DRIVESITFAR'S TOOL FINDS. SOME ARE JUST COOL AND SOME ARE WTF so please help

drivesitfar · Jul 19, 2016

ALL: so i'm 60 years old and i've had the TOOL BUG for a while now and still finding tools i can't GOOGLE or find any information on. some of you might wonder why i don't know what a tool is and i appreciate that, but while you were building cars and space ships and what nots, i was trying to hole out a 100 yard wedge shot, hit a 400 yard drive or make a 3 foot putt.

i'll be posting all vintage tools or usually prior to 1980 and some i might post because i think they are something i really like and others just because i don't know what the heck they are or used for. like many of you know there is a tool made for almost any job, but a lot of us use crescent wrenches, pliers, and other tools not meant for the job just to GET R DONE.

thanks in advance for all your help identifying my tools or tools i see that maybe i didn't buy and should of.

EDIT: i'm going to put the # of tool i'm posting and the post # next to it like i mention in post #2. so my first tool post is #1 (the number of the tool or part) and since it was post #2 then 1.2 is the tool # so when we talk about a certain tool the members can look it up easier. sound reasonable??

drivesitfar · Jul 19, 2016

#1.2: level made by Davis & Cook. sure it's a LEVEL, but was it really made in 1886? or is that 1986 with some really nice patina?

anybody know much about this company or if this is 100+ years old?

EDIT: i was able to GOOGLE some information on this level because a few are for sale on Ebay so it is 1886 patent date. i like it and plan on keeping it so if anybody knows history of the company or more information feel free to post. also i'm numbering my items so it might make it easier for a poster to and readers to identify the item. i'll put the item # first and the post # after the decimal point so this one is 1.2.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ANTIQUE-DAVIS-COOK-LEVEL-1886-/322083286510

twertsy · Jul 19, 2016

drivesitfar said:
#1) level made by Davis & Cook. sure it's a LEVEL, but was it really made in 1886? or is that 1986 with some really nice patina?

anybody know much about this company or if this is 100+ years old?

Try this search Drives. I'd definitely say it's older. Appears to be some books out there you may want to grab in the search results. Also, may have been a HW store in Wisconsin in the 1880s. It's a start..........

https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q="S+&+A+Manufacturing+Co"#tbm=bks&q="Davis+&+Cook"

drivesitfar · Jul 19, 2016

Twertsy: thanks for the link and post. i bet as i post up some of my hand tools you might visit this thread more often to see them and i'm sure some you will probably already own a few of them.

how's the Adkins or are you back on normal food again? post up on the other thread when you get time. thanks

ckadams00 · Jul 19, 2016

drivesitfar said:
ALL: so i'm 60 years old and i've had the TOOL BUG for a while now and still finding tools i can't GOOGLE or find any information on. some of you might wonder why i don't know what a tool is and i appreciate that, but while you were building cars and space ships and what nots, i was trying to hole out a 100 yard wedge shot, hit a 400 yard drive or make a 3 foot putt.

i'll be posting all vintage tools or usually prior to 1980 and some i might post because i think they are something i really like and others just because i don't know what the heck they are or used for. like many of you know there is a tool made for almost any job, but a lot of us use crescent wrenches, pliers, and other tools not meant for the job just to GET R DONE.

thanks in advance for all your help identifying my tools or tools i see that maybe i didn't buy and should of.

Drives: i love that you posted this because I usually 'follow you' as an expert, so it's great to hear you saying there are tools you don't know about. There are a lot of people on GJ who are too quick to jump on people who can't id a tool - I wouldn't have a clue what I was looking at if I saw a pile of brake tools, but I can tell you about enything found in a professional kitchen - we all have great experience to share. Nice idea for a thread!

