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Found an excuse to fill a new tool box....

Stick Figure

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 3, 2009
Messages
1,395
Location
Omaha, Ne
A quick background:

I grew up spending my Saturdays playing in the back of my parents Sewing Machine store in Nebraska. The whole time I said I didn't want anything to do with them. Fast forward to April 2019 and my dad passed away leaving the store, around 600 machines, and a lot of parts to my mom. In May I returned home to California to find a 30 day notice on my work live space. Having been through the hassle of looking for rental real estate in the Bay Area before I gave in and moved our car fleet and all of my tools back to Nebraska. I returned to California to a tiny apartment to continue working for the time being. Things with the Sewing Machine store escalated rapidly and I soon found myself needing to learn how to repair the machines. I have some "automotive" based tools in a harbor cart at work, and a small box in my truck, but I won't move sets around very many times before I start buying new.

The new info:

I jumped on Craigslist to see what I could find, but other than finding a Craftsman box from 1980, I was pretty disappointed. I didn't realize how long it had been since I tried to buy much locally but a quick stop by Sears, Lowes and Harbor Freight didn't leave me impressed. Although I did leave HF with some scribes and other little stuff.

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At this point I had to get serious and Jumped on Harry Epstein com to order a few things. The Proto drivers and screw starters showed up quickly, and I was super happy with both. I got a call that the Wright miniature wrenches I ordered were going to take longer to arrive so, I added a bit to that order.

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The Channel Locks I had high confidence in, and I wasn't disappointed.

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The SK's I took a chance on. I hadn't tried anything from them since the last ownership changes.

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This set looks great, feels great, and I can't wait to use it.

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The "Wright Miniature Combination Wrench Set" arrived with a Cougar bag, and isn't quite the same quality as what the picture lead me to believe. They'll probably still do the job, but I'll also keep my eye out for some older Craftsman Ignition wrenches or something similar. Maybe I'm getting too picky but these just look really chubby for their given size. Not to mention the odd length changes and visible issues with them. The same reasons I left the HF and new Craftsman sets on the shelf when I visited the stores.

Other than this, I've rounded the box out with some Bondhus allen wrenches sourced from the local FRY's and a few other random bits that I could spare at work or from my mobile box. I've got one more order on the way from Amazon Japan, and a lot of organizing to do before I show any more though.
 
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tarbellb

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Joined
Apr 17, 2011
Messages
5,805
Location
Oregon
Nice update. Interested to see some more info on the sewing machines you are working on. Those old industrial sewing machines are real workhorses, would be cool to see the inner workings.
 
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jsaw

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Joined
Oct 11, 2008
Messages
1,795
Location
Geneva, N.Y.
Nice update. Interested to see some more info on the sewing machines you are working on. Those old industrial sewing machines are real workhorses, would be cool to see the inner workings.

Yes, also curious. Where does one go to learn about repairing sewing machines?

The old timers in My area are all dying off.
 

1982fxr

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Joined
Jan 7, 2012
Messages
10,066
Location
Phoenix
Those smaller ignition wrenches, I'm sure they'll work fine but I've never seen any like that.

I have older wright and they appear the same as old USA Craftsman and several others. Definitely not the same as the cougars.
 
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