Tools from the old world
- Thread starter Monte
- Start date
General Geoff
Well-known member
Got this in "Used - Like New" condition, despite it being in a sealed factory plastic bag. Has a couple of scuffs from rattling around in shipping at some point but otherwise perfect.
Proto J5457F long handle flex head palm control ratchet. Made in Italy, anyone know who the OEM is? I'm assuming Facom?
Also shout-out to @Etchase for posting the deal on the amazon warehouse deals thread
Proto J5457F long handle flex head palm control ratchet. Made in Italy, anyone know who the OEM is? I'm assuming Facom?
Also shout-out to @Etchase for posting the deal on the amazon warehouse deals thread
CHI_Tool&Die
Well-known member
Dude, hands down my favorite ratchets. Slim head, excellent knurling, 72 teeth. Just smooth ratchets. Congrats!Got this in "Used - Like New" condition, despite it being in a sealed factory plastic bag. Has a couple of scuffs from rattling around in shipping at some point but otherwise perfect.
Proto J5457F long handle flex head palm control ratchet. Made in Italy, anyone know who the OEM is? I'm assuming Facom?
Also shout-out to @Etchase for posting the deal on the amazon warehouse deals thread
That is not an uncommon tool. Everyone had those in 1994. They were the bees knees until the early Gearwrenches came out, and no one ever used them again.
I probably have twice as many as this. I don’t know where the offset ones are.
Attachments
Got a set of Ruko carbide drill bits, they're great.Ruko step drill bit
Got this Dewalt ratchet made in Italy. Was surprised the screw was a T-30 and more surprised there was red lock tight on it. The reason is, if the screw is torqued down, it locks up the ratchet. It needs to be a little looser. Works great. Factory lube on the sliding portion of the pawl, and I added the last of my class 1 super lube to the gear. Need to figure out who will ship me some here in Hawaii.
Cool, they could make it have some "seat" but with red loctite on the screw it basically makes the slop adjustable.Got this Dewalt ratchet made in Italy. Was surprised the screw was a T-30 and more surprised there was red lock tight on it. The reason is, if the screw is torqued down, it locks up the ratchet. It needs to be a little looser. Works great. Factory lube on the sliding portion of the pawl, and I added the last of my class 1 super lube to the gear. Need to figure out who will ship me some here in Hawaii.
mslim
Well-known member
I've had a couple of the old Craftsman versions of these for at least 4 decades. Looks useful but every time I tried them there was another wrench that worked better. The only place I've used them is on the expanding wheel chocks for my RV.
Very nice old Belzer screwdriversBelzer Short Flat Screwdriver
Belzer 2mm Hex Screwdriver
Belzer 7mm Hex Screwdriver
mslim
Well-known member
I'm not sure where these came from. I know I didn't purchase them. I tried to sharpen them as they cutting edges were nicked but I'm not sure I accomplished anything. Offered FWIW and as a curiosity to the knowledge pool.
Reed Prince
Well-known member
Here's something a bit different, an optical flat from the USSR. I found this one on eBay.
When you shine monochromatic light through it, you can see interference patterns that tell you about the flatness of the surface beneath it.
Traditional monochromatic sources are gas discharge tubes and those are hard to find super cheap, so I took the guts out of an Amazon Warehouse Return holiday laser projector and used the green diode. I removed the collimating optics, put a ping pong ball on it to further diffuse the beam, and then put some vellum in front of that. Good enough for goofing around.
When you shine monochromatic light through it, you can see interference patterns that tell you about the flatness of the surface beneath it.
Traditional monochromatic sources are gas discharge tubes and those are hard to find super cheap, so I took the guts out of an Amazon Warehouse Return holiday laser projector and used the green diode. I removed the collimating optics, put a ping pong ball on it to further diffuse the beam, and then put some vellum in front of that. Good enough for goofing around.
Last edited:
upgrading
Well-known member
What company is selling those those blue scissors ?
I can't see the name
I can't see the name
CGarage
Well-known member
Weicon cable scissors
Made-in-Switzerland Bosch 9" pruning blades (5 tpi), purchased at Amazon US. I've noticed that many of my reciprocating blades from Milwaukee, Makita, and Freud Diablo are also manufactured in Switzerland. Anyone here know the name of the Swiss manufacturer?
neophyte
Well-known member
Bosch manufactures those blades.Made-in-Switzerland Bosch 9" pruning blades (5 tpi), purchased at Amazon US. I've noticed that many of my reciprocating blades from Milwaukee, Makita, and Freud Diablo are also manufactured in Switzerland. Anyone here know the name of the Swiss manufacturer?
I’m not sure whether the facility came with the purchase of Scintilla, but there is a town in the Italian part of Switzerland, were Bosch manufactures a huge amount of blades, bits, and other tools accessories.
