mrrabbit 

1. My 1984 Minoura dishing tool.
2. My 1984 Zefal HPX 4 frame pump.

=8-)

veganbikes

They do tend to update and fix their tools to make them better in a lot of cases. I still like the Abbey version though.

aggiegrads

I like it, but it is annoying to have one hand on it at all times. If you get distracted or if you forget to get the wheel straight in the dropouts, you have to remove the tool to do another task, or the handle will slide off and fall on the floor.

capnjonny 

I have a 6" x 48' belt sander that my grandfather bought used around 1950 that I used for years in my Cabinet shop. These days I use it to grind cable cover ends to get rid of burs. I also use it to sand down old brake shoes to renew them. There is also a grinding wheel of the same vintage with a buffing and polishing wheel installed on either side of the mandrel that I use for all the shiny bits and an old Wood handled screw driver I inherited from my dad. I still have the set of open end wrenches I bought when I got my first job helping out at an Auto/ Electric Shop in Oakland in 1962. The owner hired me as a favor to my dad and paid me $5 a week for about 10 hours work which was just about what it cost me to buy one Diamond brand wrench every week.

Geepig

I have a knife that was owned by my wife's father, and I imagine that the blade was around 6 inches long. I say imagine, because it is about 1.5 inches now, but it still keeps a razor sharp edge. I guess he began using it when he worked on the family farm until he moved to the city in about 1946, and could well have been his father's because he died in 1939 and all the other sons went off to join the army and then the underground, here in Poland. I use it to sharpen my pencil and cut my way into packaging.

I also have a wooden toolbox that I keep some of my bike tools in. It was made for my grandfather by one of his brothers, in 1915 for his 15th birthday. I cannot remember which brother, as my grandfather had 26 siblings, but I do know that he left shortly after to serve in the First World War. The box was painted a plain black with my grandfather's 4 initials in white on the top - I have several of his tools and they are all similarly marked, including a small pair of external callipers I still use to compare stem sizes etc. Anyway, he trained to become an electrician, got married, became the chief electrical engineer at an insane asylum, got divorced and married the chief nurse, who was in charge of the nursing aspects of applying electroconvulsive therapy. Eventually he and his toolbox retired, and then in 1984 I inherited it.

Andrew R Stewart 

1941 South Bend 9" A lathe. Just used it a few days ago to turn out two headtube reinforcing rings and a couple of replacement pins that hold the ends of the hack saw's blade in the saw frame. Maybe not the oldest tool I have but close to it. Andy

Drew Eckhardt 

I've used the same combination wrenches since 1992.

My Park cable cutters dating to 1997 or 1998 are the oldest bicycle tool I use on a regular basis.

aggiegrads

Holy cow, Andy. That is beautiful. It is a shame that more shops don't have a small lathe.

I had a mechanic/machinist that was working on one of my bikes - a steel frame with a King headset. He wasn't happy with the headset adjustment, so he faced the top and bottom of my stem to get a more consistent adjustment. That headset is SMOOTH.

dedhed

I'm finally getting around to doing some estate planning and talked to my kids if there was any of my possessions in particular they might be interested in.
It was pretty much agreed I don't own a lot of material things of real value besides my gons and tools, and even those have to be taken as a whole rather than individually.

ClydeClydeson

I had a badly damaged city bike, well known in much of Canada, 'Eatons Glider' from the late 60s I think. I cut the frame apart and use a segment of the downtube (with the word 'Glider') as my cheater bar to 'glide' seized fasteners loose.

tcs

I started to answer my 1959 Shopsmith Mark V, but then I remembered my ex-wife's paternal grandfather's post hole auger which dates to before the war. Uh, yeah, that would be the Great War. It will still sink a pretty hole quick if the soil isn't rocky.

