Estate treasures: Vintage tools
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- Опубліковано 13 гру 2024
- This is the first of a new series about the items found in the basement of a former Bell Labs scientist, ham radio operator and skilled machinist.
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4:35 Drum Brake Adjusting Tool
5:20 Valve Adjusting or Tappet Wrenches
6:45 "Class of Fit" on threaded fasteners specified by percent thread engagement 66%, 75% I've heard people argue that the "feel" and resistance to oxidation/rust is because it's from ore not recycled. I'm not too sure about that. i.e. old American cars where bolts look rusty, but come right apart.
7:07 looks like an end mill for milling/Bridgeport work
7:45 Feeler Guages
15:05 Deep Offset Box Wrenches - long pattern
23:15 Breaker Bar for breaking fasteners loose or finish tightening
Great stuff! I love old tools. I'm a mechanic so much of it is very familiar to me. Enjoy!
Thanks for sharing, Bob, and RIP to the original owner of those awesome classic tools.
The craftsman "pry bar" is a tool for drum brakes.
Those ARE real tools! Still have my father's mechanics tool set from working on diesel trucks. Just made and feel so much better than today's stuff.
thorsen very high quality tools about I haven't seen a set in over 50 years
I've worked in the electrical supply industry for over 20 years, so I'm very familiar with Klein tools, they sell them in just about every supply house and they're quite popular with electricians
The slip joint pliers in the top looked like a pair I have that came with late 50's or early 60's Fords. Before my time, but they had a flat screwdriver, a Philips and the pliers in the glovebox. My Grandfather drove a Semi car carrier that transported Fords out of Edgewater, NJ for Automotive Convoy. I remember shoe boxes of them in my basement. I only have one pair of pliers left, but I treasure them and all of my Grandpa's stuff that remains.
Those square screwdrivers are great when you have a stubborn screw because you can turn them with a wrench. I remember my grandfather doing that. Great to see all those old tools. Really reminds me of my grandfather. I still have a lot of tools from his workshop.
Old machinists and mechanics took very good care of their tools. They bought good quality tools (back when such things existed), because they used them to do good quality work (back when such a thing existed). They took care of their tools and in return the tools took care of their users. It was a different time, back when companies that were meant to last hired workers who were meant to last to do work that was meant to last with tools that were meant to last. Not like today, when every part of the process is cheap, expendable, and disposable.
The wooden handle screwdrivers were put out by Harbor Freight back in the 80s. I still have a little bit of my set left. The little green handled Flush Cutters came as a set of eight wrapped in a folding leather case in the 70s and before, I till have my set from 1979.
New England was absolutely a manufacturing hub, especially CT. Clock makers like Ingraham, Sessions, Timex etc were all there, along with firearms manufacturers Remington, Ruger, Colt, Mossberg. Lots of tool and tool edge manufacturing as well; Stanley Black and Decker still has their headquarters there. Some nice tools that you've got there, especially the older Klein tools- one of the best names in electricians tools! Their new stuff is still very high quality.
New England being the oldest of the new world had so much industry.
Don't forget about bearings. Fafnir, Torrington, New Departure... I think I forgot one... In Southington we used to make most or all companion flanges and yokes for driveshafts something I didn't know until working at NVG in Syracuse. LAB Products started here making lock cylinder pins and other hardware. We had Yale, Corbin, and Lorie lock manufacturers. Borgeson steering gear made many of the steering boxes used in domestic cars and trucks. I know a guy who makes millions of fireman suspender loops a year. I can go on. There's so much in New England. I'd love for us to get some of it back! :-)
@@johnnytacokleinschmidt515 There's still manufacturing in CT, don't forget sikorsky and electric boat, lots of smaller companies that do CNC, also plastics manufacturing in Shelton and Danbury. But more broadly there's an exodus. A number of firearm manufacturers left the state; Stag Arms being a recent one due to the state's bizarre anti-gun industry policies. Much manufacturing has gone to China, Philippines, etc just based on cost alone. Hubbell (also based in CT) moved most of their manufacturing down south and to Puerto Rico. It's a slow exit, but the state just isn't attracting new companies, and is pushing out existing ones.
@@a587g So so many. Nickson Industries in Plainville making automotive exhaust clamps and parts. Connecticut is great. I think if we make sure we get clean voting things could get better. Hopefully industry won't continue to leave.
