Growing up with tools.

[Thumper68]

Like many here my father was/is not mechanicly inclined, but he tried we owned rental properties and things had to be fixed.

As a young kid I was always in the heat of it "Helping" by the time I was a teenager I had taken over most of the fixit jobs other than painting which I hate.

We didn't have a lot of tools other than plumbing stuff a couple of carry boxes stuffed with a mix of CM, SK and **** that he bought as needed.

We did have a huge old cast iron table saw and a CM RA, a B&D 3/8ths drill moter and a selection of dull bits.

The thing is as I got older he encouraged/enabled me in buying the right tool for the job no matter what it was and he still does to this day.

When I was 17 I bought the biggest set of CM with the chest and top box (I still have them) with money I saved.

30 years later dad is still trying to help in the shop when he can and is proud of the skills that I learned over the years.

He along with mom taught me that new skills and knowledge come with trying to do something and to not be afraid of any task.

Anyone need open heart surgery?

 

[Kensgarage]

My old mans tools were his library.LOts and lots of books. Old school corporate law.
My uncles were both doctors and farmers. Bigtime docs with bigtime farms, cars, boats, guns, racehorses, Harleys and the tools needed for all of it. No junk allowed and the shops were more like labs.
At the end of the day you could put little kids(me and the cousins) on the floor to play and no worries about dirt or injury at all.Having 1/2 a dozen farm hands to pick up after you assures to that.
Both loved farming but their material wants required a much better source of play cash.

Gramps was the poor dirt farmer with the filthy barn and junk wore out tools. The uncs(nor I) wanted no part of that ****.
Too bad I never had a doctor brain but I did OK for an idiot. I just chose to medicate myself instead of others...............

 

[Bdgjr215]

I grew up on a farm so it was only natural to be around lots of tools. Grandpa was into small engines and tinkering all the time. In 1930 he lost an arm to a gunshot wound and would spend the rest of his life using his wrong and only hand to do anything he wanted to do. I was a young kid hanging out with grandpa in his shed (40'x60') he used lots of vicegrips (as I'm sure any one armed bandit would choose) and I remember his air compressor with exposed belt and motor. He would fix stuff and I'm sure I was partly in his way as he would tell me to "****** Off!". I didn't know it at the time but that grumpy faced old man would shape me into a future version of himself. My shop isn't quite the size his was and there is no farm equipment to be seen, but if he could be here to see it he would be impressed with my collection of tools, but mainly he would be impressed that I was doing the things that clearly made him happy in his own mind.
I have had other relatives see my shop and mention that he would have liked it too. Whenever I am up too late working on something that should already be fixed by now, I think of that old ****** and know that if he could fix something with one hand I must surely be able to do it with two.

Thats Good Stuff! my son is lucky to have his Grandpop.They do things together
That i didnt get to do with him , but im actually happy to see it.those are the things we remember after after we grow up that are most important.

 

[bobcatdan]

I grew up in my Grandfather's shop. Between him and my dad is where my love tools and doing stuff with my hands came from. Pa's set was mix of old SK, Craftsman, New British and random others. After he retired as stuff broke, he just tossed it and replaced with cheap tools. Dad's set was a total hodge podge he piece together of any used USA tool he found. Pa dismantling his shop and selling the farm last summer was very hard on me to see it gone. I was lucky in getting several important pieces including his tool box, bench, one of his vises and floorjack.

 

[bobcatdan]

What the hell, a few pictures. One of his tool box and vise. I included the Kennedy because I got that from him years ago. His main work bench. His black hawk jack that traded my Matco jack for because a floor jack was listed on the action bill. Also got his battery cart and hiding behind is his small compressor.

 

[Bdgjr215]

Wow!That jack is cool .thats an heirloom piece for sure

 

[bobcatdan]

Wow!That jack is cool .thats an heirloom piece for sure

I can remember way back when I was really young playing on that jack. I'd pump it up then stand on the saddle and ride it down.

