Flamingsteel.com

My Vintage Tool Collection...     by Roy Mackey

Here is some pics and bs about my vintage tool collection.

If you enjoy or appreciate old tools you will like this...

     I think it was about 2010 that I started phasing out all my new radioactive, carcinogenic plastic tools. It was one of the best things I did and cannot believe the difference it has made. Often it is not really the performance of the tool but the feel. Accountants, lawyers and robots just can't build tools the same. Not that it matters because not many people make things with tools anymore anyway. Even a lot of people who buy up these old tools rarely make anything. They just gather up the tools and restore them and stash them in their overcrowded shops. Of course there is absolutely nothing wrong with that as they are preserving a part of history. It is people like that who are responsible for all the amazing antiques we now have in our possession to enjoy. Visionaries really.

     All my old tools though I buy to use and pamper. I like the old original patina's if at all possible. A lot of people don't realize there are nuts out there who want these old beasts. Thus they heave them out when cleaning out their dads old shop or what have you. This is every old tool buffs nightmare. I have noticed these tools rarely actually sell for much money but the value is still there.

     Strangely most women don't know this but very few guys love their tools. What they love is buying them, strutting around kms tools comparing the size of their cordless drivers and drooling over the newer "larger and higher performance" drivers. (I swear cordless SCREW drivers are the most common item on craigslist under tools) Once they have used them a couple times they get tossed around, left in the rain, kicked and abused like no tomorrow. After all tools for most guys are just for doing work they hate so they can make the money they want in order to quit what they do and start living the life they always wanted.

     Anyway if you have some old vintage tools and other junk you want to get rid of let me know. Though I have pretty well run out of space I can give you some advice and in the worst case deal them off you if it means saving them. I have cash... or if you have taste as bad as mine I have art I could trade.

     At some point in the future I am planning to start a shelter for vintage tools in order to save them from the inhumane treatment that landfills offer. 

What's Your Vintage Tool Worth?

...to find out scroll to the bottom of this page

Also Please Note:

I am a steel sculptor... I don't know that much about

vintage tools... what I do is written below,

I don't repair vintage tools, I also don't know where to get parts for

vintage tools... google is a good as guess any. Anytime I do find out

something on the tools here I post it here.

Unless you live in Vancouver BC I can't buy vintage tools off you... partly

because shipping from the US to Canada is unbelievable.

This website gets thousands upon thousands of visits every month.

Between doing my sculpture, writing the books I do, managing the 80

studio artist live work building here, collecting more vintage tools like I

always seem to be doing and being extremely lazy I rarely get time

to reply to all the emails I get requesting info on vintage tools. Even if I

did have the parts you need I would definitely not have the time to pack

and ship them to you even if you did pay me.

Vintage Pullman Never-Clog Vacuum

FOR SALE: PICK UP ONLY.... PLEASE DON'T ASK FOR OPTIONS

$30.  May 19, 2022

sold

     Finally after years of hunting I came across a vintage shop vacuum! Man are these hard to find. I guess most got beat up and tossed out somewhere along the line. Fortunately this one missed that story... at least the thrown out part. Sweet beat to hell patina on this gem. Has more than usable suction also. Runs about half the volume of the other vacuums we have here. Thus it looks like it is going to turn into our main sucker. I adapted our central vac hose to it and now can use this one to do our whole studio. 

     I scored this off a cool guy out in Burnaby area... (dam lost his name etc for some reason...) who walked around for three months with a broken back!!! Apparently some people should get that sore back checked out sooner!! His doctor almost passed out in disbelieve that he had still had any feeling from his waist down. Man and I thought I was lucky scoring this gem! He should have been buying lottery tickets every day with that much luck! Anyway even though it appeared that he had no sense he did have enough to change careers after the back fiasco! Thus he was cleaning out his old life and diving into his new one without missing a beat! Pretty dam good inspiration for the rest of us slackers! Lucky for me I was there to load up what was left of the life he was leaving behind. This beauty fits in perfectly with the rest of my beat up junk in here.

Vintage Stanley "Handyman" Table Saw Bench Grinder Jointer Combo Machine

     Here is a weird barn find that I did not pick up in a barn but is sweet just the same. Not many table saw bench grinder, disc sander jointer combo tools out there! This one runs butter smooth. It's funny but I almost never go on craigs any more as I have most of the tools I am looking for but a quick look yesterday spots this gem. It had been up for hours and no one had took the bait. I can already tell this is going to be one of the handiest finger cutters I own. I am going to tweak a few things on it but obviously not the beautiful original un butchered finish and patina it has. I went online but could only find two other images of this tool. This pretty well tells me that the odds of finding the missing jointer parts are going to be zilch to none. Just the same it is going to work great for everything I am going to need it for here. If in the odd chance you do know more about this weird beast I would love to hear from you! The first day I got this sucker home and set up I got almost an hours non stop work out of it. The thing barely got warm! I took off the wire wheel it had on the bench grinder part and replaced it with my rubber expander wheel and trizac belt!

Late 40's early 50's Lincoln Welder

     Here is my last score. A vintage Lincoln Lincwelder AC180K. A real beauty to say the least. A big thanks to Del for this one since he accepted my starving artists offer. They just don't makem like this anymore.... laws and safety reasons. It even has a six volt battery charger hookup on the front!! This would date it prior to 1955 I would say but not sure. That was about the last year for six volt batteries as the number one battery choice. I did pick up one previous to this but was not in quite as nice a shape as this one. Plus I had doubts the previous worked as the back had been removed and the screws were not put back in. Not to mention the plug in had been removed.

     Anyway I did a little bit of clean up on this one and sparkeder up for a test run. Not too bad for something that old. I admit I don't use stick much but good to have for those times I just want to make some good ole smoke and sparks. I have noticed that finding vintage welders in good shape is a bit of a challenge. If an old timer still has it then it could be in good shape but often by now they were handed off to their heathen sons, who hated tools and other things that led to work thus they beat the hell right out of them. I have found the older to tools owner is the better shape it is in. At least most times anyway. This is mostly because way back then they respected the tools they had for a couple of reasons. First not everyone had good tools since they were so expensive. Anyone who did have them looked after them. Plus the tools themselves were made by companies with more pride than profits in mind. Unlike the throw away tools of today. The the owner of this one was not that old he did have common sense and thus it was still in fine shape. 

As you can see I can still lay down a nice bead like I used to years ago.

1947 Black and Decker 16 Gage Shear

     Here is one of my recent scores. Scooped this off of George from Columbus OH a fine eBay seller. Not to mention an appreciator of real tools made back when "Heavy Duty" actually meant something more than just a marketing ploy schemed up by accountants. This one was a bit of a gamble since I could not try it out but have had good luck with eBay and had a hunch George was an honest seller. Well my hunch paid off and thanks to pure luck my "starving artist budget"  was not beat out by other bidders. Thus here is another thing of beauty to add to my "keeper" collection. I have wanted one of these for a couple years now but you rarely see them. In fact you don't often see newer ones either. I have a plastic Makita, I mean "Masquita", here that I will be glad to see go into storage for back up. The buzzy little thing is so annoying it is unreal.  This vintage one is quieter, easier to handle by far, cuts and runs butter smooth and not made of plastic!!! I used to not mind Masquita tools but ever since they sold their soul to the devil they are not the same. I only got about a year of shelf time and a few uses out of my last Masquita grinder before it was blowing sparks and smoke as it squealed loudly to a stop. Most new tools are like goldfish and often die well before you get a chance to get attached to them. My guess is this classic beauty will be around and working for a long time yet.

     Actually I just found the approximate year of this thing. I recently picked up a 1947 Black and Decker tool catalog and the exact same shear is in there. Now back then they did not change a tools design every six months so they could sell more "New and Improved" models. Thus it could be a little newer. 

     You know I have found that when using vintage tools it is as much about using the tool as it is getting the result. Same as high end or custom cars. Any car can get you to town after all it is just something you hop into and go from here to there. But when you drive a custom or exotic car it is more about the drive than the destination. The feel and roar of the engine, the shifting gears, the g-force, the tires gripping the road etc etc. It becomes such an experience in itself that the destination becomes secondary.

     The same applies to food... any old thing will kill the hunger pains but if you are a foodie or someone with finer tastes then the experience of eating with all the separate tastes and textures comes way more into play. It is not just about poking back a soggy big mac and waiting for the hunger to stop. A lot of "eaters" don't realize this as is made apparent by the success of McDonalds.

     Well the same thing applies to using vintage tools. There is an experience that most fabricators would or could miss. Especially these days when "production and profits" is all that matters. That is why most factory made junk these days lacks the spirit or soul that hand made stuff has. If you can't feel the difference then it would mean nothing to you and thus have no value. Though if you can feel the difference then nothing else will do. Vintage tools were made back when companies took pride in what they made at least most anyway. Sure they were looking for profit but that was not the whole story....

    For a comparison today think of Apple and what comes to mind? Ultra high quality cutting edge products that work right out of the box. But once again if you cannot "feel" the difference between an iPhone and the competition then you don't likely need an iPhone. It would appear though that a lot can "feel" that difference. How do you tell? Sales... it's all in the sales... after all people are not stupid like the competition seems to think. But it is pretty obvious that a lot of companies are. After all what happened to big companies like RIM? Oh yea right... I forgot... they had some bad luck.... oh... and then the other company did them wrong... and then oh yea the owners mother would not look after the grand kids.... bla bla bla.

     To summarize quality is not dead these days it is just getting harder to find with so much cheapo competition. Sure I may go on and on about vintage tools but remember I do have and love my robotic cnc plasma table. Very cool and quality stuff is and always will be available if you know where to look. One good sign is companies that are doing well as they innovate cool new and exciting stuff. When I say this of course I am not referring to dumb new add on's to tired old products. You know gimicky little stupid things that often break after a bit of use. This things are all innovated by accountants trying to keep share holders happy.

1947' ish Black & Decker 3/4hp 8" Bench Grinder

     Here is my latest score, a vintage 1947' ish Black and Decker 3/4hp, 3500rpm bench grinder. Special thanks to Clarence for holding this one for me until I could gather up enough pop cans to pay for it. I recently picked up an original 1947 Black and Decker catalog that shows this exact one in there. Mind you it could be later as they did not change designs every six months like they do now to speed up the obsoleting process. It also appears the stand is a B&D original of the same year!

     I had been looking for a larger vintage bench grinder for awhile now to mount my belt/disc sander I got from www.tricktools.com on. Finally Clarence decided to leter go just as I had gathered up the last pop can so a deal was made. I ended up changing off the obsolete stones and mounted the belt sander on one side and a cut-off blade on the other. Don't use that blade much but what a score when you have some grinding to do in a tight spot. This setup his hugely safer than my previous mackey mouse setup I had before.

     Now most of these old grinders run very smooth and also run on forever when you shut them off. This one though is unreal how long it runs on for!!! The 3/4hp makes the belt sander work even better which is hard to believe. There are even lights in the face guard things that actually work like they are supposed to. As you know if you bought a new imported grinder with a light the light likely quit on the way home from the store or if not a few days later. Amazing... years later and these still work fine... now if I can just think of something to sand down!!!

1956 Wells 49A Band Saw

     This was a cool score that once again I did not realize. I bought a bunch of tools off a guy and this one was part of the deal. Again I figured it was a piece of junk and to some degree it was. After tinkering with it though it now works pretty dang good. The bushings where it mounts to the body were wore right out so it made 45 degree cuts it you wanted them or not. The wiring was just short of shorting out, the blade was dull and it looked pretty rough. Right now I only have a little rewiring to do and it is off to the races with it. It now cuts virtually dead square. Strangely Wells still makes similar model to this one today, which I might add was made in 1956 according to them. Of course the newer one has more options and improvements but still. When I buy a new one I know where I will be buying it. A company that makes saws this long, in America, is obviously not run by accountants and is more interested in quality than it is profits. Herez there site if you want to check them out. www.wellsaw.com  If you hit their site and check around you can even find the parts manual for this beast there. That right there tells you they are a quality company! Accountant run companies call this type of service "waste". 

