course, 99% of saw users never get that either these days.
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You are missing the joy of cutting wood with a properly set and sharpened saw!
Of course, 99% of saw users never get that either these days.
the only "set" on my saw blades were they set in the corner.
saw sharpening and setting the teeth is a lost art.
my pull saw was a joy to use at first but it is in need of a new blade or a professional touch.
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Pull saws are kind of disposable.
They are nasty to resharpen.
You only have to learn to sharpen a proper saw once.
There is no substitute.
Nothing more satisfying that watching the saw make 2" in a heavy plank, with every stroke!
Or a dovetail saw you are actually scared of, because its so sharp.
Also a hacksaw? one that weighs 2 pounds (heavy frame)?
with a sharp bi metal blade??
Like a sharp file, these are tools too!
Problem is cheap plywood handle saws (God forbid plastic),
Cheap featherweight hacksaws,
Modern borg files??
These are --not-- tools. They are merely sculpture,...."artist conception" tools. People think tools don't work when they buy these atrocities. Because the crappy ones don't work.
Not like crappy sockets which do at least work until they break, bad files or saws never work at all.
yours Scott