 

[colt zantop]

Grew up using my dads craftsman. He use to get so pissed when I would leave them everywhere lol.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Growing up, we didn't have a lot, but we always had what we needed. My parents grew up during the depression, and as such, my dad would fix everything rather than throwing it out.

My dad had an indestro 1/2 inch drive socket set that I still have to this day. He also had an assortment of SK, Proto, Craftsman as well as a smattering of HF and unbranded Asian imports.

From an early age, I would "help" as he was fixing or maintaining things around the house. When we were done, he was adamant about EVERY tool be put back in it's place, after being wiped down.

When I was old enough to drive, I earned the right to do maintenance on all four of the cars in the family. My dad impressed on me the benefit of buying quality tools, even if they are a little more expensive. I was bit by the tool bug.

Fast forward several years., my #1 son would follow me around when doing repairs or maintenance. Even at the age of 4 or 5 he wanted to "wash" the tools before putting them away. He's now in his mid 20's, he buys quality tools, and it looks like the bug has bitten hm as well.

 

[DieselSaves]

I have been ruminating on a miter saw thread and how our views on the overlap of price, value, quality and need for a tool are formed and cemented by our varried upbringing. I know my desire for a tool that lasts and that I can also afford has been a driving force in all my purchases.

Maybe revisiting the thought that we can disagree and neither party has to be wrong would be helpful.

 

[WittHay]

I was talking to a friend today about the tools we remember from growing up and how they shaped our tool buying today. Until I started my first job off the farm I didn't know drill presses didn't need pipe wrenches to open and close like our Taiwanese one did. I knew chuck keys existed but assumed they all quit working like ours(stripped out). I didn't know vises shouldn't have 3/4 inch plus of play like our well used Allied. I figured shop presses all leaked like our HF one. Wrenches (Pittsburgh)broke with about a twenty-five percent failure rate, cherry pickers wouldn't reliably hold an engine up without continual pumping just to get it out of a car, ratchets would slam your knuckles into solid pieces of equipment with no warning, and drills and grinders from Chicago Electric may or may not work and always vibrated and made a racket. Oh, and small metric sockets with only the size stamped poorly on them rounded out regularly on my ATCs.

I'm honestly not trying to be facetious. I grew up with these tools and assumed that was life for everyone. Tools were just a part of the drudgery like mud, flat tires, and dust, not making life easier just making repairs possible. When I looked back, the only tools that didn't break were dads Craftsman wrenches that I wasn't allowed to take out of the shop and some old adjustable wrenches that I think were Diamond Calk ones. The tool box was a tank too, an old, old Craftsman 26" one, grey and red.

We weren't hobbyists then, either. With hundreds of cattle, hundreds of hogs, and aging equipment, something was being repaired, fabricated, built, or re-built daily. We rebuilt engines, hydraulic cylinders and pumps, rear ends, you name it. I'm not complaining about the tools or the life. It was a learning experience. Farm prices were poor then it just made sense to not spend any money on tools when payments needed to be made.

I did start using tools at shops I worked at and realized that there was a difference, a big one in fact, in tool quality from maker to maker. When I started buying tools after college, I didn't jump right in to big money stuff but since then I've never bought a Chinese tool except when in need when nothing else was available and then only after voicing my opinion on the matter to the retailer, in a respectable manner. In fact I spent a fair portion of my disposable income on good tools so I had what I needed in a way I wanted it.

All this to say I can't understand the good tools are not worth having argument that comes up here from time to time. I know for truth this argument has never been accepted in my shop. I'm not given to jealousy, especially when I have the chance to buy new or used, what some of the good mechanics in the world have.

This is very similar to my story growing up. Still have a made in England drill press that we use 2 pipe wrenches to tighten the chuck. The Chinese quality was drilled home when my father bought a large puller from the local Co-op and it broke on the first use. He also bought a set of well used tools from a HD mechanic. I don't know what was worse, the worn out 12-point Snap-on and Craftsman wrenches in the shop or the imported tools we used to fix stuff in the fields because the "good stuff" would not leave the tool shed

When I was 18 years old I bought a used Snap-on apprentice set in a 6 drawer top chest. From then on I was really fortunate to have and use top notch tools.

