Anyone with tools that have sentimental value?
- Thread starter HemiBenny
- Start date
I have a set of husky metric wrenches left over from when I was 22 and just starting out.
My first car, a Mazda 323, died, and with me juggling my first job and apartment I replaced it with a beater Cadillac Cimarron. The thermostat was sticking on my drive home from work, worse each night with the gauge going terrifyingly into the red.
So I stopped at Home Depot for a wrench set so I could do my own repair, as I was too broke to have someone else do it. I dispensed some tap water into a pitcher and left it out so the chlorine would evaporate (!) and mixed it 50/50 with some Havoline green AF from Family Dollar. I smeared the new thermostat gasket with blue RTV on the advice I gleaned from the usenet group rec.autos.tech. It didn't leak.
HD had two styles-- crinkle and full chrome. The wrenches at the time were rumored to be made on the same line as Snap-On. I got the cheaper crinkle.
Fixed the car in the nick of time, turns out it was the thermostat. Still have those wrenches. It seems like forever ago when I got them.
My first car, a Mazda 323, died, and with me juggling my first job and apartment I replaced it with a beater Cadillac Cimarron. The thermostat was sticking on my drive home from work, worse each night with the gauge going terrifyingly into the red.
So I stopped at Home Depot for a wrench set so I could do my own repair, as I was too broke to have someone else do it. I dispensed some tap water into a pitcher and left it out so the chlorine would evaporate (!) and mixed it 50/50 with some Havoline green AF from Family Dollar. I smeared the new thermostat gasket with blue RTV on the advice I gleaned from the usenet group rec.autos.tech. It didn't leak.
HD had two styles-- crinkle and full chrome. The wrenches at the time were rumored to be made on the same line as Snap-On. I got the cheaper crinkle.
Fixed the car in the nick of time, turns out it was the thermostat. Still have those wrenches. It seems like forever ago when I got them.
Most definitely. I have a few tools from my dads dad, my grandfather who passed in 1989, two years before I was born. Old Snap On hand tools and body work tools from when he owned his body shop. He would be 98 on the 28th of this month. I also have a Kershaw knife that was given to me with the tip already broken, a Snap On socket rack, and a 1/2 drive ratchet, from a good friend who passed unexpectedly at 25 years old. I will never get rid of those. From my grandfather, my moms dad, I have an air compressor that turns on but doesnt produce air, and a homeade steel oyster opener. I cant help but smile when I look at it. He was a shrimper his whole life and worked hard every single day.
I still use the set of Craftsman tools my mom gave me for 8th grade graduation and the tool box she gave me for high school graduation. They’ve fixed a lot of things over the years.
I have a Craftsman lower rollaway tool box my dad bought me when I bought my first street bike at 15.5 years old. I really enjoy my tools from when I was a productive citizen.
I have a 1/2" drive Snap On torque wrench that I bought when I was 18 years old. (55 Now) It's the flat one with the dial on the side and it has the two way head on it so it was was made before they went with the one way head.
That wrench has built countless engines. Everything from Universal Atomic Fours to Caterpillar 3516's. I've sent it in I don't know how many times to be checked and calibrated and every time, it's come back tested good, no calibration needed.
That was the first "expensive" tool I bought and every time I reach for it, it makes me proud.
That wrench has built countless engines. Everything from Universal Atomic Fours to Caterpillar 3516's. I've sent it in I don't know how many times to be checked and calibrated and every time, it's come back tested good, no calibration needed.
That was the first "expensive" tool I bought and every time I reach for it, it makes me proud.
4WD
$50 site donor 2023
Yep - two kinds of special tools for meI still have the first pair of cheap pliers I ever bought with my own money when I was 13, they were not used for very long and have not been used in almost 50 years, I just cant bring myself to toss them, every time I look at them in the drawer I still see this little kid all exited buying them. I even plastidiped the handles just to finish off the can.
1.) my dad’s old stuff that are more like decorations
2.) my stuff from when I was a young Machinist (payroll deduction days)
My grandfather left me a few tools but his stuff was pretty horrible. Dont think he worked on much. My other grandfather owned an interest in a indy 500 racing team... long gone now. His tools went somewhere else. He had great stuff. I remember the super super low floor jacks.
