My favourite tool

[robgul]

I have many tools, some good (mostly traditional hand tools); some that never delivered what they promised. I have one tool that gives me pleasure whenever I look at it.

It looks like you have the older UK made version.  The US patented version was cheaper and more lightly made.  The two versions are shown below in two halves, UK first.

What's even better in these knives is the type that carpet-fitters use that has a "quick change" blade replacement gadget - a sort of spring handle that you pull (rather than the screw to hold the halves together)

Rob

[mrcharly-YHT]

and the other is a Newcastle Draining Tool  http://www.cwberry.com/Hand-Tools/Builders-Hand-Tools/Shovels--Spades/Draining-Shovels/Bulldog-5NDAM--16-Newcastle-Draining-Tool---All-Metal-D-Handle_05070531.htm

Pah, their proper name is a Grifter's spade, as any labourer from Leeds knows.

And a properly made one can lift a paving slab, na bother. Wooden handles with steel extensions run from the blade all the way to the top, it should have.

ELS, for your tree planting you need one of these:
http://www.cyclone.com.au/products/cyclone-3/round-mouth-post-hole-shovel-long-timber-handle
They are designed so that you can dig a round deep hole with minimal soil disturbance, the blade is at the right angle to the handle so you can make a hole say 10" diameter and 5' deep and still lift soil from the bottom. Excellent tool.
I think everyone just uses an auger on a tractor these days. Wimps.

[Little Jim]

and the other is a Newcastle Draining Tool  http://www.cwberry.com/Hand-Tools/Builders-Hand-Tools/Shovels--Spades/Draining-Shovels/Bulldog-5NDAM--16-Newcastle-Draining-Tool---All-Metal-D-Handle_05070531.htm

Pah, their proper name is a Grifter's spade, as any labourer from Leeds knows.

And a properly made one can lift a paving slab, na bother. Wooden handles with steel extensions run from the blade all the way to the top, it should have.

Whereas (in the South admittedly) I was always told they were a "Graft".  I've got one of the Bulldog ones with the reinforced ash handle and it can shift just about anything.  I can't see how Torslanda's lot could bend the blade on one, I've had my full weight bouncing on the handle trying to shift stuff before.  They are great for digging stumps out as the weight of it means that they will cut through reasonably sized roots.  Bulldog stuff is generally excellent - I broke the steel strap on my digging fork through being a bit too enthusiastic and they replaced the fork under their "lifetime" guarantee with no arguments at all.

[Tim Hall]

Disappointed to see no mention yet of a Spear and Jackson No.3, wi' brass 'andle.

[ElyDave]

Grafter, that was it

[canny colin]

Re- Newcastle draining tools  We used to call them a spit . I worked with a gang of pitmatic lads ( the rough squad) and they used to call them toonies . We used to use a  sthil saw and cut  a bit off the blade on a new spit as they were a bit unwieldy in trenches & it saved the end getting bent when lifting up inspection chamber lids ect . The best quality where ex  Gpo ( general post office ) . We often used to snap wooden  handles ,we would  then burn them out  and the boss used to get steel handles wielded in  They ended up  heavy as f#ck ,but hard as nails you could jump up and down on the handle to free off clemmys stuck in clay  & with the extra weight  great for cutting though tree roots , thin concrete & live electric cable !!! ( the last one never went down well) . 

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

1950's ( I lie, it's 1930's ) Record No.8 jointing plane with rosewood knob and handle........gets stuff flat and straight.

I've got a "war finish"* Record no 7 which I bought on Ebay for £15 but I had to cycle 60 miles there and back to pick up. It also has rosewood knob and handle, but the label on the handle is missing. But I do have various 50s Record planes (no 4, 4 1/2, 5, 6) that still have the label.

No 8 planes much less common though, I don't think I could get one for a reasonable price, I probably don't need one either.

*no plating during WW2

Makita cordless Li-ion 18v thingy.  I'm wearing it out though .  I had a ni-cad equivalent but can't be bothered to replace the batteries.  Bosch laser tape measure.  Box of chisels, the best being a  morticing job by Robert Sorby and a 1.5 inch bevel by R.M.E Huish of Fetter Lane EC4, (none of my chisels match).

Other than the above, which I carry around, my favourite tool is the one I need next.  It's usually in France when I am in the UK or vice versa.

R.M.E Huish would be Melhuish, a tool dealer:
http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Richard_Melhuish_and_Sons
1925 catalogue:
http://toolemera.com/Manufacturers%20%26%20Merchants/Mfg.%20mno/richardmelhuish.html

If your chisel has "EC4" on it, I would date it to between WW1 and 1930s. The 4 in EC4 was added during WW1, before that it was "EC", and going by the http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Richard_Melhuish_and_Sons page, their last advert was from 1933.