To this day I use and buy a mix of cheap import, mid-level and high quality tools depending on the job, where they are stored and who uses them

 

[DadsTools]

I see this thread got revived, so I thought I'd chime in.

I've talked about my father in other threads. He was an aircraft mechanic at the Philadelphia Naval Yard for 30 years from sometime before the war until he retired. Never found out how he became a mechanic (one of the questions I'd love to ask him today). Because the work was essential for the war effort, all the employees were given exemptions from serving in the armed forces. Dad enlisted anyway because he was still filled with spit and vinegar (he had been a body builder, and a semi-pro boxer and weight-lifter). He served as an aircraft mechanic, working primarily on reconnaissance planes, first in Britain and then on the fields of France. When he returned to his job after the war, there were massive layoffs of workers no longer needed--those who served were not laid off. That's the way vets were treated back in the day.

One of the jobs he had was restoration and maintenance work on vintage planes. He was also a machinist, and was quite a fabricator of anything that was needed and no longer available. I still have is roll-around tool chest that he made with drawers, two hinged-down doored compartments, and platforms on the left and right where sat large, leather-handled tool boxes. Even hand a little hidden key that dropped down into a hole so that even if you cut the lock, you couldn't get the bottom compartment open. Still have the metal totes he made, one to fit 8 baby food jars that he was fond of keeping nuts and bolts in. Also have his hand made carpenter's tool chest with some very sweet old saws, planes and brace & bits. There are still many things I make for myself, including small parts for various mechanisms, inspired by what he showed me.

Even though I was much more academically inclined, he taught me the proper use of basic hand tools, how to use a file, a hacksaw, various hammers, what extensions to use on a ratchet and why, selecting the proper size screwdriver and how to tell a good one, and the like. I remember someone in school had fell on a trumpet and folded the bell up. When I mentioned it to him, he told me to bring it home and he'd fix it. He used the occasion to teach me about sheet metal work and repair. I swear, when he was through with it, other than the damaged lacquer you could not tell that anything had ever happened to it!

I mentioned before his abhorrence for Craftsman hard line tools. He'd tell me lots of guys owned them because of the warranty. I can hear him still now: "What good is a warranty when you crawled on your belly 70' into a bomber wing and the ratchet starts slipping or the jaws on the open end spread?". And remember, this was during the 'golden age' of CM =v= tools, which were supposed to be the best they ever offered. Sure, he had the occasional CM screwdriver, and I recall a CM linesman pliers, but that's about it. Never saw him buy an imported anything. His tools were a mix of Proto, Thorsen, Bonney, Giller, Upland, and P&C. He had Lectrolite 'no-name' TruFit dbe for backup-budget wrenches. He also had his pride and joy Snap-on 3/8" drive set he bought right after the war and having an "E" ratchet--I finally got that set after wrangling for years with my younger brother who couldn't turn a screwdriver. He didn't have any Williams, Duro or S-K though--that's another question I'd love to ask him today.

I remember my brothers descending like vultures when my Dad died. When it came to the tools, I was aggressive. None of these guys knew what to do with them, and knew they would just sit and rot somewhere. I started grabbing tools one at a time out of his machinist chest, holding them up and challenging, "Do you know what this is? Do you know how it's used? I do, and so it's mine." After about 5 minutes of this, they gave up and moved on, allowing me to keep what was there (including my Dad's beloved vise that I still have and use as my main one). I also got the fabulous fastener collection. Ever hear about the $5 nuts and the $10 bolts for the government? Yeah, that's what I got. Tons of them. I remember a mechanic talking to me all about how he souped up this particular motor. He was ALWAYS talking about all the things he did in his shop--great guy, mind you, but what a talker, whatever you did he did more and better, whatever you saw, he'd seen bigger and better. As we walked into the garage and he beheld the Fabulous Fastener Collection, he stopped talking with mouth still opened in mid-sentence--only thing I ever saw that actually shut this guy up.

Anyway, that's my tale of growing up with tools.

 

[Bacon Man]

I knew that the workbench didn't stay clean for long and it was the main reason we had multiple sets.

