Toolfreaks Anonymous

[buellm2]

Thanks, seems simple enough.    Maybe I'll have some ambition one of these days.

[bantam5s]

I bought another of the cheap HF plier racks for my Channellock drawer yesterday.
The main reason I like them is because I can cut them to length without ruining them.
They're great as long as you use them right,  put the pliers in jaw first gripping around the bar that runs across the back.


I was going to move my pliers to the bottom largest drawer, but I like them in this one.

I thought about it and that's when I actually remembered that I had cut the 1st one down, doing the same with this one I can have a front row and back row of pliers which will be plenty space to hold the rest of the pliers on my Channellock shopping list.

[Rabbit\Squirrel Killer]

I bought another of the cheap HF plier racks for my Channellock drawer yesterday.
The main reason I like them is because I can cut them to length without ruining them.
They're great as long as you use them right,  put the pliers in jaw first gripping around the bar that runs across the back.


I was going to move my pliers to the bottom largest drawer, but I like them in this one.

I thought about it and that's when I actually remembered that I had cut the 1st one down, doing the same with this one I can have a front row and back row of pliers which will be plenty space to hold the rest of the pliers on my Channellock shopping list.

Years ago I used a wire CD rack for my pliers. It looks the same, so somebody else marketed the idea.

[bantam5s]

I bought another of the cheap HF plier racks for my Channellock drawer yesterday.
The main reason I like them is because I can cut them to length without ruining them.
They're great as long as you use them right,  put the pliers in jaw first gripping around the bar that runs across the back.


I was going to move my pliers to the bottom largest drawer, but I like them in this one.

I thought about it and that's when I actually remembered that I had cut the 1st one down, doing the same with this one I can have a front row and back row of pliers which will be plenty space to hold the rest of the pliers on my Channellock shopping list.

Years ago I used a wire CD rack for my pliers. It looks the same, so somebody else marketed the idea.

Could be.

[Rabbit\Squirrel Killer]

I just bought a PORTER-CABLE Oil-Free 150PSI Pancake Air Compressor it pumps 2.6 SCFM at 90 PSI. It's a
6 gal. pancake-style with a low amp 120V motor it only weighs 30 lb. It will work for me at the house in town for now. I gave my son-in-law one I had that was just like it about 2 years ago. I have two bigger shop compressors one runs one 220v and the other on 110v don't want to haul either of them around.

[bantam5s]

I just bought a PORTER-CABLE Oil-Free 150PSI Pancake Air Compressor it pumps 2.6 SCFM at 90 PSI. It's a
6 gal. pancake-style with a low amp 120V motor it only weighs 30 lb. It will work for me at the house in town for now. I gave my son-in-law one I had that was just like it about 2 years ago. I have two bigger shop compressors one runs one 220v and the other on 110v don't want to haul either of them around.

Sounds a lot like the C-H compressor I got on closeout for $35 at Walmart 2 years ago.

They had the big I think 20 gallon that I was waiting to get put on clearance ( Walmart dropped the CH line) as some people reported buying them for $ as low as $40.
I downloaded the Walmart app to scan barcodes and the one they had left was either not on sale yet or not in the system.
I bought my 6 gallon, and the next week I noticed it was gone.

[Ronno6]

Please post pictures when completed.   I'm always thinking I should have one.

Here ya go............
Pics of my new spring compressor...I'm probably gonna turn a Delrin pad for the swivel end.
The notched extra block is a pressing block for Model 34 clones and is notched for the safety....

[buellm2]

Thanks, that looks like something that even I could build.   If I had some more ambition.

[bantam5s]

Got the hook & pick set in.

[bantam5s]

Just scored these 2 nice Jackson D handles for $10 a piece at a local discount store.

These vary online from $50-$70, the Ames Jackson brand shovels aren't cheap.
I normally buy the Razorback line, but Jackson is a solid line as well.

[anti-squirrel]

Most shovels nowadays have horrible fitment to the handle.  And the wrapped ferrule around the back where the handle is inserted is usually 2 parallel sharp edges that need "touching up" with a flap-wheel or grinding disc.  I've been known to lay a quick bead off the MIG down the ferrule's joint.

I have 24, maybe 26 shovels, from transfer shovels to drain spades, and feed shovels to trenchers.  Every single one gets some additional "love" except the antiques.  Why?  Those antiques out-perform everything else made.  Ames is decent quality, but stuff from the 60s and even the 70s beats the snot out of every modern brand.  I'm a big fan of my older True Temper stuff.  Flea Markets and garage sales, though I've picked up some good tools at Habitat for Humanity.  I've found sa number of gardening/landscaping tools in roads and in trash-piles with damaged/broken handles.  Rake- I usually replace the handles with longer poles.  My favorite trenching shovel is mated to a transfer-shovel's handle, instead of a shorty Y-yoke.  It's far more effective.  I also have more sledgehammers and pick/adzez than I need (4 railroad picks, 3 pick-adze combi-tools), and several tampers.  My favorite tamper is also my least favorite.  It's a monster with a 10x10 head and weighs 20-sumthin pounds, but it will smash stuff FLAT and is great for setting timbers.  It was a gift from a retiree in my old neighborhood.

I went to the local Big-Box store today for some pavers and mulch for some side-work and looked at some tool handles.  Only 1 decent piece of hickory with non-run-off grain, and it was warped.  I've been salvaging old handles as much as possible just because the lumber is better.