     Now once I got really into vintage tools I quickly realized that I wanted everything in my studio to be vintage right down to the smallest details. At the same time though I did not want anything in here that I was not going to use at least eventually. Finding a few NOS cases of old Elephant Brand pencils was a real score. The erasers are dead but the pencils are fine! I scored these a few years ago at Midland Liquidators for two bucks a box. I figure I got enough pencils with the five or ten cases to last me most of my life. I would have prefered American made ones but even these were a rare find.

1957 Atlas 10" Band Saw

     Here is a score I picked up awhile back. A mid fifties Atlas 10" band saw. When I got this it was mounted on a beat up old wooden frame. The motor was shot and barely ran but the thing cut like you would not believe!!! It was incredible and hard to believe so I opted to rig up the rig shown here. I had the base kicking around from some other dumb project and so that was a lot of the work done. I also have the dual shaft motor and disc sander. After a bit of work I goter set up and ready to work. To run the disc sander you just lift up the motor and pop the belt off the band saw and put the sander one on. The band saw itself still needs some tires but will get to that later. I don't use this much but when I do what a score

.

1947 Delta Milwaukee 24" Scroll Saw

     Herez a 1947ish Delta Milwaukee 24" scroll saw. This is my latest "I don't really need it but had to have it" score. Even though I paid far more than I would have normally it had some features I really wanted. One was the light, two was the belt guard, and three was the base. Strangely even with wheels on the narrow base it is far more stable than you would imagine. I was just digging around in my storage locker and found a set of the old wheels that you step on to activate. I was going to bid on a set on eBay but they topped out at way more than I was willing to pay. Lucky for me as I already had a set. I still have got to clean this sucker up a bit but am lucky the original finish is still good. The motor is not original on this one which kind of sucks but hopefully I will find one at some point. I did have one exactly like this but gave it away in my free section awhile back.

1947 Walker Turner Drill Press

     After having so much luck with the Brunner air compressor I picked up below I got hooked and started shopping around some more vintage tools. Next thing I picked up this old 1947 Walker Turner drill press. Someone had painted it metal flake green so it looked like hell. After getting the paint off and greasing up the bearings and new belts it works like a charm. After using it about five times I decided to unload my Brand New Ridged floor model drill press. I do admit the plastic on it was molded nice and it did look tough... kind of, but like most new cheap tools they are depressing since they just don't last and have a cheapy sound and feel to them. Hmmm this one is 64 years old and works like new. I just recently mounted it on this heavy plywood base with drawers. Normally I don't allow wood in my welding area but this was fast and easy... right up my alley. I did slap on some grey paint to match the era. Right now I would like to find an original Walker Turner motor for it. This one works fine but... I would also like to find an original switch and light at some point.

  ______________

1956 Dewalt Radial Arm Saw

     For the longest time I have been seeing these radial arm saws coming up for sale but never thought I wanted one. After spotting this mid fifties Dewalt though I decided to take a look. I could tell from the pic that it had a sweet vibe to it. I find that important when I am buying junk. Originally it belonged to the sellers grandfather who obviously kept it in near mint condition. At first I was ready to walk away since I really did not want to part with next months food money. Though after the the guy showed me a few things the saw would do I was a little more sold. Then after some cheap-skating on my part and a dose of generosity on his a deal was made. After getting it home and taking a closer look I realized this is one sweet gem.  I likely won't use it much but the possibilities that it provides will definitely come in handy! Since his grandfather has already moved on I likely won't be talking to him for a little while anyway. When I do though I am going to compliment him on how well he looked after it. Luckily for me he must have taught his grandson the same thing about looking after tools. That rarely happens these days as a lot of guys hate their tools and treat them that way. Most only use their tools so they can make enough money to pay for all the facials they get.  

1955 Beaver 15" Band Saw

     Here is a genuine mid fifties 14" Beaver Band Saw! For it's age this one has been kept in pristine condition. A big thanks to Alan for this one. His dad originally bought it around 1955 or so. He got it after his dad was no longer using it and now I picked it up. Luckily for me Alan was reasonable with the price and let me hauler away for my counter offer. After a little clean-up I dug out the band-aids and tried it out. I am not much of a woodworker but sure seems to cut nice to me. In fact I am thinking of keeping it over by the fridge for cutting bread with!! Not sure Marta would go along with that though after all it is kind of noisy. A little wood dust on the white bread might even give it a little nutrition... or at least fiber anyway.

     The cool thing about this one is it has the original cast iron base legs with the beaver emblem embossed in them. I am going to tweak this one for my purposes and use it until I find the exact one I am looking for. As an added bonus about two months later Alan sent me the original owners manual for this thing!!! A big thumbs up to Alan for that. Most would have just chucked it out. You can see more images of this and other similar band saws at:

www.vintagemachinery.org     

1946 Beaver 24" Scroll Saw

     1946ish Beaver 24" scroll saw. This is before I cleaned it up a little. The thing runs incredibly smooth, quiet and cuts like a hot knife through butter. I may upgrade the motor on this one to an older model as the motor right now smells a little funny when running. There is something really Zen about running these older tools. Solid as a rock and sounds like a babbling brook when running. Incredible. I have this one in storage until we find a larger studio. 

Vintage Schrader Air Blower

     When it comes to vintage tools, not unlike vintage wine, it is the details that count. Trying to find all the vintage bits to match the bigger vintage tools is harder. Up until now I have only had one other vintage blower. It is show below and is similar to this one but was made back when men were men and had muscles. It only had a thumb button. If the air pressure is high it gets real tedious on the thumb. This gem however has the comfort of the lever action! Not to mention the ability to add extensions to the end in any shape or form. This one was listed on Craigslist for ages but for the price I knew I did not have to hurry as there are not that many obsessed suckers out there like me. Eventually I managed to meet the guy and a deal was made. When I checked it out I could tell it was leaking but figured being older it could likely be fixed. Sure enough a small bit of spring had somehow gotten into the seal area and worn the rubber seal. Luckily men could still think back then and the seal was made to be reversible. A few minutes later and it was working like new. 

Vintage Hand Made 15" Bandsaw

     Here is one of my all time favorite old scores. A genuine hand made band saw. It is a one of a kind for sure. All made from old steel pipe and wood scraps. The top and bottom wheels are made from wood. Even the bottom v-belt pulley is wood!!!! The strange thing about this beast is the fact that it works like you would not believe!! It runs very quiet and smoothly. Takes mere seconds to change the blade. The tires are made from old belting. The fellow who built this used it to make over one hundred wooden boats!! See more photos and the story behind this by clicking on this link below.

museum of strange things

     Here you can see the bottom wheel and even pulley are made from wood!! This is one incredibly smooth running band saw and cuts like a dang. 

1956 Delta Unisaw

     Here is one of my favorite acquisitions, a 1956 Delta Unisaw. I have actually been casually looking for one of these for awhile now. Needless to say I missed some better deals price-wise on craigs but this one did have some perks. It took a fair amount of clean up but works like a dang. The nice thing about this one is the fact that the original blade guard is there, along with the original motor and cast iron motor cover. The only demon spot is where the hole was cut for the dust system. This I can live with now that doctors have made fine dust carcinogenic. Apparently it never was carcinogenic before which explains why my grandfather lived to 96 and did lots of woodwork.

     Anyway a big thanks to Jennifer for letting me drag this out of her possession. It originally belonged to her Dad and he obviously took good care of it. He had moved onto the other side of the fence so no longer needed it. Once again though it has found a good home where it will be pampered for the next eighty years or so. After that I am going to dump the sculpture business and get into politics. What a job loading this beast. First we had to remove the door to the room it was in along with some trim. After that we had about 1/64th of an inch to spare. Later the we managed to drop the saw from not that high. Severely crushed toes were narrowly missed by both Chris, my assistant, and myself. Prayers of thanks to the God of Toes was given as we each wiped the sweat from our brows. These saws are heavy... no really heavy. The motor alone on this one weighs more than most cheap saws do today even with wood stacked on them.

1950's Craftool Dust System

     Here is a vintage Craftool dust system that came with the saw above. At first I pretty well thought it was junk since it looked like hell and had been outside. After some clean up etc. It looks pretty dang good. Surprisingly considering it is only 1/3 hp it has a lot of suction. Not sure if I am going to use it or not but kind of a gem. I even noticed the garbage can it is on is Vintage and in very good shape at least on the outside. There is a cloth bag that is supposed to go on the outlet hole to filter the dust out. Not sure it would work all that well since it is not in that good of shape but I might adapt something better to it.

Vintage Mead 1" Belt Sander

     Here is a vintage Mead belt sander I picked up from a guy clearing out his unused junk. Unfortunately I lost his name but he picked it up off his Dad who had it for years who also never used it much. This kept it in great shape. From what I can tell online this is from the forties.  Not very many of these suckers around as I have been watching for one for a long time now. Only eight or so posted on www.vintagemachinery.org when I last checked!! I found it without the motor, switch and base etc. I threw that together to hold the gem while in operation. Seems to run quite smoothly. By shear fluke I had a motor here that turned the right way, was the right hp, was the right rpm and even have the right sized pulley it was supposed to have?? That was a lucky combo. The motor is at least from the forties or older. A strange beast that runs very smoothly like most vintage motors do.

Vintage Native Indian Face Hair Brush

     Here is a very unusual vintage brush I picked up at a garage sale. It appears that Stuart, the guy who had it is as weird as me when it comes to finding and buying strange vintage junk!! I admit it was a little higher than my nickle dime artist budget would normally allow but could not pass it up. Hard to say how old this is but it is a bit of a gem to say the least. It will be a great fit in here with all my other vintage tools and junk.

     Here is a really cool old Walker Turner scroll saw I picked up. Not sure how I am going to implement it into my tool collection quite yet. I have done a little bit of googling on this and it appears it is 1936 era. Supposedly they stopped making The Driver Line  back in 1938 or so. It has been cleaned up and painted so does not look that old. Personally I wish it still had the original patina but can live with this I guess. I am thinking that I am going to build a custom stand/base for it and mount it off a wall somewhere in our new 4000 sq ft studio.......

1938 Walker Turner Driver Line scroll saw

     Here it is again now that I have kicked it around a bit. I found an old vintage electric motor at a garage sale cheap along with an old switch and cast iron pedestal. I first mounted the pedestal on a round piece of 1.25" plate steel I picked up in some junk somewhere. I added some wheels, five for stability. Then I cnc'd up some brackets and bolted the mess together. This saw runs very smooth. The last thing I had to do in order for it to match the decor in here was "un-restore" it by knocking off most of the new paint the previous owner had put on it. A bit of a shame since he did an incredible job. But I like my tools to have that vintage original look to them. Though the original faded patina is gone forever this is at least close.

1957 Delta 900 Radial Arm Saw

     Here is another addition to my junk collection. this is a Delta 900. Apparently 1957 vintage thanks to Jeff J. Another fan of:

www.vintagemachinery.org

     In case you did not know vintage machinery is priceless for anyone who is a fan of classic old tools! Hords of valuable info on there. Remember though if you use the site much don't be a cheapskate and donate a few bucks to support the cause. It is fast and easy with paypal even!! You can even download manuals there for a lot of these old tools. If you are low on cash you can't beat vintage tools.... beats getting Ben Dovered on cheap imported tools.

1948 Brunner Air Compressor

     Here is the beast that got me started. Since this pig I have now switched almost all my tools over to the 40's and 50's era. My welding area feels ten times better not having all that carcinegenic and flamible  plastic lying around.

     Now I hate to get long winded but here is one of the best things I ever bought!!! A genuine 1948 Brunner 2hp compressor. I cannot believe I lived without this thing. Up until now I had a brand new Husky five horse. (actually it was only a 3hp but like most companies they use what I call Liar Marketing to bump the numbers.) It was a fine piece of landfill and great if you don't plan to use them much or at all for that matter.

     I was using mine to run the plasma cutter on my CNC machine. The trouble was it just barely kept up and of course like all of the new compressors had that ugly little issue called "duty cycle". Duty cycle is the number of minutes you can run a machine every ten minutes. I found out from an honest... ok not honest but very drunk tool salesman that almost all cheep compressors have a 30 to 40 percent duty cycle. That means three to four minutes of running every ten minutes. They don't like to push those numbers though since it scares away buyers. If you exceed the tools duty cycle they get hot, the cylinder warps and next thing you know it is blowing oil. If you don't believe this watch craigslist and see how many "like New" compressor tanks come up for sale. The pump died they say and the compressor tank is still good... supposedly. You really gotta be rich to afford those landfill pigs... obviously not because of the price but because you are going to be buying it again and again likely far sooner than you think. Oh and a little tip if you are planning on buying one used. Ask the guy why he is selling it. If he tells you he bought a bigger one that translates into... "I ran the thing non stop for three days (remember duty cycle) and it could not keep up"  He won't tell you that but often thats the case. This means extreme hard use until he realized he needed a bigger one. If you are going to buy cheep then for sure by new. It's the only safe way. 

