So picked up this super cool 64" X 30" tool board last week. It was found in a basement about midway between Pittsburgh & Cleveland. This bad boy obviously served time in a shop / garage what with the wear pattern, overspray, and even has a piece of a shop invoice stuck to it. Can't decide whether to use it, or mount it on a red brick loft wall with track spotlight as artwork.
Fairmount Tool & Forging Co. Monster auto body board
- Thread starter MR.X
- Start date
Provincial
Well-known member
Definitely a work of art! Nice pick!
Thanks Jock!
outofbounds
Well-known member
Nice subject matter on that particular board. Great visual interest.
3baygarage
Well-known member
That's really cool.
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Very nice find, X. And if you're taking votes - I vote for artwork! For two reasons: (1) it's beautiful, and (2) it would be danged hard to fill!
I know you know Fairmount has near legendary status with us WWII jeep guys - due to the affinity Willys-Overland insisted on it with the QMC and then the Ordnance Dept in turn.
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
But back to the subject of artwork...
Have you ever seen the 1957 Fairmount publication called "The Anatomy of Hand Tools?
It is the coolest vintage hand tools "catalog" I have ever seen. By far. The tool design plates are wonderful. It's kind of like Nicholson's Filosophy. But they are accompanied by old-fashioned masculine cartoon panels, by the cartoonist J.R. Roberts, all of them tool manufacturing oriented. I'm not sure where I got the PDF. Probably TA 1.0. It's not loaded on TA 2.0 yet, but it might be in the queue.
Attached is the cover (Pic 1) - just for a feel for the whole thing, the page on body hammers (apropos your board...)(Pic 2), and the page on wrenches (Pic 4), because the cartoon on that page is perfect for GJ. Pic 3 and Pic 5 are zooms of the cartoons.
The dialogue balloons are kind of hard to read...
In Pic 3...
The guy on the left says, "Oh, I got a cut runnin; on my machine, so I was just making a Davy Crockett hunting knife out of this very old work out file."
The shop foreman says, "What for may I ask?"
The Greek chorus guys are saying, "That's always been the mystery of the shop is the stuff they make on the sly - " and "It helps that they caught one kid out in the foundry mouldin' a Marilyn Monroe!"
In Pic 5...
The guy on the left says, "Handles! Everything from a baby's rattle to the throttle off a locomotive! Who's the collector?"
The guy on the right says, "That's the boss's life story and the route to his office - his doorknob is brass outside and gold inside!"
Have you ever seen the 1957 Fairmount publication called "The Anatomy of Hand Tools?
It is the coolest vintage hand tools "catalog" I have ever seen. By far. The tool design plates are wonderful. It's kind of like Nicholson's Filosophy. But they are accompanied by old-fashioned masculine cartoon panels, by the cartoonist J.R. Roberts, all of them tool manufacturing oriented. I'm not sure where I got the PDF. Probably TA 1.0. It's not loaded on TA 2.0 yet, but it might be in the queue.
Attached is the cover (Pic 1) - just for a feel for the whole thing, the page on body hammers (apropos your board...)(Pic 2), and the page on wrenches (Pic 4), because the cartoon on that page is perfect for GJ. Pic 3 and Pic 5 are zooms of the cartoons.
The dialogue balloons are kind of hard to read...
In Pic 3...
The guy on the left says, "Oh, I got a cut runnin; on my machine, so I was just making a Davy Crockett hunting knife out of this very old work out file."
The shop foreman says, "What for may I ask?"
The Greek chorus guys are saying, "That's always been the mystery of the shop is the stuff they make on the sly - " and "It helps that they caught one kid out in the foundry mouldin' a Marilyn Monroe!"
In Pic 5...
The guy on the left says, "Handles! Everything from a baby's rattle to the throttle off a locomotive! Who's the collector?"
The guy on the right says, "That's the boss's life story and the route to his office - his doorknob is brass outside and gold inside!"
Attachments
Last edited:
Thanks!
Check.Very nice find, X. And if you're taking votes - I vote for artwork! For two reasons: (1) it's beautiful, and (2) it would be danged hard to fill!
Ref.
"hard to fill"......Right?! plus the frickin weight would be crazy.
I know you know Fairmount has near legendary status with us WWII jeep guys - due to the affinity Willys-Overland insisted on it with the QMC and then the Ordnance Dept in turn.
And besides the JEEP connection, I've always kind of chuckled watching guys at the swaps or estate sales frantically picking up Auto body tools looking for Plomb or Snap On and being disappointed when it's only the super high quality original Fairmount stuff.Roberts210
Well-known member
Looks like your kitty likes it too. That's a plus.
r_olson_06
Well-known member
gnpenning
Well-known member
You guys find the coolest stuff.
Thanks for sharing
Thanks for sharing
yeah, well for all I know there might be some "overspray" from a dog on there too so....