PS I can only hit a 400 yard drive if you give me a two shot start and a mulligan.

woody 73 · Jul 19, 2016

Drivesitfar one of my old posts might help you out, although not with Davis & cook but other level companies.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=288009

drivesitfar · Jul 19, 2016

CK: thanks for posting and keeping an eye on this thread. i have Tons of tools i find or even own that i'm not positive what they are or what their intended job is. or i'll have some one of a kind or at least rare tools i find that i can just post and tell what i know and others can add their thoughts.

if you need a golf tip i started a Golf 101 thread in Free Parking and with your kitchen knowledge i'd really like you popping in on the Weight loss thread i started almost a year ago that is still a learning curve for me. anyway your comments are always welcome and here's the links if you want to check them out.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=298568

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=295363

Cheers

Woody: thanks for the post and i'll try to test your knowledge some as i pull out more of my STUFF.

crguy · Jul 19, 2016

Davis & Cook made levels out of wood (including rosewood), cast iron, and cast aluminum (at a time when aluminum was the new "wonder" metal) in several different sizes and styles.

Here are some of mine.

StillTooManyHobbies · Jul 20, 2016

crguy, those are just fantastic to look at, they have so much style!

Al Bundy · Jul 20, 2016

crguy said:
Davis & Cook made levels out of wood (including rosewood), cast iron, and cast aluminum (at a time when aluminum was the new "wonder" metal) in several different sizes and styles.

Here are some of mine.

Generally hard to get excited about a level, but those are cool.

drivesitfar · Jul 20, 2016

CRGUY: thanks for the post and for sharing a part of your AWESOME collection of levels.

STMH & AL: We'd all be lucky to see what CRGuy posts of his gems cause he has quite an eye for COOL STUFF.

ALL: I'll get many more items posted up soon, but need to install a stair lift at my parent's home so my Dad can get into their house with 30 stairs to the only bathroom and 15 stairs to the main floor.

thanks all for the support and hopefully i'll have a few interesting finds to share as i get this thread in gear.

cheers

drivesitfar · Jul 21, 2016

ALL: I think i'll post some of my bundle purchases and start their post #'s with 1001 and the page # so the first bundle of stuff would be 1001.12 if i had pictures ready and they were on this post. i think they will be shortly.

i'll try to list some of the bundle of stuff and some will be plain everyday stuff that i hate to leave behind like hammers, screwdrivers, wrenches and such and others in the bundles will be the WTF is this. on the things i think should maybe have a post of their own i'll list like i did the level in the first post.

sound reasonable?

thanks for all your support and hope this thread has a few of us scratching our heads or saying I need one of those too after you know what it is and does.

cheers

drivesitfar · Aug 1, 2016

2.13: sorry guys it's been a little slow on the tools finds the last few weeks or taking pictures of the ones i plan to post because getting my 83 year old parents settled back in their home has been a little time consuming to say the least.

here's something i picked up when helping a client clean out their old steel fab business. i'll get exact measurements if anybody wants them and not sure what i'm going to do with them since i don't own a press yet. i think they are for a press, but not exactly sure and they are about a foot on each side and maybe 1.5 or 2 inches thick so weigh about 50 or so pounds each. anybody know what the highest and best use is for these?

Joes89yj · Aug 1, 2016

Those are most definitely turn of the century arrow heads... with speed holes of course...

timbitca · Aug 1, 2016

drivesitfar said:
...hole out a 100 yard wedge shot, hit a 400 yard drive or make a 3 foot putt.

Did the first part already, I'll settle for 250-260 down the middle, I'll only ever make 3 footers in my dreams.

I swear golf was invented as some sort of self torture. But we still go back every chance we get. Go figure.

This should be an interesting thread, you have and you find some interesting stuff DIF!

vintage nut · Aug 1, 2016

Looks like this should be a good thread!

Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk

HCNDM · Aug 2, 2016

drivesitfar said:
2.13: sorry guys it's been a little slow on the tools finds the last few weeks or taking pictures of the ones i plan to post because getting my 83 year old parents settled back in their home has been a little time consuming to say the least.

here's something i picked up when helping a client clean out their old steel fab business. i'll get exact measurements if anybody wants them and not sure what i'm going to do with them since i don't own a press yet. i think they are for a press, but not exactly sure and they are about a foot on each side and maybe 1.5 or 2 inches thick so weigh about 50 or so pounds each. anybody know what the highest and best use is for these?