Some of the perks to using this compressor I have found so far...

     So far I have found this compressor puts out more air than my previous "five horse". When I drain the tank the water that comes out is clean and clear with no oil residue at all, unlike my Husky one. Even the air from the vintage one smells clean and fresh. The air from my Husky had a very strong oil smell. The vintage one does seem to bleed out more water which is great since the more water that is condensed out of the air the better life my plasma cutters consumables get!! A big reason for this is likely the cooling fins on the line from the compressor to the tank. Too expensive to put on cheap compressors. These are all great points but the best part I have saved to last...

     This old compressor has the sweetest sound ever and actually runs ten decibels quieter than the new one. I often can't wait for it to kick in where I can't stand it when my cheap one would kick in. Those cheap suckers have an irritating sound that grates me right to the bone! Oh I guess the money issue should also be mentioned. The vintage one cost me about one quarter of what a larger cheap imported one would have... oh drat now I have more money for more classic tools!!!

     Now any smart tool guy knows that dependability is more important than anything and yes they would have a point. I am taking a bit of a gamble with this old beast... But then again our brand new Ingersol Rand compressor in our shop down stairs is only seven years old and already has needed two new kick out switches installed, one valve set, two, one-way check valves and two lines from the head to the tank replaced!!! I guess I should also mention that when the $150. kick out switches went the compressor pumped up too high and took out the seals in all three of our regulators. Just a little side bonus there. Thank God it barely gets used!!! So as you can see sure there is a gamble but I am not sure which option is more riskier!!

     If you are looking for a good dependable compressor you may want to do a little research first. There are a lot of the old beasts out there and if you find a good one you will be set. I have recently talked to a guy who has this exact same compressor. He was the guy who told me it was a 1948. He bought his 30 years ago and the day he bought it he put in a new set of rings. It has ran non stop since then and required absolutely no maintenance or repair since. One look and you can tell for sure it has had no maintenance!!!

     I now have a collection of six old compressors. Needless to say I unloaded the Husky and feel a lot safer in here now.

In case you need parts or service

for your Brunner you may want to talk to

Richard at Berkley Compressors

in Red Deer Alberta.

403 - 309 - 7867

He bailed me out when mine needed reed valves. An

incredible place to deal with!!! These Brunners are getting

harder to get parts for all the time but they had what I

needed. 

Herez a real live motion picture of this one in case you are bored

 Youtube Brunner Air Compressor Video

Very Old Sioux 10" Bench Grinder

     This here was a strange score I picked up off this cool guy out in Maple Ridge. It is a very old 3/4hp bench grinder. Weighs a ton. Not sure how old it is but by the look of the old light sockets it dates back there. Purrs like a kitten. When I first picked it up I was not confident that it was going to work that well or that long. Boy was I wrong there!! I use this thing sometimes twenty or thirty times a day. It's missing a few parts which does not matter all that much to me since I will likely be taking off the stones any way and putting on either wire wheels or buffing pads. After having my one bench grinder set up with a belt sander I cannot imagine ever using stones again anyway. The window glass used in the shields is laminated. This is not a grinder you want to get caught up in!!! No matter how hard I lean into the thing it does not slow down one iota!! You could not trade me a truckload of imported grinders for this  one. Landfills are already getting abused enough.

 Check the cool brass tag on it.

Here is a video if you want to check out more detail

Sioux Youtube Video

Vintage Steel Multi Drawer Cabinet

     Here is another fine addition I scored off Alan out in Burnaby. It goes perfectly with all my other vintage cabinets for storing junk. Cabinets are a hoarders dream. You can buy lots of stuff and stow it away out of sight. Keeps you looking normal. Of course Alan had this full of good stuff as he had a better grip on his hoarding issue than I have. Just the same he no longer needed it and gave me a good deal so I had no choice but to dragger home. The only drawback with having so many drawers for things you can never remember where the crap you are looking for is!!

Mid Twenties Black and Decker Twist Drill Grinder

     Well all you have to do is buy one old bench grinder and before long more show up. This one is another real gem. I am amazed at how nice it sounds and runs. This sucker is really old. It even has oiler cups for the bearings. Missing the guards but I have always been a bit of a fan of danger.

Herez another video on youtube for your viewing pleasure.

Black and Decker Youtube Video

     Unfortunately it is not the 1740 rpm that I was looking for but will still get used here for something. Any chance you got one this size that runs 1740? If so let me know...

1954 Ideal Electric Etcher

     Here is another cool score I picked up. A genuine 1954 Ideal Electric Etcher in nice shape. This is one of those useless things that you just have to have but will likely never use. Ok I might get some use from it since I make a lot of stupid things. Actually that was one of the reasons I got it in the first place. That and of course it appears to be from the fifties at first glance... though not totally sure about that at this point. It works like a dang and can now write my sin number on everything I own just like they used to do in the olden days. OK maybe not... but it will get used for something eventually. I even got the original papers with this sucker.

GMF 3/4hp 3450rpm Reversible Bench Grinder

     Here is my reversible GMF 3/4hp 3400rpm bench grinder. Now I am pretty sure this one is not quite old enough for my liking but am not that sure on how to actually date it. Now even though as I understand it this one is made in Australia I still don't mind having it. My tool goal here is to have only vintage era tools when possible from Canada or the US made around the late fifties back to the mid thirties. I am not that much interested in older than that. The nice thing about this one is you can give your toes a bit of a break from flying bits of metal. When you reverse this sucker you can send bits of metal you are polishing out the roof or nearest window. Makes for more danger and excitement!!

Vintage? Webster Portable Air Compressor

     Here is an old vintage portable Webster air compressor I picked up before I cleaned it up and tried it out. One fitting was loose and a couple of minor tweaks and now works like a dang. The nice thing about it is how quiet it is. It also pumps up to pressure very fast. I have used it a couple of times already so it has already saved the day. Goes well with all the other vintage junk I have also which makes it even better. Martha Stewart would be proud. 3/4 hp Tamper motor. It also rolls around nice and easily. I snagged this one just as it was getting lopped into the dumpster full of other vintage tools and junk. One of those "right place at the right time" situations. I amazes me how much cool vintage tool junk lopps off to the landfill here in Vancouver because most people don't know better.  

To Check out more pics of my tools click here

to go to my page on Vintagemachinery.org

More of my tool pics

or

Check out their main page:

www.vintagemachinery.org

If you are into vintage tools this is the site you NEED to know about. A Godsend for me and other idiots like me who love old crap like this.

_________________

Otherwise Keep Scrolling

to See Some of My Other Junk

     Here is an old antique 1/8th hp Century Electric motor I scored awhile back at a garage sale. It was crudely hooked up to some rickity old home made bench grinder. They were heaving the whole mess in the dumpster so I lucked out on this one. Saved another rare piece of good ole American made history from the wrath of the landfill at least for a little longer anyway. This things purs pretty dang smoothly still. I think I have about thirty old motors now ... not sure why but if you look close they really are a thing of beauty. Once again I am hoping to find someone who can tweak this up and make it safe to run again. I am not worried so much about shocks as I am about burning it out.

Vintage Cotter Pin Tin

     Here is another minor detail for my welding area... a classic American made vintage cotter pin tin. This goes very well here in my welding area. Another minor detail. After all life is in the details! I have a few vintage tins now that relate to vintage tools etc and I actually use them. Though this is just a dumb little tin it is amazing how well it works. There is no fighting to get the lid off. Just a nice easy twist and off it comes. The same with putting it back on, just one gliding twist. 

Vintage Black and Decker Saw

     Here is an old 6" Black and Decker circular saw I picked up that works like and dang and has a very smooth and sweet sound to it. I need more blades for it but it has the large center hole so most newer blades don't fit. Not sure what the scoop is there. I have a few blades but no good carbide ones. Maybe they did not make them for this... not sure.

1947 Black and Decker  7" Angle Grinder

     Here is a genuine Black and Decker muscle builder. Like I have said earlier I found this exact model in a 1947 Black and Decker tool catalog so they year could be give or take either way. It is almost exactly like the one I scored earlier below.... The one below spit out some sparks and smoke after all these years proving that even old quality made tools can die or at least get sick and need rebuilding. Well strangely the next day some guy advertises the above one on craigslist!!! I could not believe it since I loved the one below and the next day I find a replacement. This one here runs a lot smoother than the one below which makes it even better. Sure these pigs are heavy for a lot of girls out there to use but if you got more muscle than brains like me it is no problem. They also turn a lot slower and thus don't scream so much. Strangely I swear turning slower takes off more metal anyway. Either that or it is the weight of the tool that makes the grit dig in more. Anyway scoring this one was a real bonus. Now when I get some extra time, probably after I die, I will take a look at the one below and see if it can be fixed. It did give me one heluva shock but there nothing like a good shock to kill off any bad parasites a guy or gal for that matter may have.

1945 Black and Decker Angle Grinder

     This was another fun score I picked up somewhere... though cant quite remember where now. Anyway it's a genuine muscle builder angle grinder. Can't quite figure out how old it is but does it ever run smoothly. It does have a tricky switch though. If you set it down on something the switch can get bumped and that turns the thing on.... ok not the safest by today's girly standards but a gem just the same. Not sure if it could use some brushes though as it seemed a little sparky the one time I used it. What is really weird about it is the cord!! All these years later and the cord is still flexible. Now if science could figure that out we would be talking a real Giant Leap for Mankind!!!! 

Two Vintage P.E.T. Sanders

     Here are two more of my favorite scores. The one on the left I picked up first for cheap at a garage sale or somewhere. It is another one of those tools you have to feel in your hand. If you got no sense or feeling you would not notice but these things feel so comfortable to hang onto it is unreal. They have tons of power and seem to actually sand far faster than my plastic mastercrap sander I had. Not to mention they don't scream nor do they seem to put that high pitched irritating vibration into your hand. I was so amazed at how good it worked I started to panic. What if it died I would be hooped as I could never go back to that plastic junk again. Then by shear luck I scored the top one from a guy who clearing out his Dad's estate. Lucky day for everyone involved. His Dad got to go on holidays beyond the great divide to meet up with old friends etc. The son got a small bit of cash and I got another gem for my collection. The pads on these are a little worn and I have still not figured out where to get replacement pads. If you got any ideas I would love to hear them. These two sanders should last me for the next sixty or seventy years. Hopefully by then I can find a couple more.

Vintage Bakelite Dremel Sander

     Here is an old vintage bakelite Dremel sander that works like a hot dang. Apparently from the forties or so. Even has the original steel case it came in. Goes well with my other Dremel above. Pretty cool that something this old can still work so well.

1947 Vintage Black and Decker 1/4" Drill

     Here is another cool score I picked up awhile back. A vintage Black and Decker 1/4" Heavy Duty Drill. Now normally old vintage drills suck big time. thank God they don't makem like that any more. At least that is what I have normally found. Now it could be partly based on the fact that I am too cheap to pay anything or that most of them are just wore out. I am not sure but this is one powerful sucker if I ever saw one. The guy I got it off of said he put the heavier chuck on it since it had so much power. I was thinking "yea right... the other chuck broke and this was all you had" Well son of a gun if he was not telling the truth. This sucker really does have power. Now I admit the new drills are pretty slick with their quick chucks etc but all that flammable, carcinogenic plastic is just too dangerous to have around. Especially with kids living on the same block. So maybe it's a little slower when changing the bit but better to be safe than sorry.

1948'ish Black and Decker Grinder

     Here is an old Black and Decker grinder/sander. It is not dual action but works like a dang and has huge power. I don't use it much but when you need something just right for something just wrong this is the one. I am now guessing that it is older than I first thought and likely goes back to the forties like a lot of my other power tools here. Partly because the tag is the same as my metal shear and other tools I have dated.

