Machinist Tool Boxes: A Tour of Boxes Saved from the Scrapper
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- čas přidán 14. 06. 2018
- I recently had the opportunity to acquire a collection of tool boxes from the estate of a third generation machinist and tool and die maker. I personally always find going through somebody else tool box a real lesson in the trade as well as a great insight as to how they did their job. Join me as we go through these tool boxes and see what kind of goodies are inside!
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Another piece of WWII history; Baldwin Locomotive Works was building M3 and M4 Sherman tanks on the same erecting floor they built their steam locomotives on; the tank line right next to the locomotives.
So awesome that all those wonderful tools got another lease on life with “THE Doctor of Machining”
What a great find!
What a great find. I'm 69 and still act like a little boy when I find machinist tools. I have some of my great grand father's tools. Thanks for a walk thru history.
I think the former owner of these tools is grinning ear-to-ear just now; they have found a great home!
My father Master Sargent Miles was in the US Army Air force from 1941 to 1946. He was a radio man in the Air Transport Service. He had been to college, but turned down OCS; he liked what he was doing! TM
Being a millennial, I just want to say that we are not all interested in video games and computers. I have a shop full of old iron tools and enjoy cleaning up or restoring them and using them.
Pat Clark-Barnes Pat you are a rarity
I think it's changing as the young folks realize that working with one's hands pay well and you don't rack up huge debts as many college students face.
Pat, thanks for restoring some hope for the future
Another millennial who loves old tools! There is hundreds of us!
@@jmquez it's really ashame it only hundred of y'all.
To any of you awesome older guys out there who still know what some of these more obscure and specialized tools are- please, pass that information along to posterity in videos like this, or better, finding young makers who still want to use real tools- and teach them what these things are. Even the slide charts they used to have for calculator free calculations for everything. Some of this knowledge will be lost each generation- videos like these and kind folks passing it on keeps the tools alive. They have a soul, I think- from anyone that's used them. Keep that alive, share your knowledge enthusiastically like this with young makers. Not all of us use 3D printed plastic for everything in life.
Thanks for doing what you do Keith 🤘
Item at 18:21 is like a bar I just made to put on centers in my lathe and adjust position of tailstock. Morse taper centers are put in main shaft and in tail stock. Once tail is set, you can also check three jaw runout. It looks like the ends are made for use with a center. I was stationed at your fort , Fort Rucker, in Alabama 69-71.
My deepest condolences to the family. Thanks for saving the legacy of a man who worked with his hands.
Part of this story that might make it sad then brings it back with a smile. Mother sees Father/Grand Father's tools/life's work fading away as a sun set. Knowing the time & moneys spent over the years on the tools. Finley the biggest smiles from Grand Dad & Dad knowing that there tools ended up with you, a person who will love & use them as they did. Keith I be leave a double thumbs up was sent to ya when you took tools home right on.
Quite collection you now get go through - have “fun”
Unintentional ASMR achieved. This vid felt like honoring a man, a trade, and a craft. I hope the youngsters can learn to appreciate connections to better, greater days.
Fantastic video. I agree it’s sad when descendants don’t want their family tools. I just got a load of tools from someone who bought a house with a small shop attached. Lots of stuff that all needs restoring. I found an old woodworker’s name stamp, and a WW1 kit bag clip in there, but the descendants aren’t interested 🤷♂😢
I think it's great that we have people like you to help keep the history alive. I have learned a lot from you watching your videos not only machining but history of how stuff worked and what those misc pieces are. Thank you very much for what you do and the videos you crank out.
"Just about everybody's got a tool box with a drawer full of Allen wrenches in it" Which is exactly why I came looking for a video like this--to find out what to put in the other drawers!