I like planes, I've even made my own, but my favourite tool are chisels and gouges (including carving tools), only with wooden handles though. I've got several hundred! My favourite brands are Ward, I. Sorby, SJ Addis, Herring Bros.

Thanks for that, I suspect it was my Grandfather's chisel.  I also have his old Record plane that I managed to date by some way I forget to 1939.  It's in tip-top condition.  My workbench is of the same era by Tyzack - very nice but several inches too low for me so it is on blocks.

[Exit Stage Left]

and the other is a Newcastle Draining Tool  http://www.cwberry.com/Hand-Tools/Builders-Hand-Tools/Shovels--Spades/Draining-Shovels/Bulldog-5NDAM--16-Newcastle-Draining-Tool---All-Metal-D-Handle_05070531.htm

Pah, their proper name is a Grifter's spade, as any labourer from Leeds knows.

And a properly made one can lift a paving slab, na bother. Wooden handles with steel extensions run from the blade all the way to the top, it should have.

ELS, for your tree planting you need one of these:
http://www.cyclone.com.au/products/cyclone-3/round-mouth-post-hole-shovel-long-timber-handle
They are designed so that you can dig a round deep hole with minimal soil disturbance, the blade is at the right angle to the handle so you can make a hole say 10" diameter and 5' deep and still lift soil from the bottom. Excellent tool.
I think everyone just uses an auger on a tractor these days. Wimps.

A grafting tool is a different pattern of shovel, part-cylindrical, without treads, and with a shorter spit. http://bulldoghandtools.co.uk/bulldog-spades/grafting-tools.html
We plant trees by forcing the spit  into the ground, leaning back and forward, planting in the resulting slot, and stamping them in.

[SoreTween]

Breaker bars.  After years a couple of decades of struggling with the ratchets & tommy bars that come in socket sets I was introduced to the wonder that is a breaker bar. Such Joy!  I bought a 3/8 immediately and promised myself I would never again struggle with less than the right tool for a job.  The 1/2" followed soon after and that bad boy rarely gets beaten.  One day it did get beaten, the crank nut on an engine was bending it like fyffes ffynest.  After 5 minutes of fight and remembering my promise to myself I zapped down to Rose Autos in Crawley and spent something horrific on a 3/4" braker bar and 1 & 3/4" or thereabouts socket.  Most expensive 10 seconds of tool use in my life but so worth it.

Nice lathe.  Mines a Dalton Lot 4.  Best not mention the Centec 2A.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

and the other is a Newcastle Draining Tool  http://www.cwberry.com/Hand-Tools/Builders-Hand-Tools/Shovels--Spades/Draining-Shovels/Bulldog-5NDAM--16-Newcastle-Draining-Tool---All-Metal-D-Handle_05070531.htm

Pah, their proper name is a Grifter's spade, as any labourer from Leeds knows.

And a properly made one can lift a paving slab, na bother. Wooden handles with steel extensions run from the blade all the way to the top, it should have.

ELS, for your tree planting you need one of these:
http://www.cyclone.com.au/products/cyclone-3/round-mouth-post-hole-shovel-long-timber-handle
They are designed so that you can dig a round deep hole with minimal soil disturbance, the blade is at the right angle to the handle so you can make a hole say 10" diameter and 5' deep and still lift soil from the bottom. Excellent tool.
I think everyone just uses an auger on a tractor these days. Wimps.

A grafting tool is a different pattern of shovel, part-cylindrical, without treads, and with a shorter spit. http://bulldoghandtools.co.uk/bulldog-spades/grafting-tools.html
We plant trees by forcing the spit  into the ground, leaning back and forward, planting in the resulting slot, and stamping them in.

WRT trees I have mostly used the trench shovel for moving them as it gets in amongst the roots nicely without breaking them more than necessary.

Planting is not a problem as they grow like weeds thanks to jays.  I have an abundance of oak seedlings that I don't know what to do with (in France).   I dislike destroying them but we have enough trees already.

[IanDG]

My 'scarab '

[Mr Larrington]

[hatler]

I had a long ponder and couldn't narrow it to just the one, so here goes, in chronological order, with tales and pics.

Feeler gauges


Weekends as a kid often involved me helping my pop service his beloved sequence of Ford Cortinas. Tappet setting and contact breaker clearances. He let me use these very feelers (at least I think it's them) to check what he had done. This was a step up from simple spanner passing and set me on the road to being a Mech Eng.

Hide and copper mallet


My second car (the first didn't last too long) was a wire wheeled AH Sprite with eared spinners. This mallet was obviously a critical part of the tool kit. I'm rather hoping to be using it again before too long. It feels just 'right'.


A set of Elora spanners


Inherited from my dad. I've handled a lot of spanners in my time and nothing comes close to feeling as well engineered as these are.