Vintage Handee Grinder

     Here is another cool vintage Handee grinder I just picked up to add to my collection. Purrs like a kitten. Unfortunately these vintage ones did not come with the flex cables. But not the end of the world. There is something about using vintage tools... maybe I said that before.  : )

Vintage Dremel

     Here is another cool vintage Dremel. Not sure how you tell the exact age of these though. Runs butter smooth and feels great in the hand.

Vintage bakelite dremel moto-tool

     Here is an old vintage bakelite dremel moto-tool. The bloody thing still works!! Not only that but the cord is flexible!! Now counting my new dremels I have about 9 and them of course two foredoms. I always wanted one of these to go with my vintage Dremel sander. Ok Ok... maybe the newer ones are better in this case. Just the same this one still works which will not likely be the case with most of the newer ones forty years from now.

Vintage Kett Panel Saw

     Now here is an unusual beast that I never knew existed. A Kett Panel saw. You could not scratch your finger on the blade yet cuts like a dam. I will likely never use this thing but if I ever did need it then there it is. One only needs to use a tool like this once to pay for it. Especially when you get a deal on it like I did from George. It belonged to his Dad who stepped beyond the great divide. George figured he was not going to use it so gave me a deal I could not refuse and yet still afford. Thus it now hangs on my wall ready for that moment when it will be just what I need. Actually they still make'm  like this today.... a little more plastic though.

1953 Beaver 2200 Table Saw

     Here is a very cool Beaver 2200 table saw I picked up off of David... a bit of a woodworker with a waiting list for his work longer than my lines of bullshit. One of those real woodworkers who knows it is the wood worker that makes the work not the tools. Most these days seem to think the size of the tool has something to do with the quality of woodwork. Now even though those types often have nice tools they rarely have long waiting lists of buyers for their woodwork. Anyway I threw him my starving artist line offer but that just flew by him. I guess my well fed demeanor these days renders that line useless. Just the same his generous spirit did give me a break on the price and before long I was hauling this gem home. Besides food money is over rated anyway.

     Davids Dad Glen bought this gem new back in 1953 and unlike most woodworkers today was able to keep it in fine usable shape all these years. Hell he even had the original owners manual intact and in fine shape. Eventually David scooped it up when Glen decided to blow this pop stand and head out beyond the great divide. After all any normal guy can only handle so much time here on this floating circus without at least the odd break here and there. When I meet Glen at some point down the road I have to remember to thank him for looking after this so well.

     The vintagey base suits the saw perfectly and has a place to store extra blades etc along with a spot to catch the sawdust. David lopped in a few extra blades etc which made the deal even better. It runs smooth and cuts very nice for all that I need. After all I will likely only be cutting boards too short anyway. Once I stock up on some needles and thread, gauze and band-aids I am going to tryer out!....

Vintage Black and Decker Jigsaw

     Here is a cool old B&D heavy duty jigsaw. Not sure what year it is but was made back when "heavy duty" meant something other than just a sales pitch. The switch is variable... you have two variables... on or off. Once again the feel of these tools is what makes then so great. Not only that but have a far nicer zen like sound compared to the soul scratching sound plastic tools make. Oh sure the toggle switch is kind of dangerous but I don't mind. My life is so dull I could use a little danger to get my adrenaline going.

19 somethingish Big Ugly Grinder

     Here is one big ugly grinder. Not something mostly girly cowboys would want to use these days. Too heavy. Heavy maybe but powerful yes. I scored this beauty off my friend Casey, from Casey's Custom Upholstery. He decided it was easier to get by on his good looks than muscles thus decided to let this heavy beast go. I myself could use a few more muscles so grabbed it up on a dime. No powering this one out and will kick you like a horse if you are wimpish about it. Just the thing for those real tough jobs.... that I rarely do mind you but if I do then there it is!!! My Dad always told me to build up the muscles in my arms it will make up for my lackabakbone I had. I guess it ran in our family cause I heard Dad often say my brother had it real bad.

Vintage Shop Cord Recoiler

     Here is a really cool vintage cord rewinder gizmo. Not sure how old it is, who made it or anything else. It is going to need a lot of restoration  but if you pour electricity into one end it comes out the other. The recoil action is stuck since it appears to have been stored in the sea for awhile. I have been trying to find a vintage one for eons to replace the cheapo plastic one new one I never did buy. If you have any clue about this sucker I would love to hear about it. I mostly need to find the age to see if it qualifies to stay in my studio.

Vintage Webster Air Compressor and

Reversible Century 1/2 hp motor

     Here is a cool score I picked up off Bill K. Looks more like junk and I admit most of those early Webster air compressors were not worth much. At the same time though it would make a funky air brush compressor. Bill actually got it off his dad of the same name. After making the deal with Bill I only had a few minutes to come up with another excuse to tell Marta as to why I needed another compressor and motor. Well it turns out the motor on this is a real gem! 1/2 hp Century motor that takes only seconds to reverse!!! Just loosen the knob gizmo on the back and swing it to the up position and the motor spins the other direction! How cool is that! Obviously Bill's Dad Bill had a good eye for junk! Anyway it is brute of a motor that I will likely find a use for some where. This is one of the smoothest and quietest motors I have in my collection of vintage motors.... thanks!!! Bill and Bill !!!

Vintage Firestone Battery Charger

     Here is a vintage Firestone battery charger. Not really sure how vintage this is but noticed that it does not have the three prong plug. Of course it still works... mostly because it does not have the biodegadable computer that the newer ones have. Nice patina on this one which of course really vital since I will likely never use it as the new batteries seem to really last.... not like the older ones...  : )

Vintage Power Drill and Guide

     Here is a pretty useless item that I will likely never use but when I do need something like this I will have it here ready to go. Actually now that I think I have needed it a couple of times so far and what a score it was to have. I think I picked up both the drill and guide at garage sales for next to nothing. At that price it well worth having around. Soon as you need this odd ball then there it is ready to go. To me it is odd tools like this that make my processes go far more smoother. The time I would normally waste trying to innovate is just not worth what this cost me.

Vintage Dremel Scroll Saw

     Here is a Vintage Dremel I picked up awhile back off craigslist. Not sure how old this one is though. It seems like it must go back there a ways since there is not much plastic on it. Runs smooth as butter also. Shez a model 57-2 in case you are familiar with these things. Sure another one of those tools I will rarely if ever use but again for what I picked it up for it is well worth having around. 

Vintage Garbage Can

     Being a bit obsessive when switching over to older vintage tools I tried not to miss a beat. Even my garbage can had to be vintage. From what I can tell it seems this one is from the late forties and early fifties also. This is an almost impossible item to find. Most got beat to hell from being used and left out in the elements until it was beyond use and thrown out. Very strangely the two handles on the side have been stapled on!!! It must have been one big stapler. It took me about three hours to clean and polish this one up so that it would be useable here in the studio. It came out with a nice patina though. I set it on a cheapo wheel base that I will upgrade once I get some more vintage wheels that are small enough. In the meantime though it works for rolling around the studio.

Antique Book Press

     Yes more junk to the collection. I owe a big thanks to Jack Atkinson for this one. Very cool guy with a very cool house he built himself.  It was one of those situations where his price and my budget matched... life as an artist. Anyway this is a handy dandy chipmunk or squirrel press. Apparently some people used them for book binding also. Actually that is just what I plan on using it for. After all there ain't many squirrels or chipmunks in the area. I have been planning on putting together a series of hand made books at some point if I can ever figure out how to do it. Not sure how old this sucker is but the more I look at the more I am thinking it is quite old. Not sure if you have any ideas about it or not?  

Vintage Foredom

     Here is another cool score I was able to add to the collection here. A vintagey Foredom. I have been looking for one of these for ages. I have a couple of newer ones and embarrassingly the one is even a cheap imported one. I keep it hidden and only use it when no one is around. It is irritating anyway and Now I can sell the dam thing now that I have this one. After getting this deal home I was quick to find out why the price was "right". (Right meaning: you have got to be kidding... here's my money - I am leaving before you change your mind or come to your senses) The fact that she had upgraded to a new one was only part of the reason. Turned out it did not work. Just the same it was so cheap that it did not matter so I was not worried. After a bit of work though I tracked the problem down to the controller. Since I already have a couple of vintage controllers I fished out of a dumpster somewhere while looking for food this was not a problem. I hooked it up to the one I had here and viola! Purrs like a kitten. Now I am not exactly sure how old this one is yet. I don't think it is as old as I like but at least it is way older than my other two. On top of that it does not appear to have been beat to hell like a few I have seen in the past. It even has the handset that also works great after a little tweaking. 

june/2/2015

     Here is a unusual tool I picked up in a box of old junk. The one ribbed piece moves on a off center shaft. I got a couple of hunches but not totally sure what the hell this was intended for. Let me know if you know.... A big thanks to Brian for cluing me in on this. It is a inside pipe wrench and yes the bloody thing actually works!! Man could I have used this thing a year or so ago. I never even knew they existed! Now I just have to find the other sizes.... 

Vintage Graphite Dispenser

     Here is a cool old graphite dispenser of some sort. The base is thick black rubber and the top appears to be bakelite. Not sure what the idea behind the spring that inserts up the brass tube. What is cool about this is the original little cap is still there. Being a bit of an odd ball item and in such good shape is pretty cool. I always wanted something like this but not quite sure why...

The name on it is H. HOFFMAN CO. CHICAGO 45, ILL.    PAT. APPLIED FOR

Vintage File Cabinets for Parts Storage

     Here was the score of a lifetime. Except it was actually a few scores. The first was the grey cabinet on the right. I got that off a cool guy out in Coquitlam or that vicinity.... I don't get out of town much but it was in that direction. When I bought it the guy said we better take out the drawers... I laughed to myself as I flexed the muscles in my brain but did go along with him. Holy hanna banana even with the drawers out we barely got it in the truck!!! A month or more later I went back and bought the green one off the same guy. Then sometime later another guy I know told me about the white one in the middle. It was at a garage sale that I had been at and never saw it. He phoned and told me the seller had stuff for sale upstairs also!! I raced back there and sure enough picked it up. He also had a steel dolly with what appeared to be good wheels so I bought it. After getting it home I put this together. It works like a dam!! I am guessing that over all this thing weighs 1500 pounds or more!! Each drawer is full of old bits of rusty steel, tools, and other heavy junk. Surprisingly I can still move it around!! I was first worried about these wheels so changed them for wheels rated at 200lbs each. Before I loaded the cabinet drawers it would barely move!!! Thus I went back to these wheels and it still moves with relative ease.

     As you can see here the grey cabinet has the drawers full of old rusty junk.... the bottom four anyway. The upper ones have tools I don't use that often. The white cabinet has all my bolts and misc hardware. My plastic sorter bins I got at Wally's mart. They are the Plano ones. The drawers are deep enough to hold three of the shallow ones or one deep one and one shallow one. Basically each drawer will hold nine nine of the plano bins. In order for them to fit though I had to remove the lids and cut off the protruding hinges. I am planning on using the green cabinet to hold my money mostly the fifties and hundreds.... course I gotta find some first.

Vintage Dremel Bits from Switzerland

     Now as you have noticed I am not one to go on and on about stuff just because I have an axe to grind or whatever. These bits though are a bit of a story. You see I went to one of the local jewelery supply stores here to get some replacement carbide dremel bits. I had bought them their before and even though they cost ten times as much they lasted fifty times as long. Well the supply place must have hired an accountant since when I got there they told me they were no longer stocking them as they were too expensive. Actually the truth was their accountants figured out they were too cheep since they lasted so long. Of course accountants being as smart as they are they stopped selling them and got in the the useless and cheaper ones in instead. This is how accountants work. So after fighting traffic, then digging for a parking spot paying good coin to park only to find out they have decided whats best for me,... for me..... I was pissed off...  which if you are not an accountant and have the slightest amount of business sense then pissed off customers is not a good thing.

