Most useful hand tools that are no longer made

[Benchwayze]

As a boatyard apprentice you weren't allowed a Stanley Yankee until you were out of your time, as the damage you can achieve with one on finished work is quite outstanding!

And the damage to yourself when the locking collar wears, and they suddenly spring open and the inner-gubbins shoots out! I soon learned to point the thing away from me. Mine is still in the rack, sans bits, which I keep in my old 'baccy tin!

 

[John Brown]

I don't like yankee screwdrivers - could never get on with them. This is the hand tool that isn't made anymore which I think is really useful:



So handy in this size for getting in those awkward spaces. Made in East London too - not that far from where I grew up .

I had one of those(may still have it somewhere...), but the chuck jaws and springs got all mixed-up.

 

[ED65]

For me, the most useful tool that's no longer made (properly), is the humble hand brace.

No longer made properly is a bit of a cheat, lots of things could be added to that particular list :twisted:

For me, the most useful tool that's no longer made (properly), is the humble hand brace. Best cordless drill / driver I've ever owned!

http://www.workshopheaven.com/tools/Hand_Drills_and_Bits.html

What DTR said does still apply, while those French ones are apparently decent enough there are dozens of different makes of vintage ones that are better, and not forgetting the availability of various sweeps on top of that.

 

[AndyT]

I think it's interesting that this has been quite a slow thread - it's hard to think of categories of tools that are no longer made at all. In that respect, woodworkers are better off than, say, photographers. Good luck to you if you want to explore film-based photography without the infrastructure of film makers, chemical suppliers and anyone making equipment to use in developing and printing. Wood is still plentiful, and can be cut by hand in just the same ways as it was a century ago, or a millenium.

However, there is one category I'd put on the 'red list' of endangered species - files.

Eric noted the rare Abrafile as having gone, but the problem is wider than that.

Files are really ancient tools. Millions upon millions were made, by hand, following a laborious sequence of heatings, hand cutting with hammer and chisel, tempering, straightening etc. Throughout the early industrial revolution, they provided the common way to shape iron, until the rise of the machine tool and its rotary cutters in the later part of the nineteenth century.

But to a woodworker, files are important because they make saws possible. There's no need to repeat all the content of the testing work done on saw files in Australia - you can read it here - petition-for-quality-saw-files-t71552.html - but to summarise:

Pretty much all production of files has ceased in USA and Europe; what is available from cheaper manufacturing areas may look like files and bear a familar name, but lack essential, functional details that used to be universal.

Worldwide, major trades which used to use files by the boatload - metalworking, shoemaking, clockmaking - have switched to quicker methods for bulk production.

So if you want to use old saws and keep them sharp, buy all the good old saw files you can find. And if you want to do small scale metalwork by hand, stock up with good old files of any shape you might need.

 

[Rhyolith]

So whats the most useful hand tool you own that is not longer made? Including ones that are still made, but not the the quality you would like.

I would include stuff thats made badly under the "no longer made" category. Hand drills generally are a good example as they are no longer made to a useful level of quality at a realistic price (bridge city tool works CT-6 :shock: ), least that I am aware of. The reason I picked the Yankee over them is simply that in a "Get the job done" scenario hand drills are actually pretty obsolete for all but a handful of tasks when up against a good quality electric drill driver.

Bahco seem to make goodish files. However I have never used a sharp old file so may not know what "good" feels like.

 

[ED65]

However I have never used a sharp old file so may not know what "good" feels like.

This is the problem most of us face now. Unless you manage to luck out and find some NOS files still wrapped in waxed or oiled paper you're always left in doubt. But it's not hard to find decent Sheffield-made files (or old USA-made Nicholsons) at car boots that a little work can return to good working condition.

I couldn't say if they're as good as they were when brand new, but if they weren't worn too much or too rusty you can certainly get damn close. And every restored file I've used beats the pants off the modern files I have, although I do have a limited number to compare to there are similar opinions given on many machinists' forums.

 

[Benchwayze]

All of my files are old, (over 40 years) but not all of them are good.

 

[graduate_owner]

I remember we had an 'all ball' grindstone in the shed when I was a kid. It was a vertical tube bolted to the workbench and it was pedal operated so both hands free. The wheel was horizontal and about 6" diameter x 3/4" thick. There was no grinding rest on ours, just a grinding wheel which could be replaced by a buffing wheel. There was a slot in the tube about 6" long x 1/2" wide, no idea what for.
It stopped working after Dad had owned it for decades, and when he dismantled it he found the gearing was shot because of the quantity of old nails, screws etc that had found their way in - my brother and I had, it seems, found a use for that slot after all.

Dad couldn't get replacement gearing as all ball had long since disappeared. No idea what happened to it then - pity, these days I could probably get parts made up.

Regarding the inserting of foreign objects, my friend had a similar experience years ago when his VCR wouldn't accept a cassette. The engineer handed him toy cars, pencils, just about anything that would fit in the slot. Turns out the boys were playing postman.

So my vote for a discontinued tool goes to all ball. Has anyone else seen these?


K

 

[Dee J]

So my vote for a discontinued tool goes to all ball. Has anyone else seen these?


K

Yes! The Heyden AllBall grinder. A great piece of kit. One sits in my forge on general sharpening duties. The return spring has failed, but a bungee cord to the foot pedal does duty.

 

[xy mosian]

So my vote for a discontinued tool goes to all ball. Has anyone else seen these?


K

Yes! The Heyden AllBall grinder. A great piece of kit. One sits in my forge on general sharpening duties. The return spring has failed, but a bungee cord to the foot pedal does duty.

Yes. I have one in the garage. The only grinder I had for many years. I believe the mechanism is based on a car steering rack, don't ask me which car.
Last time I used it, it worked fine, that must be a couple of years now though.

xy

 

[bugbear]

Yes. I have one in the garage. The only grinder I had for many years. I believe the mechanism is based on a car steering rack, don't ask me which car.
Last time I used it, it worked fine, that must be a couple of years now though.

xy

Good to hear;

post1057671.html?hilit=heyden#p1057671

BugBear

 

[graduate_owner]

Yes, good indeed to hear of these still in use. Thanks for those replies guys.

K

 

[Phil Pascoe]

A set of Record Marples augers bought in 1989. I can't find the 25mm for the minute, but here are the other two.



Three and the handle in a polythene pouch, I paid about £12. Ideal for plumbers and sparks working in a roof - 10mm, 16mm and 25mm. They were obviously geared to be used by hand, even the 25mm could be would in without difficulty. I could have sold this set over and over, and never saw another.