A vernier calliper


No story to this one. I can't even recall when I acquired it. No fettler should be without one. Mr Vernier must have been a clever chap.


Centre punch


Another one from my dad. Simple and hugely effective. A joy to use.


Pliers (bog standard)


I joined the Maria Asumpta as engineer in '94 and my tool kit had only a crappy set of pliers. When we put into Ramsgate (a town I was very familiar with) I used the ship's trusty bicycle (Mary) to scoot up to the local motor factors and asked that I have a look at his range of pliers. He laid three pairs out in front of me and these were the pick of the bunch, even though they were a couple of pounds cheaper than the most expensive pair. (And when you're on £10/week that £2 is a massive amount.) It turned out he had the prices the wrong way round, and these were the most expensive pair, but hey ho, I've still got them and they're still perfect.

(A brief side note to this tale is that poor old Mary needed re-cabling and there was a bike shop just down the way from the motor factors so I popped in there. It was here that I first encountered STIs. I lusted after a set of those ever after and finally fitted a set to my old Peugeot in about 2005.)


Coloured Allen keys


Bought relatively recently from the Edinburgh Bike Co-op. Given the number of bikes in our house and how quickly the children are growing this is currently my most used tool by some distance.


Another hide and copper mallet, but a diddy one


Very recent this one. Spotted in an antiques shop in deepest Cornwall a couple of years ago. It was just longing for a home. It fits neatly into my bike toolbox and within a day of getting it back home I was using it when doing some stem changing. A really cute tool.

[Jurek]

^
Nice toolage.
With the exception of the rainbow allen keys, if you rummage through my tool box(s) you'll find every one of those - with good reason.....
The baby copper and hide hammer is a delight when getting an already clamped job into position on a Bridgeport.

[Andrij]

Did someone mention woodworking tools?

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

...
I joined the Maria Asumpta as engineer in '94

Well remember that vessel.  She overwintered in Ipswich dock many years back (late 80s?).  Her end was very sad.

[hatler]

...
I joined the Maria Asumpta as engineer in '94

Well remember that vessel.  She overwintered in Ipswich dock many years back (late 80s?).  Her end was very sad.

It might even have been early 90s. I didn't encounter her until Easter '94. Love at first sight. One of the three lost crew fell under her spell when she was in Ipswich.

[Torslanda]

Just looked at the Wiki page for her. That's quite a story.

[hatler]

Yes indeed. She had quite a history with a desperately sad end. The engineer was one of those lost (but his being the engineer wasn't the reason he was lost).

[hatler]

For someone with more time on their hands than I, and more literate, and more exposure to fettling a greater variety of objects, I can see where 'My Life Lived through Tools' could be a diverting read.

[hatler]

^
Nice toolage.
With the exception of the rainbow allen keys, if you rummage through my tool box(s) you'll find every one of those - with good reason.....
The baby copper and hide hammer is a delight when getting an already clamped job into position on a Bridgeport.

And that good reason is, I presume, that they are crap ?  If so, I'm clearly not using them enough.

And if I had a Bridgeport (oh that I had enough room for one) it would have featured in my list, no question. Lucky you !

[T42]

Just remembered this, which I used to use on & off when I was doing a lot of woodwork:



It's a 19th-century soldering iron, bought on a fleamarket simply as a curiosity - I didn't think at the time it would come in handy.

When a piece of wood, particularly softwood, got a bit of a dent in it I would heat this up with a blowtorch, put a very damp cloth over the dent and apply this to the other side.  The steam would swell the fibres and bring them up level again.

Not exactly a favourite except when I was using it, when it seemed a bit like a magic wand.

[Jurek]

^
Nice toolage.
With the exception of the rainbow allen keys, if you rummage through my tool box(s) you'll find every one of those - with good reason.....
The baby copper and hide hammer is a delight when getting an already clamped job into position on a Bridgeport.

And that good reason is, I presume, that they are crap ?  If so, I'm clearly not using them enough.

And if I had a Bridgeport (oh that I had enough room for one) it would have featured in my list, no question.

Absolutely not!
Basic essentials. Nothing exotic or esoteric. Just straightforward, no-nonsense kit.
The auto-punch is another favourite - excellent for extracting bolts whose heads have sheared off, by tapping them around.
I've ground one of the jaws of my mechanical vernier callipers so that it is slightly shorter than the other - makes it dead easy to score a line a set distance from the edge of the material.

[ElyDave]

Great selection by Hatler, that could be a theme here, "how my tools have shaped me".

The only one I don't have there is a vernier guage which would have come in handy lots of times.  I have a micrometer inherited from my dad, but that only goes so far

[Legs]

Grinding wheel, angle grinder, SDS, crowbar.