My Dad's Tools

[jsharpphoto]

Starting about a year ago, every time I see my dad he brings me some of his old tools. I use to just think, awesome, more tools. Most of them are 1970's USA craftsman and snap-on stuff. I guess since becoming a father myself, I've started viewing this situation differently. It's no longer about getting free tools, it's become about the fact that my dad is now too old to use his own tools.

I guess he wants to be able to see me enjoy them now, rather than me get them in a big box in a few years when we clean out his house.

Has anyone else experienced something similar?

 

[Streetbu]

No not yet. My father has gone blind but still uses his. Not looking forward to the day I get his tools

 

[carcajou]

My dad is in his 70's. I just gave him some new tools, chest, Hansen socket organizers, and easy to read socket labels. I should have thought of it sooner.

 

[Kent_B]

It is sort of sad when that starts to happen.

I hope you two can share some good times using them together. I wish I could do that with my dad, and I do that as often as I can with my own kids.

 

[mstewart]

I don't look forward to the day when I have to sort my Dad's tools out. Hopefully I'll have a son-in-law to pass them on to. I don't really want deal with selling them outright.

it's amazing what you never thought of 20 year ago.....

 

[PnHmech]

My dad passed away when I was 3 I only have a handful of his tools, most of them were stolen. I have been receiving tools from both of my grandfathers tho.


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[Ford52PU]

my Dad died when I was 15, most of his tools have been lost, mislaid in the 40+ yrs since, I still have a few things that I treasure now that I realize what treasures they are. My Father in law who is 92 has been passing on things to me the last few years though.

 

[DXB]

My dad died when I was about 33, 18 years ago. I'm an only child and I still think about him sometimes. He passed away over a period of a few years. He never had many tools - but he did have some that were very special to him which he told me about - a few passed on from his dad as well (who I never met): wooden handled saws and hammers, an assortment of screwdrivers and old pliers and things. He used to keep them in several old leather satchels that i used to revere as holy ground when I was a kid. He passed them all to me with a grin, in his last year. I cherish them all - and the old bits of used things that he'd taken off of something he was working on and put in his bag and never thrown away. I had a new garage built last year and my dad's old tools take pride of place on the first set of wooden shelves I've just built and varnished. I think of my dad fondly every time I use his tools...

 

[G McKay]

Those tools that belonged to your dad are probably a lot better built than those today. So there is more than one reason to cherish them.

 

[ozyborn]

When my dad passed on I got all of his tools. Needless to say. They will never get sold or loaned out to anybody. I use most of them still. They will go to my kids.

Yep, a lot of Craftsman wrenches, but the newest ones are 40 years old. They do not break or bend.

 

[astrotrain99]

Kind of stumbled on this thread, but it speaks to me too. My Dad passed away suddenly when I was 20, now 14 years ago. I have the majority of his tools, mostly Craftsman basic mechanic hand tools, and use them frequently.

I love the ability to do a job with a tool my father used years ago. I cannot think of many "things" that can be passed from father to son that can maintain such a connection.

 

[Garage Customz]

I started a thread about the same thing, only mine situation was my dad had died and I was given all of his tools. One of the cool things is that there are several that I use almost every day either around the house or on the job. I think my old man would be pretty proud of that.

 

[the gypsy]

Well this is my story. When my dad passed away I left the tools at the house so that when something needed repairing I would not need to bring my tools.
At one point my brother in law needed a drill and borrowed it. It did not bother me that he borrowed it, but that fact that he never returned it left me unsettled.
I did not need it as I have many of my own, but I did not feel right.

 

[Wingnut65]

Lost my dad 15 years ago and he used them till the day he went in the hospital. This past Thanksgiving, I brought his 1963 Craftsman radial arm saw to my shop. I used it all the years that I lived at home and am grateful to be able to use it again. I plan to keep using it for many years to come.

Enjoy using his tools and try to get stories from him on when and where he got the tools in the first place. They will mean so much more to you when you know the history.

 

[Playwme]

My dad doesn't like giving anything away.

I managed to get his MTD ride on with a busted hydrostatic transmission after he bought a new mower and left the old gathering dust. He wouldn't give me the components he'd disassembled out of the diff though. All it needed was a $30 part to fix but he was going to use the shafts and cogs for something. I ended up buying another mower with a catcher for $100 and just swapped his engine over to it.

The other one was his apparently irreparable Stihl chainsaw. He bought a new one but I know the old one will be fixable, it just needs more effort than he's willing to put in. I stihl had to hassle him for about 2 months to get him to let go of it.

 

[lotsoftools]

My dad is turning 85 this year. He can't see very well and is losing his memory fast (testing that next week). Anyways, he told me to come by this weekend and help go though his tools to figure out what I want and what to sell.

 

[rburke65]

Enjoy them while you have them. My dad died when he was 65.... Still a young man. That was 33 years ago when I was 32. I still miss my dad. Even now there is something in my eye.........

