Thread: Old saws, timber plane etc

Do what you want but waxing philosophical isn't going to shine anything.........


If it were me*, I'd pick the tidiest examples of the tools and the best tool box and dispose of the rest.....you probably don't need three heirloom tool boxes to pass on to future generations.


*I'd be ecstatic, I have nothing from any of the tradespeople the previous generations of our family.

You might be sitting on a motherload of wonderful old tools that would delight many people here. Yes even the boxes might make grown men cry! Don't throw anything away, at the very least you should offer it to someone who appreciates it, maybe trade for something that you would use. Take some pictures and share them with us, they may not look like much to you but you might have exactly what someone is looking for.

Originally Posted by seanz

Do what you want but waxing philosophical isn't going to shine anything.........


If it were me*, I'd pick the tidiest examples of the tools and the best tool box and dispose of the rest.....you probably don't need three heirloom tool boxes to pass on to future generations.


*I'd be ecstatic, I have nothing from any of the tradespeople the previous generations of our family.

I value the few tools that I have from my carpenter father-in-law and think of him whenever I pick up any of them to use. We never had a cross word in the 45+ years I knew him and I was always treated as a son.

Heres a quick sort thru & pics.


2 of the 3 tools chests.


Quick look inside the Black one


Contents of 1


Contents of the other.

There's a old endless chain in one, but it's too heavy, old, and rusty & awkward with the long chains etc, to get out by myself.

I've a 3rd chest in the garden shed - Don't think there's much in it - and maybe some white ant / rot damage to the bottom by now most likely.

I'll drag that out next - they all have to go.... I just can't hang on to this crap... honestly it depresses me to look at it.

A Disston D8 thumbhole about 4.5 PPI, a Disston D8 crosscut about a 6 or 7 PPI, a backsaw that is worth checking out, 2 nice hand vises, some antique oil cans, some of those wrenches could be collectors items, and the boxes are fantastic! Chisels are worth looking at too. Some of that stuff is not 100 years old, you can probably throw the chainsaw chains (blades?) away. Looks like some kind of shave or grooving tool too. Good stuff!!

The lid of that box is made to hold 2 hand saws, I would like to see the inside of the other one please.

That panel saw might be a Keystone K-3.

The inside of the 2nd (brown) one is just Plain Jane, no shelves etc just a smooth walled Oregon box it seems.

Didn't realize they were Disstons... so maybe I should restore them?

I can see all the Disston medallions are long gone...

Yes the chainsaw gear was mine - (thrown in there when moving) heck the old "can't hook" for rolling logs, I was still using that at our sawmill until 2005.

The oil cans were on my sharpening bench for 20 years in the factory...

The top black box appears to be dovetailed Oregon pine.

The bottom (brown) one?...Likewise...


Inside of 2nd box (brown one)


3rd Box/Chest


Inside of 3rd box.

3rd one also oregon it seems from the inside - it still has its lock and key of all things.

You can see evidence of some kind of insect attack on just the floor boards of the 3rd box - apparently not termites - maybe some kind of lyctus borer or something - not sure!

Originally Posted by Timless Timber

In 10 years time, am I going to catch the "antique tools restoration/collection bug, and kick my own ass with both feet till my nose bleeds, for tossing all this old crap in a skip bin in a fit of pique now?

Yes.

Originally Posted by Seanz

If it were me, I'd pick the tidiest examples of the tools and the best tool box and dispose of the rest..

What he says.

If you really do want to get rid of the lot, there are a few pieces that fellow forumites would want - the plane, the saws, the auger bits, the chisels, the red handled screwdriver, the oil cans, blade from a sliding bevel, pincers, etc. Maybe offer them to local members?

Cheers, Vann.

Hey TT ... if you're ever passing by armadale ...

The saws could be made quite respectable - not "restored" - in 30-60 minutes ... https://www.woodworkforums.com/f163/p...6/#post1695611

The thumbhole ripsaw handle (at least) is probably very nice wood that would benefit from a bit of papering back.
It could be beech or apple.

Possibly the others too ... https://www.woodworkforums.com/f152/c...3/#post1600936

If you want to deal with the public, the chests would be a hit on gumtree surely.
(Otherwise drop them here until you want them back again. )

I don't think you have to worry too much about chucking out some stuff - I think our predecessors were often pretty brutally practical - if you can think of what they would value and keep then you'd be doing ok I reckon.

There's the Handtool Preservation Society ... they'd probably take donations ... or maybe put it to one of their sale days for you??

Best of luck with it all,
Paul

I found the other half of that sliding bevel in the 2nd box but after I'd already taken the photo of the blade.

That sounds like a plan... I would like to see them go to a good home where someone will restore and use them.... new hand saws these days are ~$20 odd at Bunnings, I'm not likely to be using an old rip saw... etc I'm too lazy when theres power saws with tungsten teeth etc handy, a cheap set of new saws from Bunnings hung on the wall for the odd time I need one (somewhere a circular won't get in)... is all i need.

Yes I love to see the fancy ones.. with brass fittings and polished wooden handles, and in time maybe I'll source such tools... just for the joy of owning them, right now I am desperate for space to work in the shed & the chests with those old tools... I've been hanging onto them too long.

I'd love one of the old tool chests and I am sure there would be many a willing taker local to you. Just out of curiosity did they have jaffal irons 100 years ago???? As you can see there is already interest piqued in the tools.

Not Jaffle Irons with plastic handles they didn't! I remember that one from when I was a kid... used it to make breakfast up at Mt Magnet on a prospecting trip from memory....(grandfather had a lease on a 'tantalite' sp? mine out of Meekatharra way back when it was used to make nose cones on rockets for re entry to the atmosphere). I guess the Jaffle Iron got thrown in the trunk when we moved, along with myriads of other more modern stuff out of the shed on the farm.
Damn Jaffle iron while not a century old is at least as old as me... (at more than half a century).
I wonder of they still make em? (Jaffle Irons).
They probably come in a 6 Jaffle combo with their own gas ring at Bunnings, for $50 direct from China!

Another zillion dollar idea - direct to you for free, from us here at "head in the clouds - ass in the gutter R us enterprises inc" of similar caliber as "baitrack for men - spray on deodorant, (Smells like dead fish - after a night out on the ran tan on the town with the ladies you come home smelling of cheap perfume, beer and cigar smoke with lipstick on your collar, just reach for the glovebox, and remove can of "baitrack for men" and spray liberally under each arm - when you go inside and the missus says "where have you been all night until 4 am in the morning", you tell the truth and say "out on the town with the boys cheap liquor and even cheaper wimmins" etc and she says "don't lie to me, you've been fishing all night again with ya scaley mates coz ya stink like bait!" - and not to forget the ever loving "scrotum scratchers undies" (yep - the ones with scotch brite pads sewn into the crutch and suspenders attached - so you can rearrange and scratch 'the wedding tackle' unnoticed in public, by just pushing ya thumbs under the elastic of your suspenders!).

I tell you, I will be able to retire on all the good inventions I've dreamed up if just ONE takes off!