The governor waved off Borgeson when they decided to leave a few years ago. Quite a political flap it was.
Despite the name, the "Nokorode" soldering paste is a zinc chloride flux for plumbing and sheet metal work. DO NOT use it on electronics, or you will be very sorry when it eats away at component leads and PCB traces...
The mini pry bar looks like a drum brake adjustment tool
I think your craftsman pry bar is actually a brake spoon , for adjusting brakes in a old car,
Those Klein tools have a lifetime warranty, great company no questions asked for returns.
Most of those older wrenches and such were "drop forged steel" and back then that was usually what I looked for in hand tools. Now tools brag about being "chrome vanadium" and back in the day I steered away from those as they were usually the knuckle busters that would round out and slip or just outright break when using them. Fortunately I filled out most of my hand tool wants a year or 3 before everything became chinesium. I'll still pick up the occasional tool but only if I can find it as made in the USA, like most of the Channellock brand (Some of those are made in Spain but easy to spot because they have red & blue dipped handles instead of the traditional blue dipped ones).
Nice finds the toolbox is definitely made by Waterloo nice Klein pliers Klein makes some of my favorite pliers also nice Thorsen socket set
Mini prybar or rear drum brake adjuster, AKA a brake spoon?
I think you're right. I had never heard of that before.
My father has one of those hand-powered drills that belonged to his father. He still uses it for small projects when he needs to drill a small hole, and doesn't want to drag out the power drill.
When I die, someone is going to go pig-wild in all the stuff I have.
You are so right about the feel of modern vs old tools. I have a newer set of Klein small diagonal cutters that snapped on copper wire!!. Solder paste for electronics is coming back for doing replacement of surface mount components. It makes the solder flow much better.
Your "thin sheets of steel" set are what we used to call feeler gauges and yes we used ours mostly for gapping plugs and points :) But they have other machining applications as well.
We commonly use them to adjust the distance between 3D printer heated head and the bed. It's a step up from using a paper. :)
@@v4lgrind - A bit more precise than paper too :)
Is your handle a variation on "valgrind", the C, C++ static analysis tool?
Cheers,
Very awesome find Bob, thanks for sharing!
12:36 ... exactly... kinda reminds me of the 'Pear Of Anguish' ... lol : D
I'm still using my Klein flush side-cutters that I purchased new in 1988. Great pliers.
Out of all that the most interesting to me where the two little tins, with the solder and the pins. Everything else is still made today even in quality versions. But vintage labels and long gone brands. That is nice. Clean them a little maybe a coating to prevent further rusting. And then on the shelve.
Yes, the cotter pin metal jar was beautiful. I hope he put the paper back in the top... 😆
@@johnnytacokleinschmidt515 I liked solder tin more. But hey that is taste. And yes I also noticed he didn't put the paper back.
I would have liked to have seen a bit of time spent showing the printing on both cans since it could provide some history and less time on screwdriver shafts. Plus they're just very cool.
Those thim pieces of metal are feeler gauges for adjusting gaps on tappit valves in an engine.
I actually still use my hand drill, with the hex base modern drill bits, but it still works fine
Hartford and Bridgeport Connecticut were VERY highly industrialized in the late 1930's, 40's, 50's and 60's !! My mother worked for G.E. during WW2 !! this area was a prime target for the German Airforce and navy during WW2 but luckily this never happened!!
new england used to be a great producer of tools, etc.
That Nokorode flux is an acid flux and is not for electronics. It will eat the traces right off a board.
Nice finds. The Wards master quality tool box is pretty neat. Their “‘master quality” series was Montgomery Wards top quality line. Most of the later Wards tools and tool boxes are labeled “Powr-Kraft” .
The craftsman tool that you said looks like mini crow bar is a drum brake adjusting tool. I have one just like it that I used for adjusting the rear brakes on a 1970 Dodge Dart.
I have nothing but vintage tools that I use for working on my Forward Look mopars and everything else. You can’t beat the quality and craftsmanship of the tools of the 50’s and 60’s. I have proto,blue point,barcalo,indestro,craftsman,etc. that I’ve got at yard sales and estates over the years. I have a pair of large and small DuraChrome/Super Indestro brake spring pliers that are incredibly well made. The hooks on the end are in perfect condition. I’ve heard stories of people buying Chinese ones for $30 at the auto parts store only to have the spring hook snap off the first time using it.