I bought a house five years ago. The man passed away and his wife went into a home. His son left all his tools in the house. I am a tool and die maker and it makes me want to weep when people throw out the tools that built our nations. Great to see people around saving history.
it's a crying shame that there are so many younger people out there that no longer show an interest in the hobbys and trades of the older generation, it's because they are brought up in the easy come easy go era well done kieth on rescuing the gems
once upon a time we're still about. Im relatively young (37) but absolutely only but older pieces and restore them. Love it. World love to get my hands on a haul like that!
your grandfather said the same about you! generations change, its always been the same, manufacturing in the usa is dead, people are better financially by working and buying a new item, they are cheaper than theyve ever been, of course the downsides is, people only exist to work for 'the man' and to buy products, and are otherwise seen as worthless.
It's a crying shame must school districts have done away with industrial arts programs not realizing how much math is involved in setting up machines and in other aspects of shop work
I have a machinist who CNCs parts for me and he has the hardest time finding anyone who will work, and when he does, they don't want to learn anything. Just want to push a button and go home at 4:30. He had one kid that really knew his stuff, including the programing... but alas, he went and started his own shop. Maybe when I retire, I'll go work for him. I'd love it to play with toys like that every day. "play" and "toys" because it wouldn't be work for me, but pure pleasure.
thank you for sharing this. my late father was a tool and die // patternmaker for GM. my brother has his tools, and someday i wish to have a similar set with that classic machinist box.
Keith, my grandfather was a machinist and even worked in shops during WW2. At one point in his life it finally came to where he couldn't stay by himself so he called my dad, his son, and told him that we should go there and collect what we wanted from there. It was interesting some of the things we found. In his machinists tool boxes one thing that we found was quite a few broken drill bits and broken taps. They were saved for making bits for boring bars (this was well before carbide inserts and the like). Another interesting thing that he had, and I'm pretty sure that he made and it was a turret tool holder that had spots for 4 different bits. Kind of interesting because he, all told, was I think well over 100 different bits for lathe work (all HSS). It was the true show of a real machinist as you often times couldn't tell whether it was commercially made high quality stuff or whether it was something he made.
Nothing like waking up to Keith and coffee!! Good mornin' all!
These vids are really nice on a Friday morning while i'm delaying starting work haha
This is a sad, yet happy ending story. My heart broke to pieces a few months ago, when i went to get some scrap metal for a project. Five wooden tool boxes of various repute were strewn about in the junk pile broken to bits, items spilling out.
I asked the foreman, he said that three boys came with a much larger load and started chucking them out of their van. He saved what he could, but ultimately the damage had been done.
There's no respect in this new world, because there's no respect taught at all, it's all tests and grades, worthless things, the things that matter, we don't teach them.
If i ever have a kid (or more), i swear i'll never let it go this bad.
aserta
Damn! That’s a bummer!
Thanks for the walk through. Appreciate your respectfulness of this man's life's work. If these tools had to end up somewhere - your shop is a great spot where they will be appreciated and redeployed with care. .
_Dan_
Kudos to you Keith for saving these valuable pieces of history.
All for our children, Grandchildren, Great Grandchildren... God Bless those of you that think of them! Thank You Keith for helping us remember who we are and where we came form!
Keith; Cutting Edge Engineering in Australia; Kurtis has made in house tools "out of necessity" from a 4 jaw tailstock chuck to a massive boring bar for larger jobs he has to do. He works on parts for construction equipment mainly.
Great job saving those tools and boxes. Yes, so few kids are interested in working with their hands and/or dealing with antique and vintage items. It's quite sad, but your efforts kept it from being tragic. Good for you! Thanks for posting. Love the channel.
Thanks for the tour Keith. Nice to see some of the same old tools that I have, and still use today. One is a B&S combination square that my dad bought in 1936.
Great that you was able to save these great old boxes. Beautiful.
Two great boxes Keith! Love the Dodge indicators!
Good rescue. I'd be interested in the angles on the grinding guide. That looked really neat. Thanks for this video.
These were undoubtably treasured by the original owners and its great to see that continuing.
