Do you have Hand me down tools?

[seahawk]

Would like to hear if others have some or many tools passes on from fathers, grandfathers, etc. Please share a story of a favorite that has been passed down to you...pictures even better!

[LCHIEN]

My father came to the US when he was going to graduate school in probably 1937 or so. He came from a well to do family in Shanghai where he was taught not to work with your hands or body but with your brain... He was not allowed in the kitchen ever and had a chauffeur for his two seater car by his dad's rules. Shortly after he left home China was invaded by Japan and he never returned home. My Grandfather managed to survive the WWII Japanese working to help various Dutch interests along the way but lost everything in the ensuing civil wars that found the Communist CHinese government taking over and purging the rich and educated. They were able to flee to Hong Kong.
So there were no tools from Grandfather.
Likewise as I said my father was discourage from working with his hands so was not the do it your selfer unless it really had to be done once he had children and a house.

I do have a few tools he had.
A Yankee screwdriver
A Miller Falls hand drill
A folding wooden ruler

[Pappy]

I have a few that were from both my Father and Step Father. The most important to me is my Dad's Stanley #5 that I restored. It is no longer used.

[poolhound]

I have many tools from both father and grandfather, all hand tools. My go to awl was my grandfathers and I use it all the time.

[twistsol]

I have a number of antique tools that my great grandfather brought from Sweden, wooden planes, clamps and an all wood hand screw. I've used them, but mostly they are for show. Great grandpa was funiture builder. I have my dad's DeWalt / B&D radial arm saw and a set of Stanley planes from the 50's. When he moved into assisted living, most of his tools skipped a generation and went to the grandkids.

[radhak]

That's such a great story Loring!

I am a relatively recent immigrant, so obviously I don't have any hand-me-down tools (or anything else) myself.

But I do have tools from a long time ago - a set of chisels, a couple of planes, that I picked up when I visited the family of an elderly gentleman who was moving to a old-age home at the age of 98. He had guarded his stuff jealously till he simply could not, and still forbade his family from dumping his stuff away. He wanted his tools to go to somebody "who cared," and I had to promise that I would use them gently!

I will take pictures and post them later today.

I should also mention that I bought a bandsaw from a gentleman who was on assisted living - oxygen and saline drip. His daughter was cleaning up for him after his wife died, and he insisted to be wheeled out the garage to meet me and instruct me about it.
And my router-and-router-table set once belonged to a surgeon who died pretty old, but his son had no idea about (or interest in) the top dollar his dad had spent on it and sold it to me for a pittance. I mention these two just to remember people like us who must have loved their tools but did not have anybody to hand-me-down to... I hope that wherever they are, they are happy that their tools are well used and appreciated with me

[Bill in Buena Park]

Unfortunately, many of my father's tools were stolen when my parents' garage was broken into many years ago (after he had passed away), but a few tools not taken were given to me by my mother, including his favorite hammer and handplane (both Stanley, which I still use), and his caliper and micrometer set.

[leehljp]

7 1/4 inch Makita circular saw, 3 x 24 Makita Belt sander, corded Makita 3/8 in drill, 1/4" Makita Router, all circa early '90s, good, tough, durable, will last past my lifetime. My prize is a 24" Starrett combination square dad had since the 60's. I have a rusted handsaw that my uncle gave to me in the late 90's; he said my dad gave it to him in the early '50s somewhat used by my dad before that.

[lombard]

1930's vintage Delta Unisaw, Delta DP-220 drill press, Delta 6" jointer. All heavy duty cast iron, built to last forever.

[Slik Geek]

I have hand me downs from several in the family.

• My maternal grandfather (some years after his death when my grandmother finally decided to clear things out). I purchased his old Craftsman table saw (which I sold after acquiring a BT-3000), and was given some pipe clamps, T-square, C-clamps, Craftsman commercial router, Craftsman 90 degree corner clamps, dividers.
• My father (upon his death): hand tools, hand saw, 1/2 drill
• My wife's paternal grandfather some time after his death: bench planes, block planes
• My father-in-law when he decided to retire from woodworking: A bench plane that he had gotten from his father, dovetail saw, router and scratch built router table, shop vac, quick clamps, tape measure. Some of the items I had given him as gifts.