ZRX61
Well-known member
I misread the title as "Monster auto body HOARD".
Still way cool though. Not sure how I'd go about cleaning it up a bit, probably just a wipe down with a damp cloth... maybe with a bit of something like 409 etc.
Might even be tempted to remove all the brackets, beadblast & replate or paint them silver.
Still way cool though. Not sure how I'd go about cleaning it up a bit, probably just a wipe down with a damp cloth... maybe with a bit of something like 409 etc.
Might even be tempted to remove all the brackets, beadblast & replate or paint them silver.
Last edited:
twertsy
Well-known member
That's an awesome board X. Put another vote in the artwork column!
yeah, I'm gonna experiment with a bracket, see what I can do that doesn't disrupt the overall look but helps preserve it a little.
Thanks!
Username already in use
Well-known member
Fill it up! You know you want to!
I'm not even considering it.......besides, I'm already kinda set for auto body tools....
Attachments
wrenchguy
Well-known member
I vote on filling it, still great artwork regardless.
Mr. Nonconforming, non compliant & contrary person.
good luck with ur projects.
Mr. Nonconforming, non compliant & contrary person.
good luck with ur projects.
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Nice hammer, nice logo.
I don't mind at all, when I started the thread I debated giving it a more general / inclusive title to give it a longer life but....
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Thanks!
Cool beans. (That's what happened with my Mossberg No. 600 Salesman Board thread. I just keep putting all my Mossberg there now.)MR.X said:
In that case, here are a pair of 6-1/2" slip-joint combination pliers I've had for a number of years...
...with a COO-inclusive variation of the logo.
I suppose it's possible Fairmount copycatted the gull-wing handle design, but I suspect they may have been made by their neighbors a few miles away!
Attachments
Thanks!
In that case, here are a pair of 6-1/2" slip-joint combination pliers I've had for a number of years...
...with a COO-inclusive variation of the logo.
I suppose it's possible Fairmount copycatted the gull-wing handle design, but I suspect they may have been made by their neighbors a few miles away!
]
That's a good theory, I'm not near my Vlchek version of those pliers with that distinctive stamp so I can't do a side by side....do you have one handy?
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
I do. I am less assured than I was sight unseen. Very similar. Maybe even almost identical. But the swale or swoop or whatever you want to call it on the handles is just a skosh shallower (slightly less pronounced) than the Vlchek. The difference could be an artifact of the Fairmount being a tad longer.
These are the only Fairmount pliers I have ever seen like this. The WWII pliers, which don't have the /FTF\ logo (they have the tall 'F' small 'AIRMOUN' tall 'T' logo), have standard pattern handles and may have been sourced from Crescent IIRC.
Attachments
Smokeshow69
Well-known member
Way cool board! I own nothing to donate to the cause to fill it up but after seeing what you posted I understand why! I know ftf makes fantastic stuff but I am partial the plomb.
Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app
Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Provincial
Well-known member
Lugz, regarding your post #9 about "The Anatomy of Hand Tools" I noticed the artwork in the cartoons looked familiar. A bit of research confirmed my memory, and it looks like the same artist, J.R. Williams must have done the cartoons for Fairmount.
Look up "The Bull of the Woods" of "bull of the woods cartoon" on the internet and you will see what I mean.
I also added a link to this thread in my Fairmount Tools thread.
Look up "The Bull of the Woods" of "bull of the woods cartoon" on the internet and you will see what I mean.
I also added a link to this thread in my Fairmount Tools thread.
Provincial
Well-known member
Friday I found some Fairmount body dollies.
The light, flat spoon is a number 1036.
The heavy spoon is a number 1050
The curved dolly does not have any markings, and could have come from any manufacturer. There were only these three at the sale, so I suspect the curved dolly was part of the set.
The light, flat spoon is a number 1036.
The heavy spoon is a number 1050
The curved dolly does not have any markings, and could have come from any manufacturer. There were only these three at the sale, so I suspect the curved dolly was part of the set.
Attachments
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
I couldn't decide where to put this. It seems I have some Fairmount tools posted here, and some on the other Fairmount thread, but this long reach hammer makes more sense here. Not going to lie, I don't ever recall seeing any body hammer with this shape head, and I didn't know exactly what it was when I found it this morning at the flea market, but I guessed right that it was indeed a body hammer, almost entirely on the strength of it being Fairmount branded. It looks older than the Houdaille ownership era to me, but the 1971 catalog is the only catalog I could find it in. Model No. 165-G, as marked on the cheek. I didn't weigh it, but 5 oz. head seems right. The handle, which is original, is 18" OAL, as advertised.
Attachments
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Does it show all the hand forged strikes?!
Seriously, I would enjoy seeing photos for comparison if you have the opportunity, at your convenience.