How about a chalk line thread?

[bonneyman]

I'd like to see the chalk lines you guys have. Preferably old or unique ones, but newer ones are fine as well.

Found this Seymour line yesterday in a pile of old plumbing stuff at an estate sale. Never heard of them. Disassembled, cleaned as best as I could, and put back together with no chalk. Says Seymour, Conn. Made in USA on it. Any ideas?

 

[Nobody-named-Olli]

Just a simple work horse, older Stanley FatMax.



Kind regards,
Olli

 

[Beerhippie]

Chalkline thread? Cotton works best.

Here are a few of mine:





The Speedlines saw daily use for several decades. They have a gear mechanism built in so they reel fast. Push the crank axle in and they free-wheel for feeding. The plastic case is stout enough to survive a drop from a three-story roof onto concrete (tested). With two of them and two people, you can lay out a roof for roofing without having to walk back and forth.

I don't know much about the old Stanley, but I think it's my first chalkline, undoubtedly bought at a yard sale many years ago.

One more:





This one is filled with concrete dye for marking off sill lines on a foundation. The dye is permanent, even in rain--a good reason to never grab a tool from another man's tool bag without asking.

The Straight-Line was probably the most often seen on a PNW jobsite thirty years ago.

The Speed-Lines were also made in the USA by American Tool Co.s.

 

[BTL-A4]

I have the same one as @Beerhippie:




I think I bought mine about 25 years ago when we bought our first house. I used it recently at work to line up some tool boxes/ work benches.

 

[bonneyman]

Yeah, I've got one of those aluminum-bodied Strait lines in the carpenters box. Good ole stand-by!

 

[Beerhippie]

Yeah, I've got one of those aluminum-bodied Strait lines in the carpenters box. Good ole stand-by!

As I mentioned, it was the bog-standard chalkline a while back. The Speed-Line was an improvement, lighter and much faster to use.

 

[Rusted Nut]

I’ve used a bunch of chalk boxes over the years, including Starrett. HanDS down the best out there are the Tajima’s. Lines won’t break even when really taught. They put down a really nice thin line.

 

[Beerhippie]

I’ve used a bunch of chalk boxes over the years, including Starrett. HanDS down the best out there are the Tajima’s. Lines won’t break even when really taught. They put down a really nice thin line.

Is that a chalk line or an ink line? I think I still have a Japanese ink line around here somewheres....

For precision work, I've been known to replace the cotton line with braided "squid" line. It doesn't hold chalk well, but does fine with concrete dyes.

 

[Rusted Nut]

Is that a chalk line or an ink line? I think I still have a Japanese ink line around here somewheres....

For precision work, I've been known to replace the cotton line with braided "squid" line. It doesn't hold chalk well, but does fine with concrete dyes.

It’s chalk!

 

[kaymccampbell]

I've got a Strait Line. I bought it new from Wallace Armer 50-60 years ago.

 

[bonneyman]

Found out some info on the old Seymour. Apparently they made machine gun magazines for the military during WW2, then went on to make just chalk lines post-war.
Several examples are up on ebay saying they are circa 1950's.

 

[Beerhippie]

Found out some info on the old Seymour. Apparently they made machine gun magazines for the military during WW2, then went on to make just chalk lines post-war.
Several examples are up on ebay saying they are circa 1950's.

So, you're saying to chalk it up to war profits?

 

[Beerhippie]

It's funny, but I never noticed that the name of the old aluminum 'boxes was Strait-Line, not Straight-Line!

In most tool naming cases, abridged names like that don't bother me much, but in this case, strait actually has a different meaning. It's a water passage, usually narrow (and rarely straight) between two land masses.

 

[bonneyman]

It's funny, but I never noticed that the name of the old aluminum 'boxes was Strait-Line, not Straight-Line!

In most tool naming cases, abridged names like that don't bother me much, but in this case, strait actually has a different meaning. It's a water passage, usually narrow (and rarely straight) between two land masses.

Maybe it's related to the tiny hole where the string actually comes out? The Seymour has a fairly large hole, and when I picked it up, chalk poured out of it. Maybe Strait-Line devised a metered hole to reduce chalk loss?

I'm heading to Ace this week to see if I can find some to cross-purpose and reduce the hole diameter without physically altering the tool. At least make it more useable.

 

[Beerhippie]

Maybe it's related to the tiny hole where the string actually comes out? The Seymour has a fairly large hole, and when I picked it up, chalk poured out of it. Maybe Strait-Line devised a metered hole to reduce chalk loss?

I'm heading to Ace this week to see if I can find some to cross-purpose and reduce the hole diameter without physically altering the tool. At least make it more useable.

Maybe just keep an eye out for used ones?

But, to note--all chalk boxes leak, just some worse than others. If you want something that makes a fine, precise line, get a Japanese ink line. We used them for lay-out on full-Dutch log home logs.

 

[KnurledNut]

I keep a plumb bob tied to the end of the string instead of the hook on an old metal strait line reel like above.

 

[Beerhippie]

I keep a plumb bob tied to the end of the string instead of the hook on an old metal strait line reel like above.

That wasn't uncommon.

The thing I noticed while pulling out some of my old chalk boxes was that they now all have blue chalk. A few decades ago, I would have had dedicated boxes filled with different colors to denote different thing on the site--white for plumbing, black for DWV, red for sill lay-out, etc.

 

[KnurledNut]

I used to string a taut chalkline for framing basement foundation walls on poured slabs. Hilti gun down the glued bottom treated plate, run layout, grab a stud and set in place bumping the chalkline, pull it back down and cut it. Rinse and repeat with all studs. Toenail and set the top plates. Dead flat top on an irregular slab. Never saw any other framers do this. It was incredibly fast and accurate. No measuring. Still prefer black chalk.

 

[dscheidt]

I keep a plumb bob tied to the end of the string instead of the hook on an old metal strait line reel like above.

The chalk box itself makes a pretty good plumb bob. Not as accurate as a proper plumb bob, with a needle point, but good enough to check whether framing is plumb, or to line up top and bottom plates.

 

[Beerhippie]

The chalk box itself makes a pretty good plumb bob. Not as accurate as a proper plumb bob, with a needle point, but good enough to check whether framing is plumb, or to line up top and bottom plates.

 

[micromind]

I have 3 of those strait-line models, all bought in the early 80s.

One has blue chalk, for original marking, one has red for corrections the other has no chalk but a plumb bob attached to the string.

The blue one has been used so much that the shaft bore is considerable larger than the shaft......

 

[bonneyman]

Did a small modernization on the Seymour Chalk Line today. The hole in the side of the case where the string comes out was way too big. So I went to Ace Hardware and dug thru their rubber caps and grommets till I found this little cutie. Doesn't cause any drag that I can see when pulling/retracting the string but is a whole lot smaller so chalk loss should be at a minimum.

 

[Beerhippie]

Did a small modernization on the Seymour Chalk Line today. The hole in the side of the case where the string comes out was way too big. So I went to Ace Hardware and dug thru their rubber caps and grommets till I found this little cutie. Doesn't cause any drag that I can see when pulling/retracting the string but is a whole lot smaller so chalk loss should be at a minimum.

Before I learned to pre-drill the screw holes in steel roofing, we'd snap lines to keep our screw lines straight. A leaky chalkbox spilling chalk all over a steel roof makes it nearly as slippery as silicone caulk on your boot sole--even at 4/12.