Post your oldest tool you actively use (except anvils and vices)

[Gautama]

Klein had a contest a few years ago to find the oldest pair of Klein pliers. I thought it might be fun to get a thread where people post the oldest tool they have that they still use. Excluding anvils and vises, because they'll last until the end of humanity.

I'll start. I have this Rockford Whiz wire stripper that still works great, probably from the 40s.

 

[JoeFin]

 

[bmwrd0]

Not everyday, but it does get used.

 

[Gautama]

Not everyday, but it does get used.

Nice! Here's a bit of trivia: Plomb tools changed their name due to a trademark dispute with Plumb (the hammer manufacturer). They became Proto tools in 1948. So your wrench dates to pre 1950s, and possibly as early as the twenties.

 

[bmwrd0]

The Pebble period of Plomb is post war, and like you said, ends in '48. Alloy Artifacts has a good write up on it. It is nice to see the old girl get used like you said.

 

[FigureItOut]

It's not that old, and I have some older tools, but this is the oldest tool that I've had since it was new.
I got it in a tourist trinket shop in Breckenridge, CO when I was about 6, so about 1987. My mother had given me $20 to get whatever I wanted over the weekend, and this is what I ended up with.

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

 

[gdocktor3]

^ that's a cool story. You'll forever remember that trip when you look at that hammer. Why the heck a 6 year old would buy a hammer though.... Lol

 

[Gotcha640]

I expect some planes or chisels might win here. I have a few things from 1860s. I know my dad has some stuff from earlier 1800s, and my uncle in London has a hammer that was used when his house was built from ship timbers in the mid 1600s. Frame saws and hand drills in the shed may be similar age.

 

[Gautama]

Gotcha, I'd love to see pics of any of that stuff!

 

[larry_g]

View media item 46609
The above is a 1921 vintage drill press. According to Buffalo it was only made one year as a bench mount model. It has been up dated with a modern chuck and motor.

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This old gal is also a late 20's or 30's vintage

 

[four.cycle]

My late step-father, who grew up in the hinterlands of Montana, mail-ordered these pieces from Montgomery Ward and assembled this on an old typewriter table. He told me he built it when he was about 12 or 13, which dates it to about 1943 or 1944.

 

[four.cycle]

This Winchester pipe wrench has a patent date stamped on it of 03-14-22. It actually belongs to my mother, but I use it when I have to retrieve stuff out of the sink traps at her house.

 

[four.cycle]

(Don't laugh now.) This is an exhaust valve out of a 1946 J.I. Case Tractor. I also have one intake valve. I received them as payment for overhauling the carburetor from the tractor when I worked up in Yelm.
I use it all the time for a drift punch, or to tap nail heads back down. Works great, and that great big head on it makes it less likely I'm going to smash my left hand with the hammer.

 

[four.cycle]

This has been around as long as I can remember. Most likely WWII vintage. Was in use in my father's store from the 1940s until 1988. I pull it out when I need to check length on a belt.



... all I can think of now off the top of my head. I'm sure there's other stuff out there in the garage.

 

[drewvdw]

(Don't laugh now.) This is an exhaust valve out of a 1946 J.I. Case Tractor. I also have one intake valve. I received them as payment for overhauling the carburetor from the tractor when I worked up in Yelm.
I use it all the time for a drift punch, or to tap nail heads back down. Works great, and that great big head on it makes it less likely I'm going to smash my left hand with the hammer.

There's a guy I work with that would probably kill you for doing that. He's big into old Case tractors and you can't get parts for that stuff anymore.

 

[davethorik]

I have this Goodell-Pratt model 1218 inside micrometer set in original velvet lined box. Capacity 2-12". They were bought by Millers Falls in 1931 so they are older than that.

These were calibrated at my last job and were surprisingly accurate, with only minor adjustments needed. I love the box, too. The brown paper is anti rust paper.

Edit: forgot i have a pair of Starrett dividers that have an 1890 patent on them. They look to be old.

 

[four.cycle]

There's a guy I work with that would probably kill you for doing that. He's big into old Case tractors and you can't get parts for that stuff anymore.