 

[jd_1138]

My dad grew up during the depression in south New Jersey. Lived and worked on another family's farm from age 14 in exchange for room and board. They fixed anything they could to save money. He said most mechanics around there used Bonney tools. He joined the army in 1947 and spent 21 years in armament maintenance fixing small arms and artillery. During his time in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, he fixed anything that needed fixing. He's 85 now and has certainly slowed down, but still tries to do as much fixing for himself as he can.

Growing up, he would always call me over to show me how to do things because "I won't be around forever so you need to learn to do for yourself." He could fix absolutely anything.

His tools are Craftsman, old USA made Kmart, Bonney and a mix of other brands from the 50's-70's.

Coach

That's where my dad learned to be a mechanic. He joined the Army in 1961 out of HS. Then he was trained as a mechanic working on Jeeps, personnel carriers, tanks, etc.. He spent 4 years in France and Germany before being shipped off to the Vietnam War in the motor pool. When he came home in 1969 he became a mechanic (diesel tech, light auto). He was still working as a mechanic (part time) when he passed away 2 years ago.

He always had a mix of tool truck brands and USA CM mostly. He could fix anything. Thankfully a little of it rubbed off on me, as I was helping him. I wish I could go back in time and do more with him. Surly teenagers. Ha.

 

[Bacon Man]

but in all seriousness.

My dad isn't one to work on cars, maybe because he doesn't have the time for it, working two jobs, however...he is great at working on lawn mowers and weed eaters. He has a mixture of craftsman and junk. He used to have Craftsman, SK and some Proto but unfortunately my brothers have the tendency to borrow tools and never return them or use them once and leave them out in their yards. In November, i was out in my one brothers yard and kicked up a 1/2" Sk ratchet rusted to hell and back.

My grandpa was and to this day the smartest man i knew with a tool in his hand. He worked in a coal mine for 40 years, working on CAT and Komatsu's but that was just his way to support his family.

What he truly loved was farming and the tractors that helped him do it, he lived for spring when the calves were born, and for when he would restore a tractor. He loved doing it and he would take his completed project and sit in front of them in his lawn chair at county fairs, tractor pulls, tractor shows, and whatever else he felt like going to and talk to whoever would listen about them. There were many nights we stayed up, sitting in the shop talking while we worked. The one time near the end of his life my wife asked him about farming and his face lit up like a kid on christmas.

When it came to tools, he always swore by Proto, Wright, and Craftsman. He had junk tools that he would buy at auctions that he kept as backups just in case we would misplace something (which we always did) the closest thing he had for a tool box was the old ammo cans he attached to the tractors, he mainly used pegboard and the expanding workbench. I offered to buy him a nice box or 3 and he told me for years he could've bought a lot of tools boxes but he said the workbench was all he wanted.

 

[unslow1]

When growing we were doing full auto restorations with the most pitiful tools in a small town. Absolutely didn't spend on anything. I guess that why I have the tools I do today. After I got to work in a couple of commercial shops with the tool sets available there I decided to start getting the proper tools and stop making do.

 

[Mikeske]

My father was a administrative assistant in the u.S. Air Force and did it from 1943-1963 retiring as a MSGT. He then got a job at Sears as a manager. My father was not much of a mechanic. He did do one thing as I was the mechanically inclined one of 7 kids he got me my first set of Craftsman tools when I was 15. The whole kit was in a gray 2 drawer steel hand carried box and I still have the 150 piece set from 1973.

As my father was not mechanically inclined and I was I ended up being the mechanic in the family and I for some strange reason was able to fix just about anything and was always fixing stuff in my parents home and after my father died in 1984 in my mothers home. Dad had one habit and it was to leave a tool here and there and if he needed something to hop over the Sears store and get was needed. He was very good with woodworking and he helped rebuild granddads home after a tornado took half the roof off of it in a three week span.