There was an article in one woodworking magazine 10 years or more ago about it.
Basically, a train line runs into the town, possibly thru the mountains.
Trains drop off raw materials, then pick up car loads of finished blades on the way out.
The manufacturing has existed for decades.
CGarage
Well-known member
They are not made in the Italian canton,
They are made in the French speaking canton of Valais, Switzerland.
Bosch Group’s Scintilla branch invests CHF 32 million in Valais
The extension of the Scintilla branch of German group Bosch has been inaugurated in St. Niklaus in the canton of Valais. CHF 32 million were invested.
www.s-ge.com
dutchgray
Well-known member
The Swiss made Bosch was never hobby grade, Bosch just branded it as such for reasons only known to themselves.
I have an older pro grade hand plane as well and there are differences if you take it apart. I had the hobby one apart a few times. It went through a lot of abuse. The bearings are clearly lower quality and a bit binding and some of them are just plain bushings. When the axle got extremely hot after doing some oak, it melted them a bit. On the professional one everything is on rollers and much more solid. I think both are great for what they cost, the hobby one was much cheaper if I recall correctly, and it went through much worse abuse than the pricey one.
dutchgray
Well-known member
What I meant was the Swiss green Bosch home grade tools were far above the quality of the Chinese green Bosch home grade tools, often you would have both types on the shelf in the shop to choose from at the same time for much the same price. They are definitely not up to the standards that the pro grade tools were back then, but were still good.
neophyte
Well-known member
My bad.They are not made in the Italian canton,
They are made in the French speaking canton of Valais, Switzerland.
Bosch Group’s Scintilla branch invests CHF 32 million in Valais
The extension of the Scintilla branch of German group Bosch has been inaugurated in St. Niklaus in the canton of Valais. CHF 32 million were invested.
St. Niklaus is in Valais, which is next to Italy, and next to Ticino, the Italian Language Swiss Canton.
Odd-job
Well-known member
My humble tool haul from my Switzerland trip.
Swiza pocket knife (from some gift shop) and a PB swiss screwdriver (from Migros).
It is true the prices are really not better (if not worse) than here in the US. The Swiss franc remains strong due to the fact they back their currency with gold reserves. The irony is there is no sales tax so versus CA it felt like it came out about even.
Also they say prices on Swiss army knives are fixed across the board, but every now and then you might walk into a store who forgot to update their prices to the latest. Saved me 3 CHF on my son's pocket knife.
Swiza pocket knife (from some gift shop) and a PB swiss screwdriver (from Migros).
It is true the prices are really not better (if not worse) than here in the US. The Swiss franc remains strong due to the fact they back their currency with gold reserves. The irony is there is no sales tax so versus CA it felt like it came out about even.
Also they say prices on Swiss army knives are fixed across the board, but every now and then you might walk into a store who forgot to update their prices to the latest. Saved me 3 CHF on my son's pocket knife.
Last edited:
esben57
Well-known member
Looks like Facom .Got this Dewalt ratchet made in Italy. Was surprised the screw was a T-30 and more surprised there was red lock tight on it. The reason is, if the screw is torqued down, it locks up the ratchet. It needs to be a little looser. Works great. Factory lube on the sliding portion of the pawl, and I added the last of my class 1 super lube to the gear. Need to figure out who will ship me some here in Hawaii.
neophyte
Well-known member
One of the heads of Swiza is Peter Hug, who used to run Wenger ( the other Swiss Army knife maker) before Victorinox bought Wenger.
Hug may gave been the guy responsible for getting Wenger to make some of the interesting products Victorinox later discontinued.
CGarage
Well-known member
My humble tool haul from my Switzerland trip.
Swiza pocket knife (from some gift shop) and a PB swiss screwdriver (from Migros).
It is true the prices are really not better (if not worse) than here in the US. The Swiss franc remains strong due to the fact they back their currency with gold reserves. The irony is there is no sales tax so versus CA it felt like it came out about even.
Also they say prices on Swiss army knives are fixed across the board, but every now and then you might walk into a store who forgot to update their prices to the latest. Saved me 3 CHF on my son's pocket knife.
Teach your son to look after and cherish that knife.
You did well.
How was the trip and what was the best part for you?
Odd-job
Well-known member
The Swiza definitely has some interesting features. Soft grip, push lock (although noticed some Swiss Army knives have that), and the hidden internal tweezers are nice features. Jury is out on the soft grip for now of course. Appears to attract dirt like screwdrivers and seems to hang up in pockets.
Odd-job
Well-known member
The Swiza was apparently for me lol.
Here's the Swiss army knives for a couple of my sons. My 6 year old already managed to cut himself with it when we weren't looking.