The oldest bike tool would be a no-brand chain tool I bought around 1977/78.

alcjphil

My paternal grandfather was a master automotive mechanic and my mother's father was a pattern maker and tool maker. I have some tools that both owned, but the one I like best is a small mechanic's ball peen hammer that belonged to my father's father. Despite its size, it can deliver a very hard blow that can be easily controlled. It must be about 100 years old

Phil_gretz

My older brother was an auto mechanic in the 1970s and 1980s. He passed in 2015, and could take only a few of his many, many tools. I have a set of Snap-On torx screwdrivers (with the black handles) that are his. Like Doc said, I think of him when I use them.

I have a set of Mafac stamped steel wrenches in the little rubber pouch, they'd be from the 60s or 70s. I rarely use them, but have when doing a strip, clean and polish on a caliper set.

I have my spoke key, chain breaker and dog-bone wrench from early bike maintenance days (maybe 1975 or so?), but I don't use them now. Some of my freewheel removers are likely from the early 1980s, I guess.

I began buying my own tools in the 1980s, general purpose stuff that I still use.

sincos

This one's got to be at least 25 years old



Still gets regular use on the newfangled stuff:

Andrew R Stewart 

That ain't no shop, that's my basement (which is better equipped tool wise then the shop at work, excepting the Phil spoke cutter of mine that is at work). I repainted and "tuned up" this lathe this Fall. Lots of dirty work removing the old three layers of paint... Thanks, Andy

Andrew R Stewart 

As far as bike specific tools that I still use look at the photo I posted earlier and note along the upper edge and towards the right you'll see a Campy straight edge and a set of the H tools. Both are from 1978, I loaned my boss the $ for the Campy tool kit and ended up buying it from him a year later. There's something good about the feel of those tools in one's hands. far nicer then the Park stuff that's mass made these days. Andy

Geepig

*cough cough*

rydabent

I just remembered that I have my dad's Sears Craftsman half inch drive socket set. It is in a metal box with a slide off top. It are probably out of the 20s or 30s. I also have a few of my grandfather's tools, that date back before 1900 but they are not used on my bikes.

mrrabbit 

I'd swear Dale Saso, (https://www.sasobike.com) has the exact same lathe or very similar one - with an external threading adaptor / kit.

=8-|

woodcraft

My tablesaw is from 1944. I bought it from an old guy over 40 years ago.
Some hammers that belonged to my grandfather so I guess '20s vintage.
This plane bought used from Japan. don't know the age, but could be post-war or older.

cyccommute 

My oldest tool is a Surre truing stand. The patent was filed in 1947 and issued in 1950. As I told a friend of mine, there is a high likelihood that the atoms of aluminum in this truing stand spend some time over parts of Europe. I haven’t owned it for long but it is the oldest tool I own.




An old tool I have carried for decades is a Cool Tool. I have several including this sealed one. Best bicycle multitool ever invented! I even have a Robert Seals original.




My oldest tool I actually use (almost daily), is a pre1996 Park PRS-6. I had it extended from about 3’ to about 5’ about 20 years ago. I also replaced the clamp with an adjustable clamp rather than the original spring clamp.

coffeesnob

my brother bought me a popular mecahincs brand socket set with metric and standard sockets. It comes in a zip up pouch. I am thinking this is about 45 years old now. It has been the handiest set of tools I have ever used or had. I always make sure ll the pieces are there before putting it away.

jaxgtr

My favorite tool is my 1914 Lodge Iron skillet I inherited from my mother that floated down from her grandmother. , but as far as bike tools goes, I have several that about 20 yrs old, chain breaker, cassette lock ring, chain whip used most often.

WizardOfBoz

Andy Stewart, I like your South Bend Lathe. I can see the way scraping. Did you re-scrape the ways?

Andrew R Stewart 

Jim- No I didn't. This lathe was a high school shop class tool. While not used at it's limits or for 40 hours a week but I suspect the same work book project was made hundreds of times over it's years in that school. So there's no scrape marks where the saddle would sit for small and close to the chuck work. Not a lot of wear but no frosting. This lathe is in better condition then the 1952 9"C that I first bought and am now wanting to sell off. Andy