Skip to main content

Old tools are good tools

The side cutters and pliers pictured were made long before I was born, and by the time I was old enough to start getting interested in tools they had been packed up, moved around, and separated from one another as newer, cheaper and shinier (but not better) tools were purchased to replace them. They sat in crates in the back of the family garage waiting for me to return them to their former glory.

The thing about these tools which you notice when you compare them to newer but inferior substitutes is the quality of the steel they are made from. They have a firm closing action and tightly fitting jaws. The side-cutters snip hard stock cleanly and easily. Bought new, they would be quite expensive, and thus most mainstream hardware stores wouldn`t bother stocking them (not when they can import cheap sets offering 10 different pliers for $30).

Some ideas about finding quality tools at outrageously low prices:

1) Some people may be happy for their tools simply to go to a good home
Talking to people about tools and gently lamenting the fact that they don`t make them like they used to may encourage others to bestow their now unneeded tools on you. If you can provide them with the care and respect they deserve, tools will start to find their way to you.

2) Don`t be put off by a bit of rust
A bit of rust or surface staining is par for the course on old tools, and generally will in no way affect useability. Products like "ballistol" in my experience do a good job of cleaning up steel tools quickly and easily and will often make the manufacturer markings on the tool readable again (as well as lubricating the tool and preventing further corrosion). I also like this product as it claims to also protect and preserve wood, leather and rubber, and I have yet to see evidence to the contrary. Garage sales, fleamarkets and council cleanups are a good source of items that have a bit of rust but are otherwise in great condition.

3) Quality is worth paying for
You may be lucky enough to have tools your grandparents used. Will your grand-children be able to say the same? We have become conditioned towards buying cheaper and inferior quality products when in fact the "last a lifetime" tools can still be purchased either new or secondhand (albeit at a "remember for a lifetime" price). Sometimes its nice to save up for something that you really will be able to pass on to the next generation.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ballistol for Rust Removal

One of the many claims made on the back of the ballistol can is its ability to dissolve rust. Here are before and after photos of a rusted spanner head sprayed with a generous coat of ballistol and left for about an hour. The ballistol was then dried off using a paper towel. This product continues to give pleasing results and I think warrants use on many rusted tools where it may be tempting to apply a wire wheel (potentially disfiguring engraving you didn't realise was there in the first place).
Post a Comment
Read more

Spear & Jackson oil free air compressor

A nice little compressor! The chief technical officer's latest acquisition is the very neat looking Spear and Jackson oil free compressor. Scoff you may - but it was purchased for a tidy $150 (ish) with the following considerations in mind: 1) A small unit is never going to be big enough Every online forum discussion about which is the right air compressor to buy leads inevitably to the conclusion that such and such a model is not big enough. Until you get into serious belt-drive models with enormous storage tanks you won't have enough air to run 500 air-tools simultaneously. 2) It is only required for small, intermittent jobs The air gun will be used for cleaning saw dust off tools, and blasting crud out of the crevices in the back deck. Once in a while, a little bit of nailing and framing, perhaps the odd car tyre or lilo inflation. If these take a few seconds extra while it catches its breathe, its acceptable. 3) We really really wanted one At this price point, we can satis
5 comments
Read more

Ebonizing Timber: Can you ebonize bamboo?

Apparently not, at least not with the rust+vinegar method. In both photos, the piece of bamboo on the left is the control sample (original state), the piece on the right has been soaked overnight in ebonizing solution - virtually no change took place. If you have had success with another method please share it via comments! One of the things I like about the ebonizing process is that you get a pretty fair indication of how reactive the timber is within a few minutes. Any timber that gets noticeably darker after a quick brush with ebonizing solution is going to go very dark with a thorough soaking or repeated brush applications. Wishing you a productive weekend...
Post a Comment
Read more