Tools that actually look nice and have some form of aesthetic

[Bennylava]

Yall notice most of the power tools these days look like they're trying to be something from the Transformers franchise? They may be good tools, but it looks like they're trying too hard to look cool. It's having the opposite effect.

I liked it better when tools looked more like this one.

Nice color, nice lines, nice shape.

Do you have any tools that you think look particularly nice? If so I'd like to see them. That way I can try to find them on ebay lol. Nothing wrong with using nice looking tools.

 

[YesIHaveAHammer]

if something is 100% functional, it's always beautiful ... remove all the material that's not needed, it will become beautiful by itself
-- Dan Gelbart

If you haven't already... https://www.youtube.com/@dgelbart/videos

 

[Hakeem]

If you haven't already... https://www.youtube.com/@dgelbart/videos

I believe this may have been the original quote:

 

[KnurledNut]

My metal body oil-lubricated wormdrive gear belt sander comes to mind.
These are coined as "locomotive" sanders for obvious reasons.
Yes, it's as heavy as it looks and that's a wonderful thing as it loves to eat.
It also makes enough torque that you could ride this thing to town if you had a long enough extension cord.
It does have a major negative of not being recommended for use upside down as the gears run dry in that position. So I use my Bosch 1276d stationary inverted which is a beast of its own.

 

[zendriver]

Light colored plastic power tools, would just always look grubby, IMO.

I'll take the transform look of the Hercules stuff.

 

[Vinny]

The old art deco Craftsman drill presses come to mind.

 

[JerseyBoatBuilder]

My metal body oil-lubricated wormdrive gear belt sander comes to mind.
These are coined as "locomotive" sanders for obvious reasons.
Yes, it's as heavy as it looks and that's a wonderful thing as it loves to eat.
It also makes enough torque that you could ride this thing to town if you had a long enough extension cord.
It does have a major negative of not being recommended for use upside down as the gears run dry in that position. So I use my Bosch 1276d stationary inverted which is a beast of its own.

Did a lot of teak cockpit coaming and cover boards with those two. Then Dewalt came out with a half the weight version.
Just looking at those I have arm fatigue

 

[1320]

I like the Precsion Instruments manufactured Torqometers. They look fancier than they need to.

 

[Shiftless]

Here is my Craftsman 5191. Classic design from the late ‘40s to the middle 50’s

 

[Lassen Forge]

I've always felt a tool that looks and is functional and is well designed/finished has a certain beauty that plastic, bells, whistles, and froufrou do not. There's just something about an honest design that strikes my fancy.

 

[johnre]

I'm always impressed when visiting Europe, how the hand tools I see there easily combine both function and art into one. Italy in particular I think does this well, maybe it's just built into the buyer's expectations and manufacturers don't even consciously plan for it, it just is a part of meeting the customer need. Here's a great example:

 

[HannibalLecter]

These come to mind. Regarding handtools there are quite plenty

 

[HannibalLecter]

Some handtools

 

[KnurledNut]

Guys, lets not forget this thread is about power tools, not hand tools.
-
I have a Makita 9005B angle grinder which is highly reputed in the metalworking industry. The no frills design is timeless, ergonomic, functional, appealing and robust.

 

[YesIHaveAHammer]

Makita HP2010N. I remember these from when I was a kid.

Catalog from 1986 https://archive.org/details/makita-model-hp-2010-n/mode/1up
Still available today unchanged https://makitatools.com/products/details/HP2010N

That's a long production life for a power tool, 40 years.

 

[YesIHaveAHammer]

I do wonder how well the Facom 440 design will age.

 

[KnurledNut]

Did a lot of teak cockpit coaming and cover boards with those two. Then Dewalt came out with a half the weight version.
Just looking at those I have arm fatigue

It definitely shines for flatwork applications where the weight becomes a benefit. I have several other options depending on use case. When I need lightweight and aggressive, I favor my Makita GV5010 disc sander, with an added PSA backup pad.
https://makitatools.com/products/details/GV5010

 

[KnurledNut]

Makita HP2010N. I remember these from when I was a kid.

Catalog from 1986 https://archive.org/details/makita-model-hp-2010-n/mode/1up
Still available today unchanged https://makitatools.com/products/details/HP2010N

That's a long production life for a power tool, 40 years.

I believe that version is now discontinued.

I love the old Makita corded drills and use two of them regularly at work.
One is a small body 3/8 metal keyed chuck with a pocket hook molded into the clamshell.
I believe its a 6407 like this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/227450466243?_skw=makita+6407&epid=4030328973

The other is a circa-2000 HP1500 5A UK-model hammer drill, with the preferable single speed gearbox.

