aggiegrads

What is your oldest tool that you use frequently? Bonus points for a cool backstory.

The oldest tool on my main workbench is my vise. It is a Craftsman branded model 5184 which is a rebranded Reed 203R. The date stamp tells me that it was manufactured in June of 1944. A worker in Erie, PA set that date stamp a few days before or a few days after Allied forces stormed Normandy.

Unfortunately, I don’t know the history of this vise, but is has help up extremely well. There are some signs of hammering, sawing or grinding on the tops of the jaws, but the slide is in near perfect condition. It still has most of the original blue paint, with some platters of paint dripped off of some project long ago.



My oldest bike specific tool is my Park 3 sided SW2 spoke wrench. I am the original owner. If I had to estimate, I purchased it around 1985 to care for my abused BMX wheels. No great stories; I wished I used it more, but most of my current wheel sets use the smaller SW0 key.



So what is your oldest tool?

Bill Kapaun

I purchased most of my common wrenches/sockets 50+ years ago.

dsbrantjr

My Craftsman 1/4" and 3/8" socket sets, ratchets. combination wrench set and screwdrivers purchased in 1970 when I got my driver license and bought a car I had to service.

cxwrench

Campy crank puller that's probably 30+ years old. Campy peanut butter wrench that's about 20 years old.

shelbyfv

This small screwdriver belonged to my grandfather. I guess he could have acquired it from around 1900 to the early 1950s. I don't know what he might have used it for but I use it for derailleur limit screws. Probably some way to date it but I don't have a clue.

surveyor6

A big adjustable crescent wrench that I use on threaded headsets.

bikemig 

Dad bought me a 10 speed Nishiki to go to high school in the mid 70s. I rode that bike everywhere. I bought myself a set of bike tools and a bike book, Richard's Bike Book. I didn't know much about tools but I'd read that you wanted wrenches that were at least "drop forged." The Hozan wrenches that came with the set of bike tools I bought are drop forged. I've bought "better" tools since then but these just fit my hands better. I took that bike apart to overhaul it. It took me one day to pull it apart. It took me a week or two to figure out how to put it back together again. The Nishiki is long gone but I picked up a Sekine SHS 271 that reminds me of the Nishiki with its turkey levers and "rat" trap pedals; it's a classic 70s bike. The Sekine SHS 271 with its chrome moly tubing, forged drop outs, and alloy wheels is nicer than my old Nishiki but I'm not getting rid of those turkey levers because they remind me of my old bike,

JohnDThompson 

The Gian Robert chain pliers is probably the oldest one in regular use here. Or maybe the VAR 3rd hand.

elcraft

Had my tools stolen on a two occasions. None of my tools are older than a 70’svintage Raleigh/ Rampar tool kit with Hozan double ended wrenches like Bikemig’s. Came with a cheap third hand/ brake shoe compressing spring, too.

rccardr 

Set of teeny ignition wrenches purchased to work on my Kawasaki S2; bought a dial indicator at the same time for the same purpose but don’t use it as much as the 8 and 10mm ignition wrenches.
Have a bunch of tools inherited from my father, most of the are of unknown provenance. Nice to think of him each time one of them is used.

HillRider

I didn't start riding seriously until 1985 so many of my tool far predate that. Most of my common household and automobile tool were purchased in the late 1960's when we moved into our house and many, like metric wrenches, sockets, etc., have since been used for bike building, repairs and overhauls.

79pmooney

I just inherited a drill press vise that was my dad's. No idea on its age. It is now bolted to my press table. Wow. does it make drilling accurately easy! Even with old eyes. And I can take my glasses off to line the work up, then put them on to protect my eyes and nothing wanders while I cannot see so well! Love it. Frequently used? Well only about a dozen times so far, but probably 3/4s of my drillings the rest of my life.

The Stanley 9 1/2 block plane my dad gave me 50(?) years ago. (Fun tidbit: My dad gave my brother the same plane, only a Craftsman a couple of years later. He went on to become a carpenter with that plane one of his workhorses. We sat down one night and took our planes apart and compared. About 2/3rds of the parts, including the blade were tooled on the same machine with identical scratches.

Bike tools? I have some VAR tools from the '70s. A SunTour FW vise that gets used anytime I change FW cogs. A wire brake 3rd hand I've had forever. Park spoke wrenches? I occasionally misplace them and buy new. Their ages? Who knows? I built my first wheel with them around 1973. (I haven't used my red and green ones a long time so they might be my originals.) Adjust my headsets with a 12" non Crescent crescent wrench I've had since the '70s.

And recently acquired - also from my dad though he obtained it through family. Not super old but not recent by any measure. A grindstone. A classic grindstone; maybe 2 1/2" wide by 2' diameter mounted on old bearings bolted to a sawhorse-like mount. (The bearings look really old but also look and feel like very good ones.) Stone moves through a water tray. Driven with a foot pedal. Just set it up but I used it in its previous location when I had to lug my knives across country.

Russ Roth

I've got a host of old tools I use regularly.
I've got 2 EC Stearns 30" bar clamps from 1883, I really like them and have tried to find more but they're a rarer version. They were a gift from a family friend who passed away the day before thanksgiving at the age of 91. He got them from his father in law.

