What tools are you searching for?

[the spyder]

The last few years I have watched as older "quality" tools have skyrocketed in price. I can't find a Wilton vice under $150! This goes for everything, Atlas, Rockwell, Baldor, Clausing, ect- even Craftsman- are being advertised at outrageouse prices! I have a short list of tools I've been slowly knocking off, one at a time over these past few years as I can afford them- but at this rate, I'm going to go broke doing so. I remember just a few years back when $100 would buy me a nice Craftsman drill press- now I can't find one for under $250 that looks like it's been sitting outside for the last three months.

So my question is- what's on your watch list? What are you searching for?

Side note: If I see a 1990's era Jet being listed as "VIntage" I might snap.

 

[Karl_B]

I've been on the lookout for a good drill press for quite a while, as long as a speeder hinge handle like a Plomb 5469 or Snap-On SN4A or SN4B.

I have noticed lots of people like to use words like rare, vintage, primitive and the like. Or things not made of copper with "patina." Personally, I just ignore anything like that. It usually means they and I will never agree on price. My tools are use, not to decorate with.

 

[BirdMobile]

Mostly upgrades to my low-end stuff... I have a few cheap Asian tools and some low quality U.S. stuff that I'd like to eventually find better equivalents of.

It never ends.

 

[jcfields]

.

 

[shanny19]

I really only "search" for single items to finish incomplete sets. Right now:

Snap on TWM25 socket
Plomb 1216 in pebble
Bonney MEB10 wrench in black
Proto 6136 1960's vintage
Snap On RXM's, several needed

etc......

 

[Youngguns]

I'm currently on the hunt for a forged steel anvil of at least 100 lbs - impossible to find, and a big *** vise (I'd settle for a big vise) - also impossible to find. In my months of searching, I've come across one anvil, a cast iron anvil with a 3/16" steel top (barely there) - 93lbs/$200. You've got to be kidding me!

<a href="http://s1324.photobucket.com/user/Youngguns1782/media/IMG_0105_zps6161fb7d.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1324.photobucket.com/albums/u611/Youngguns1782/IMG_0105_zps6161fb7d.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_0105_zps6161fb7d.jpg"/></a>

 

[woody 73]

A trunk full of money.
Buried jars full of coins.
Old stocks hidden in walls.
Long dead relatives with funds needing to go to their relatives.

Wait did you say tools...

A trunk full of old tools.
Buried jars full of old tools.
Long dead relatives with mega tool collections needing to go to their relatives.
Old tools hidden in the walls.

 

[sac02]

I need a larger toolbox, and have been cruising craigslist almost daily for months.

Everyone seems to think that their 10 year old, rusted and dented Snap-on box is worth $6000, just because it is Sanp-on and the MSRP for a new box is $10k.

 

[kazlx]

I want a nice miter head band saw. There only ever seems to be clapped out junk, especially Carolinas. I'm pretty much at the point of just spending $3k for a new Ellis.

 

[wornoutoldman]

I'm looking for several "streamlined" Bonney wrenches to complete a set.

 

[larry_g]

I had a nice Sheldon 12" metal shaper at one time and have kicked myself for years for letting it go, so I'm on the lookout for another in the 10" to 16" range.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[A_Pmech]

A Dixi 60 or 75 in excellent condition.

 

[TTA579]

crown logo craftsman grinder
crown logo craftsman bench drill press

They're out there, just haven't lined anything up.

 

[Pantsfall_McFixit]

The Toptul 130pc set. I think it would be a great all-in-one ratchet set. Perhaps someone else makes a good one, finding a Toptul distributor in the States is impossible.

 

[larry_g]

A Dixi 60 or 75 in excellent condition.

I can understand the want here. That looks to be a hell of a machine.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[mikehaugen]

I want a nice miter head band saw. There only ever seems to be clapped out junk, especially Carolinas. I'm pretty much at the point of just spending $3k for a new Ellis.

I keep hearing terrible things about carolina bandsaws. I too always have my eye out for one, and see mostly carolinas and hf specials. What is so wrong with the carolinas? There sure are a ton of them out there. I also see an ocassional do-all (usually bigger than I need) and the ocassional wells, but usually the wells go for good money.

 

[Hako86]

-'70s craftsman roundhead ratchet (fine tooth)
-Older white snap on hard handle screwdriver
-Old USA made vise grips
-Koken zeal ratchet. Don't know where to order them in Europe
-And (not really a tool) SeaFoam motor threatment. Can't be shipped to the netherlands

 

[Garage Rat2]

Keyway broaches are on my short list, a working knee mill that won't cost more than it's worth to repair would be nice
(long sad story of buying impulsively!)