 

[Nephronracing]

Long story short, we were not always close. I saw him every other weekend until I was about 12, then I moved in with him for a few months when I was 17. We had a good relationship from 1986 until 2001. Saw him at a few family funerals but up until about a year ago we hadn't talked.

He wants me to come visit this summer and discuss what I want when he passes. We have some plans to get together at Road America this summer and go to Bonneville this fall. While we haven't always got along, there are lots of memories in those tools during the times we did.

 

[Desertwind]

Spouse is 90 & in a nursing home. I am going through all his tools trying to clean out & organize his workshop. I'm taking me time & finding so many tools I don't know what they are. I am doing lots of research online & this site. I never saw so many drill bits & socket sets.


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[56vette461]

Dad was a carpenter/cabinet maker all his life. He worked a great deal of his years before personal power tools were made, so he had a large assortment of hand tools, saws, hammers, and planes, ... lots and lots of commercially and hand made planes for trims and detailed work. I learned to enjoy wood working with him.

When he died 22 years ago I gathered all his tools, put them in the tool boxes he made and stacked them on shelves in the garage. Over the years whenever I did some wood working project I would haul out some of the tools and do as much as I could with those hand tools. It took a while but I learned a lot about the work he did and the skills he had. I remodeled my first house with layered base boards, door and window trims with those old tools using drawings and pictures from his notes and penciled drawings.

I'm now building fine furniture style (trying at least) tool cabinets for my children and grand children to fit collections of those tools for them. They all grew up with those tools around. While they may never use them, they will at least have the memories of their learning to use them on little shop projects over the years. They have been busy selecting some of their favorites for the cabinets. I'm glad I kept them and even more happy to see them stay in the family as collections.

 

[HomebrewHaus]

Most of my tools have been passed down from my Grandpa and my Dad. Grandpa passed on 31 yrs ago and his Craftsman table saw served him, my dad and myself. At times I used to get mad a ruining a piece of wood because the fence had worn out but a piece of wood and c clamps have served me well and I cant bring myself to replace it. I lost my dad to cancer 14 yrs ago he was 53, ironically he never smoked, i smoked and finally quit after 20 yrs , 9 yrs ago.

Not a day goes by that I haven't thought of dad or grandpa in some way. And definitely when I use their tools on the weekends I find myself talking to them and asking for advise on how would they do a specific house repair.

When I use my "dad's" hammer I am always reminded of how dad used to make fun and joke of how I couldn't swing his hammer with 1 hand when I was about 10. I'm 44 now and those memories are as strong as the day they were made.

 

[Tejaas]

Great posting, kinda hits close to home for me.

I'm fortunate that I am being gifted tools from my dad while he is still in good health, and only 55.

Just two weeks ago he casually slipped two brand new 1980s 6" craftsman C-clamps in the back of my truck as I was pulling out from mom and dad's house...

I didn't find them till I was unloading the truck when I got home.

They now are clamped under my welding table, and the next time he makes it up here he will slyly peek to see what kind of project is on the table that they are holding together.

It's been like that for 10 years, sometimes I catch him planting them in my truck or shop, sometimes it'll be weeks after a visit and I find something "new" squirreled away in the back of one of toolbox drawers.

I guess it's a game now, as I find myself hauling stuff his way too... But with a decades worth of the game I have to look harder and harder every time to make sure I don't regift him one of his own items.

My dad taught me how to be a man, but he also taught me to be a "provider", and enabled me to do so starting out with a lot of his old hand-me-down tools.

Regardless of how you get them, they are all priceless and with a little oil and care they will make it to the next generation.

Haha, reminds me that I gotta call him and ask about the weather in the morning.




~Tejaas~

 

[mikec35]

I've got my Grandpa's old Delta Rockwell Radial arm saw with the wooden table top he made for it. I also am trading my Dad a newer Craftsman drill press for my Grandpa's 60 year old Craftsman drill press. Along with passing these items on to our kids, we should pass on our Forum id's and passwords so they can read through all of our posts when we are gone, they could stay connected to us forever on the internet...

 

[Garage Dog]

My father wanted to think that he would use his tools for ever, but there came a time when he realized he would not.

Tools and guns became the gifts of choice for holidays and special occasions - it was a cool to get old tools or a gun with a story that you couldn't buy in a store.

The best part was the story that went with a given item. He would tell me when and why he bought whatever it was he was giving me - he enjoyed telling stories and I enjoyed listening.

GD

 

[Terranova]

No not yet. My father has gone blind but still uses his. Not looking forward to the day I get his tools

^^^THIS
I just moved into my first house with my first garage at 42. About an hour and a half from my dad. I look forward to and dread the day I get my fathers tools. I still feel like a 17 year old asking to borrow the keys when I ask to take a tool home to use it for a project. At 75 I worry it will be too soon when I get to take them all.

T

 

[6768rogues]

My dad died 5 years ago and I have his tools. They served him well over the years on his farm, but were not special or important to him. Whenever I use one of them, I think of him and how his had was on that tool.