You know what gets me? When an antique store or some chic modern interior design type gets ahold of a really great old industrial workbench before one of us blue collar types can. I mean, I totally get it… Benches like this really are beautiful and maybe in some cases they deserve a life away from the industrial, but on some level I feel that they must sit around in their new posh settings and yearn for a greasy tool to be placed on them – don’t you?
Forgive me if these wrenches are old news, but I had never seen them. Typically, I’m not a fan of “gimmick” tools in the least, but recently saw one of these in action and was intrigued. Headed home from work the other day I saw a young man on the side of the road with a broken down early Knucklehead Harley. I stopped to see if he needed any assistance, but he had the task well at hand. While he was adjusting his pushrods, I couldn’t help but peak into his unrolled tool roll that lay beside him. In it was one of these Figure-8 wrenches from Craftsman. It seems to be a pretty great little space saver for such a use and the rider claimed it was built well.
In any case, details here. It’s available in metric as well.
I found this little table top compressor while browsing the net the other day and fell in love. It’s a Crafstman (Sears Roebuck) job sold in 1939. While it’s uses may be limited by its size, I love the art deco styling. And it got me thinking – Let’s see your vintage compressors!
Mike Zusin is a young guy based out of Tennessee with big aspirations. A couple of years ago, he built a shop with a dream of turning it into an empire of sorts. And he’s well on his way… But the cool thing here is that you can track his progress and watch his business mature through his shop build thread. Take a few minutes and start from the beginning. You will be glad ya did.
We’ve featured “Txinkmans” work before and I’m never out of expletives to say about his restorations. His latest, however, is simply off the charts. I want one substituting the Union Jack for the Stars-N-Bars. How about you?
More images here.
Through the years we’ve had some pretty amazing articles pop up here on The Garage Journal. The following is just a few of them:
Love the prices of discount tool houses, but not the quality? Learn which cheap tools make the grade and which don’t right here.
Have a typical two-car garage and want to use it as effinciently as possible? You’ve come to the right place for ideas. Check it out.
Our favorite work shop in the world… You can’t buy cool and you can’t by atmosphere. Nimrod proves it!
Need space to hold Bavarian’s finest? No sweat. Just follow this build from start to finish for some incredible ideas. Check it out.
It’s huge, gorgeous, and almost done… Check it out here.