I don't know about kids these days! (I'm 71 so I can say that!) "If it's not computer driven, why have it" seems to be their attitude. I know it will be a lot of work going through those tool boxes. But, for you, I think it will be a labor of love. Thanks for the tour, Keith. You've got some really cool stuff! Thanks for sharing!
Have a good one!
Dave
I'm 19 and that is certainly NOT my attitude. I actually find it difficult to have conversations with most people my age, much rather talk and discuss things with older, like minded people. In fact I have a 71/72 year old friend who is an ex machinist and also a bicycle designer/inventor, and my mentor in a lot of ways.
Sorry if I offended you. I realize there are exceptions to every rule. I realize that my statement was a broad-brush about the young generation. I didn't stop to think that there would be folks like yourself. Thank you for your comment.
Have a good one!
Dave
Swarf Rat Not offended at all!
I'm another one of those "kids" who is building up their own tool collection
Swarf Rat
That’s not necessarily the case. Look at the “maker” movement in which people are constructing their own cnc machines, using 3D printers, and even lathes and milling machines. There are younger people doing similar things but they’re a minority of the general population; which is always the case.
Great video. I seen plenty of the standard dial bore gages as you know I spent 40 years at Eaton Fuller transmission plant. The dial bore gages are used for checking the bores of the gears for machining of them. Most industries used a lot of Federal gages
One family's trash is another man's treasure. You got a pretty nice haul there. Thanks for sharing.
This was a realy good rescue. Thanks Keith
The bank's 63rd and Woodlawn address is from Chicago, south of downtown. The original owner might have worked at the huge WWII aircraft manufacturing facility at Orchard Field ("ORD" now O'Hare) airport. My, how these things have traveled.
I bought an old LeBlond late that was delivered to Wright Patterson AFB in '43. I picked it up in San Antonio several years ago. They do grow legs!!! I figure one of the AFB's there got it sometime in the inbetween.... Then it fell into the public.
A fabulous video, thanks Keith.
Great history. Glad you could save it
Thanks for the excellent tour Keith. Great save!!!
Norm in AZ
Many of my tools have been passed down to me. When I use them I can remember my grandpa teaching me his tips and tricks.
Cool toolbox tour! And just for the record, the Jaguar number plate at 25:40 is from a 1962 Jaguar E-Type (first year of production), probably built in December of 1961 or so. Might have even been a coveted "flat floor" car, but number is right on the cusp. In any case, the toolbox owner had fine taste in cars and likely the temperament--if not quite enough high-speed steel tooling--to keep it running.
Good save Keith. Thanks for the video.
Ive often thought about what will happen to my tools when I pass. My daughter will probably want some of them but she will never really use most of them. I would be happy to know that my collection went to someone who would use and appreciate them. When I buy tools I try to seek out the older guys who either cant use them anymore, or are just thinning down their collection. It's so interesting to hear the stories behind the tools.
Morning Keith. These are some really great finds. The small oak chest at 20:28 is a Star. I have a Union Steel oak chest at work that was purchased from a retired machinist along with most of his tools dating back to WWII, they still see daily use.
Nice find, it's amazing what is out there just waiting to be found. A lot of hidden treasures that some really don't know what it is, just some tools attitude just get rid of it. If they only knew. Nice video
He would be glad that they are in great hands....Great Call Keith
Glad you saved all that history, great video.
I help restore railroad equipment and I'll say I love old school metal working equipment it shows how much of a man you had to be to get things done right
That first box is a beauty.
What you have there is the life’s history of three generations of engineers. It must have hurt like hell to see them leave. Every piece in those boxes, in particular the shop-made items, has a story attached to it and collectively tell the story of these men’s lives. Thank you for sharing this piece of history. It is very poignant to watch.
Nice video Keith - Thank you.