I joined the Air Force and ended up I went into mechanics and in 1975 and was made a forklift mechanic and sent to Thailand for a year. In early 1977 with the bases closing in Thailand I was given notice that my career field in forklift mechanics was overmanned I was selected (ordered) back to the states to become a aircraft mechanic and I retrained in that field. I then was sent back overseas to the Philippines and worked on aircraft at Clark AB for the next five years.

In early 1983 I was tasked with a different job in the Air Force and that was to military training instructor at Lackland AFB, TX. After my 2 year stay at Lackland doing basic training every 6 weeks I sent to Nellis AFB, Nv and placed in the docks working n F-4, F-15, F-16's and anything else that required repair. At around this time I decided I wanted to go back into the civilian world and be settled in one place. I declined reenlistment in the active duty, enlisted in the Air Force Reserve and accepted a position at Boeing in Everett, Washington

Tools for me were the set of Bonney basic tool set and odds and ends for the last 40 plus years that I have accumulated. I retired last year after 30 years at the same employer and I still have my original set of Bonney's that I have for the last year rebuilt back to what I had in 1983. The only thing originally I had for the Bonney set that I knowingly let go was my roller cabinet and top box which were made by Waterloo and it was absolutely trashed and the rust was creeping up the sides of the box.

I never had time when I was younger to even think about tools otherwise then to keep them cleaned, treat any rust and serviceable. All the habits I learned in the Air Force and in some ways from what I saw my father do to his tools I swore I never do that to mine. The issues I had at home was the lack of a proper toolbox, I just set my home tools on a work bench in order and a pegboard above the bench and free kitchen cabinets that I got. When I retired then I bring home my toolbox and now I have triple the tools all at my home. I then decided to buy a new toolbox set and bought a Harbor Freight 44" top, roller, side cabinet and locker and in three weeks had overwhelmed that with all the tools. Well back to harbor freight and another 44" roller and side cabinet and then last week picked up a top box for the 2nd 44" roller.

So tools I have a lot of them and I used them my entire adult life and I will will as long as I can. Now a days I no longer work on jet aircraft and some of the aircraft specialty tools I have sold to buddies at my former employer. The automotive tools I have and will have and when I no longer use and need them I will give them to my son and nephew both who are mechanically inclined.

 

[DadsTools]

My father was a administrative assistant in the u.S. Air Force and did it from 1943-1963 retiring as a MSGT. He then got a job at Sears as a manager. My father was not much of a mechanic. He did do one thing as I was the mechanically inclined one of 7 kids he got me my first set of Craftsman tools when I was 15. The whole kit was in a gray 2 drawer steel hand carried box and I still have the 150 piece set from 1973.

As my father was not mechanically inclined and I was I ended up being the mechanic in the family and I for some strange reason was able to fix just about anything and was always fixing stuff in my parents home and after my father died in 1984 in my mothers home. Dad had one habit and it was to leave a tool here and there and if he needed something to hop over the Sears store and get was needed. He was very good with woodworking and he helped rebuild granddads home after a tornado took half the roof off of it in a three week span.

I joined the Air Force and ended up I went into mechanics and in 1975 and was made a forklift mechanic and sent to Thailand for a year. In early 1977 with the bases closing in Thailand I was given notice that my career field in forklift mechanics was overmanned I was selected (ordered) back to the states to become a aircraft mechanic and I retrained in that field. I then was sent back overseas to the Philippines and worked on aircraft at Clark AB for the next five years.

In early 1983 I was tasked with a different job in the Air Force and that was to military training instructor at Lackland AFB, TX. After my 2 year stay at Lackland doing basic training every 6 weeks I sent to Nellis AFB, Nv and placed in the docks working n F-4, F-15, F-16's and anything else that required repair. At around this time I decided I wanted to go back into the civilian world and be settled in one place. I declined reenlistment in the active duty, enlisted in the Air Force Reserve and accepted a position at Boeing in Everett, Washington

Tools for me were the set of Bonney basic tool set and odds and ends for the last 40 plus years that I have accumulated. I retired last year after 30 years at the same employer and I still have my original set of Bonney's that I have for the last year rebuilt back to what I had in 1983. The only thing originally I had for the Bonney set that I knowingly let go was my roller cabinet and top box which were made by Waterloo and it was absolutely trashed and the rust was creeping up the sides of the box.