Couple of hand planes, including a Stanley 220 block plane from 1880s that was gone over by someone who is a master gun etcher. Beautiful work, stays sharp enough to always get that slight swipe to perfect a fit.

Another hand plane is a rarer type stanley skew block plane with a removable side to double as a rabbit plane. Got this from my mother's father and belonged to my great grandfather who was a woodworker in the Brooklyn Navel Yard back in the 20s.

Have a fairly common Stanley 5 from the other side also belonged to a great grandfather.

Course all of them are kept sharp and in ready to work shape. Haven't been in the shop to work in about a year but I'm nearing the end of my thesis and I'll be starting to teach some homeschool kids how to do wood working in the spring.

veganbikes

I do have some old tools, like a hand drill but sadly nothing really that heavily used by me. I guess my Kingsbridge and Sugino Cone Wrenches would be the oldest in use and I do have an old Dura Ace Headset Wrench but I have used it once I think and that was before I got it at the shop from one of our ex-mechanics. Nothing against old tools I just hadn't started collecting them seriously till more recently.

There are some vintage tools I want to own just to own, like a English/BSA Campy Tool Kit, Dura Ace TL-RD10 (I would rather have the Abbey HAG for the actual job) and a Phil Wood Spoke Cutter (I may at some point try to buy the one at our other shop and get it repaired it is a lower serial number)

dedhed

My hands.

bikemig 

Yep I bought the exact same Raleigh/Rampar tool kit from a local shop that sold Raleighs. I so liked the Reynolds 531 Raleighs that were sold there especially the Grand Sports with the blue and white color scheme. Not that I could afford those in high school,

andrewclaus

That's one of my biggest worries, getting any of my tool boxes stolen. Take my car, bike, anything in my house, but please leave my tools. They're not intrinsically very valuable, but they're irreplaceable and full of memories. Some of them have been handed down two generations, from the 1800s, like the block planes. Even the "modern" tools from the 1960s on that my dad bought for me as I became a teenager can't be replaced.

One of the power tools Dad gave me is one of the first variable speed reversible hand drills Black and Decker made, with a grounded metal case. I've tried to kill that drill on several jobs, but it keeps working. I check the brushes when I replace the power cord, and they're still good.

I was heartbroken when I had to replace the Channellock pliers he gave me. They were just too dull to use. I've replaced the jaws and springs on his old Ridgid pipe wrenches--those are good tools.

In the bike box, I think I still have my first spoke wrench and cone wrenches, from the 70s. Some metal tire irons from way back. I was the first and only family member to work on bikes, so no hand-me-downs there.

aggiegrads

It looks like Park is finally coming out with an update to the DAG 2.2 which appears to address the usability issues. Keep an eye out for the DAG-3. The pivot loos the same, but the measuring pin looks more like the one one the EVT Ultra-true arc. It was a blurry photo, but it looks like a major improvement.

rydabent

Some of my common tools that I used are over 60 years old.

WizardOfBoz

Yeah, I was gonna say "I can't tell you but I know its mine".

On a more serious note I have a bunch of tools from my Dad's mfg shop. A set of Starrett punches from the 50s or 60s. A full set of Armstrong combination wrenches, probably from the same era. I still have some tools like cheapie (stamped steel) cone wrenhes and a crank puller from the 70s.

79pmooney

I just remembered a tool I use all the time. A French kitchen knife I inherited from my mom's aunt right after college. (I "wear" her name as my middle.) It was an old working kitchen knife then. From the moment I moved to my first apartment it became my day in and day out knife for almost everything. 10 years later my brother made me a knife that slowly took over most tasks, partly because the old knife was developing a hollow and no longed working on my cutting boards (which had their respective hollows). A re-shaping on an old grindstone brought it back to preferred status.

Wikipedia says the name on the blade dates back to the early to mid 1800s, been used continuously and by many knife manufacturers running from the very best to very mediocre. I could not find anything that identifies this knife. A list of 30 current and unique names was formalized in 1979 but I acquired this in 1975 and it was decades old then. How many? 3? 5? 7? I have no idea.

I love the knife, I have to be careful with it. The blade is very thin. It is easy to bend. Was not fully straight when I got it. Sharpens quickly to shave edge. Veggie greens part before contact! (Well ...) Fresh bread! Old, hard crust breads get my other knife. I stab hard crust fresh breads with the other knife then finish with this. Again, bending that old blade is easy.

79pmooney

Early '80 when I was building boats, my boss gave me his well worn similar Milwaukee. It's since been my workhorse until I purchased an 18V cordless. Still gets used for bigger jobs and when several drill bits are needed. When this pandemic thing passes. its going to out local tool repair for a new cord. (They enjoy working on good stuff that gets used.)

aggiegrads

Ben, the knife and drill sound awesome. I have a Milwaukee drill that I got about 25 years ago and although it has a plastic handle, the working guts are all metal and the gear case is polished. I would love to have one of the old all-metal Milwaukee drills.

There are knife forums that are just as active as this one, you might be able to get more info there, even for a chef’s knife.

Charliekeet

Some Bonney sockets/wrenches, and Nicholson files (not that I actually know what I’m doing with those, lol).

dedhed

I have my Dad's ancient 1/2" Dunlap electric drill. Total torque machine. That thing will break your wrist if the bit catches and you're not holding it tight.
Also have his complete collection of various size Yankee screwdrivers, the original cordless screwdriver.