Nice tool haul Keith! I have bought a few hauls like that myself and I can say it is a good way to stock up. I am 44 yrs. old and enjoy anything old and rusty as well as finely machined and polished. I can see people older and younger than myself that have no clue about anything you make with your hands and mind or much less how to operate any kind of machinery at all. It is not their fault, they are only a product of their environment they grew up in. Some are more than willing to learn the old ways, but most aren't. Nothing wrong with technology advancement, but there will always be a need for repairs in a job shop that can't always be done with computerized equipment or a smart phone which is good for me. We live in a throw away society which is sad but true, but repairs will still sometimes need to be done the old way to something that is not to be thrown away such as a half million dollar piece of equipment. I find it quite interesting that I can intermix old tech with new and usually come up with something very useful to make life more bearable.
what a find. Keep the past and the future will see how far they have grown..
I have the same kind of story. Last summer I bought a Cincinnati Horizontal mill,Southbend 16 in lathe and tons of tooling . He had two sons who never wanted to work with him in the shop. As a kid/young man I would of killed to have that opportunity .
Great video Keith! .... I think if you look on the bottom of the drawers, Gerstner typically marked them ... look on the second one up from the bottom.
Yesterday I met some nice folks from Tifton who said they knew Keith from church. They were (as we were) visiting Charleston SC, and we took a Gray Line bus tour together. They said they'd convey my greetings to Keith.
Granddad was a Lockheed (then Bell Aircraft) Machinist. He focused on sheet metal work making panels (I don't know what kind) for B-29s! Marietta, Ga.Nobody else wanted any of his tools so I nabbed everything I could find from his basement after he passed away *many* years ago! Still have them including his cross peen hammer (which had a split handle that I replaced).
Enjoyed the video thanks for sharing.
THANK YOU...for sharing.
Good Morning from Canada!
When you read the address on the bank button it sounded like it might be a Chicago address. When the Mall Tool button came up that confirmed the other address. I grew up not too far from the Mall Tool factory. My Dad knew people who worked there and an interesting story about the place was that for a long time none of the workers were allowed to sit to do their work. I am very glad that these tools were not lost and are now in the some of the best hands that they could have found.
I can't wait to see the lathe!
Always interesting Keith.
18:30 That probably is a spindle proveing bar. Indicate it in your chuck for run ouut then as your traverse it with an indicator on the carriage it shows if your lathe is true or not.
I think you're right, it's a cylindrical straightedge, and could possibly be used as a cylindrical square in many ways.
Hi Keith I made a sliding bevel at school, I have used it many times, I still have it. I am now approaching 60 - ATB
Did Keith sound like a kid opening his christmas presents? He was having fun looking at all the tools. Luckily, some of the tools can go to the museum.
Very interesting. I've been learning machinists skills from my u tube teachers Keith, Keith, Adam, and Mr. Pete for a few years now and consider myself as sort of an advanced apprentice. It was good for me to see what a "real" machinist keeps in his box. Also kind of sad, almost voyueristic.....
awesome boxes!!
Thank you for the great video. Always enjoy the content and your presentation style. Do you ever sleep?
You have purchased a treasure trove of goodies. Enjoy them. Perhaps you will be able to use them in upcoming videos. Thank you for sharing.
I love the Kennedy finish. I found one of their basic boxes on the side of the road and felt like I won the lottery.
Keith the biggest shame in this country is most school districts have done away with industrial art programs at the expense of hands on real world applications for the science and math classes, I'd bet must could not set up a sine bar.
to add OLD SCHOOL AND PROUD OF IT.
I hope there will be a video of the lathe... based on the tooling, it sounds like an awesome old lathe all right.
I feel bad that my generation (I'm 26) wanted to scrap all of that... most of those tools are still usable in machining today, let alone all of the historical and antique value they have. Good rescue.
Very cool stuff.
The long ground tool is a bottle square. Used on a surface plate as an absolutely square comparison.
man, that's so sad to think about those people who really dont care about something valuable like that. I wish I could get my hands on some "deals" like that. well done. and thanks for sharing
That's kinda how I got my gerstner tool box. The guy I worked with was retiring and none of his kids were in the trade and none of his grandkids were interested. So I got what he paid for it back in the 60's needles to say I got a great deal and I got to keep a beautiful toolbox in the shop and not rotting somewhere like so many gerstners end up.