Too much to list!
Most prized possession is a machinist's chest, with union sticker on the side, from my Grandfather, full of Starret, and some Mitutoyo and Lufkin machinist and measuring tools. He was a Tool & Die maker, the machinist's machinist. He used to say proudly that he never quit a job. He moved up wherever he worked, he did get layed off a bunch of times. He had a new job before getting called back every time.
Most prized possession is a machinist's chest, with union sticker on the side, from my Grandfather, full of Starret, and some Mitutoyo and Lufkin machinist and measuring tools. He was a Tool & Die maker, the machinist's machinist. He used to say proudly that he never quit a job. He moved up wherever he worked, he did get layed off a bunch of times. He had a new job before getting called back every time.
I grew up in milwaukee wisconsin. And for me growing up the old polish and german guys were the men that impressed me. They could fix or build anything and had hundreds of interesting measuring tools. They could run lathe and metal machines that were so precise. Those men are long gone and the skills and brains those men had are sadly missed.
Those old guys or ones like them were a huge hit in ww2 building planes and engines and ships. Engine guys on submarines and ships keeping stuff working.
These self loving kids that wont work and have no skills would not have ranked high enough to get coffee for these old men.
God help us everything is being made by china with our stolen technology.. what do we do when we need to fight again ??
I still have the SK 3/8 socket set I got for my 16th birthday in '71 . That ratchet is still the one I grab first out of the box.
Maybe it's superstition as it has the old, knurled handle unlike the comfy handles of today, but my old friend has served and still is serving me well.
Maybe it's superstition as it has the old, knurled handle unlike the comfy handles of today, but my old friend has served and still is serving me well.
I have a dwell meter and a vacuum gauge that Mom and Dad gave me for Christmas Also a wrench set of open end and box wrenches I got from them when I got my first car.. It was from a junk yard in Phoenix and was a 36 Ford 5 window coupe. Dad and I restored it. Ended up selling it to pay a medical bill.
Got my SK set at sixteen in ‘68. Same sentiments. I broke a 14mm abusing it with a cheater pipe, but all the rest is original. Love the knurled handle.
This very odd wrench is the only physical reminder I have of a 30 year long friend.
Its surreal in many ways. I have pictures and memories of him but nothing of his but this.
Well this and a hodgepodge box of scattered tools everyone else picked over and the remainder made it way to me with a buddy saying "he'd want you to have this".
I do not believe Ive seen one of these prior, dont know a thing about who makes it but it looks and feel like its at least a good idea.....Its on cleaning #2
Its surreal in many ways. I have pictures and memories of him but nothing of his but this.
Well this and a hodgepodge box of scattered tools everyone else picked over and the remainder made it way to me with a buddy saying "he'd want you to have this".
I do not believe Ive seen one of these prior, dont know a thing about who makes it but it looks and feel like its at least a good idea.....Its on cleaning #2
My grandfather was a carpenter his entire life. When he passed, I was able to have one of his hammers. I love it.
Thanks for the reply.
This is the exact tool, the guys on garage journal pegged it.
There were several versions of this and multiple manufacturers.
Mine is missing the plastic dip handle which is a nice feature.
This tool has a neat history and will be making its way into one of my various " to go" tool kits.
Ill pull some info from over there and put it here for you.
Ever seen one of these? Odd adjustable wrench...
This very odd wrench is the only physical reminder I have of a 30 year long friend. Its surreal in many ways. I have pictures and memories of him but nothing of his but this. Well this and a hodgepodge box of scattered tools everyone else picked over and the remainder made it way to me with a...
www.garagejournal.com
Great history on this tool.
That was very interesting to read through. Thanks for posting that. Cheers! 🍻Ever seen one of these? Odd adjustable wrench...
This very odd wrench is the only physical reminder I have of a 30 year long friend. Its surreal in many ways. I have pictures and memories of him but nothing of his but this. Well this and a hodgepodge box of scattered tools everyone else picked over and the remainder made it way to me with a...
Great history on this tool.