     Now the time before when they did have them I spotted a hundred and some dollar mini torch there that I just had to have so drug it home with those carbide bits and pretty sure some other stuff also. They had a lot of nice stuff in that place I was eyeing in fact but I have not been back since and of course won't likely be going back soon. Why? Well mostly because it is just not worth the hassle going there to find out they are out of stock or quick stocking this or that. My time is worth more to me that risking the time it takes to frequent a dying business. Sure if you got a lot of time to waste nothing wrong with going to places like that but not worth it other wise. Thus I won't be shopping their again just because they could not afford to stock a couple extra carbide bits if only as a gesture of "Customer Service"

     So as an option I have been buying more and more online and loving it. Talk about handy. Sure you have to think ahead a bit and there are shipping charges but hell that is nothing compared to spending half a day driving around town. The Dremel bits here I actually picked up on eBay for twenty dollars delivered!!! There are 18 little boxes with six in each box. That's a hundred and eight bits!! That should last me for years. Plus they were delivered right to my door. I don't know about you but I value my time... in fact check out my prices if you don't believe me. If you value your time you may want to consider online shopping a little more often. Actually now that I think of it I should thank the accountants at that jewelery supply place!!

Vintage Card File Cabinet

     Here is another cool vintage cabinet I picked up. It has seventy drawers that are about 24" deep or so. I made dividers for them and not it sorts all my bolts and bits. What a score this was. I don't use it much but when I need small bits and bolts there they are. No more fruitless trips to hopeless depot to find out they are out of stock. These drawers pull right out so you set it on the bench besides you while you work.

     Here is a quick pic of my Beaver floor model drill press. I scored this off a guy way out in Chilliwack or area. Also a fan of useless old junk like myself.... Actually maybe he came to his senses since he did sell me this one??? Anyway I don't use this drill much since I have my Walker Turner. In fact I have not even cleaned it up yet or done any tinkering on it. It needs a couple of minor details which I will do at some point. In the meantime I decided to use it as an adjustable stand for my bench grinder for now. Works like a dang and I can adjust the height. I have recently moved this over to my vault buried deep in a mountain somewhere until I can find a bigger studio.

Vintage Delta Electric Motor

     Here is a cool old vintage Delta motor. 1/3rd hp, 1725 rpm. Runs butter smooth. Dual shaft which is nice. Not quite sure what I am going to actually use this one for. If I am right which I rarely am... this is from the late thirties?, but don't quote me on that. When I opened up the switch cover I found ceramic mar connectors? I never knew they even made them?

     It is cool stuff like this that makes finding vintage tools such a score. To think that I almost judged this book by it cover. Thus if you get into tracking down old tools remember don't heave anything until you are really sure what you are doing. Especially if you like things that work and work well. Eventually you get away from the thought that bright orange plastic and fancy neon stripes don't mean a thing when it comes to real tools that work. Computer chips in new tools designed to save you 60 cents a year in hydro or some other dumb thing are just going to break and leave you forced into buying another piece of junk a year or so later. Unless you are rich you just cannot afford cheap tools!!!

.

Vintage Schrader Air Blower

     Here is a cool old brass Schrader air blower. Works very well and goes nice with my old air compressor. Finding small details like this is a lot of fun.

My Best Find Ever

     Here is a real garage sale score... in fact the best garage sale score I ever got!! In fact you could also get scores like this also if you read the book I have coming out at some point. It is all about the tricks to finding deals when it comes to vintage tools. This tin of "junk" was ten bucks.... most tool hounds would have skipped it over in search of the holy drill press or metal lathe. In fact normally I would have probably done the same had it not been for "hunch" yelling in my ear. Luckily I paid heed, paid cash and packed away this little tin of junk. Now if you are a home handy man that fixes the odd shelf etc then it might not have been that appealing but for me it was a score. The first and most obvious was the vintage metal gauge... more on it later. After I sorted this pile out I found about 40 high quality US made taps, from the smallest up to about half inch or more. All brand new never used. Probably could not buy this quality for less than five bucks each today. After all these are are real taps made of real steel not pot metal imported ones. On top of that I got a complete and then some set of high end drill bits. Again these are made of real steel and don't bend like the cheap ones do. Those three scores alone would have likely cost me over two hundred dollars!!! On top of that there were a pile of other things like two top quality US made feeler gauges, a complete set of allen wrenches, Three vintage high quality metal scribes etc etc. It was the funnest score I got to explore over a good cup of coffee ever.

Vintage Cummins Sander

     Here is a cool vintage Cummins sander I scored off Don McLean. Don decided to blow this pop stand and head onto greener pastures. Even though he had what a lot of people I know would call the dream job... working for Seagrams... he got bored and needed a change. Not to mention a bit of a rest. Turns out he managed to con his grandaughter Erin into selling it to me. Which of course was lucky for me. The nice thing about jumping the fence so to speak is the grass really is greener over there. Not only that you don't need phones. He sent a couple of telepathic messages to Erin and before long it found it's new home in my studio. This thing was obviously very well maintained even though it has had a lot of use. Stills runs butter smooth. The best part though is the super flexible cord. Hard to imaging that even though they did not seem to have "technology" back then they new how to make flexible rubber cords. Anyway... thanks Don... and Erin. 

Vintage Samson Metal Shear

     Here is another real score I picked up by shear accident. At first I thought it was just some other piece of junk I was never going to use and if you know me if I don't think I am going to use it I don't want it. That is one of the reasons I don't want antique tools from way back. They are too old. I want vintage stuff from the forties and fifties. I also want stuff I am actually going to use or out the door it goes. The same applies with large power tools. When it comes to band saws for example I don't want or am impressed by some big 86" cast iron monster. Sure they are great but what the hell am I going to need it for??? I would rather have three smaller band saws set up for different stuff than one two ton monster in the corner taking up space. Now it's not that they are not impressive. Some ten foot long lathe might look cool and be way better but not for what I need.

     Anyway I had this shear in storage and decided to clean it up and sell it. After cleaning it up a bit though I thought why not clamper todee bench and see I ever do use it. After seven days and using it ten times I knew it was a keeper!! Cuts ten gauge no problem. It is now one of my favorite non-powered tools. This thing is the real Mackoy... made in England out of real steel not in China out of melted down Toyota's...

Vintage Cast Iron Marking Gauge

     Here is a vintage marking gauge I picked up somewhere. Unfortunately some farmer drilled two holes in it... at least that what appears to have happened based on what I can tell with my limited experience. Just the same it works great and has some history about it. Typical of my artistic nature I have gotten rather obsessive about having everything in here vintage.... Short of my TIG welder, CNC machine and a couple of hand grinders etc almost everything in here now is mid forties to mid fifties. My plastic content in here is almost down to zero!! Eventually I will get all plastic out.

Vintage General Electric Motor Switch

     Here is a very cool vintage switch I picked up somewhere along the line. Just found it in my storage locker. Once you get over the obsession with vintage tools you then move to the vintage accessories. It would be sweet to have this hooked up to my vintage Brunner air compressor. Being older I am sure it has an element of risk which would be fun but not sure it still works. This stuff is realllllllyyyy hard to find. Common sense led most of this stuff to the scrap yard or landfill long ago. 

Vintage Galvanized Gas Can

     Here is another cool gas can I picked up. It took a little cleaning but otherwise is like new. Great for storing bits of liquids that I find. Pretty sure this one is camp gas for my wax melter.

Vintage Card File Cabinets

     Here are another set up vintage card file cabinets I scored. These ones are quite vintage and in great shape. I also have a vintage file cabinet on the far right you can partially see. These are my all time favorite shop sorter tool. They hold an incredible amount of stuff for easy access...... if you can just remember what drawer it is in!!

Vintage Hand Made Steel Tool Box

     Here is another score I just picked up for my private collection of junk. This is a genuine hand made tool box by Frank Miller. Now you may not have known Frank as I never did but I got the good fortune to acquire some of his cool junk now that he decided to step beyond the great divide. I also got the chance to see some of the amazing things he designed and built into the house he built. Not your average handy man by a long shot and years ahead of his time when it came to design and practicality. From what I could tell it appeared he liked things that worked and thus designed them into every thing he did.

     Anyway I scored this gem to store my larger bills like fifties and hundreds in. The nice thing about it is the fact it has a lock for added security. As you know I hate plastic and love things that are original and hand made. Anyone can acquire some cheapo plastic piece of landfill but this gem is a one of a kind and hand made. If you have tastes for the finer things in life then landfill from wallys mart will not do. 

     The top tray I will be able to use for storing my diamond collection. Plus it lifts out for easy access to my bills when I want to count them again. Nothing beats the feel of something made with pride. If you own a Rolls then you know what I am talking about here.

     Here is a cool vintage hacksaw I picked up out of a dumpster somewhere while looking for food. Solid cast iron... real cast iron... not the cheap cast iron that they make today. Not something you use often but handy to have just the same. God knows how old it is but will likely last another eighty years or so before it will need a little more wax.

Vintage Galvanized Gas Can

     Here is a cool old vintage gas can I picked up at a garage sale for cheap. I never did grasp the sense of gas cans made out of plastic. Especially in a welding studio like I have here. This one I am going to use for solvent. The previous owner used it for that also. Classic nice patina that blends right into my welding area.

Metal Thickness Gauge

     The other day I hit this garage sale and like the sucker that I am I dived on this tin box full of old broken drill bits and other seemingly useless junk. I always buy those bin deals hoping to find at least one tap or drill bit of something that is high quality vintage. I never waste time looking through the junk since for five or ten bucks who cares. I just grab it and keep looking. Most times I end up with a can of junk to try and give away in our free section here. This time though was a bit different. What a score of a life time... ok at least for idiots like me who actually want quality vintage tools. First off I counted out about thirty taps of all sizes up to 5/8" or so and mostly new and all top quality American brands. Next score was more than a complete set of high quality Walter drill bits. A couple of new Hilti cement bits, etc etc etc. I was almost floored!! Usually the only stuff in those types of cans are broken junk. Well the best score of all in that can was this gem. I had been looking for a vintage metal gauge for along time now and all you ever seem to see is the cheapo imported ones now. The best part is it slides right onto the sheet with no effort. It is heavy 3/16" plate steel that will not get lost easily. Plus it has got years of history behind it by a local sheet metal worker who's name I missed. Also because of the thickness it gives you a faster easier reading on the steel and it does not stick on the steel like the cheap imported stainless ones do.

Vintage Wood/Metal Scribe

     Here is a classic old scribe I picked up somewhere. Probably at a garage sale for ten cents. Works like a dang and feels great in your hand. I have a lot of vintage tools here that feel just great in the hand. I don't know how they did it without computers and fancy pants terms like "ergonomically designed"  Obviously that term does not mean comfortable and if you don't believe me wing by my studio and I will show you some tools that feel comfortable. I got a hand saw here that is well worth the dollar I charge just to feel it in your hand. You seriously won't believe it!! Now like all the tools I buy if I aint going to use it then I don't want it. I don't collect useless junk.... at least not that much anyway... that I am not going to use. First we don't have room and second I can't afford to. Sure I have a few scribes and don't use this one a lot but when I need it for a specific purpose it's there. Besides it was practically free and the only difference between this and new one is this one holds it's point a lot longer....

Vintage Papco Parts Bin

     Here is a vintage Papco parts bin I just picked up for my collection. Almost missed this one as it was covered in gray over-sprayed paint. Took a little careful work but was able to get it off leaving the original paint intact. I am a real fan of the vintage orange on these boxes. Not sure how many I have now but probably four or five. They work great for putting small stuff in that you will never be able to find when you need it anyway. Then will still have to go to the store and buy more.

     Here is the tin just after I started to clean it up. I should have took the picture sooner. Instead I got it just as the orange was starting to show through. Ultra fine steel wool with Autosol... my all time favorite polish! I buy cans and tubes of it all the time. By slowly working the steel wool evenly over the area I was able to get almost all of the over-spray off. You just have to work slow and steady. Plus not push too hard. When the Autosol starts to get a little dry just squirt on a few drops or more of solvent... not laquer thinner! Since these type of bins get handled lots by greasy handyman hands there is good odds that the over-spray would not stick well anyway. Hard to tell this is the same tin here. Since I am a psycho artist I insist that all my vintage tools and accessories have their un-butchered original patinas. Though this one was almost beyond the point of saving it did turn out well.

Vintage Stapler

     Here is a vintage stapler I picked up out of some old timers basement. He had had it for as long as he could remember but not sure on the age. My girlfriend has a new one almost exactly the same as this one. The only difference is thinner steel and brighter red color. The only trouble is she has to use a hammer to finish tapping the staples in. This one after years of use still buries the staples?? Not sure why that is but this is just another minor detail that makes the vintage tools well worth the effort to track them down. I love stuff that works like it is supposed to. Makes life far smoother. 