Im 51 and have 3 Southbend Lathes I restored and run. Also an Atlas Shaper I restored and a power hacksaw. My mill is an old Hardinge. My Dad is a business man who cant change a spark plug. I took after other machinists in the family.
Great video !!!!
Quite a haul......but at least it will still live on in one way or another which i'm sure it's previous owners would love too see happening.
Keith, that second box is a jewler machinist box, I have the exact same box but in mint condition. My Great grandfather buaght it and used it for his gold/silver and jewelry tools. When my dad was a little boy about 8 to 10 years old he saw that my fathers coin collection was getting pretty serious, so he gave the box to my father with some of the older coins he had saved himself (like some of the pure silver dollar coins that where supposed to be turned in, which we still have). My grandfather and father then used the box to house the coin collection. I have this box hidden away at the back of a very large closet with stuff I've added to it myself (I am 45 now) over the years. I'm scared of some thief breaking in and steeling it so I keep it truly stuffed away heheh. I'll try to get it out in the next few days and see if I can find the makers mark on it, I'm pretty sure I've seen it on it somewhere. (and yes, I still have some of great-grandpa's tools saved away)
Elegant boxes, great tools, those where the days that the value of objects were proportional to the skill of a man and the dignity of his work.
Hey Kieth, making and using one of those HSS grinding fixtures would make a good vid.
Absolutely beautiful. I'm a machinist and would like to find one that I could restore. Thanks for sharing.
I scored a really nice Edmund Scientific reflector telescope years ago, a doctor in another town passed away and willed it to his grandson, the grandson promptly pawned it and that is how I found it.
Thanks heaven, that this collection is rescued.
Those ITW trig table booklets are no longer available. Use to be as common as house flys in the trade in the 60's. Obsoleted by calculators now, but nice to see them. I had many copies over the years. Nice haul, it's a pity the man's sons didn't want this nice collection that took his father a lifetime to aquire.
Keith; check the latches t see if it's a Gerstner; they will do a restoration on your Gerstner boxes; ABOM just went through the Gerstner & Sons factory in Ohio & he had sent his box to the factory for a restoration.
Keith Rucker if you would want to part ways with any automotive cylinder bore guages,I would happily buy or trade you out of them. Thank you sir for everything you do.good day!
I think the smaller box was made by the Star Chest Company in Chicago. I have one from the late 30’s that looks almost identical. On mine, the company name is engraved on the lock in tiny letters.
Nice haul Keith. Ter said toooools lol
The original owner of those tools might have worked at the Dodge Chicago plant where they built engines for B29s. The mirror from the bank at 63rd & Woodlawn is a link to the South side of Chicago, and the Dodge plant, later Ford City, was about 8 miles from there. Or maybe he bought the Chrysler/AAF bore gages surplus after the war, but it’s still a tantalizing clue.
The previous owner,took care of these.great video.
Keith;
At around 33:25 you are behind the table and there is a round bottom surface gauge with a cut out in the base right in front of you. PULL THAT ASIDE AND SAVE IT IN A SPECIAL PLACE PLEASE. This looks like an early Starrett #52 surface gauge and this has real value. They don't appear that often and you need to take special care of that.
Don't know if I will see you again at the BarZ bash this year as I am having to travel quite a bit on business.
Regards;
Ron Kluwe
sure is ! right between the faceplate and the grinding stone !
One man's trash is another man's treasure.
I get real frustrated with our throw away society instead of repairing it. Good save Keith!
Thanks Keith an outstanding collection. ~M~ NJ 07922
Wonder if the broach is for something like fan blades or pulleys which go on D shaped shafts - round with a flat on it? Nice find!
Keith, Do you have an apprentice? I'd sure offer my free time if I were closer to you. You hold an amazing amount of knowledge and experience that should be passed on.