Hey drives these look like shoring up plates to me.

To hold something large and heavy in place.

The curved side to the object. That way it can be turned to tighten up.

Not sure if I am making any sense. Will try to find some pics later. Kinda like a pulley tensioner.

Kr

Niels

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

drivesitfar · Aug 7, 2016

Joe:

TimB: go to the golf 101 thread in FREE PARKING and post up some pictures or a video of your golf swing and i'm sure i can help you gain maybe 50 yards on your driver and might be as simple as buying some new equipment custom made for you. thanks for stopping by my thread and i've been dealing with moving my parents back into their home so they don't HAVE TO move into a senior home because my mom says that's for OLD people and they are only 83.

VN: i'm sure you and your dad will teach me a lot as i show some of my stuff i have no or just a little idea on how to use them. thanks for checking in.

HCN: interesting answer indeed. the company i bought these from had maybe 200 40 foot huge bridge building type beams laying in their inventory because they built some very big STUFF.

ALL: 3.18 (General Radius gage set) so here's something i tend to see fairly often in the machinist boxes i want to buy, but with this STUFF in them the boxes are just too expensive. not sure if this is pre Starrett or a competitor of theirs, but these were spread all over a bench and i might have left one that wasn't anywhere to be found. in any case do you need to be a machinist to use these or maybe i can use them to mark some lines to cut and weld stuff? what is the best use for these and what can you make or maybe repair with them?

i was looking for a few rubber horse mats that are 3/4 inches thick to put down outside my shop that i lease and came across some of these 1.5 inch thick rubber 2x2 foot sections that are usually used for kid's playgrounds. since my back gets very sore just standing in my little garage i decided to buy them and put them down on top of some 3/4 inch rubber horse mats i already own. for those of you that have back issues you might buy some or there are some that are made for inside the house that my wife bought and put in our kitchen maybe 8 years ago when she was having back and feet issues and she uses hers and feels great now (plus she uses my inversion table every now and then, but not as often as i do).

hope you are all having a great weekend.

timbitca · Aug 7, 2016

drivesitfar said:
TimB: go to the golf 101 thread in FREE PARKING and post up some pictures or a video of your golf swing and i'm sure i can help you gain maybe 50 yards on your driver and might be as simple as buying some new equipment custom made for you. thanks for stopping by my thread and i've been dealing with moving my parents back into their home so they don't HAVE TO move into a senior home because my mom says that's for OLD people and they are only 83.

Thanks for the offer, but my game is actually doing well right now, considering I don't play nearly enough. My one big problem right now is equipment, my stuff is done and I need to replace it but the money just isn't there. And my driving is fine, I've figured out how to get them fairly straight, involved adopting a bit of the Bubba "open" stance. Sure it would be better to correct it the right way, but for now I'm hitting them straight and I'll take that any day of the week!

Best of luck with your parents, mine are only 50 years old but my remaining set of Grandparents are 77 (Grandma) and 80 (Grandpa) so were going to through this sooner or later...

drivesitfar · Aug 9, 2016

ALL: 3.18 i found one simple video on what a use for a radius gage is and there must be other uses for these. or are there? here's the youtube video link and if anybody has other useful information please share.

4.20 is an interesting set up i bought from an old shop teacher's workshop. he wasn't around to ask what he used these for, but i thought definitely interesting so they are mine now. any ideas what these are used for? i'm guessing some sort of cleaning or spiffing up is involved, but not certain. anybody know or have some like this please post up pics of yours and what you use them for.

thanks

tombell572 · Aug 9, 2016

Don't know but a guess--something to do with firearm maintenance? He was certainly well organized.

Tom B.

jask · Aug 9, 2016

That is all stuff I would expect to see in a small engine repair shop.

drivesitfar · Aug 9, 2016

Jask & Tom: good thinking and maybe one of those might be the highest and best use. i didn't see any engines or guns and maybe the relatives took the guns, but i don't think he worked on engines much because he was a wood shop teacher. maybe so willing to hear from others.