Trip was great. Mass transit was perfect for our family of 5 going from Geneva-Interlaken-Lucern-Zurich. Grindewald area was beautiful despite being a tourist trap. Always a cultural shock when a lot of people survive without a car as I contemplate a 4th car. Definitely need to get into bike packing I think for the next time I visit to see more of the country.
CGarage
Well-known member
The Swiza was apparently for me lol.
Here's the Swiss army knives for a couple of my sons. My 6 year old already managed to cut himself with it when we weren't looking.
Trip was great. Mass transit was perfect for our family of 5 going from Geneva-Interlaken-Lucern-Zurich. Grindewald area was beautiful despite being a tourist trap. Always a cultural shock when a lot of people survive without a car as I contemplate a 4th car. Definitely need to get into bike packing I think for the next time I visit to see more of the country.
There is a lot more to see.
Lauterbrunnen Valley is amazing and as far as city living, Neuchâtel is
(Chef’s Kiss). Geneva is a lot like Paris and Zürich is a lot like a German city center. The areas in between are much more livable and just as lively, albeit in a different way.
Odd-job
Well-known member
Definitely a beautiful country you got there. Am looking forward to exploring more the next time I can make it over.There is a lot more to see.
Lauterbrunnen Valley is amazing and as far as city living, Neuchâtel is
Geneva is a lot like Paris and Zürich is a lot like a German city center. The areas in between are much more livable and just as lively, albeit in a different way.
Ordered two Ernest Wright stork scissors to give away as gifts on christmas. Hopefully they get here in time. Such a unique and beautiful design!
Couldn't help myself not to order a pair of general use scissors for myself too. And they have left handed versions! So I got myself what I believe is their signature model, Turton.
May take some time for them all to arrive, cause if I understand correctly, they are made in small batches. But I am quite happy, seems like they're proper heirloom pieces.
Couldn't help myself not to order a pair of general use scissors for myself too. And they have left handed versions! So I got myself what I believe is their signature model, Turton.
May take some time for them all to arrive, cause if I understand correctly, they are made in small batches. But I am quite happy, seems like they're proper heirloom pieces.
dutchgray
Well-known member
Just a shame they don't make the whole range in left handed, if anyone knows of a good 12" or bigger industrial shear let me know, I havent found bigger than 10" in left handed.
Excellent purchase(s).Ordered two Ernest Wright stork scissors to give away as gifts on christmas. Hopefully they get here in time. Such a unique and beautiful design!
Couldn't help myself not to order a pair of general use scissors for myself too. And they have left handed versions! So I got myself what I believe is their signature model, Turton.
May take some time for them all to arrive, cause if I understand correctly, they are made in small batches. But I am quite happy, seems like they're proper heirloom pieces.
You won't be disappointed with the quality.
The stork scissors may appear to be somewhat whimsical, but they still function superbly.
Heres a video which may be of interest to readers:
Over the last few years Ernest Wright have definitely embraced marketing their heritage, getting the word out and provide fairly regular updates and stories to their website (unsure about any social media presence as I don't partake in it) as part of their attempt to maintain the business as a local specialist manufacturer. It appears to be working quite well as they have recently purchased their own factory premises.
It feels nice to support something like that.
And I feel a little bit bad for writing this cause I'm not American, but I feel like craftsmen like that are really missing in the USA. There used to be lots of nice and unique things made there too, but nearly everything sold out to be made in china and it's really sad. Probably really hard to make a living with just 5-10 employees making something traditional. Or even if you're alone in a workshop and do some old profession like shoe repairs (cobblers).
You can still get some US stuff... Easiest and most widespread perhaps the Zippo. But it's not a product you'd need a skilled and experienced worker for. The simple plain satin Zippo here costs 34€ (around 40€ when not on discount, but it's probably always on discount), that's essentially the same cost as the stork scissors. To me they are a much nicer and more unique gift.
And I feel a little bit bad for writing this cause I'm not American, but I feel like craftsmen like that are really missing in the USA. There used to be lots of nice and unique things made there too, but nearly everything sold out to be made in china and it's really sad. Probably really hard to make a living with just 5-10 employees making something traditional. Or even if you're alone in a workshop and do some old profession like shoe repairs (cobblers).
You can still get some US stuff... Easiest and most widespread perhaps the Zippo. But it's not a product you'd need a skilled and experienced worker for. The simple plain satin Zippo here costs 34€ (around 40€ when not on discount, but it's probably always on discount), that's essentially the same cost as the stork scissors. To me they are a much nicer and more unique gift.
ptabatcher
Well-known member
Glad they are finding success. I first heard about them via a short film back in 2014. Last I had heard, they had gone into receivership after the owner committed suicide. Happy to see that they have been able to make a comeback.
