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Good to know, Lugz and all, glad to hear it. I have a pair of gas pliers in beryllium-copper with the same color (allowing for variation in photo color), and to be on the safe side, I pointed the OP toward a source for more info. You have a large collection of the kinds and makes of wrenches...

May be a copper-beryllium alloy used in places where a spark might set off an explosion. In any case, I'd hang onto that one until you can get it checked. Beryllium is safe in alloy with copper, but don't go making metal dust from that wrench. See the section on toxicity at...

Put me in the Meh category. I have four: two are the T-handle kind (one's a no-name and the other's by Vessel) and two "regular" ones which means a fatter handle but otherwise much like the common 6-in-one non-racheting kind. For me the ratcheting control, whether a collar or a sliding button...

Goop, another liquid hand cleaner, does the same. I browse ReStore shops and often find good serviceable tools with grease-marked handles, especially with a plastic coating. The liquid hand cleaner really works as Wamsutta says above. The cleaner also works, though less thoroughly, on wood...

Suddarth Optical (goog it) is pretty much the go-to guy. He's turned the business over to his son, who's good too. Not cheap, but they do a fine job on your binox.

A detail that matters in some fields — these Navy binoculars nearly always had individual focusing eyepieces instead of the usual bridge that carries the two eyepieces, with the right-hand one allowing individual adjustment. (Many people's eyes have slightly different focus on the same object...

HM = Honda Motors, and I think the "motors" were motorcycles. Happy to be informed more precisely....

You raise a point I've wondered about off and on for some years now. Setting aside pure collecting for completeness, at what point did tools imported from Japan to North America start being considered seriously as tools for use?

I understand that 7x50 binoculars were chosen for the Navy because the eyes of a typical 17- to 20-year-old lookout have pupils that are 7mm in diameter when fully dark-adapted. (This figure shrinks as you get older.) The laws of optics decree that a binocular with 7 power eyepieces and 50mm...

I have a B+D cordless weed whacker and leaf blower. Both use the same battery of which I have two. I also have an older corded weed whacker and leaf blower. The cordless ones work well for limited use, which is more common. But for big jobs, corded is preferable. I intend keeping both power...

I saw that price and figured it was for a dozen of them. Catalogues back then seemed to have been given mainly (wholly?) to salesmen, jobbers, and hardware dealers for whom ordering a dozen would be the norm. Does the catalogue say anything abou t quantities?

That Nikkormat FS of mine had no meter, nor did nearly all the cameras I used. First handheld meter was a Sekonic, then the Weston Master V, then finally the Gossen LunaPro.

True, but couldn't afford it! Had to make do with a Rollei TLR.

I have a Nikkormat FS bought new in 1969, plus an F, and an FE, an FM, and whole whack o' legacy Nikon glass: no zooms, manual focus only. Oh, and a rangefinder S2 from 1955. (I started photography back in high school some 60 years ago.) I'm still pissed that the Nikon Df wasn't as small and...

We have exactly that same model spotting scope — use it for marsh and shore birding on a Tiltall tripod bought new in spring 1970. The scope was bought new also, but I don't recall when.

Don, what's your method for removing the black stain spots and areas -- those which Evapo doesn't touch? (I'm impressed by and envious of your "assemblage" of combo squares.)

Looks like what's better known as a bicycle wrench, and in good condition at that.

LesserSon — these are great examples. Do you know of a source where Starrett combo squares (and double squares) are age-dated according to finish and design? I have a clear sense that the "basketweave" design ones are ca. WW 1 up to some point in the 1930s. Then?

I find that 6- and 8-inch pipe wrenches are more than just cute, they're useful around the house. They grab things often better than a small ordinary adjustable wrench would, in particular nuts that aren't crispy-cornered anymore.

I always bring a cheap plastic magnifier (like those for use in grade school science classes) and a small pocket flashlight. Most tool places I browse (Restores, consignment shops) usually have dim corners, which is where they like to park the tools. Which are often rusty, grimy...