ALL: for those of you that haven't seen our (my) weight loss thread in FREE PARKING it's had more than a few interesting posts. here's one from today that some of you might enjoy and i'm not sure the poster didn't make it up on the fly while really buying this. http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=298568

I thought someone in here might appreciate this...

Yesterday I was buying 2 large bags of dog food at Wal-Mart. I was about to check out when a woman behind me asked if I had a dog?

Since I had little else to do, on impulse, I told her that no I didn’t have a dog, and that I was starting the Purina Diet again, although I probably shouldn’t because I ended up in the hospital last time. On the bright side though, I had lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of every hole in my body and IVs in both arms.

I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry and that the food is nutritionally complete so I was going to give it a try again. (I have to mention here that everyone in the line was enthralled with my story by now.)

Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food had poisoned me. I told her no; I had stepped off the curb to sniff a poodles **** and a car hit me!

I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack, he was laughing so hard.

Wal-Mart won’t let me shop there anymore.

Have a good day all

j p smith · Aug 9, 2016

Drives I recognize the ball hones and the brushes but I am drawing a blank on the other pieces. I thought at first they were some sort of pilot but then looking at all the sleeves in the front section I don't think so

tombell572 · Aug 9, 2016

Drives--you should be ashamed!! Not for the outstanding funny-as-hell put-on but for shopping in Walmart.

Tom B.

drivesitfar · Aug 9, 2016

JP: what is the use for the ball hones? i'd guess but would like to know from a pro. i think maybe to beat off some rust or crud or shine something up?

Tom: not me shopping at Walmart. i have a hard time dealing with the customers when i'm out on the other end of the parking lot eating at one of our favorite cheap good soup restaurants that's located near one. i also have only been in HF one time and it was to buy a propane burner last year that is still new in the box. i might have to fire it up just to see if it will work, but my salt trick is working pretty decently keeping the weeds out of my gravel parking area.

cheers and hope you got a belly laugh from the dog food joke. it's even funnier the second and third time i read it so thought it needed to be posted over here.

larry_g · Aug 9, 2016

The brass items look like a brass lap for fitting round holes. They are a style I've never seen and cannot find on the web so I may be wrong. Do they have a screw in the end that will expand the diameter of the brass sleeve?

lg
no neat sig line

jaker10 · Aug 9, 2016

The ball hones are for putting the cross hatch back in a cylinder or wheel cylinder. Can get then from under an inch to over 6 inch. Machine shops use
the brushes to clean passages in engine blocks.

drivesitfar · Aug 10, 2016

Larry: there are slots at the ends of each shaft so piece of copper or brass can slide in and stay in place while spinning around and no screws. these are pretty shiny and some are worn pretty good so guessing the ones in the tray are spares. keep thinking and let me know what you think or find out.

Jaker: funny he would have these because not a car or engine rebuild on the property. i wonder if he re purposed these for some wood type projects? or guns and cannons not that i saw any of those either. :dunno:

here's a few more pictures of the copper brass sleeves and tools

larry_g · Aug 10, 2016

drivesitfar said:
Larry: there are slots at the ends of each shaft so piece of copper or brass can slide in and stay in place while spinning around and no screws. these are pretty shiny and some are worn pretty good so guessing the ones in the tray are spares. keep thinking and let me know what you think or find out.

Jaker: funny he would have these because not a car or engine rebuild on the property. i wonder if he re purposed these for some wood type projects? or guns and cannons not that i saw any of those either.

here's a few more pictures of the copper brass sleeves and tools

http://www.boyar-schultzsmt.com/copper-head-laps.htm

found them.

Hole making is one of a machinists basic jobs. To many a twist drill makes a hole, and it does, but comparatively it might as well be torched out compared to a finely finished hole that is round and on size. All the tools that you show are for finishing holes. The ball hones will smooth out a hole and then the lap will sneak up to finished size by charging the lap with an abrasive paste, clover brand is one, and then spinning the lap in the hole. The copper or brass sleeve will embed the abrasive in it and become a grinding devise. the split give the sleeve a bit of spring so that it applies a bit of pressure to the process.