I didn't have any trouble at all finding the parts for him. He had me order rings, rod bearings, main bearings, a full gasket set, all new intake and exhaust valves, and the carburetor kit.
The engine parts were all TRW from General Automotive Warehouse in Seattle, and the gaskets were FelPro from R.J. Templeton in Portland, Oregon.
Can't recall where the carburetor kit came from.

He was confident he could do all the engine work, but he wasn't so sure about the carburetor. I'd never worked on one of those models before (I think it was a Marvel-Schebler, not sure) so I told him I'd overhaul the carburetor. When he asked what I'd want for my time, I told him one of each of the valves.
That would have been somewhere between 1977 and 1981. I've been using them both since then. They actually see far more use than those other items I posted above - just used them last week tapping nail heads down on a deck I painted.

 

[G1K]

Built in the early 40's and still running strong



Ryan

 

[shockwave]

I use this wrench exclusively for snap on pullers I believe from the 70's

 

[Jim Johnstone]

Built in the early 40's and still running strong



Ryan

I hate you, in the nicest possible way of course.

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

I guess my compressor is from 1948, bu it look like any otter dusty old compressor in a pitch dark hut.

These are in the work truck, so they get used.
The upper Trimo 24 is a recent addition, the lower was found on th streets of San Fransisco with a bunch of concrete stuck to it. It had a badly chipped tooth so i put in a Ridgid jaw that isn't quite as smooth. Parts donor was about $5, but its actully in pretty good shape. these two are 1927-52 style, I don't know how to narrow it down more.

H.D.Smith perfect handle little pipe wrench,,,went to wash it, and was losing wood, so I sanded the soft off, and gave it a couple coats of floor urethane. Now its perfect again. Trimo bought H.D.Smith in the mid 30s, so I guess its from before that.

Whatever 3/8" hinge handle I was using broke, so I grabbed this one out of the duplicate redundants drawer. It turned out to be a cad plated wartime Duro Chrome. Nice action, and its broached to serve as an extension too.

1/2" Pebble ratchet. works great, figured I'd polish it up by using it.

Plomb 1/2" DSB, yeah its from before part numbers. 9A date code and round O says Jan 1929. if it made it this far, I probably can't hurt it.

 

[Jim Johnstone]

Nothing worth a photo, but my oldest "regular use" tool would be my grandfather's old estwing hammer that got handed down to me when he passed. He was a carpenter and builder and even though I have several new hammers in my arsenal, my hand always grabs the old estwing every time I reach in the drawer.

 

[never enuf time]

I use My 1945 Unisaw all the time. Need to up grade

fence

 

[Al Bundy]

The last time I posted pictures of it on the internet I got in a lot of trouble!

 

[Justanoldguy]

I have a 1946 Myford lathe and Drill press just as old.
Just picked up these old lead working tools that I intend using for sheet metal work.
Also an old (say ANCIENT) Elm tree stump dished out for sheet metal work.
It will be a tool and older than anything on here.. HaHa.

 

[Mastermind]

Nice stump. My last one broke. You should trace out those lead tools just in case. They are getting real hard to find.

 

[Justanoldguy]

Nice stump. My last one broke. You should trace out those lead tools just in case. They are getting real hard to find.

Good idea about the tracing.
They are made of Boxwood (Buxus sempervirens).
The hardest wood in Europe.
So, yes, not easy to replace for sure.

Was told they were 1930's vintage?

 

[KEH]

When I was a small boy, I was interested in chopping wood, since we heated and cooked with wood. Daddy got me a small Plumb ax, 2 or 3 pound head with a handle maybe 2 feet long. I recently gave it to Daughter and Sil. I never did use it much. On a camping trip with my young wife, I took the ax along and cut firewood with it in Yellowstone Park. I was not happy when I found D and SIL used it to kill a chicken eating snake on a concrete floor. They also used their machete on the same snake.

KEH

 

[Olafur]

The last time I posted pictures of it on the internet I got in a lot of trouble!

You beat me to it.

Ps
He said "actively use"

 

[nnoble83]

Here is my old devilbiss I saved from scrap. I believe i found a date and it was somewhere in the early 1920's. The motor is like nothing I've seen its pre capacitor. I was told it came out of an old hotel that has since been torn down and lived in a home machine shop for a many years before i got it. I think i need to put new bearings in it, it has developed a knock.