I never had time when I was younger to even think about tools otherwise then to keep them cleaned, treat any rust and serviceable. All the habits I learned in the Air Force and in some ways from what I saw my father do to his tools I swore I never do that to mine. The issues I had at home was the lack of a proper toolbox, I just set my home tools on a work bench in order and a pegboard above the bench and free kitchen cabinets that I got. When I retired then I bring home my toolbox and now I have triple the tools all at my home. I then decided to buy a new toolbox set and bought a Harbor Freight 44" top, roller, side cabinet and locker and in three weeks had overwhelmed that with all the tools. Well back to harbor freight and another 44" roller and side cabinet and then last week picked up a top box for the 2nd 44" roller.

So tools I have a lot of them and I used them my entire adult life and I will will as long as I can. Now a days I no longer work on jet aircraft and some of the aircraft specialty tools I have sold to buddies at my former employer. The automotive tools I have and will have and when I no longer use and need them I will give them to my son and nephew both who are mechanically inclined.

Great story. I'm sure your tools could tell a lot of tales.

Isn't this a great thread?

 

[why worry]

Tools have been a part of my life since before I can remember. According to my mom when I was little I would try to help my dad fix things with his tools. So they bought me a set of Handy Andy type tools. I refused to use them because they weren't like my dads. Anyway my dad and granddads were always working on or building something as they couldn't afford new. Every thing from home remodeling to cars I learned a lot over the years as I was raised with that philosophy.

The one thing that always stuck with me was take care of your tools and they will take care of you. We would get tools from Sears as they were nearby and had a lifetime warranty. Other brands P&C, Proto, SK, Stanley, Weiss, Starret and many others all graced my youth. Just not very often. As I have gotten older I have tried to pass along the love of well made tools to do a job and the fact that a well made tool can make a job easier to my kids. I think they get it as my oldest is a mechanic for a large nursery and he quite often borrows my specialty tools to do jobs. So always on the hunt for name brand tools so I can say see these work as well as Snap on and they make the job easier as well.
Dave

 

[Mikeske]

Great story. I'm sure your tools could tell a lot of tales.

Isn't this a great thread?

My tools have made me my lives earnings and they did the job well for me. I should also mention when I was working I get the cheapest, best quality tools I could get and later on I was known for getting tools from pawn shops, flea markets, swap meets, a 2nd hand tool dealer, craigslist and ebay. I still that way and I now it is more hobby and tool polishing for me.

Oh yeah this is one of the best threads and should be continued to be posting in.

 

[Unruh]

My Dad was the youngest of 17 kids! They homesteader in Montana. My Dad used to tell a story.

When he was about 5 or 6, a guy came to deliver some item in a big truck. His truck broke down coming up the drive and he had to walk about a mile to get to the house. All the kids and grandkids were out running around. The man walked up to the porch and asked “Do you have a Monkey Wrench?”. My Grandpa replied “Hell no, these are all my kids!”

 

[shoe1]

My grandpa that I never met was orphaned about 12 years old his older brother worked for the union pacific railroad. He took my grandpa to Kansas city and gave him to the rail road. They took in orphan boys and raised them in the shops. They had school part of the day and worked in the machine shops part of the day. When he turned 18 they gave him a basic tool set and jounryman machinist card. My dad says he could fix anything he worked at anything mechanical his whole life. I still have his machinist box that I had redone. My dad was one of the smartest men I have ever known. He droped out of high school at 17 to join the navy in ww2. He was a aircraft mechanic in ww2. He worked in auto machine after coming home. He then went to work building natural gas pumping plants and the as the company trouble shooter. He over saw construction and the engineers building plants. My dad could do anything fair but could teach you how to do anything. He taught me how to look at something and figure out what was wrong and how to figure out how to fix it. His tools sucked they were junk nothing but china cheepo in my day. As a kid we had tools but nothing good and dad was never well organized even though he tried to be. I learned when I got older that he had once had good tools but right after I was born we moved and his tools where stolen. What better stuff that wasn't he had given to my older brothers. But he was always working on stuff houses, cars, tractors, mowers. We done everything but automatic transmissions our selves. Dad help me buy good tools and taught me to take care of them. He was always guiding me to by the best you can afford. He thought craftsman was great stuff. He bought everything from sears cause you could order it in. I have some craftsman stuff lots of sk some proto little snap on little matco some black hawk. He died 2 years ago and I have been going through his stuff cleaning up. Putting sets together of china tools and giving them to my nieces and nephews kids to learn with after my teenage boys got what they wanted of grand pa's. Dad would break something and would just go buy a new cheep set and go on. But I have all the shop equipment we put together. He would buy old shop equipment and we would rebuild it together. I still have a mixture of his old mics all good stuff but bought here and there as he needed not a set Like he bought me.

