What do I have?

[Ilcharlieli]

Anyone tell me what these are and that they are used for. Got them in a clean out and have now clue what they are. Some have “15” stamped into them, some are shaped. I thought they may have been drift keys or something to do with machining because they re all square and have a pretty significant weight to them. Thanks

 

[gte718p]

What you have appears to be scrap metal. At one point they might have been parallels.

 

[Sevenhills1952]

Maybe weighing each and accurate size measurements would give a clue.

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[ssdave]

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[iSpark]

Tail stock for vises.

 

[X1 Mike]

What you have appears to be scrap metal. At one point they might have been parallels.

Before they were left to rust, they were probably parallels of some sort, to block out work on a mill for machining. Now, as gte718p said, they're mostly scrap, as their precision will be gone. Maybe still useful for some setups if they get cleaned up, just not precise.

Not scrap at all if they were parallels or possibly angle blocks. If they were they are most likely hardened and could be tuned up on a surface grinder if need be and actually are far better than what you would buy. Seasoned metal that has been normalized over the years is very stable and won't move. When a guy retires as a machinist guys are usually fighting over the old steel like that.

 

[ssdave]

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[2oolhound]

I have a set of parallels from 1/2 to 1 13/16 and several other dual parallel bar sets for my mill drill or layout but those type things I keep around my drill press which has a T slot table on it. They are all I need to keep work off the table and level enough for anything I'm doing on the DP. As others said if you're working on thin stock that falls below the tops of your DP vise's jaws, a long squared bar you can drop on the bottom so your work sits above the top of the vise jaws are super handy. That rust isn't even that bad for that type of job but I'd scotch brite them off and oil them and toss near the DP. 1st picture shows the end of one on the right side where it was drilled into already so that's when he was doing with them. Sacrificial spacers to prevent drilling into the bottom of your vise or table (you can usually drill between them but **** happens).

What are they worth? I know you didn't ask but they aren't worth more than scrap but still someone would appreciate having them, specially the next time they use them.

 

[gte718p]

Not scrap at all if they were parallels or possibly angle blocks. If they were they are most likely hardened and could be tuned up on a surface grinder if need be and actually are far better than what you would buy. Seasoned metal that has been normalized over the years is very stable and won't move. When a guy retires as a machinist guys are usually fighting over the old steel like that.

Absolutely true, but 95% of the people who have a surface grinder don't have the time, energy, or willingness to tune up questionable old parallels.

Your experience is different from mine. When I was in Virginia and actively buying tools, steel like that ended up in a box and go lumped into a machine purchase because no one wanted it, but they realized it had been expensive or valuable at some point so they felt bad about throwing it away. I had so much of it that I ended up giving away when I sold off my tools.

 

[Jland]

Just my perspective... scotchbrite them to clean them up a bit... drop then into evaporust for a day THEN see what you got... as has already been said.. spacer blocks for the drill press.. drilled and taped for fabbed up mounting blocks.... i find all kinds of uses for stuff like that.

 

[ssdave]

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