!947 Walker Turner Drill Press Project

     Here is a 1944 Walker Turner drill press I drug out of a scrap yard awhile back. What a beauty. It was missing the motor mount but eBay helped out there. Now I just need the doohicky that covers the top of the spindle and I will be set. Though I am still looking for a Walker Turner motor I do have a motor from the era here that would work. I have decided to set it up for a special purpose here. It has got the coolest hand made switch on it. To turn it on you just crank on the handle and it automatically starts!! No reaching for some dumb switch. At first it seemed like a dangerous idea but now I am reconsidering that idea. If things get out of control you just have to let the handle up or maybe push it up and it shuts off. No reaching for a shut off switch. 

     Here is a close up of the switch. I am pretty sure it is homemade but it is made well.

Vintage Card File Cabinets

     Here are two more card file cabinets I scored. These are a bit newer than the ones above but are still before accountants threw quality out the window in favor of short term profits. I built the base with wheels and then bolted the two cabinets together. They even have knock out plugs so you could bolt them together if you wanted. Very high quality wheels and even when loaded moves with ease. Just like the similar cabinets above the more weight you put in these drawers the smoother and easier they pull out. Absolutely perfect for storing small bits. Just to note if you do pick these up most have a divider down each drawer. If you look closely they can be removed very easily without grinding cutting or any brute force. Just look closely. Most have little tabs you can bend straight and just lift them out... with a little thinking mind you.

Nail Puller From a Really Long Time Ago!!!

     Here is a real old classic, the last patent date is July 5 1898!! A cast iron beauty in mint shape. Now normally I am not a fan of tools this old. I am more a late 30's to late 50's era fan. But this is mint and does work great so who cares that it is this old. You almost never need a nail puller but when you do you just can't beat them. This will get lopped onto my tool wall in case I ever do. My guess if I did not buy this off the people they would have lopped it into the dumpster after I left!!

Vintage Small File Holder

     Here is a cool vintage small file holder. Not sure where the hell I picked this one up but it works great for holding small jewelers files.

Vintage Oily Rag Can

     Live/work studios are a riot to live in. Ok not that fun if you are a "sit in front of the tv, drinkinig beer and watching guys chase other guys around on a field type of a guy". But if you are someone who loves pounding things with a hammer and cutting boards in half with a dull blade  then they are great. Of course I like melting metal with hot fires but the only drawback to that is the risk of touching off a bit of a blaze in areas that I don't want. This is where this godsend comes in. Finally I don't have to worry about catching the garbage can on fire. Or, do I have to fight with lids when I want to toss some flamible rag in the garbage can. It was tough  finding one in the right condition that Martha Stewart would approve of but I found it. Paid through the nose but it was worth it. I think the guy noticed my idiotic wide eyed look and drool thus would not take my nickle dime offer. It also didn't help that I had to drive for half a day to get out to the guys place. Anyway it has been a godsend and my worry of burning garbage cans in my studio is no more. Not really sure how old it is but it does have a brass tag on it. Accountants would never allow that these days...

Vintage Adjustable Stool

     Here is a cool stool I picked up off my friend Casey. Another appreciator of fine quality items. Not to mention fine upholsterer. Great guy to talk to if you have a cool car and want some plush for your tush. If you are blinded by marketing you would never notice the quality of this stool. This is one solid steel stool that actually functions. It is a heavy to ship beauty that will likely never see the landfill.... at least until the grease on the threaded stem is proven to be a hazardous material and needs to be cleaned up by some hazmat team. Cool design and is strong beyond belief. This stool is way greener than all that sucker bait at iskea simply because it will be useable for eons. It will out last thirty stools they sell and thus save the landfill in a big way. Yes don't be fooled by marketing designed to get you buying again and again and again. Nope... this one's not for sale but thanks for askin.

Vintage Steel Cabinet

     Here is another vintage multi-drawer tool cabinet I picked up. The bottom was a little rusty so I had to do some mods to it which was basically a little metal fab work. I use this to store smaller tools and bits etc. It actually sits on the floor in my welding area and not on this mobile stand it is sitting on. With this one the drawers only slide as they are quite small. Just the same they work great. The patina took a little work to clean it some some but looks great now.

Vintage Shears

     Here is an old pair of dumb scissors. Not something you use often in a welding studio but handy to have just the same. I find it strange but my simple mind is amazed at how well these work. Most would never notice as they tried to hack through some terry cloth towels will their cheap plastic version. With these you could not tell if you were cutting paper or thick terry cloth towels!!! How the hell is that? Made once to last a thousand years. I am only guessing here but am pretty sure the handles are not going to break off these in a couple of years or so like my Iskea ones did... I tell you these grubby old scissors are truly "green"... the ones at iskea may employ some school kids in foreign countries but are "black" as hell. Sorry to rain on your parade if you shop there. Compact, light and easy to ship is only part of the equation. Time before they trot off to the landfill is what really counts.  

Vintage Sioux Driver for Valve Seat Grinder

     Here is another odd gem I just picked up off an old timer who had it for years and never used it. I should add that when it comes to buying any vintage tools I am quite adamant about buying off the original owner whenever possible. This often turns out to be most of the time. Especially with my larger tools. I like the story that often comes with the tools not to mention the other junk that sits next to it. Now this drill is a bit strange in that it turns 10,000 rpm. According to the label it is for a valve seat grinder. Thus the high rps's I guess. Even the cord is original and say's Sioux on it. Not sure what I will ever use it for but if I need a fast drill then it will be here.

june/2/2015

Vintage Mop Bucket

     Strangely once you start on a vintage binge then you quickly realize how lifeless and cheap plastic is. Thus everything that is not real has to go. This mop bucket I managed to save from the landfill. It was like brand new but the previous owners got infected by the parasites that cause cravings for Iskea junk that is more disposable and bound to break. This was my lucky day so scored this for our studio. What a bonus and matches with all the other vintage junk. Now this may not be all that old and more commercial grade but the squeezer part I did not need actually had cast iron parts on it!!! Anyway this will get good use for years to come and will help save the landfill of plastic buckets in a big way.

Vintage Hand Made Hammer

      Here is a cool old hammer I found. It looks like it could have been handmade but not sure. The handle threads off. It has a nice patina.

Vintage Wilton Scout Vise

     Here is another cool Wilton vise I picked up from a cool photographer having a garage sale. Apparently it was his Dad's but he no longer needed it as he had moved beyond the great divide. When I first grabbed it I thought it was a cheap little piece of junk but after getting it home I realized that it was my other Wilton's younger brother! Thus after a few moments of consideration I realized that it had just found a new home on my welding bench. I installed it with bolts using wing nuts for easy removal for those times I want to whip up a fresh batch of "shop bread" Of course I wipe down the work surface before I start needing the bread on it. Anyway a bit of a surprise find that actually gets to stay here in my studio and not shoved down into my tool storage vault next door at Maple Leaf.

Vintage Wilton Vise

     Check out this old Wilton vise I picked up. I have never seen one like it or used one that worked so nice. I am not even sure why it seems to work so nice but it does. I now just have to get it mounted on something... maybe the heavy steel pedestal I have below. This was built before they figured out how to make cast iron as strong as pot metal.

Vintage Three Way Screw Driver

     Here is a cool but minor vintage tool find. A weird ball three way screwdriver. I scored this at some garage sale in a box of junk that was obviously destined to hit the landfill. Not sure when I would ever need it but you never know. Feels great in the hand.

Cast Iron Bench Grinder Base

     Check out the nice piece of scrap iron I scored for my studio off a fellow metal artist in Maple Ridge. Was a base for a huge 3 phase bench grinder. It had a lot of paint on it which I stripped off and then polished up the emblem. I am guessing at around 300lbs. mostly because that is max I can lift with one arm. I might use it to mount a big metal polisher I am looking at. Either that or my vise... or...

Vintage Card File Cabinet

     Here is a cool vintage cabinet I picked up off Svend who was clearing out some junk he no longer needed. He told me this was heavy but of course I did not believe him. That is until we leaned it back to slide up into my truck... No chance!!! That sucker would not budge!!! Thus in order for us to avoid losing control of the situation crushing some feet Svend opted to set up a ramp. A wise choice and even then it was a job and a half getting it up into my truck. What makes this feel so light is the incredible wheels it has. Anyway another fine gem for storing fine gems and other tools.

Rare Pop Riveter

     Check out this cool antique pop riveter. I have never seen one like this before. What the hell it was used for is beyond me. A google search pretty well told me nothing. If you got any ideas about this would love to hear.

Vintage AM/FM Tube Sound System

     Here is another cool gem I just picked up. A vintage am/fm tube stereo system. Beverly Koning had this gem as part of her life soothing collection of things. Things that we all buy in hopes of making life's ride a little sweeter. This one did that well. Something only your ears could notice as it belts out the sweetest sounding music, something tube radios were known for. Eventually though she opted to leave it and all of us suckers here behind. She booked the last train out of here and and headed for the light at the end of the tunnel... never looking back but fondly remembering her past. Luckily for me she left the stereo behind as I now get to enjoy its amazing sound. I can't blame her for leaving, after all 78 years give or take is more than most of us can handle here before longing to leave. Riley, her grandson scored big when getting this but with space being the final frontier he had no choice but to reluctantly letter go.

     I had been looking for a good am/fm tube radio for quite a while now. Lots of tube radios out there but most don't have fm. Production of tube radios never lasted long after fm came out so it is a hard to find combo. Another feature that makes this one so cool is how small it is. I have seen a lot of the larger ones but this is the first one I have seen this small. These old radios have a beautifully warm sound unless of course you have already been brainwashed into thinking the cheapo plastic boom box junk they make today is better. The turntable needs a little work but I have a hunch it is not serious. I love the fact that all the original papers etc are still with this thing. Special thanks to Beverly for that, not to mention for letting this beauty go. Can't wait to thank her in person... ok... maybe I can wait a bit longer....

Vintage Toledo Weigh Scale

     This was one of my favorite scores. A genuine vintage holey Toledo scale. This gem was used right up until the day we bought it for weighing fabric before shipping at a Vancouver fabric warehouse. Of course I could not afford it, did not need it, had no room for it but had to have it! Strangely though we seem to use it every day! It took five of us to load it yet I can move it around out studio with ease. Dead on accurate and does not need expensive batteries every six months. No technology and almost one hundred years later still works!!!! WTF????? Name me one thing today that will still be working on 100 years!

Sharp Stick Maker

     Here is a cool piece of useless junk I picked up off a fellow appreciator of fine but often useless junk. It is an antique plane for putting a point on sticks. Dad used one of these when we were kids. He would get a chunk of willow about one inch around and cut it about two feet long. He would then sharpen each end to a fine point. Then he would give them to use kids to play with. We would run all over hell and back with those sharp sticks. They were a ton of fun except for the time I accidentally poked our dog, Woody's eye out one time. After that we changed his name to One Eye since that suited him better. Ok I admit I won't likely use this one often. Especially these days since most mothers will barely let their kids walk on grass let alone run around with a sharp stick.

Vintage Camera Swivel Mount

     Here is a mono-pod I made for taking studio shots. I lucked out at some garage sale and found a vintage swivel camera mount. Super well made and no plastic. It was in a bin of junk going to the dumpster so the price was right. Some ball bearings on a disc for the handle that tightens the adjustable pole. The hooks are to hang my dremels on when I need to. The adjustment makes it great for that. Salvaged chrome tubing, an old fire bell for the base and I was in business. Works like a dang and super handy to have around. Cool painting in the background is by my partner Marta Baricsa.

Rockwell Sabre Saw Accessory

     Here is an interesting find I picked up off Bob when buying a vintage Homecraft table saw he had listed on craigslist. From what I can gather so far it appears to be an attachment for the said saw which is actually a combo unit that has a jointer on it also. I will be posting it here as soon as I get a decent pic of it. I am pretty sure I even have most of the drill press parts for this same combo unit buried away in my vintage vault somewhere. After buying the saw Bob invited me to root around his junk for a bit and before long this showed up. I tried to find out how it hooks up to the table saw but how is beyond my thinking abilities. Anyway if you know more than me I would love to hear it.

