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[reible]

I was off to visit some hardware stores today. Along the way is a "Restore" and since I was in no hurry I started my shopping there.

In the back where the tools are were a collection of vintage tools that had just came in.

Atlas bandsaw
Rockwell 6" jointer
DeWalt radial arm saw
Craftsman planner/moulder
Lathe
and a few things like lathe tools and parts of the radial arm saw etc.

Things were mounted on homemade stands, not fancy work but functional.

To me they looked like they lived with a older gentleman for many many years. Lathe and a project still mounted, one he never got back to finish.

From the rust and conditions of the tools they were once well used and many "bandaid" fixes applied. No doubt they sat in a a clean but damp basement unused the last years.

New owners, kids cleaning out the old house where gramps lived and not caring for these old tools.

I had this sad feeling looking at them.

Of course that was only a story in my mind, none of it is really known to me.

But then I though of all the good times I have had working in my shop back home and though all the years between now and then, and yes I still get pleasure doing projects. May be that is how it went for him, or at least I hope so.

Ed

PS non of them followed me home. I do hope the find a good home.

[Gene Howe]

Strange, my wife and I were just having a conversation about my tools.
Our son, Kevin and his wife and kids are visiting us up here on the Mesa. The wife was telling our son how sorry she is that he and his brother will have to deal with "all those tools" someday.

True to his heritage, Kevin replied that he didn't think that would be much of a problem. He said he could always use another shop full of tools. Made me proud.

[benush26]

Strange, my wife and I were just having a conversation about my tools.
Our son, Kevin and his wife and kids are visiting us up here on the Mesa. The wife was telling our son how sorry she is that he and his brother will have to deal with "all those tools" someday.

True to his heritage, Kevin replied that he didn't think that would be much of a problem. He said he could always use another shop full of tools. Made me proud.

Smart kid!! At least we know where he gets his wisdom!

Be well,
Ben

[STB]

Growing up our closest neighbor was a journeyman jointer. As a child I remember him hand digging the basement and the neighborhood kids sneaking over and jumping our bicycles on the piles of dirt. I remember my father and others hand mixing and pouring the concrete for the basement. In retrospect the house was a 2 story half buried basement fairly small by todays standards. After it was finished I thought the interior woodwork was amazing. He spent one entire winter making fretwork and other accent pieces for the exterior. Mr Pooley must of been in his 70s when he built and finished his Home.
By the time I was a teenager he had moved his shop into the basement. Some of things that left an impression was the workbench in the middle of the room. It was massive and all beat up with hand made wooden screw vices. I have since become to understand that it must of been a Roubo style bench. I also remember all the wooden hand planes and other hand tools he had hanging from the floor joice's. There must have been hundreds of tools they covered the entire basement ceiling. Another thing I remember he had a small table saw. When he used it he stood to the side to cut the stock freehanded.
He died the summer of 70 at the age of 96 . I was told he fell off the ladder while painting the fret work at the peak of his house. That means he must of started his apprenticeship before the turn of the century. As I remember he was very frugal and never threw anything away. I am thinking his tool collection must of been impressive. A couple of years later his wife left the home and the son moved in to the house.

And now for the sad part.

My father told me one of the first things his son did was haul everything in the basement to the dump. I assume the son saw no value in the well used old hand tools.

[JPG]

Smart kid!! At least we know where he gets his wisdom!

Be well,
Ben

Maybe, but common sense fer sure.

[JPG]

Growing up our closest neighbor was a journeyman jointer. As a child I remember him hand digging the basement and the neighborhood kids sneaking over and jumping our bicycles on the piles of dirt. I remember my father and others hand mixing and pouring the concrete for the basement. In retrospect the house was a 2 story half buried basement fairly small by todays standards. After it was finished I thought the interior woodwork was amazing. He spent one entire winter making fretwork and other accent pieces for the exterior. Mr Pooley must of been in his 70s when he built and finished his Home.
By the time I was a teenager he had moved his shop into the basement. Some of things that left an impression was the workbench in the middle of the room. It was massive and all beat up with hand made wooden screw vices. I have since become to understand that it must of been a Roubo style bench. I also remember all the wooden hand planes and other hand tools he had hanging from the floor joice's. There must have been hundreds of tools they covered the entire basement ceiling. Another thing I remember he had a small table saw. When he used it he stood to the side to cut the stock freehanded.
He died the summer of 70 at the age of 96 . I was told he fell off the ladder while painting the fret work at the peak of his house. That means he must of started his apprenticeship before the turn of the century. As I remember he was very frugal and never threw anything away. I am thinking his tool collection must of been impressive. A couple of years later his wife left the home and the son moved in to the house.

And now for the sad part.

My father told me one of the first things his son did was haul everything in the basement to the dump. I assume the son saw no value in the well used old hand tools.

'Sad' does not do that tale justice!:mad:

Ah the folly of youth(even at the son's likely ripe age).

[nuhobby]

Elders of my extended family have been passing on.

One Great Uncle was notoriously tight with his cash, lived in a small house with his unmarried sister, a hoarder's place with barely any room to walk. The Auction for his estate included a large machine-lathe that sold in the thousands of dollars.

Another Uncle was considered to be a more balanced guy with a long and fruitful career. I always thought he had some awesome shop because he'd made some impressive treehouses and dollhouses for my cousins back in the day. When I talked with my cousin at the funeral 3 months ago, he said the tools in that shop were actually bottom-of-the-line power tools.

Anyway, it's a deep thought about what to do with our tools when we're gone. They're some of the few things I have much sentimental attachment to.

[JPG]

Elders of my extended family have been passing on.

One Great Uncle was notoriously tight with his cash, lived in a small house with his unmarried sister, a hoarder's place with barely any room to walk. The Auction for his estate included a large machine-lathe that sold in the thousands of dollars.

Another Uncle was considered to be a more balanced guy with a long and fruitful career. I always thought he had some awesome shop because he'd made some impressive treehouses and dollhouses for my cousins back in the day. When I talked with my cousin at the funeral 3 months ago, he said the tools in that shop were actually bottom-of-the-line power tools.

Anyway, it's a deep thought about what to do with our tools when we're gone. They're some of the few things I have much sentimental attachment to.

Put a price tag on each item and tell your potential survivors to e-bay them. Do not add up the total, or they might be selling it next week.

Or place the name of a deserving recipient on them.

[charlese]

Yes, I have a shop full of Shopsmith tools. I've always bought what I think I will need to make the furniture and other things I wanted to.

What will come of my tools upon my passing? I don't care! After all they are just tools. They allow me to make stuff. I am actually the opposite of a tool monger. The fewer - the better. However what I thought I needed, I bought. No second hand stuff (Except a speed reducer, but that was never used until my use). I have never and will never buy a tool because it is cool, or just because I don't have one.

I feel just about the same emotion about my shop tools as I do about a can opener that's the same age. What I care about them now is to keep them running so I can make stuff.

I realize there is a lot of collective monetary value of the tools in my shop. All I want to see is; if family doesn't want them, then the estate needs to get a fair price.

Now the stuff that I've made is another thing! I would like to think they will be loved and cherished by those gifted them. Most are signed and dated with hopes they will be passed down. These are the things I made from boards, with my tools.

[JPG]

Well said Chuck!