 

[1950mercury]

Blackhawk sj-18 floor jack

 

[canuckian]

most of my wanted items are in the list linked in my signature but I've also been on a quest for quite some time for a Wilton 8" vise. I'd even buy new but every time I find one for a halfways decent price, the shipping rate is stupid high. The only suppliers that I know of locally want twice the price places like Zoro sells them for so that's out. The used market for Wiltons here is non-existant, much less for the bigger ones. May have to resort to picking one up the next time I'm in the US if I can find somewhere that stocks them.

 

[Frenchy]

What I would love to find right now is about 3 each of the 6LN or 9LN vise grips that have not been trashed. I scour Ebay and local online auctions but have had limited luck and unfortunately, time just has not allowed me to check out garage sales (flea markets are pretty slim in MN). If I have managed to get to a show or sale,what is there are:

1. something I already have and don't think I need any more of
2. way overpriced
3. trashed

Of the list it is more an issue of 2 and 3. This also holds true with all other good stuff in my region like jacks, compressors and tool boxes/chests. It seems like garage/estate sales, pawn shops and CL have a lot of junk or if it a good brand then it is way too much and was not taken care of properly.

 

[itsvegas]

- Portaband Saw + Horizontal Bandsaw
- 3/4HP Craftsman Block Grinder
- Wilton Bullet Vises
- Craftsman Speeder Ratchet

 

[crewchief888]

my 9/16" combo wrench i lost somewhere last week.....

 

[BDAZSVT]

Old green handle S-K screwdrivers.

 

[A_Pmech]

I can understand the want here. That looks to be a hell of a machine.

lg
no neat sig line

Aye! When new, they were guaranteed accurate to better than .0001" true position over the full travels. Special versions were accurate to better than .00005". I'd be tickled with a tenth over a foot or so.

 

[kiatech]

11/16 nut driver

 

[Snap_cap]

I'd like an old American-made set of the Craftsman Professional deep offset wrenches, but they all go for $100+ a set on eBay (so I could be looking at around $250 for both SAE and metric).

I've tried looking at other brands for equivalent wrenches (45-degree deep offset, double box-end, full polish), but they're all either even more expensive or different in some way (not as deep, not as long, or of course, not USA). Most odd is SK, who only make their SAE double box-end wrenches in a long, raised panel pattern and only make their metric double box-end wrenches in a short, full polish pattern (none of them deep offset).

It's not something I have to have, but I'm kind of surprised at how difficult it is to find something comparable to what was readily available at Sears for $40-50 five years ago.

Are you certain that the set offered on the website isn't simply New Old Stock?

http://www.sears.com/craftsman-professional-5-pc-standard-full-polish-12/p-00944349000P?prdNo=2&blockNo=2&blockType=G2



Worst case scenario, they're imported **** and you promptly return them to the nearest store.

 

[Exceller8]

I've been on the hunt for Matco WC, WCL, WCXL, and other Matco/Bonney wrenches. I have a bunch already but I only have two of the WCXL's and they are awesome!!!

 

[JR 42]

I'm looking for a handful of "SK Tools" - marked 1/4" drive sockets and a couple Circle H Craftsman sockets to complete sets... (and some Craftsman =V= wrenches, some SK Wayne sockets, some Bonney metric wrenches, and English pigsticker mortise chisels, an old Millers Falls miter box, and on and on and on... ). I need to snap some pics and post a wanted ad one of these days.

More than tools, though, I want information. There is a wealth of knowledge here and out in the internet, but it takes time to dig it up. When did SK stamp their stuff SK Tools? When did the Columbian vise co. change their logo design and numbering scheme? Why can't I find a complete electronic copy of a Bonney Tools catalog, or Thorsen, or P&C? Gotta keep digging!

I'd love to stumble onto an old anvil, drill press, mill, toolbox stack, etc., but I've got nowhere to put any of it, so the outrageous local craigslist pricing is more of a curiosity than a frustration.

JR

 

[ecotec]

a second vintage stack
a vintage vise (a made in Michigan Yost)
a metal cutting bandsaw
files
table saw
a second bench grinder for polishing wheel and wire wheel
vintage floor jack
router/table
maybe a piece of railroad track

I have not been searching hard. I have not gone to many estate sales in the last year.

 

[Jim C.]

I'm always on the lookout for older, but well maintained, 1940 - 1960 Delta woodworking machinery. I'll pay a little more for a machine if it's complete and original, used but not neglected/abused. The problem is space, so I'm kind of picky about what I buy these days. I'm also on the hunt for Craftsman =V= era hand tools.

Jim C.

 

[daddy2coull]

I'd love a kra58

 

[Tripn88]

I really want some craftsman reversible USA wrenches. If been going good on sockets I have -G- through -G2 EE VV. V. V/\ and a few others found some cool Napa USA wrenches that I would like to get more of.