emotional tools

[Dieselbutterfly]

what tool means the most to you,and why?mine is a snap on ratchet given to me by my mom,and engraved with a sentiment

 

[Inkncraig]

I think it would be my first professional tools. Snap on tune up ratchet and socket set

 

[NiteWolf]

For me it would be my snap-on hard handle ratcheting screwdriver that i bought off the truck in high school in the mid 90's.

 

[MachYou]

The little red tool box. My mom bought me that and a small set of tools when I bought my first car (1987 mustang 5.0)

 

[Conductor562]

I have lots of tools my dad bought me or passed down to me. Hard to distinguish between them.

 

[jimgreen]

My dad is trained as an aeronautical engineer, then completed training at Cessna in CA, bought a whole load of tools to ship back to the UK, then was chief mechanic at a missionary base in Tanzania... Fixing up all the light aircraft.

When I was in my early 20's he agreed to let me have his tool chests, and some of the tools. No joke, I cried my eyes out. Its not the best tool box, even cheap ones now have ball bearing drawers, but I would never use anything else.

 

[richfinn]

I still have my first KRA63 toolbox and Roll cab I bought when I was first starting out (full of tools), I dont get to use them much now as I get a kit supplied through work. I kind of like my old toolbox with its dents/stickers/character.

Its all paid for (about 25 years ago)

 

[Steevo]

The first tools I ever bought with my paper route money when I was about 10 years old, a set of Cman RP double box end metric wrenches and an impact driver. I had a Yamaha 80 at the time (my first MC) that I was "fixing up" as a dirt bike. Using these wrenches still brings a smile to my face.

 

[darkk]

Mine is a small Snap On KRA-377 roll cab I bought new in the late 60's It is well abused but still functional. I'm not sure why but I just can't seem to let it go for some reason. Maybe because it was my first tool box...

 

[Agentwho]

I would have to say my work bench. Me and my dad built the heavy duty frame of it as a rack for a truck I had to carry boats n such. When I didn't have a use for the rack anymore I didn't want to get rid of it since it was the last thing we worked on together before he had passed on, so I turned it into a nice workbench.

 

[ptschram]

I started wrenching on my first vehicle an ATC-90 in 1970. My brother-in-law at the time owned a Snap-On truck.

Most of my tools were stolen in 1978 and the insurance company replaced them with Craftsman.

I still have my Torque wrench and circuitt ester, both of which are said to be "Legacy tools" by my friends...

I have some other stuff here and there. It's kinda funny how I'll pick up a tool and instantly a memory comes back!

 

[bobcatdan]

Anything my Grandpa gave me.

 

[chris fresh]

all of my grandfathers tools,especially his hand box (carpenters box) along with a few tools that were 100 years old when givin to him when he first started in the business.

 

[dandan111]

Have to be the craftsman socket set my grandma bought me or the snap on impact like steevos my grandfather bought me. He wanted me to have one like his he told me.

 

[ianguilly]

My KRA25D was my first tool box for me, my dad gave it to me and,. I doubt I can part ways with it. Also gave me my first snap on screwdriver set, that isn't going anywhere either.

 

[AZ_Catskinner]

All of Grandpa's stuff, the SK 3/8 drive set he bought me when I first started turning wrenches, and a 12" pipe wrench left in my truck by a coworker who got hurt recently and isn't coming back.

 

[Polski-Chevy]

My wife would call most of these attachments a men-tool disorder

I had only one emotional attachment to a set of tools, the first Christmas present from my newlywed wife after a rough year of her in and out of the hospital.

It was a cheap set of Channellock hand tools, handy as a mobile set, but they got stolen out of my truck a few years back.

 

[Kurn]

Has to be my SO F-710 ratchet from 1974.In 1981,my house burned down and my tools were looted before I could get them,and I lost everything.For some reason,this ratchet was in my car,and somehow I hung onto it.It was never lost during moves,and other chaotic stuff.I use it to this day,and it's never been rebuilt.

 

[Mastermind]

i have a couple things locked up in the home box, one grandpas sharpening stone, other grandpas tiny 1/4" set and #2 phillips, and a swiss army two blade that dad brought me from the parts store when i was a kid, and a freebie knife from when my first paint instructor was a jobber.

still have a lot of grandpas tools from dads side, all engraved with 8036...so i always know.

 

[Chopped_Burban]

SK 3870 Roto Ratchet. I remember my dad always reached for one when I was a kid. Think I was 16 or 17 when dad gave me one of the three he had bought in the late 70's or early 80's. His, mine, and my brothers. I was born in '76 so he was planning ahead. Thing still works better than anything I've bought or broke since.

 

[jeffmoss26]

A box of tools my grandpa gave me.