 

[Richard D]

Some good stories here...

 

[Fialaja]

Dad was not handy at all. Learned by hanging out in the garage with my brother and his friends. All basic hand tools, mostly craftsman. No air compressor and only an extension cord run from the house for power. He did a lot of work on various cars in that garage including a ton of engine swaps.

Ironically years later after we all moved out, I ended up digging a trench and running electric so my mother could get a garage door opener

When my brother moved toVA he gifted me his 26” craftsman bottom roll away and som other assorted tools

 

[Fialaja]

Hindsight being 20/20 we should have ran a sub panel out there but back then we didn’t have the knowledge... didn’t have a heater out there either. The only non hand tool we had was a craftsman industrial electric impact wrench that I still have today.

 

[intillzah]

My dad was not much of a tool guy, but my great uncle was, he had a farm and had a lot of old tools and he was the kind of guy who could take an old shot piece of equipment and rebuild it and make it work like new....

I still have some of my uncle's tools (not a whole lot, damn thieves took a lot of them). and the Lincoln buzz box he had as well as the torch set and bench grinder he had out at the farm.. Dad didn't have a lot of hand tools, which I always thought was weird because for many years, he was a machinist. And a damn good one at that, I did most of the wrenching for him after my uncle died and he got the farm (my great aunt and uncle had no kids, and my dad and I were the last living relatives). I remember how my dad one night told me "My helping him keep stuff going out on the farm saved him about 5 to7 grand a year"

This was about 25 years ago....

Today I have a nice selection of tools, but now I feel like I'm buying them for my grand kids. But those few tools that I have left from my dad and great uncle, those I cherish.

 

[DieselSaves]

It’s been a few years since I thought about this thread. I always enjoyed the stories.

 

[Tactile]

Some great stories here...

 

[bobg03]

Some great stories here...

I agree, I have some memories of my Dad that I'll share share soon. Seeing as we have many new members since the inception of this thread I'd like to see others stories to...

 

[jives]

Okay, I'll chime in.
My dad was a mechanical engineer working in the aerospace industry in San Diego. Robust time in the 60's for the industry as the space race was in full speed mode. He could fix anything at the house and that set a model for me, but growing up I always wondered how I could learn to do all the things he did -- fixing washing machines, redoing plumbing and electrical, adding a second floor to the house, and so forth. The garage had a small shop with only one large power tool, a CM table saw. Plenty of hand tools and small power tools, but the shop was dominated by a huge workbench that he made in high school (now in the hands of a nephew). The only hobby-like projects I remember my dad doing were rebuilding an old Model T truck that he picked up in Tijuana, and helping my brothers rebuild the engine on a '63 Dodge Dart. Aside from that, he never taught us how to use the tools or engaged in projects with us. As a kid I used the shop occasionally for small stuff, and my dad never had a problem with the kids using his tools, but again, he never really taught us how to use them.

I first learned most of my automotive and woodworking skills in shop classes in Jr and Sr High, even though by this time my dad had moved on to the construction business (after we landed on the moon the aerospace industry collapsed). I worked for the construction company most of the summers during HS and college, learned a lot of laboring skills (yes, really), and picked up a lot watching the carpenters in the cabinet shop and on the jobsites. As a constant go-fer to lumber yards and hardware stores, learned a lot about lumber, hardware, and the trades in general.

