OldTools Archive

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267209 Bill Ghio 2018‑11‑25 Tool box pics
https://www.flickr.com/photos/77280442@N.../sets/72157703930181394/with
/44227807620/">https://www.flickr.com/photos/77280442@N.../sets/7215770393018139
4/with/44227807620/
267210 Bill Ghio 2018‑11‑25 Re: Tool box pics
One of our local charities puts on an antique show as a fund-raiser every year
for the three days following Thanksgiving. This year there was a neat little
tool box on offer. The box was about 8 inches wide and tall x 24 inches long.
Altho designed to hold relatively few tools, almost every tool had a place
fitted for it. There were five trays w/ fitted spaces for as many tools and
three trays that were more generic spaces to hold assorted small tools. I would
say the box was fitted out for a specific trade.

I had a great time explaining to the dealer what each space, at least those I
could identify, was for. She allowed me to take pics of the box, and I am
sharing them here for your amusement. What tools do you see in these outlines?
267211 Bill Ghio 2018‑11‑25 Re: Tool box pics
> On Nov 25, 2018, at 12:37 PM, Bill Ghio via OldTools  wrote:
> 
> https://www.flickr.com/photos/77280442@N.../sets/72157703930181394/wi
th/44227807620/">https://www.flickr.com/photos/77280442@N.../sets/72157703930181
394/with/44227807620/
> ————————————————————————————————————

Found locally,the box is about 8 inches wide and deep, 24 long. lots of fitted
compartments. What do you see in there?

Bill
267222 John Ruth <johnrruth@h...> 2018‑11‑26 Re: Tool box pics
Bill:

Millwright’s Layout/Alignment Tools?  Another guess would be  Boilermaker’s
Layout Tools; they use beam compasses.

Starrett makes a 59F trammel set with interchangeable points, including
“scimitar shaped” points, which on first glance I think might fit right into
your case.

If you didn’t buy that unique toolbox, don’t be surprised if you end up with a
bad case of “non-buyer’s remorse!”  You’ll never see another one like it.

One of America’s greatest tool collectors, who shall remain nameless, once told
me that “We will regret the things we didn’t buy far more than the things we did
buy.
If you buy a regrettable item, you can probably recover at least part of the
money spent by reselling it. On the other hand, if you fail to buy something
that’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, you’ll kick yourself forever.”

DAMHIKT is true! Turned down two in one very regrettable day! (It’s in the
archives, for those who might be interested. Search for keywords Stormville,
Norris, and Footprint)

Bill, my advice it to go for it!

John Ruth
Age 63

Sent from my iPhone
267224 Ed Minch <ruby1638@a...> 2018‑11‑26 Re: Tool box pics
https://swingleydev.com/ot/get/109148/single/

Wise words from your father John.  I have a couple like that, and now in my time
of de-acqisition I get a chance to handle and appreciate these items one more
time.

Ed Minch
267234 Paul Gardner <yoyopg@g...> 2018‑11‑26 Re: Tool box pics
>  Millwright’s Layout/Alignment Tools?  Another guess would be
Boilermaker’s Layout Tools; they use beam compasses.

Sadly, the Old Mill Rat is no longer among us to weigh in on this theory.

Neat box.  Thanks for sharing!

Paul G, enjoying the fresh air again in SF.
267249 scott grandstaff <scottg@s...> 2018‑11‑27 Re: Tool box pics
With a giant lump in my heart..........
        Dammit Thompson

Yes this box was for millwright / boilermaker tools
also
  I have one of the long curved tools there is a cutout for,
  but never knew what it does.
   yours scott