When it comes to o-ring pullers and probes, I prefer brass rod, shaped and formed then smoothed with a stone.  It was a rite of passage for most folks when I was at shore duty working in the HPA and Hydraulic shops.  However, I bought a pile of old Pakistani steel "dental" picks eons ago at the San Jose Fleet Market (circa 1992-ish?).  Larger carbide crystals, and they will rust, but the steel is incredibly good.  I used them extensively for cleaning piston ring grooves when I was wrenching on flat-fours a lot.  Bottom line is good tools don't necessarily cost a lot of money.  You just gotta know what you're getting and match expectations and tool-use to the tool in question. 

[bantam5s]

The old U.F&H  Razorbacj shovels were on another level.
I have a 1940's razorback from my grandfather , and it's a great tool.

[Insanity]

Some of the guys I work with like fiberglass handled shovels. I don't like the way they resonate through my hand when scouping 57s into a hole. Good solid hickory handle is heavier but far more sturdy. The other guys are sissies because wood is too heavy.

[Bimota]

bantam5s   Love that Channellock drawer .

I picked up a carb adjusting kit for my chainsaws.

[bantam5s]

bantam5s   Love that Channellock drawer .

I picked up a carb adjusting kit for my chainsaws.

Thanks , It's a work in progress and I have a handful of other Channellock models on my list to buy.
Really I'd like to own one of everything they make, but that's not going to happen.

Aside from not needing some and not having the money to but before some models get discontinued there's also some models I just don't want because they're just a 1 inch length difference from models I already have.
I'm not sure why they'd even bother making them, 1 inch isn't making any difference with a pair of tongue & groove pliers.

[bantam5s]

I just put together this small shovel to strap to my minibike.

I have a Russian military shovel, but I hate it.
The steel is terrible, handles fit loose, and the straightness isn't ideal .

This started out as an old AMES shovel that my grandfather had modified for some other purpose,  and I made a small shovel out of it.
.

If I effected the temper it's not gonna matter for it's purpose,  but I didn't want this to look so much like a cut down shovel,  nor did I want that socket bulge extending so close to the end so I heated the center with a torch and flattened that area our about 3 inches back.

[bantam5s]

I just made this little wood handled stubby driver for my Chapman set, I made it out of a 2" Chapman extension and part of sn old ice pick that was in my grandfather's tool box when I inherited it.
Somebody got me a stamp set for Christmas last year that I don't use enough, so I stamped USA into this handle.



I like the stubby Chapman handles, but when I want to turn with my fingers using the serrated band on the driver shank I have a little too much handle in my palm and my fingers aren't long enough.

[bantam5s]

As a tool freak with a penchant for American made tools this really makes me sad  :'( :'( and also angry at the same time.


I understand that they are more expensive than the Chinese made garbage at your local hardware store but people have no problem spending big money on electronics and poor quality limited edition sneakers , is $45 for the best locking pliers money can buy really that much ?

[bantam5s]

I recently bought this older pair of Channellock # 326 needle nose pliers and they were generally in pretty decent condition except for the tips, that is to say there was no rust and all the damage / wear was solely at the tips.

I failed to get a good picture of the whole pliers, but they were in the same condition as this pair of 3026 I got with them.

Just damage / scarring at the tips and general toolbox wear everywhere else.
They fixed up really well, and I'd say you probably wouldn't know they'd been worked on if nobody told you.



I'm not one of those people who throws around the word " restoration " or thinks that every old tool must be made shiny and " new " looking, a tool is only new once and if I want a tool that looks brand new I buy one that is.
If I have to do anything beyond rust removal, I just want to get the tool back in service without making it look worse or the work I did being too obvious.

I feel I accomplished that here, and this is one very nice buttery smooth pair of needle nose pliers.

[anti-squirrel]

I really dig the work you performed on that shovel, David.  It has my brain thinking of doing similar to a recent D-handle FIBERGLASS-handled shovel I found roadside on route 60 west of Cumberland Courthouse.  Yup, I stop and pick up "lost tools"- I mean, who doesn't?  The handle is actually pretty good for fiberglass, and it scoops REALLY well, but I already have several similar.  I'll go over the ferrules and see what would be the best choice for altering.  I like shorty shovels for pack-tools.  They beat almost any "milsurp" shovels with possible exception of the Swiss offerings.  Heh, I have a Mosin bayonet swaged onto a steel rod I use for a fire-barrel poker- and it is kept sharp enough to spear trash and litter left the the f-wads and s-bags that leave trash at the softball fields across from my house.  Granted, my new neighbor has voice some "concerns" with those same softball moms-n-dads over trash, up to and including getting his sister- a county deputy- involved.... and her beau is county police and LOVES writing tickets for littering, so there's less trash than there used to be

Older pliers are a real treat- I have taken files and flap-wheel to more than one to fix chipped/broken tips, and plastisol remedies messed up grips   Dip away!  I like using files because I have some REALLY nice Nichols stuff from the 60s and 70s with good bite, and a flap-wheel does a fine job polishing rust to then follow up with a wire wheel.  Speaking of- I picked up a nice water wheel and a belt-drive grinder for effectively free (traded some old reels), and got a bunch of wood chisels and scrapers thrown in for fun.

When it comes to locking pliers like Vice-Grips, I've had everything from found China-junk to Japanese stuff that outperform the original- the former get modified welded jaws (sheet metal seaming tools and steel-stud framing "extra hands") while the latter get well-taken-care of.  Tools are tools, and some creative metal-working can make any good tool better