 

[Lassen Forge]

That 9005B is what I used for, damn, decades. Great, reliable, durable angle cutter....

 

[Shiftless]

Guys, lets not forget this thread is about power tools, not hand tools.

Gee, I thought it was about ALL tools.

“Tools that actually look nice and have some form of aesthetic”​

 

[yatg]

General gripe. A lot of products, not just tools, have too many angles/grooves/textures/etc mainly for styling and possibly some material savings for structure. That makes them much harder to clean up. Need to fire the foo-foo art design majors and go back to basic streamlined design.

 

[dnschmidt]

Well, in the world of automotive refinishing there is the WS400 and LS400 Iwata guns designed by Pininfarina which are ******* works of art and, as an added bonus, damn good at spraying paint.

 

[HannibalLecter]

General gripe. A lot of products, not just tools, have too many angles/grooves/textures/etc mainly for styling and possibly some material savings for structure. That makes them much harder to clean up. Need to fire the foo-foo art design majors and go back to basic streamlined design.

Overall decline of aesthetics, also molds and materials have progressed, leading to this texture-material salad you mention

 

[Nutria]

Porter-Cable D6 Polisher and Grinder



Guild/Porter-Cable A-4 trim saw

Porter-Cable 548 Bayonet Saw

Porter-Cable 115 7" circular saw

 

[dnschmidt]

Guys, lets not forget this thread is about power tools, not hand tools.
-
I have a Makita 9005B angle grinder which is highly reputed in the metalworking industry. The no frills design is timeless, ergonomic, functional, appealing and robust.

I love Makita's corded offerings as well. My ***** with Makita is their insane battery pricing on batteries they haven't changed in 20 years. The goofy part is that being in Japan they should have access to the latest tabless cell batteries and 21700 cells neither of which they have ever used. Even stick in the mud BOSCH has gone to this technology. I find this weird.

 

[Pexto]

General gripe. A lot of products, not just tools, have too many angles/grooves/textures/etc mainly for styling and possibly some material savings for structure. That makes them much harder to clean up. Need to fire the foo-foo art design majors and go back to basic streamlined design.

Absolutely! I like Engineer scissors and pliers, but I would love, love, love them if they had simple grips and not those convoluted monstrosities.

 

[ChevyEFI]

I have a sense of "that's what a tool should look like" on a few things.

I think the representative tool I'll post will be of a very similar sander to one I used in my youth. It just struck me as powerful, far from the namby palm sanders, and productive. Definitely a Rockwell (no P-C naming on the one I used) and definitely a half sheet unit, full polish. May have been a #505.

 

[Nutria]

Definitely a Rockwell (no P-C naming on the one I used) and definitely a half sheet unit, full polish. May have been a #505.

I have those same two as my main sheet sanders. Like 'em both a lot.

 

[m.d.hunter63@hotmail.]

 

[joel63]

I like the Precsion Instruments manufactured Torqometers. They look fancier than they need to.

Some very nice stuff here.

 

[Vinny]

Porter-Cable D6 Polisher and Grinder

Guild/Porter-Cable A-4 trim saw

Porter-Cable 548 Bayonet Saw

Porter-Cable 115 7" circular saw

Pictures removed to not clutter the thread, but those old Porta Cable tools are beauties! Probably weight a ton, but men were built of sterner stuff back then.

 

[Bennylava]

Absolutely! I like Engineer scissors and pliers, but I would love, love, love them if they had simple grips and not those convoluted monstrosities.

Yes someone believes that's an artistic design. Maybe they're just trying to set theirs apart from the competition. It probably works.

I think you could do it better than that though. Plenty of other designs that aren't reminiscent of some scifi movie.

 

[drokihazan]

I'm really partial to my old Snap-On shears, PDS3. I love the smooth lines and shape, the simple trigger, and the blasted finish. It has aged really well, and is definitely one of the most beautiful tools I own. Still snips aluminum well too

 

[seber]

Absolutely! I like Engineer scissors and pliers, but I would love, love, love them if they had simple grips and not those convoluted monstrosities.

Those handles are so bad, that even though I could use a few of their tools, I can't stomach the thought of how nasty they would get. I already have screwdrivers that I have to clean occasionally. Those would be impossible.

 

[LOW1]

Starret squares and micrometers.

Wooden machinists chests.

CNC stuff will never be as elegant as old machinists stuff.