The Northeast was the cradle of the Industrial Revolution in the US.
Manufacturing in New England was Key to the development of the United States Early on...Textiles, firearms, tooling etc
My dad had toolkits which he left me. So much of what was in your box reminds me of what he had. He was a maintenance fitter. With his background and my background in electronics all this stuff is so familiar to me. In the UK the closed end round wrenches are known as ring spanners.
i buy and sell old tools when I can find them, that's a very nice tool box!
Vadimonium was K-Mart's (Kresge) house brand of wrenches, back when K-Mart sold good stuff. The square shaft screwdrivers are so you can put a wrench on the shaft to gain leverage when turning a really tight screw.
Nearer the end of K-Marts life they had Benchtop branded tools which I find to be very good quality in dimensionality and function. I am not sure about absolute strength, but they are a great find at tag sales and small lot purchases and I'll grab them up and happily use them. A great last try by K-Mart. Sorry to see the smaller older chain stores go due ti the downward pressure of price point by larger international corporations with the Chinese slave labor goods.
Bell Systems screwdrivers would have ben for the original 66 blocks and the other screw connections, and the flux would have been for soldering the wires to them as well, plus to tin the wire ends before they got screwed down to the terminals. Phone companies used to be very proud on having the best, non noisy, line service around. Not like the current time where they are all actively getting rid of copper service as it costs too much to maintain and has all the regulations around it about pesky things, like customer service.
Klein, good stuff!
Brings back memories of my grandfathers woodworking tools. His hobby was French polishing and he had a brace (shaped like a crankshaft, you apply pressure on the end and crank it by the offset handle in the middle). There were many bits for it too. He had old wooden planes, rebate planes etc. I did score a mid 1950s spirit level with a copper faceplate. Cleaned up nicely, I even got the garbage out of the bubble recess without loosened the bubble. The cheap tools you get these days don’t feel as good as these old tools.
I was fortunate enough to pick up my levels new when I was in my late teens, both made by a fairly local company to me though they went out of business shortly afterwards. Belknap Bluegrass tools of Louisville, KY :) I have a few other of their tools as well. I used to have one of those braces and some auger bits for it. Last time I used it was back in 2006 making a couple holes in a new interior door for the doorknob and latch. I know the exact year only because that is also where the tool still is. At my ex-wife's house, LOL!
30 Years with the phone company. First seven years as a Frameman in the central office mainframe (Main distributing frame). Used a lot of those Bell System tools. Still have some of those cutters They all have those notches cut into them. Never did find out what they were used for. I guess it was used by outside crew like Repairman or Splicers. Nice find.
Theres a lot of money in that box
You had me at "lengthy series"...
Those amber-clearish handle screwdrivers could be prewar. I have my grandfather's tool kit from when he was doing house service calls for the radio/appliance shop ('38 to '42 when he was drafted) and a set of Philips & flathead screw drivers were in the black leather bag (like a doctor's bag, they didn't have the tube caddys until after the war). The really early Philips screw drivers will have a patent # on the metal shaft somewhere because it was brand new technology right before the war & into the 1950s it was still under copyright. The big heavy lineman's pliers could be WW2 surplus, in which case they would have come in a leather holster and would have been issued with a TL-29 pocket knife (which slides into the holster between the lineman's pliers' handles).
Nice box of quality vintage tools. There is a UA-camr named Scoutcrafter that does tool restoration videos you might enjoy.
19:05 home that i miss
Today craftsman must be more diverse, aluminium spanners and players is a must!
Why would I need aluminum spanners?
The black thing you didn't show looks like a thread saver. And the electrician's pliers you showed are not lineman's because they have no bolt thread holder.
Craftsman would disagree. Their linesman pliers look just like mine.
I have to remember to not hold items so close to the camera! The auto-focus can't handle it.
Now I got to check my tool boxes to see if I have all these goodies. Some I inherited from my mom's father.
He was a machinist by trade but liked working on well every thing! Loved this little toolbox adventure.
Couldn't help but notice the name on one of his tools. I wonder if he had any scientific patents in electronics?