Vintage File Cabinet

     Here is another recent score off RL... if I have that right. He brought this cabinet with him all the way from Chicago. Scored it off his mother, who I might add was no dummy. She kept all her tax records in this gem along with her ammo and hand gun collection!!! What a perfect combination!! I guess she figured that if she got robbed by some honest Joe they would never look in there. But if she got audited by the mob that runs the country she would be all prepared with every thing she needed in one place. All her receipts and her back-up in case a disagreement erupted. That's what I call being tax ready! With everything else in here vintage I figured I may as well have a vintage file cabinet also. These vintage cabinets are really well made and will last for eons. The best part about this one is the advice that came with it. I tell you those cats from Chicago are pretty sharp.

Vintage Dust Blower

     This is a cool old electric motor that is hooked up to a cast iron squirrel cage blower. I have a cool idea for this piece. I can't wait to start on it. A real functional sculpture. I have to cnc some parts for it before I can finish it. Hope to get at this one soon.

Vintage Black and Decker Drill

     This gem was picked up off a old timer who was lightening his load. I had a hunch it was partly to prepare for the "big journey" so to speak. He was great to deal with and while he was nobody's fool did give me a deal on a few of his gems. Now I am rarely excited about old vintage drills as most of them suck big time but this one here is similar to another one I have listed here and has a lot of torque. A lot more than you would think if you have ever used any of these old drills. Unfortunately the tag is beat to the point of unreadable on this one but it still works great. 

june/2/2015

     Check out this beauty I scored at the same place I got the Wilton vise. Solid cast brass. Not sure what it was off of but likely made back in the days when people were still citizens and not just consumers. Good old General Electric... what a name!

Auto Refilling Paint Brush... of some sort

     Here is a weird old auto filling paint brush I picked up some where. What a useless gem that I have yet to find a use for. I have not yet had the time to play with it but it appears it could be fun. It looks like it is missing the lid... which is not uncommon for something like this. 

38 Walker Turner Driver Line Drill Press

     Here is a barn find pre 38 Walker Turner drill press. Apparently they quit making the "Driver Line" back in 1938. Another useless gem I scored off Svend for a fair price. A great guy who helped me unload the last of my cheapo plastic money for some of the last of his classic vintage junk!! Like most vintage stuff it runs butter smooth. Not the original motor but otherwise seems to be in good shape. No arc of shame on the table though someone slapped acoata grey onit. Was done long enough ago that it still has built up another nice vintage patina. I will likely clean up the table, stem and a few other details before deciding what the hell I should do with it. The switch and light on the other side are not original. Might try to track down replacements there.

Pre 1938 Walker Turner Drill Press

Drill Press Table Protector?

     Here is an odd piece of junk that was bolted to a 40's Walker Turner drill press I have yet to restore. It was bolted to the table. At first I thought it was some guys good idea to save the table from the dreaded arc of shame. As I was about to heave it out I noticed the back side. Before long I started to think this bloody thing looks like it was factory made for this purpose!! I cant say for sure as there is not name on it but the hole in the center lines up with the hole in the drill press table. Plus it is grooved on the back side as if it was made to be knocked out. Anyway if you have any ideas about this I would I would like to hear.

Vintage Gas Cans

     Here are a couple of old gas cans I have converted to thinner and solvent cans. They have a nice patina and go great with my the rest of my vintage junk. Martha Stewart would be proud. When you get into the Zen of the moment you can really notice the difference that these cans make.  Accountants, demons and robots can't make anything near as good.

Vintage Red Rubber Squeegy

     Here is a vintage squeegy. When I first started switching over to vintage tools I wanted to mostly get all the big tools. It was not long before I realized that I wanted every bloody thing in my shop to be vintage if possible. Now that I have almost all of the larger tools I have wanted the real fun is finding the details like this gem. No idea how old it is but the blade is red rubber and the screws are solid brass. I now have to find a weathered and beat up vintage handle for the thing....

june/2/2015

patented Mar. 22, 1887...

Brown and Sharpe Post Grinder

     Well here is some more crap the "cat" drug home... Apparently this is not a bull gear grinder and heifer shaft polishing tool.... that explains why my Dad was grinning when I told him about it. Whatever it is I am sure it will be handy. I have finally figured out what this sucker actually is...  thanks to feedback from some intelligent readers. A antique belt driven post grinder. I have a few ideas for it but nothing that involves permanent modification. This is too classic to ruin. It is definitely not something that you want to fall on your big toe!!!

     In case you are worried about the collapse of the US dollar and don't want to see your savings go up in smoke feel free to make me a crazy offer on this beauty. You never know I may just letergo.

Antique Air Compressor

     Here is a really old compressor I picked up. God knows how old it is but check out the flat belts!!! Pre v-belts?? 1/4 hp... the amazing part is it still works and pumps air!!! Check out the cast iron wheels which make it a snap to roll around. Riveted tank even! It is amazing this thing has made it this far.

Built to last by Curtis compressors

Antique Century Motor

     I scored this old beast off my friend Geof. Hez another sucker for old iron junk. I am not sure how old it is but the patent date on it is 1915. I am looking for someone who rebuilds electric motors. If you happen to know anybody you could recommend that would be great. I have not tried it since the wires are frayed very bad where it goes into the motor. This one is going on the old air compressor above. 

Vintage Eclipse Magnets

     Here are a couple of cool scores... two old Eclipse magnets with original plates. I wondered what the hell the plates were actually for then realized that with the plates you can toss them into you tool box without creating a ball of magnetized tools!!! Someone welded up the t-handles which work great though I might modify the welds a little. These suckers got a huge amount of pull to them. In fact it is almost impossible to get the bloody plates off them!!

     Here is a really fun score... a 1948 parts and tool cataloge. I glanced at it and it is going to be a real riot. All sorts of the coolest tools ever. This book is in almost perfect condition. Absolutely fascinating. I will likely add some more inside pics later.

     This is another one except in an 8" I picked up. Thanks to George for this one. Same era as my 6" but bigger. Runs really smooth and sounds good. The amount I use these saws they will likely be all I need until I get into politics in 60 or 80 years. I just started polishing this one and it should come up nice with a little work.

Vintage Gas Welding Goggles

     Here is a really cool set of what appears to be vintage welding goggles. Not sure how old they are though. The straps are rubber and there are even bits of metal pieces on them. Got any ideas? Either way I thought they were cool so in my collection they go.

Vintage Wrench Set

     Here is a cool little vintage wrench set I picked up. These wrenches are thinner than most so have saved the day a few times here. All are held together with the wing nut and screw. Would be great for my next vintage motorcycle if I ever get my act together...

june/2/2015

     Here is an old clock I picked up that likely goes back to the forties. The glass is broke, the metal frame is not only bend but also rusted, the cord is cracked, the hands are all bent and rusty and yet it still purrs like a kitten. It tells me what time it is and never loses time????? WTF!!!! By the time this clock quits in another fifteen years or more twenty ikskea clocks will have come and gone off to the landfill!!!

Yes this here clock ain't green its f-in black and still working.

Vintage Portable Vacuum

     Here was a find and a half I picked up from this cool guy at a garage sale. One of those nutty artist's like myself. He also had an appreciation of older classic stuff. This piece had been in his family for years and he was a little reluctant to part with it but after some thought a deal was made and off it went with us. At first I thought it would likely not work. When I got home and tried it I was amazed at how smooth it ran and how much suction it had!!! Of course I shouldn't have been surprised since it was made back before landfills became a vital part of most modern products. I used to have one of those plastic dust busters and man what a disappointing piece of shit that thing was!! Of course it quit after six months so off it trotted to the landfill to rest in peace. Now here is this thing which sucks like crazy and still works fine, God knows how many years later!!! Unfortunately the brass tag was gone so I can't track it. If you have any clues I would love to hear from you.

     What is really interesting about this thing is the fact that part of the end was broken at one time and someone actually took the time to fix it!!! If you look close you can see the weld. Of course since it was made from real metal fixing it was possible. Good luck with all the plastic junk made today. Anyway It will probably only last another fifty years if I use it steady so may only use it once in a while. Another fine piece of history. Thanks Dave for the bargain deal!!!   

Vintage Black and Decker Accessory Box

     Here is a cool vintage box that held some sanding and polishing attachments for Black and Decker drills. It even has the original unused wire wheel, buffing wheel and tube of polish. 

Ball Bearing Paper Clip

     Here is a real unusual score... a ball bearing paper clip!!! Seriously this sucker has ball bearings!!! If you look close you can see it written on the front and yes it does have ball bearings in it. They are behind the black springs and separate the front and back piece of the clip. Talk about a smooth action. Made back when quality counted and accountants were not ruling the world.

     Here are a couple of toys I had from growing up back on the farm. Last week when we were up there Dad finally said I could have them if I paid him back that ten dollars I borrowed when I was 12. Seemed like a fair deal to me so I gave him the ten. That's one of the nice things about having such a close knit family like ours. It was a miracle that they were still in good shape. Dad said the reason they were in such good shape was the fact that  he never let me play with them until I was seventeen or eighteen. He said as a kid I was always putting my toys under the tires of his car so did not trust me. He figured I would try and do the same with these. I do remember breaking the lid for the battery box on the truck when I was eighteen. I was trying to squeeze a bag of candies in where the batteries go so my sister would not find them. I guess I forced it too much and it broke. Needless to say the truck no longer works but the loader still does!

Vintage Doodlebug Scooter Engine

     Here is a vintage kick start Clinton 1.5hp gas motor. I scored this gem off a friend of mine before he opted to fly the coop after realizing there are no intelligent life here on earth. Since he knew it was just a piece of useless junk he knew I would dive on it. Not sure if this runs but it does kick over. Not sure what the hell I am going to do with it. If you are as crazy as me and want to send me a highball offer maybe I will let it go. 

     This is a cool little toy motor I picked up one time. It is a great little score with the original box. Not sure what the hell I need it for but if I figure out a use there it is.  

     Years ago I had an old pulley just like this one. I was buying some junk of some guy awhile back and noticed the exact same one hanging from rafters in his garage. So along with some other useless stuff home it came. The interesting part about this pulley is the wheel part is cast of of solid brass!! It has also got the nifty little star cast into it. The guy I got it from looked like he used to it lift dead bodies off the floor of his garage. My guess is most likely deer or elk bodies. Either way they made things out of real materials back then. Thank God for plastic came along otherwise everything we own would be a hell of a lot heavier.

     Here is a classic tire pump that no vintage studio should be without. God knows how old it is and of course it still works like new! Not that I would have the ambition to use it anyway but in case post apocalyptic chaos breaks loose like all the movies have been saying (instructing) I will still be able to pump up the tires on my car !

Below are are few gems I reluctantly let go of...

Mostly because space really is the final frontier

And unless I actually know I am going to use a tool,

even if only rarely, I then sell or unload it.

1960's? Rockwell Belt Disc Sander

     Here is a belt disc sander I picked up a couple of years back. Not really sure how old this one is. It works fine and took awhile to get the disc trued up but seems to work fine. I would like to find the year on this one. I saw something online once that could have put it mid sixties but not sure. I still looking for a straight direct drive disc sander. I do use this one a lot. I ended up taking off the belt as it runs quieter without it. I don't use the belt much anyway. Therez no plastic on this one either which is how it was able to get into my studio in the first place

1950's Beaver 3200 Table Saw

     Here is another piece of vintage junk the bird drug home. Actually the last thing I needed was another vintage table saw but this one was kind of special. Thankfully when William bought the thing he did not cheap out, like most tool buyers, and decided to get the Beaver leg kit with it. Obviously a man of good taste and smarts. Most people just lag bolted together some four by fours in a mickey mouse attempt to save money. Since it was only tool buyers with class that bought the leg kit there are very few of these around. I lucked out with the Beaver band saw above as it had the legs also. William also set up the sweetest on/off switch on it. Just bump the button and on she goes ready or not! I love these type of easy to use ideas that have a steak of danger to add some excitement to my otherwise very dull life. Sadly William had enough fun here in paradise so opted to dive back into the light for a bit of a break. Since his wife Lisa was not going to be risking her fingers on this old beast she opted to let me drag it away for a reasonable... ok not that reasonable but affordable to me offer. I was of course grateful. I got the subtle impression that William was also glad I was getting his saw.