Once the hole is sized then it is cleaned with the brushes. This is work common in the tool and die shops. The automotive engine rebuilding has a lot looser tolerances than a die. These work to the tolerances you would find in the fuel injection system.

lg
no neat sig line

j p smith · Aug 10, 2016

jaker10 said:
The ball hones are for putting the cross hatch back in a cylinder or wheel cylinder. Can get then from under an inch to over 6 inch. Machine shops use
the brushes to clean passages in engine blocks.

Thanks Jaker10

drivesitfar · Aug 10, 2016

Larry: thanks and i think you NAILED IT. I figured i'd use the brushes for cleaning at worse case scenario and now i'll put them in a drawer and hopefully someday in the near future get a metal lathe and pull them out to put them to use.

JP: if you tried to email me my email is having issues so shoot me a PM. thx

ALL: just picked up this homemade stand to store more of my STUFF in. it's a little rusty, but bins are solid and will hold a ton of stuff. there is actually 60 bins that are 5 inches wide, 5 inches tall and 18 inches deep and shelves are metal with angle iron tac welding them in place with a piece of flat steel across the back diagonally for decent support.

i'll post some more stuff soon.

larry_g · Aug 10, 2016

Just a bit of information on Flex Hone and the uses outside the auto industry.

http://www.brushresearch.com/flex-hone-tool.php

lg
no neat sig line

drivesitfar · Aug 10, 2016

Larry: great stuff and thanks a ton for enlightening me to what these tools should be or were used for.

drivesitfar · Aug 12, 2016

ALL: 1001.35 is just a few stops at my neighbor's garage sales. nothing special and since the first sale had a smaller metal box for $10 and this extra long plastic Craftsman tool box for $4 I opted for the plastic one to carry all the tools from the sale and added a couple at the next sales. I might pick up the metal one tomorrow just because a 12 inch metal box with a latch that is 3 inches deep and tall could come in handy. and see if some of his higher marked stuff got sold or reduced that i might be able to find a home for.

if anybody wants to get more pictures of the various STUFF/TOOLS inside the box just ask and let me know which one(s).

1/2 Cup · Aug 12, 2016

drives, you have picked up some real neat bits and pieces there.. :thumbup:

Regards

drivesitfar · Aug 12, 2016

1/2: thanks for stopping in and for the KUDOS. not much today to be found in the little time i devoted to the chase, but a few interesting pieces non the less like the one i just posted on this post. also i added pictures of everything out of the box so i could put them away to get MORE ORGANIZED.

ALL: in the post with the craftsman box of STUFF i had one Taiwan small phillips that i'll hang on the wall for my bride and kids to use and a Canadian made square drive that i have no idea who made it. any clues to the green Canadian made square drive that also has French writing on it?

ALL: 4.37: Crescent Tool company of Jamestown made this stout screw driver was in my little box of goodies today and even though the tip on it is broken off i thought it was worth picking up and talking about it. I can't say i've seen one like this in my travels. anybody have one that isn't so abused? also is there any chance i can grind and temper a new tip on it so i can clean it up and use it?

drivesitfar · Aug 12, 2016

ALL: 5.38: found these magnets with a Ford logo on them. WTF are they for??

6:38: i tend to pick up these kind of parts if they are laying around just in case i can find the user or maybe find a re purpose or use myself. i'm thinking part of a machine or lathe, but I might be a mile off. any clues??

crguy · Aug 12, 2016

Those magnets are out of a Model T Ford magneto.

Possibly, the other piece is used to drive oil seals in.

crguy · Aug 12, 2016

drivesitfar said:
ALL: 4.37: Crescent Tool company of Jamestown made this stout screw driver was in my little box of goodies today and even though the tip on it is broken off i thought it was worth picking up and talking about it. I can't say i've seen one like this in my travels. anybody have one that isn't so abused? also is there any chance i can grind and temper a new tip on it so i can clean it up and use it?

I have seen several of the folding Crescent screwdrivers, believe they came in more than 1 size.

A similar idea to this one by the Swallow Airplane Co.

DRIVESITFAR'S TOOL FINDS. SOME ARE JUST COOL AND SOME ARE WTF so please help

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