If you were working at Bell Labs in the late 1990s that is where stuff was being thought of even
though few had anything other than a flip phone! Later in the 2000's it was like how can I turn the house lights on or off
with some device . Let's design something and call it the internet of things. So now you can use a smart phone to
callup a home monitoring system , turn up or down the heat in your home, watch some stranger steal a package from
your front step for example. I think your deceased benefactor did this kind of stuff. The rest was just a hobby diversion
for the pure enjoyment of a creative mind. I can't wait to see what other goodies you have gotten from him Bob.
His name was Bill (William) Lill. I think I saw names of some relatives on the tools. He retired from Bell Labs quite a while ago then I think worked at RF microcircuits or something like that. There was very little in the way of home brew electronics. I think he was more into mechanical stuff like steam engines.
you calling it an endmill 1/4 or 1/2
15:50 He could have either stole or bought them during the war or during the occupation.
I believe he was stationed in the Pacific
Chanellock look modern
Low end tools were just MUCH higher quality than low end or medium end tools you are likely to see in home depot today. This is true of most stuff. The low end of most stuff has really collapsed. This is true of everything. A low end bicycle, for example, in the 60s and 70s was much higher quality than a low end bicycle today. The high end of bicycles is better than anything that was available then though and this is not true of a lot of stuff. Even the best clothing today is not even close to even low end stuff of yesteryear.
You say “…how things have evolved”; I say how things have gotten cheaper (read made cheaply in a foreign country) and imported here.
Ain't no China in that box....
the tools from that era were better, nowadays it's all cheap Chinese junk steel, rusts if you sweat on it...
One of my favorite things these days is finding good old tools at a cheap price. Better than sex, no one gets pregnant
Boring, no difference in the modern tools from China.
Do you mean "no difference than the modern tools from China"? If so, you are flat out wrong.
Bob, I represent an organized group which opposes the amateur ("ham") radio service as bad public policy and a waste of taxpayer dollars. Please send me a message if you would like to hear our arguments against the radio service. Thank you.
You're joking - right? There's barely any spectrum left for amateur use. You'd prefer it auctioned off to the highest private bidder like what happened with 5G? So now the public has to pay to use that bandwidth via their carrier. How about the government keeps the bandwidth and give us all free Internet and phone service?
@@bandersentv You make valid points about other radio services, but I am talking about ham radio. The amateur service is no longer serving its intended purpose, or any purpose whatsoever for that matter. The examinations are ridiculously easy; the questions and answers are all in the public domain; you have lots of really dumb people getting their Extra Class licenses after minimal study; and the regulations say ham radio can only be used for "unimportant communications". It's purely a case of "money talks and BS walks", Bob. You can't deny the economic laws of nature. The radio service is expensive to administer correctly, but the Commission doesn't want to spend the money, so they don't enforce their rules and that breeds disrespect for the law. Ham radio is terribly undemocratic due to peer pressure and consists of nothing but groups of old guys chit-chatting. It is unfair to make the U.S. taxpayer foot the bill for that.
@@HamJamming You can't really be implying that ham radio people have more money and influence than the telecommunications industry? A cell phone is a relatively powerful radio transceiver. One can be bought and operated by practically any person for any reason, good or bad, totally unlicensed; and that's not to mention that most have absolutely no idea how they work or the principles behind it. But yet you call people who have a ham license "dumb?" You say hams are "unimportant" and have no purpose. Well, can't you say that about 99% of the so called communications that go out on the rest of the spectrum? We don't really need and it's not critical that America's Got Talent comes into anybody's living room, or the latest Lady Gaga song pours out a car's speakers, or that I get a cell phone call in the middle of a funeral telling me my car warranty expired. Under your thinking perhaps we should outlaw people who are into model airplanes or drones because they'll never get a real pilot's license. I guess that would go for model rockets too...those people will never go into space. Or worse yet, model railroaders! I'm sure you feel the same way about people driving their own cars. The public roadways are expensive to administer and should be left up to professionals to operate vehicles on. Well, as I see it, the United States at the dawn of the radio industry made the airwaves public property and everyone should have the right to at least some amount of accessibility to it. I see no reason why a relatively tiny slice of the radio spectrum can't be maintained for amateur use. Ham radio has been a gateway for thousands, probably millions of people over the years to learn about the basics of communications and electronics. Those people have gone on to help create the wonders of our modern world. If we close the door on that small group of people and that small aspect of science and industry, we are really closing a much larger door on ourselves.