 

[Kev442]

I'll always have a soft spot for Williams as that's what my dad bought for himself. I have a few wrenches of his in my kit, he never missed them when I "borrowed" them 30 years ago or so.

 

[thightower]

Got alot of my tools from Dad when I lost him 20 years ago. But the one that means more than any has to be the 3lb hammer that was his. Its got to be 40 years old or older, it reminds me of growing up with him in the shop and all the skills he taught me.

 

[Carguy99]

I have a blue plastic box filled with tools from friends and family I have lost. I ask if I can have a tool of theirs. Some are not the best, a bent screwdriver from my grndfther I never met, rusty pliers from my best friend, a hammer with my dads Initials. I use them all the time. I feel them watching me when I use them.
I dont think we own any tools. I feel we are just stewards of them until the next person takes over.

 

[Mavawreck]

First 3/8 ratchet and socket set from my Dad, Napa branded (Sk or Bonney) for my 6th birthday. First tools I remember having.

Stanley woodplane from my grandpa

SK ratchet, got it for free and my wife purchased a rebuild kit for it as a gift with no prompting.

 

[JoeyMitch]

Mine would be my dad's vintage SK set in the metal box.

 

[Ironhorse]

This is mine..it was my grandfathers...my uncle got everything he had when he passed but I took this...I was 12 then. My Grandfather built scale models for most of the printing press manfacturing companies as well as the Milling machine companies out of balsa wood...before computers..that side of the family desgined and built a lot of the weapon radar systems that we use today on ships/planes...my mom and grandmother were of the artist type...I am the only one that is really mecanical in the family now..can not paint or play music..but I can build about anything to spec. The first thing I built in my grand dads shop I was 9 and built a pen that fired a 22cal round it was really cool all SS and Alum....I really remember him chewing my *** out for using his lathe when he was not in the shop to do this project..then sat me down drew up blue prints with this same pencil and spent the next week building the gun...it worked great and was a lot of fun..we even made a fluted bull barrel for it. Out of all my tools this one means the most..View attachment 223296

 

[camarotoolman]

Grandpas 2 man cross cut saw, wooden pullys from the hay loft.

 

[buffalobill]

gramps machine tools from his engineering days at buick, many starett micrometers, snap gauges, lufkin depth micrometer, starett "last word". also many oddball clamps, v blocks, 123 blocks, etc. all great stuff. he even had a couple of 1/2 drive sockets that were used on the original prototype corvettes, that were engraved "1951 show job", so he wouldn't lose them. jh williams 12 points.

 

[Outlander]

Every tool my Dad left me or bought me, and those left to me by my Uncle. I am also partial to those bought for me by my kids. I'm a softie.

 

[macktech]

A snap on 3/8ths ratchet. First thing I ever bought off a tool truck when I was in tech school. That was 13 years ago and i still use it everyday. Guess it means so much to me since I can remember how proud I was of it when i was a broke 18 year old.

 

[Andy Griffith]

Winchester Model 94, 30/30 that belonged to my grandfather.

 

[justanengineer]

My grandfather was a toolmaker during WW2, and his "autographed" mics are among my most prized possessions. His son, my father, recently promised me a box full of tools Ive only ever caught glimpses of - the JH Williams roller that was bought when my Dad went off to college in 1954. Not sure what is in it bc as I said, Ive only ever caught a few glimpses of the box itself, but my Dad says its got quite a few tools he inherited way back when. Irregardless, that will be my "inheritance box" and something to pass along when my time comes.

 

[Michael Bryce Winnick]

My better half bought me metric and standard dogbone wrenches (C-Man). The only non-USA tools in my box. She had my initials engraved on them. Can't top that.

 

[timbitca]

Everything that's in my grandfathers (now mine) garage. As soon as I open the door and from the moment I close it, I can't stop thinking about him.

 

[Umclemrbig]

A Bluegrass hammer. My granddad was a contractor and he used it for 25 years. The rubber handle is shot but I have it hanging in my garage for good luck!

 

[PCO6]

My Dad taught me how to use this B&D sander during my first attempt at doing body work back in the late 60's. It was old then. He gave it to me last year. It still works perfectly.

 

[fred d]

My dad worked at the steel mills in Gary Indiana when I was a kid

He built a work bench that is 3'x6' and weighs more than a small pickup truck
The top is 3/16 thick with a huge vice on it. 3 large drawers with 3 storage areas underneath

No way I would ever part with it

 

[Man of Many Vices]

...I dont think we own any tools. I feel we are just stewards of them until the next person takes over.

I agree 100 percent.

Vintage tool collections are places where various mechanics and other tradesmen set their tool boxes down for the last time as they continued on their journeys. I feel privileged to acquire these tools and learn about them from you guys.

 

[BWS]

Bunch of WW stuff from G-dad and dad....and its still in daily use.If I had to "pick" one....prolly dad's #78 Stanley.