When I expire, I have one son who will likely be interested in some things, but the rest I hope my wife will offer for sale to you guys.

[radhak]

As promised, here are the pictures:

This is a Stanley #4, and is stamped Made in England. I was told it was originally bought in the 1930s. (The tiny plane is a #101, and the piece on the left is a one-trip pony: to cut a rounded edge)



These are a set of six Japanese chisels (and a mallet), from 1984.

[leehljp]

Wow, those look similar to my chisels; I wonder why?

[radhak]

Ha!

I thought of you when I saw the 'Japanese'! And I should build a nice wooden box for mine - that cardboard box looks shabby.

While on that, I should also give some TLC to those old planes. I believe they'd shine if attended to.

[tfischer]

My dad liked to do little projects, but he had that Iowa farmer "get it done with the least amount of materials and effort" mentality. Electrical tape and bailing wire were often involved Didn't have a lot of tools... an old B&D circular saw, a strange combo drill set that had the ability to turn into a sander and jigsaw, and a few hand tools. Dad's been gone for over 20 years, and mom just passed away in April and we're still going through the house... maybe I'll find some treasures in there.

My grandfather started getting into woodworking after he retired, but he only lived a few years after that and died when I was 5. Never got to know him well... I think we'd have gotten along.

[cwsmith]

Don't I wish!

My Dad had so many tools that I can hardly remember a lot of them today. At one time he was an auto mechanic and in my youth I used a lot of those ratchets, sockets, breaker bars and even tire irons. He taught me how to remove a tire from the rim, replace lifters in his old pickup, adjust the rockers, and even change my own oil and filters. Later he was a sheet metal worker, making his own duct work for the heating business he had. That branched out to baseboard heating too and later plumbing. He had tools for everything and it filled the old 3/4 ton truck as well as our large garage and basement. At one time he taught me how to caulk and pour molten lead for section sewer line...tools for that tool, as well as pipe vises, threading equipment and pipe benders. LIke I said, tools for everything. He once told me it would all be mine.

But years passed since I left the house and got married in 1967 and decades went buy and through it all he added more tools. But near the end of his life at 78 (born in 1918) my two sisters and one brother seemed obsessed in what things were worth and finally after his death I discovered that everything was gone. All I was able to find was one old Milwaukee "Hole shooter" and a sheet-metal scribe shoved away in an old metal box that I had made in high school. So while Dad had Willed all of his tools to me, my siblings had greater need I guess, and my total inheritance was those two items and my quarter of the house. My brother still lived there (it's the only place he has ever lived) and I just let him keep it as it was simply not worth the hassle to do otherwise.

I have just those two items as well as the small belt knife that Dad had given me when I was fourteen. It was his when he was a boy and it is one of my most prized possessions. I carried it for more than a decade in SAR field operations and countless hiking excursions. Hopefully my grandson will appreciate it one day.

Earlier this year, my wife's cousin gave me a Stanley-style #3 Bailey plane. It has belonged to her and my wife's grandfather. She found it in the basement of her father's house in an old cardboard box. She thought that I would be the only one in the family who could use it and perhaps cherish it, which I certainly will do.

I have a Stanley Bailey 3 which I bought a few years ago at an old surplus tool shop here for seven dollars. That was not in as bad a shape as this plane, but I'm hopeful I can restore it too. (I just described it earlier this week on the post about block planes. I'll have to take a couple of pictures tomorrow if I get an opportunity.

But here's a question for you all: Who will appreciate your tools when it is our time to pass on? It's very hard to find any young person these days who is interested. I find the same is true with my library... some things today just seem of little value outside of what we individually feel. .

CWS