-- 
*******************************
    Scott Grandstaff
    Box 409 Happy Camp, Ca  96039
    scottg@s...
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/sgrandstaff/
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/hpages/index.html
267581 roy griggs <roygriggs@c...> 2019‑01‑10 Re: Millrat tools
> On January 9, 2019 at 10:43 PM Joseph Sullivan  wrote:
> 
> 
> Tony said:
> I shall tip a glass to Jim.  In the years prior to his passing, we passed
> many things back and forth.  One of my most prized items, is one of his
> "panther head" saw handles.
> 
> END SNIP
> 
> Yep, Tony, Millrat and I did that, too.  I have a panther-head and an eagle
> head saw, both made by Jim.  The panther is really cool, but the eagle looks
> a bit sea-gullish.  
> 
> Towards the end of his life, which he saw coming with great clarity, Jim
> stopped wanting to pass things back and forth and the flow became one way
> from him.  He kept talking by email nad phone about needing to clear out his
> "ungodly mess," so as not to burden his wife.  I bought several items from
> him, and he also gave me a good few.  I bought his Stanley 55 in a box made
> by him, and a good boxful of other stuff including carving chisels..  He
> then gave me several chisels including timber -framing chisels, with his
> beautiful handles on them.
> 
> Cheers!
> 
> Joe
> 
> PS:  Millrat and I also shared a love of Hasselblad cameras -- but that is
> straying to far afield for the Porch.
> 
> Joe
> 
> PPS, OH!  I have his precious personal mercury-filled plumb bob.
> 
> J
> 
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GG, 
I too have one of Jim's panther head saw handles, and assorted other tools I got
from him. What bothers me most is that as I sell my tools off the provenance on
these items will slide into history and be lost.
roy griggs
roygriggs@c...
267582 "Joseph Sullivan" <joe@j...> 2019‑01‑10 Re: Millrat tools
GG,

Roy Griggs said:

I too have one of Jim's panther head saw handles, and assorted other tools I got
from him. What bothers me most is that as I sell my tools off the provenance on
these items will slide into history and be lost.
 END SNIP

Friends, what is emerging is our awareness of the astonishing number of tools
that Jim actually had and then passed on.  We joke from time to time about
creating magnetic anomalies, but Jim may have really done it!

J
267583 "Tony Zaffuto" <tzmti@c...> 2019‑01‑10 Re: Millrat tools
I too have one of the "Old Millrat's" tools.  We exchanged a number of items
through the years and several are highly prized by me.  By coincidence, back in
2006, I had a much beloved house beagle named Mac.  I never spoke of the dog
here or, for that matter, anywhere on the internet.  Old Mac had cancer and
though I would have spent any amount of money on his care, the vet said there
was nothing that could be done for him.  The dog died in my arms, carrying him
in the house.  Anyhow, to the Millrat story, though I never mentioned Mac
anywhere, a day or two after Mac passed, I got a package from Jim.  Opening it
up was a note that he wanted to show me his re-saw capabilities.  The wood was
maple, book-matched and coated with shellac.   The image in the center of the
piece was a virtual image of my dog.  This piece and the saw will remain in my
shop, as prominent as those tools I inherited from my dad.

On another, electron related note.  Jim also accumulated old power tools with
aluminum housings.  I had a box with a crapload of those old electron burning
demons that I had inherited, and some that just found their way to me.  Those
all went to Jim, and I hope the old goat is smiling down at us, knowing we
remember him.

T.Z.

-----Original Message-----
From: Joseph Sullivan [mailto:joe@j...] 
Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2019 10:02 AM
To: 'roy griggs' ; 'Tony Zaffuto' ; scottg@s...
Cc: 'porch' 
Subject: RE: [OldTools] Millrat tools


GG,

Roy Griggs said:

I too have one of Jim's panther head saw handles, and assorted other tools I got
from him. What bothers me most is that as I sell my tools off the provenance on
these items will slide into history and be lost.
 END SNIP

Friends, what is emerging is our awareness of the astonishing number of tools
that Jim actually had and then passed on.  We joke from time to time about
creating magnetic anomalies, but Jim may have really done it!

J
267585 Erik Levin 2019‑01‑10 Re: Millrat tools
Roy wrote:> I too have one of Jim's panther head saw handles, and assorted other
tools I got
> from him. What bothers me most is that as I sell my tools off the provenance
on
> these items will slide into history and be lost.
I am not too sure that is true. If the tool is tagged or marked for provenance,
much of the history will live on here, and is likely to be archived for a good
long time. Attach a tag to each piece as a minimum, and the buyer may appreciate
the history.

