What is the oldest power tool in your shop?

[dbhost]

Jim Frye's post about his shop being outdated got me to thinking. What is the oldest power tool in my shop?

Most of the power tools that are not pneumatic I have purchased since I joined BT3Central, so relatively modern ish. My SkilSaw I got as a defective return when I worked in a hardware store in the late 90s, the customer ran the cord over with the saw. Swapped the cord out and it has worked perfectly since then...

My pnuematic die grinder, air ratchet, and air hammer were bought when I was a professional mechanic in the early 90s. My old impact wrench died a miserable dropped on the concrete one too many times death... I believe the oldest of that lot is the air hammer, an Ingersoll Rand with a Blue Point quick coupler instead of the standard coil coupler. When I started as a mechanic I did brakes, suspension and steering and that air hammer was great with a pickle fork for driving ball joints apart...

I never got any of my Dads old woodworking tools, he sold them before he sold the old house when he retired. I do have a Yankee drill that he always had, said it was from the 1950s, not sure about that but...

Nope my oldest piece of power tool inventory is the Dremel 1671 16" scroll saw. The date stamp on the motor housing is damaged, but it is EITHER 1986 or 1988 since the top portion of the last digit is missing...

It was a dirt cheap Craistlist find, and has done what I need it to. No need to upgrade, ever...

Not from a financial perspective, but I do wish my Dad had left me some of the tools he had used. I miss him and wish I could have that simple connection.

[cwsmith]

My oldest power tool would probably be the 1/4 inch Sears Companion single-speed drill (315-11200) that I bought back in 1969, right after our first home purchase.

Shortlly thereafter I bought a Sears Craftsman 7-inch Circular Saw (315-11850).

In late summer, 1973 I bought my first large power tool, the Craftsman 10-inch Radial Arm Saw (113-29461, date stamped as 5 73 ).

The drill has only bronze bearings and I think I paid $5 for it, new-in-store. All of these are still in great working condition.

CWS

[twistsol]

Mine is my 1951 Shopsmith 10ER. I use it mostly as a lathe because my other two shopsmiths don't have the speed reducers and can only go down to 700 RPM. When a blank is out of balance it's no fun chasing the machine around the shop.

[Jim Frye]

The oldest power tool in my shop is my Dad's Ram Tool 7 1/4" circular saw from the mid 1960s. I don't use it as my orange B&D $35 circular saw from 1975 works better, and my old blue Ryobi One+ 18 volt 5 1/2" circular saw is easier to use. Dad's saw runs, but it needs brushes and I've just never bothered to try and find some.

[LCHIEN]

Couple of corded drills from the late 70s' One from the 60's my dad won but its been embedded into a special purpose device.
B&D Jig saw from the 70s, too. But its been replaced by my Bosch and don't use it anymore.

Oh yeah, a craftsman router from around early 1980ish. also hardly used anymore.

[leehljp]

Either my sears/craftsman 9" grinder from the early 1970's, or a router a friend gave me about 12 -13 years ago before his passing. I am not sure how old the router is, but it is a Black & Decker professional series from back when they made quality tools. It looks like it could have been from the 60's. (Just found out that B&D made the professional series routers between the late 1950's and 1980.)

I have a hand saw somewhere and would love to find it. My uncle gave it to me in the early'90s when I was home for a few months from Japan and said it was given to him by my grandfather who died in 1953. My uncle said that my grandfather had owned it since before WW II. I have to find that saw!

[LCHIEN]

That chromed B&D router looks really classic.

[twistsol]

In addition to being well built and useful, some of those old tools are works of art.

[Guy Marchaud]

I have several Craftsman drills, mine and my Dad's, from the '60s... but the oldest that I still use regularly is my 1984 Sawzall. I splurged on it because it came with *two* speeds.

[Jim Frye]

I had a B&D Professional series 1/4 sheet sander that I purchased in 1974. I rebuilt it multiple times with brushes, pads, and bearings. It finally got so old, I couldn't get parts for it. It sits in the joist space in its original box with the Ace Hardware price tag of $49. I kept it for sentimental reasons.