During college, grad school, marriage, budding career, the "shop life" never really developed. Oh, I fixed things at the house and at work, but a big change came in the mid-90s when my mom (dad had passed away) came to visit me and my wife and my new child. While doing a little shopping I stopped by the tool portion at Sears and admired the table saws. Mom said, "every man needs a table saw" (yes, she really said that), and bought me one. Still have that saw and is the staple of my shop.

 

[welder4956]

When I was growing up we had few tools and I have no idea what brand they were. Dad was a salesman for a wholesale hardware company, so the tools we had were usually from a return that the warehouse did not want back or demo items. The tools I used the most on my bicycle were an adjustable wrench and vise grips. All total, we also had a cheap 3/8" drive socket set, a pair of slip joint pliers, a claw hammer, a hacksaw and a couple of screwdrivers. These were kept in the kitchen in "the drawer", but were more often left laying wherever they were last used (or played with) by us kids. When Dad couldn't find the one he needed in "the drawer" he would call us together and say "Find my hammer (or whatever else was missing)". There were enough tools to do a minor repair, such as change a fuel pump, battery or radiator hose, but not much else.

My uncle was a diesel mechanic for a large concrete company and I loved when we would visit them and go to the shop. He was always working on something after hours (a Mack truck or an old car) and I learned a lot from him. My aunt's father was a farmer and we lived a couple of miles from him. I would help him around the farm with crops as a teenager and hang out in his pole barn shop with a dirt floor when he was working on a tractor, car or equipment.

When I was 17, I got a part time job working in a service station. I was friends with the owner's son and hung out there so much he finally put me to work. I started out pumping gas, checking oil and tire pressure, and cleaning windows. Eventually I learned to mount and balance tires, fix flats and do minor repairs. I think those three had the most influence on me learning about tools.

 

[johnre]

My tool education came from my uncle on our family farm, and helping him work on and maintain farm equipment. The hand tools were mostly a complete set, sometimes mixed brand names, and always well worn. At the time I didn’t know quality names that well, but I now can remember names like Proto, Mac, and Wright, and a very occasional Snap-On in the set.

We used them hard, but took good care of them. I was given the job of fetching them, then later cleaning them and putting them away. I remember always having to search around and find everything I had taken out on a job. All of this has stuck well with me, and I have lost absolutely nothing in my sets - my 10 mm sockets are all the originals that I bought back in the 1970s.

These are mostly Craftsman - V - series hand tools that I have today, and are a complete set and in better condition than our farm tools, as they haven’t been used as hard or as often. I now know they are inferior to what I grew up with, and I now have guilt at times having looked down at the farm tool sets after I started buying my own CM sets.

 

[Junkdrawer Dog]

I grew up in my families Arco/Sunoco gas station.

As a kid we had two gas stations near home. My buddies and I would bicycle to the Marathon station (owner's grandson rode our school bus) and hang out drinking pop, buying gumballs and driving the mechanic crazy asking questions. When he got tired of us we'd ride over to the Sunoco station (owner's sons were school buddies) and do the same thing. I knew the basics of fixing a flat tire or doing an oil change and grease job long before I had a driver's license or any tools of my own.

 

[Zewnten]

Helped a neighbor when 13 or 14? Showed me how to frame, cut paneling, run an air nailer, mix concrete etc. Then I helped adjust all the jacks on his mobile home from settling and that winter I shoveled his roof. That Christmas he brought me a craftsman socket set 1/4 and 3/8. Used my Christmas money from my grandparents to buy craftsman raised panel wrenches and screwdriver. Used those tools to fix up a chainsaw another neighbor gave me and started cutting up firewood.

Always took those tools with me everywhere, one day chainsaw neighbors tractor wouldn’t start or something and he got frustrated with it. Told me to screw with it if I wanted but he was going to get the truck and a tow strap to haul it back. Got the tractor started, finished up the job and drove it to the barn where he was working on the truck that wasn’t cooperating either.