question What's your longest serving tool?

Reading the thread about stubborn nut removal by Ploughman, there was a post by Paulob1 about a cheap tool kit he bought from a market stall years ago and he still uses it.

Gave me the idea, What is every bodies longest serving tool. That item you have had for years and still using it.

For myself I have these pincers

I got them in a kids carpentry kit when I was about 6 or 7 years old. I'm 54 now so not only are they getting on a bit, they are supposed to be a kids toy!!

They live with my MIG welder and I use them for trimming the wire, and picking spatter off the shroud. Couldn't be without them.

I still have a bench vice that belonged to my father and which I remember from before I started school in 1970

Iain

The oldest tool that I use regularly is a thread gauge / die for BA screws, made by Pratt & Whitney for British Government and dated 1915. It was even marked with the UK tool supplier, Buck & Hickman.

My Broom, 7 heads, 5 handles and still going strong

Reading the thread about stubborn nut removal by Ploughman, there was a post by Paulob1 about a cheap tool kit he bought from a market stall years ago and he still uses it.

 

Gave me the idea, What is every bodies longest serving tool. That item you have had for years and still using it.

 

For myself I have these pincers

 

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I got them in a kids carpentry kit when I was about 6 or 7 years old. I'm 54 now so not only are they getting on a bit, they are supposed to be a kids toy!!

 

They live with my MIG welder and I use them for trimming the wire, and picking spatter off the shroud. Couldn't be without them.

I have the exact same pincers, the mitre block and the spirit level from the identical carpentry set! I will be using them again this week to put new sash cords and beading on a friend's kitchen window.

In terms of the "oldest" tool, a corkscrew/bottle opener my father brought back from Italy after WW2 (just used on a bottle of Timothy Taylor's "Landlord", with great effect), and some ancient taps & dies (plus a BSP thread cutter in common gas pipe sizes (1/2", 3/4" and 1", I think).)

Don't have a photo here, but when I was a new start in engineering all those years ago, I bought a square section thread file with eight different profiles so that I could restore NF and NC threads on my 1.5 ton Chevrolet. Still use it.

In '85 just before I joined the Army I lived in a gold mining town called Kalgoorlie, where my parents still reside.

In the '80's before accountants took more control of companies, the mining firms would chuck anything out that, even if it was something really minor. So I spent many a fine weekend trip at the mines tip picking up all sorts of weird tools. Often you would get a stack of one tool with different bits broken and you could usually piece together a few. With electrical tools often they just needed a fuse or brushes.

My favourites was a box of hammers where I have the smallest ball pein to the biggest with the biggest I later learnt was bigger than the official sizes and all were extremely old.

They are all in a my Army footlocker at my folks place until I get home. All favourites as all needed work and were free

Other than my hands, this is my oldest tool, a cheap screwdriver that is about 3 inches long that my dad bought for me from a car parts shop when I was 10. Now, more than 40 years later, it is still with me after being used to lever the lids off Airfix and Humbrol paint tins, then some years being used to repair electronic stuff when I was an apprentice, and nowadays as my tool of choice to tighten the frames of my spectacles. It has been hammered, bent, burnt with a soldering iron and chemically damaged by a range of adhesives, cleaners and whatever else has found its way into my toolbox over the years.

Down in my basement I also have a wooden toolbox that was made for my grandfather by one of his brothers in 1915, which is something else I treasure. However, if the Russians ever come (I live in Poland near the border with Ukraine), it will be my screwdriver that I will be taking with me. It is a lot lighter to carry :-)

trevor

As there are Ladies & Minor's on this Forum at times. I couldnt possibly say what is my oldest serving 'Tool'!......(& besides, my post would be removed by the moderator's!!!)

As there are Ladies & Minor's on this Forum at times. I couldnt possibly say what is my oldest serving 'Tool'!......(& besides, my post would be removed by the moderator's!!!)

Better than having your tool removed by the moderators, though!:shocked:

I was going to say my Wife as she always helps, but thought she might object as the title says 'Oldest tool':cheesy:

Probably , a pice of rope. I came across a roll of about one hundred feet of a Kermantel lay rope about 30 years ago. Bits are still giving good service as tow ropes.

A local garage closed down years ago and I was given this 1908 pillar drill, along with a massive selection of drills, John.

It is interesting to read others having tools given as presents many years ago.

I to have still a pair of pincher pliers, a small saw and a wooden sprit level that was a birthday or Christmas present from my parents at least fifty years ago. Probably was a hammer in there as well but that has been lost over time.

The pinchers look very similar to those in the photos posted, yet are here on the other side of the world.

Perhaps this was part of the great British marketing campaign of the late fifties and early sixties. Exported to the other Commonwelth nations.

The saw was only light and was reserved for cutting thin timbers in fret work. This is still suitable for fine work today.

I do also have a number of tools handed down from my father, that came from his father and also some tools from my maternal grandfather.

Doug

I have a very special wood chisel , my dad gave it to me ,it belonged to his older brother who lent it to him when he went off to WW2 . he was taken prisoner in North Africa and was killed on the Nino Bixio troop transporter that was torpedoed on the way back to Italy.

its has hard a hard life and was not a very flash chisel when new but its my favourite tool.

Well there's the burdizzo that I've found useful over the years... perhaps the oldest tools I have are a couple of original snail-brand Whitworth spanners marked with the Leyland stamp. No idea how old they are.

Well there's the burdizzo that I've found useful over the years... perhaps the oldest tools I have are a couple of original snail-brand Whitworth spanners marked with the Leyland stamp. No idea how old they are.

Never thought about a burdizzo, I've got one that's seen a bit of service over the last fifty years. For the non farmers amongst us it's a large pincer like tool used for castrating animals or possibly people you don't like:-D

some of the tools and the cantilever box are ww2 my dad uses , came from a gi ,many years ago

Never thought about a burdizzo..............

Yeah, I think I'll try not to, as well, now I know what it is for!!

Never thought about a burdizzo, I've got one that's seen a bit of service over the last fifty years. For the non farmers amongst us it's a large pincer like tool used for castrating animals or possibly people you don't like:-D

Got nothing like that but do use a selection of medical forceps which are invaluable for holding small crews or nuts in to position in tight spots.