     Ok this is another gem I decided to let go of. When I got real honest with myself I realized that I was likely not going to ever use it... which if I had more space would not be a big issue but space being the final frontier as I say over and over, it had to go. A bit of a waste after driving half way across the country to pick the dam thing up. Then it just sat here. Jonathan, the wing nut that bought it was real crazy... he drove have way across the country to buy this thing!  Man what some people won't do just to pick up a vintage tool! Apparently a bit of a Beaver collector. I had to admit he did have good taste. He also enlightened me on these rare Beaver legs. The short legs are for the table saws etc and the long ones are for the scroll saws. Made total sense now that he pointed it out to me. Thus I am still on the hunt for a long set of Beaver legs for my 46 Beaver 24" scroll saw. One of these days am going to check out Jonathan's collection of vintage. He is obviously as addicted to vintage as I am.  

      Here is a weird old wrench I recently picked up. It is quite long... about 13.5" but strangely to me appears to be made of brass? It is not magnetic and a yellowy color... that was my first clue. I find it strange that a wrench would be made out of brass. So if you are smarter than me which is extremely likely maybe you know what the hell this is for? I would love to know.       I just found out from Chris Nallick of www.nfabworks.com in Milton Florida that this is an old spud wrench! It is made of brass to be more spark resistant when working in or around explosive gasses... Now I am really keeping this!!! I have had a gas problem for ages!! By the way they have a cool site if you want your truck to have a great view!!!!! Check them out.

Antique Dental Air Compressor

      What is it.... that's what I thought and then immediately thought I had to have it. When the guy said "compressor"... I was sold. I love all compressors. Sure I paid through the nose for this one but hey when was the last time you saw a compressor this old. The guy told me Christopher Columbus used this on his boats. Being no dummy I was sold right there. After all  you just don't find compressors that old these days.

     I doubt it would run a sandblaster but might pump up a tire.

Either way I did end up letting this beauty go to someone who had a love and use for the gem.

Very Vintage Beaver Power Tools Wood Lathe

     Here is a what appears to be very old Beaver Power Tools wood lathe. It actually came with a motor also that is not shown. This one is either earlier than most or just a cheaper version of their better models. The face plates shown are original equipment. Two even have Beaver markings on them. I have it posted on www.vintagemachinery.org but have not heard anything from anyone there. It is the only one posted like it there.

     Anyway I finally decided to let this one go as I could not imagine a use for it here. Unless I can or think I am actually going to use something even if rarely then I let her go. I don't have room for stuff that I don't plan to actually use. I will say it has found a great new home and will hopefully be used once again. 

     Herez another old beat. At first glance this is just an old beat up compressor. Closer inspection reveals a riveted tank, very old air pump and of course the newer electric motor and controls. From what I can tell the pump appears to be from the 30's or 40's I have to google this some more but what a beauty. I have found an old electric motor, below, that somewhat matches the era of this beast. Sometime before the mothership gets here I am planning to clean this beast up. As usual of course I would leave the "barn find" patina. I think I have around seven compressors now... I got this beauty off of a very cool guy named Ron out in Mission. Another appreciator of fine junk but like the rest of us, always dealing with space... the final frontier!!! 

      Here is another classic band saw I picked up. It is an old Vincent. Made in Canada. It is kind of a gem but not sure what I am going to do with it. I wouldn't say it is the best machine but it does seem to work. It's got a hoover motor. I did a little research on this one but have not found out all that much so far. A post war tool apparently. It seems as if the color on the saw and even stand is original. I have not seen one yet that is this complete or original. Maybe I will start a band saw museum... after all I must have at least six or more?? It seems every time I pick up one of these I find a better one next month!! Actually awhile back I decided to leter go to another vintage tool nut. Now normally when it gets to this page on my site I am keeping it bar none but space was getting the best of me and I had all the other ones any way.

1950's Beaver Scroll Saw

     Herez my 24" Beaver scroll saw. Though this aint the best shot it is a nice beast. From what I can tell it is an early fifties model. I have two of these one is older which I am using right now but have not taken a pic of yet. This one I have in storage. For some reason I like the look and feel of this one better but I think the bull gear jumped the hefer shaft since it makes  funny sound when you rotate it by hand. I will have to open it up and see whats going on. I need to find a proper stand for both this one and the other one. They are nice well made machines. My other older one runs butter smooth and cuts like a dang. Actually that reminds me I should tape a box of bandages to the side of it also.

     Here is an old tube repair kit I picked up in someone's garbage. This is a real hard to find gem since most of these old cans like this got tossed long ago. The top and bottom are metal and the sides are paper. The labeling back then had a real Zen feel to it. The problem with modern labeling is that it always has to say so much on the can. Things like "perfectly safe to use" right above the liability release warning waiver which takes up the rest of the label.

What's Your Vintage Tool

Worth????

     When it comes to putting a value on the old tools you have your guess is as good as mine. I get an incredible amount of emails asking me what the value of their old tool is. Some people start with the "I would like to know more about it" question before bringing up the cherished "whatzit worth" question. I wish I had more time then I could answer everyone that wrote but that's not the case. Generally though to save you slogging through this post is, the more concerned you are about the price the more disappointed you will be when you find out. 

     Now even though I have had a lot of practice welding, with other tools like table saws etc I am an accident waiting to happen. Not only that I don't know much more about then than you could find out yourself by talking to the new God... Google. You can get answers there for everything. Praying to God for answers seems to take a lot longer and when they do come it is often in the form of "signs" that you have to interpret. 

     Generally though here is what I tell people. First check out eBay to see what your tool may be listed there for. This is fun because I have noticed that a lot of people have started listing tools for crazy prices. Of course no one buys them for those prices which is what you really want to know. If you have an ebay account though you can do an "advanced" search to see if any tools similar to yours have actually sold. I noticed that sold number is often hugely lower than the numbers some people list stuff for. Don't let this discourage you though as shipping is what often kills eBay sales. Especially on larger stuff.

     Next, especially if you have time, you can watch craigslist. You might see similar tools there. If you find something similar email yourself the link to that page and stop in every once in awhile. If it comes up "deleted by author" then they may have very well sold it.

     Personally I have noticed that there is a big demand out there for vintage tools that seems to be growing. The only problem is most of the buyers are like me to lazy to get a real job and too cheap to pay anything for those tools. Now obviously this is not always the case and of course would depend on your area. I bought most of my tools just at the right time. The prices were really cheap and a lot of the ones I bought had been listed on Craigslist for weeks before I finally came along and let some of my tightly gripped cash go.

     Now one perception I have is the rarer the tool/brand is the less you could likely get for it. I know, this counters common sense but is no different than antiques. I have years of experience in this area. The rarity of the antique does not do much for the value. Not near as much as the DEMAND for the item does. Rarity though, that is caused by demand, will drive the price sky high.

     Rarity because the company went broke long before they had a chance to sell enough tools does nothing for the price. Now a prime example of this would be say a 1928 Essix car. Rare as hen's teeth compared to say a 1932 Ford Roadster but it would be pretty safe to say that it would take five to ten Essix's to buy just one 32 Ford. This is caused by demand. Who the hell wants a rare 28 Essix??

     To me you will likely get the highest price, vintage tool wise, from some of the more common brands. Delta Millwauki, Atlas, Walker Turner, Beaver, Delta Rockwell, Dewalt etc. One of the reasons for this is most of those tools are often still useable and parts are not that hard to find if you were to need parts.

     Now eventually the rarity gig will catch on when the "compete and compare" group start looking for more "stand out status". When that happens rarity will start to take off a lot more price wise. In fact it may have in your area already.

     One of the biggest problems with vintage tools is parts are getting hard to get. Most new tool buyers are worried about this and thus avoid vintage tools. They buy cheap imported tools that have NO parts availability. Then they just throw it out a few weeks or months later when the job is done and/or the tool has quit. This is great for shipping jobs and money overseas so they can build a big war machine also. Not only that if you are attached to your kids you have less worry about them being able to leave home since that requires they have a job.

     Now say you did come up with a price that you were comfortable with I would list it on craigslist. The thing with craigslist is there is not shipping to kill the deal. The real money to be made via eBay is if you have a shipping company. Now depending on your area it may take a few hours or few months to sell your gem. If longer just keep re-listing it and forget about it. One of the big tricks to craigslist is knowing that almost nothing gets "sold" there... it gets "bought". Most people on craigslist don't have a clue about selling. They just list it. The buyer see's the picture, imagines what your junk will do for his life and then calls you to come and buy it. He is 98 percent sold before he even gets there. If you shut up he will buy it. Start trying to sell it and he will likely back out.

     Now if you are a real salesman as in that's your day job you will know this to be true. Banks are salesman. They charge you money to keep your money in their banks so they can lend it out to other people and charge them money. Great gig but takes a lot of real selling. Just as it does selling some sucker a big screen tv that is going depreciate to almost nothing the moment it leaves the store, will be obsolete in a few months and will probably last no longer than a year or so. Then at the end of the year it takes an even better salesman to sucker that same sucker in again on the next "latest greatest" tv. This is real selling. Government gangsters do the same thing at election time. It used to be "may the best man win" now it is the best "salesman" that wins. They have to be salesman mostly because they almost never do anything they promise. Almost all their plans for improvement backfire on the people they intended to help and they charge you copious amounts of money to do all that for you.

    So remember people have "bought" a lot of my junk on craiglist... I have "sold" almost nothing there.   .     .

Grampa Bought The Farm and...

left you the shop.

Now what?

     Now what should you do if Grampa headed off to that great workshop in the sky and left you all his junk? The very first advice I would give you is don't clean up unless you know what you are doing! When it comes to vintage tools a rare speed accessory for a vintage drill press could easily be worth five times as much as the drill press itself. This would look like a dumb pully attached to a small piece of metal. Most people who know nothing about vintage tools would throw out all the best stuff and try to sell what they thought was worth something. This is partially why certain accessories are worth so much... everyone throws them out!! 

     If you don't have time and have to get the shop cleaned out because the house sells and have to clean up then do this. Anything that looks like it was made for a purpose keep and put into storage. Rusted out lead based paint cans are good to toss... unless they are really old and the labels are still good. Let someone who actually knows... not just claim to know... what they are doing.

anyway have to dash... but here is a list below of what I have seen price wise here in Vancouver BC. This would be for vintage tools from the forties and fifties... which is all I look for. 

Vintage Delta Unisaw..... $250-$900.

Vintage 40's Drill presses... $35-$250.

Hand drills...... $10-$20.

Electric hand sanders... $10-$20.

Angle Grinders.... $30-$150.

Small portable table saws.... $50-$200.

Electric Bench grinders..... $40-$150.

Bandsaws..... $100-$450.

Vintage ARC Welders...   $75-$200.

Vintage Scroll saws 24" $75-$300.

     Now this very rough guide will likely change over the next while. I have noticed that vintage tool prices are really starting to head upwards. At least with what people are expecting to get for them. The above prices are the range I have bought my tools in. Would I sell any of my tools for these prices? No bloody way!! I would not trade five new Chinese drill presses for one of my vintage ones that has a burnt out motor. The reason... they seriously do not make them like this any more. These days brand name means absolutely nothing. Often times it is only the sticker that changes with the brands. The Devil sent accountants to run businesses for a reason. Now there are exceptions to every rule and the same here. Some big name tools out there have not yet sold out to the call of China but they are easy to spot. If one of their tools is hugely more expensive than the other brands that is probably one of them. 

Anyway when I have more time for more babble here I will add it. Hope this monologue helps.

     Oh and just so some people don't get the wrong impression. I am a fan of China producing our stuff. It happened with Japan also. Eventually they got on their feet and started making really high quality products. The same will happen to China. The money they make from everyone buying their cheap tools will allow them to eventually build a high quality infastructure not to mention war machine. Then just like Japan their prices will start to climb. All this leads to more equality in the world. Now eventually their government (as all governments do) will become more corrupt and destroy what the people built in China and the process will move to maybe Africa or some other place. This has happened over and over in the world. The only thing is if you need or want really good quality that lasts it will be a few more years before China and other parts of Asia are doing that. The prices of course will be sky high by then.    

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