Old and/or Favourite Tools

[The_Veg]

Doug's post about his dad's tools was rolling around in my mind and I began to think about old tools or those that that will never be thrown out for sentimental reasons.
When I was growing up my dad had a pair of Alfa Romeos. They required frequent maintenance and one item that he quickly ran into a problem with was adjusting the ignition timing. Doing so required a 10mm bolt to be loosened, but it sat with its head facing up, down in close to the distributor shaft housing, below the distibutor body. Not accessable by a rachet even though there was a clear line of sight to it. So he found the longest-handled box-end wrench he could and started heating and bending it until he'd shaped it to reach that bolt. He guarded that wrench with his life while he had those cars. I'll have to ask him if he still has it, and if I could talk him out of it? I'm sure I'll never need it but I'd love to know it's in my toolbox.
So how many of you have tools that you'll never throw out and why? Let's hear some stories. Don't limit yourself to mechanics tools either.
I'll throw in a couple more just to get things going:
I have a screwdriver that is very long and skinny. my parents used to use it to unlock the doors of my brother's and my rooms when we tried to lock ourselves in to escape being disciplined, among other uses. It was always around the house growing up and I have it still.
I also have an old bread kinfe that has been in my mother's family for decades. It looks like junk and performs about that well, and was last used in my kitchen when I was in college. But I won't part with it, again because it's a link to childhood. Despite the fact that it's retired from use it proudly occupies a slot in my block along with all the fine German cutlery.

Any others?

[kbasa]

I've got a 3/8" wrench my dad filed to fit a 10mm. I used it to fix my first car, a VW beetle and it still lives in my tool kit.

I've also got a 36mm Craftsman socket we bought when we rebuilt the motor on my VW. I only use it once in a blue moon, but I can remember walking into Sears when I was 18 and plunking down some major money (at the time) for it.

Most of my tools are like that. I bought them for some specific task I was trying to accomplish and looking at them brings back a memory of not only the task, but going to the store to buy them.

Maybe that's why I like working on my own bike. I get to spend time thinking about the folks I love.



this is not the last word, I hope.

[dlearl476]

>So he found the longest-handled box-end wrench he could and started heating and bending it until he'd shaped it to reach that bolt.

Speaking of Alfa's, that reminds me. My '79 Sprint Veloce's rear brake is not self-adjusting. It's adjustment screw is inside a 13 mm lock nut that is recessed into the caliper. A box end wrench wont work because of the recess and a socket/wratchet won't work because you have to hole the set screw in place because it will turn when you lock the nut down. (Just like a valve adjuster in a recessed whole!) Solution: A 13 mm socket with a handle made of 3/8" bar stock welded on. One of my favorites, I smile every time I see it.
The other one is my Grandfathers pliers, ca. 1910. One of the best quality tools I own and the FIRST pair of pliers I reach for in the tool box. These are some old-fashioned pliers that have a wire cutter (that still cuts wire cleanly after almost a hundred years), bailing wire snippers, a simi-circular splined area that's works like a pipe wrench on small diameter wire and normal pliers. I use these babies for everything from stripping 22 ga wire removing those funky OEM hose clamps, WITHOUT destroying them!

And K, I still have my first 36 mm alternator bolt socket too. Thanks to both of you for the memories!;)

[kbasa]

WARNING: Short thread hijack!

David -

You going to Death Valley Daze next weekend?

As you were...

[donkey doctor]

Hello; I have an old 9/16 combination wrench, it's a long handles 12 point blue point. I tell everybody that I made a million dollars with that wrench, but it's closer to 3 million now.
It's the wrench I use to tighten the brake plocks to the shoes on the logging trucks and trailers that we use here.

Other then that, I'd say my 6 pound soft hammer is my favorite tool.

I have an infrared heat detecter that is pretty neat too.

[oldcarkook]

This tool far and away blows away any other tool I own for frequency of use and owner appreciation.

For bike work, it's got to be my Snap-0n 1/4 inch swivel dick ratchet and accompanying sockets/hex/torx/etc.

[The_Veg]

David, I'll have dig around and see, but I think I may have some pliers like you describe, although probably newer, that had been my dad's. Old steel that's turned a dark brown colour and the hinge is a really cool flush-ground rivet of some sort that nobody uses anymore.
Just looked in the tool box and I don't think I have it anymore...unless it's in Mom's old shoe box of tools out in her garage...
What years were you guys' VWs? I had a '73 Super and I don't recall anything on it being that big! Damn near everything was 13mm.

[kbasa]

Originally posted by The Veg
David, I'll have dig around and see, but I think I may have some pliers like you describe, although probably newer, that had been my dad's. Old steel that's turned a dark brown colour and the hinge is a really cool flush-ground rivet of some sort that nobody uses anymore.
Just looked in the tool box and I don't think I have it anymore...unless it's in Mom's old shoe box of tools out in her garage...
What years were you guys' VWs? I had a '73 Super and I don't recall anything on it being that big! Damn near everything was 13mm.

The 36mm was used to pull of the big gland nut that held the flywheel to the crank.

Mine was a '67, probably the finest year for Beetles.

[Cliffy777]

Favorite tool is a pair of Channel - locs. You can do just about anything with them, even more with two!

My fave VW was the only one I ever owned. 1975 Super Beetle with the crank open sunroof and the dee-lux corduroy center stripe down the middle of my seats.

[GSTom]

I have owned various air cooled VW's over the years, 1961 right hand drive in England, 1963 Karmann Ghia, 67 beetle, 74 super beetle , 72 beetle, and two (yes) 69 busses one red with a HUGE sunroof and one blue.
My tool box still contains several VW specialty service tools, but the BEST is a Snap-On that is bent into a gentle S curve with a 14 mm on one end and a 13 mm on the other. With this wrench you can easily reach around the intake to loosen the rear bolt to remove the carb. I have found many many uses for this tool over the years.

Just wondering what percentage of BMW bike guys have also gone through the aircooled VW thing?

[Cliffy777]

we need a "Have you ever owned a Beetle" poll.
Maybe one of those heavy-handed moderators will help us by putting one up......

[kbasa]

OK. I'll do it.

:D

[rapz]

I've got my dad's tools from the 50's and 60's; classics. Woodworking, I've got a Stanley Bailey No. 5 1/4 with corrugated sole...the rarest of the Stanley Bench Planes.:brow