Tagging or permanently marking the tools is an interesting exercise, in many
cases, but can be done without devaluing the history. I have a number of tools
that are marked in inconspicuous, but visible, low-or-no wear areas with owner
marks or my mark as maker.

Electro-etch is about as good as it gets, if done carefully, for metals, such as
a saw blade. Wood is a bit tougher, but I can usually find a spot. I have
several saw totes marked on the 'lower' edge, planes marked on the body under
the tote, and surface gauges (machinist tool for markout and measuring) etched
in handgrip indents.
Keep in mind that I am the kind of person that gets a used book at a yard sale
and researches the names in it, adding summary. I sent off a late-1800's
machinist apprentice book (B&S) that had several prior owners names in the
cover, one the original who got the book as an apprentice, and I tracked down
the birth and death dates of all, where they worked for several, and any other
relevant information I could find, and penciled it in next to their names. In
another fifty years, that may be the last record for some of this.
On a saw, I might remove the tote and mark the plate under it with provenance.
It's ok if no one ever sees it again. But, for a fine piece, someone probably
will, and they may add to it further.



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267586 RH <rhhutchins@h...> 2019‑01‑10 Re: Millrat tools
I, too, have tools I got from Jim., a set of perfect, in NOS condition, 
Irwin bits for my braces.  That is the only transaction that passed 
between Jim and me, I'm sad to say.

Bob Hutchins
Temple, TX, USA


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267587 Ed Minch <ruby1638@a...> 2019‑01‑10 Re: Millrat tools
What a generous guy - I posted pictures of a couple of Stanley Everlast(ing)
chisels in very nice shape I had run across - he wrote and asked “do you want
more” and sent me 3 that he had refurbished.

And there was nothing he wanted me to send him in return

Ed Minch
267600 David Nighswander <wishingstarfarm663@m...> 2019‑01‑11 Re: Millrat tools
I made it a point to buy a couple chisels from Jim before he gave up on the idea
of selling them. They hold pride of place in the chisel drawer..

Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows 10


Subject: Re: [OldTools] Millrat tools

I, too, have tools I got from Jim., a set of perfect, in NOS condition,
Irwin bits for my braces.  That is the only transaction that passed
between Jim and me, I'm sad to say.

Bob Hutchins
Temple, TX, USA
267604 Matthew Groves <grovesthegrey@g...> 2019‑01‑11 Re: Millrat tools
Like many of you, my email conversations with Jim were not short, and not
lacking in interesting content.

He was going to send me his leather belts and his leather boots.

The belts arrived….the boots didn’t make it in time.

Miss that guy.

Matthew Groves
Springfield, MO
267605 John Ruth <johnrruth@h...> 2019‑01‑11 Re: Millrat tools
GG’s,

Long before Jim passed, I was moaning about a problem with rusty pipe and he
offered to sell me a pipe tap for about 1/3 of what a new USA-made tap would
cost.  I bought it, of course.

As you’d expect, it was a quality tap, well cared for.

I’ve used it only twice, but you know who I think of each time I see it!

Jim could not only “do,” he could “teach” and “write.”  Not many can do all
those things; many talented craftsmen would not have the patience to teach nor
the motivation and skills to write.

What man he was!  There are many hundreds of people, former apprentices, co-
workers, Porch dwellers, etc. who are operating on knowledge and skills that Jim
taught them.  He has passed, but he left a legacy of empowered craftspeople.

John Ruth
Age 63
Sent from my iPhone
267607 John Holladay <docholladay0820@g...> 2019‑01‑11 Re: Millrat tools
I have a few items that came from Jim.   In particular,  a small Starret
double square that I use regularly.   I had indicated I thought it would be
a handy item to have one day and put off ther blue one day,  it showed up
in my mail box.  A kind and knowledgeable man the old Millrat was.

Doc

John Holladay
docholladay0820@g...
205-229-8484
267610 Tim <tpendleton@g...> 2019‑01‑11 Re: Millrat tools
Me too. Jim sent me a beautifully restored Starrett No.4 square. Every time
I lay hands on that square, I think of Jim.

Tim
Even the squirrels are wearing sweaters in NJ today.

On Fri, Jan 11, 2019, 12:04 PM John Holladay 
            

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