"Greg Postma" wrote in message
...
My Mother in law has been under the weather the past couple of weeks, so
SWMBO and I have been spending a lot of time with her in the hospital and
her husband (at home). The FIL is starting to lose his faculties, so we
have to check up on him daily, make sure he gets enough nourishment and
generally make sure he takes his meds and bathes once in a while. I often
sit with him and "relive" his past. This past weekend, he told me that he
wants me to "get those dam tools outa the basement..."I'll never use them
so please get them to a good home".....

I expected him to have a couple of "Wen" grade tools, bent screw drivers
and claw hammers with broken claws...SURPRISE

When we went down stairs, he took a couple of plastic sheets off of a
table that contained the "cutest" little lathe...a 1952 Craftsman 6", with
3 and 4 jaw chucks, a dead center, a steady rest, a couple of mics, a
bunch of tooling, a couple of gear sets, pulleys, and a box of stock
(brass, "tool steel", rods and shafts, bushings, and aluminum....

If seems that he was a "Bowling Alley Mechanic" from WWII until he retired
in the 70's and he bought the lathe to make bushings and shafts for the
pin setters he had to keep running. He made a lot of the parts because he
couldn't see paying AMF or Brunswick 50 cents for a bushing he could make
him self..... Over the past 25 years or so, it has been sitting in his
basement waiting for a new home. He hasn't run it since it left the
bowling alley, but it has been lubed. Each year when he changed the
batteries in the smoke detector, he went down to the basement and slopped
oil on the ways, the gears and just about anything that got in his way.
Through the years, the oil has built up and dried out so that It is just
about like Cosmoline... Sticky and gooey. I cleaned the bed with "Brake
Kleen" and it is flawless. Like wise the chucks, steady rest,ect. The
tooling was wrapped in the rust resistant paper and all looked new.

As I was marveling over my good fortune, he dragged me over the the other
side of the basement and uncovered a set of shelves with a great
collection of wooden hand planes, chisels and funny little tools that I
still have to figure out. It seems that my MIL's grand father was a
cabinet maker and these are his tools, and he inherited some of them from
his father and grandfather (both cabinet makers). I haven't brought the
wood working tools home yet, but I expect them to have been cared for just
like the lathe.

I feel like a kid in a candy store....

I know that I won't be "running with the big dogs", making the big chips
like many of you with big iron, but I does feel good to "get off the
porch" and be able to make little chips with my little lathe.

Greg Postma




Very cool! Depending on the model of the Sears lathe, you could have a very
fine machine. Some of those old planes could be worth some money to
collectors!
Lane

"Just Me" notreal at nowhere dot com wrote in message
...

"Greg Postma" wrote in message
...
My Mother in law has been under the weather the past couple of weeks, so
SWMBO and I have been spending a lot of time with her in the hospital
and
her husband (at home). The FIL is starting to lose his faculties, so we
have to check up on him daily, make sure he gets enough nourishment and
generally make sure he takes his meds and bathes once in a while. I
often
sit with him and "relive" his past. This past weekend, he told me that
he
wants me to "get those dam tools outa the basement..."I'll never use
them
so please get them to a good home".....

I expected him to have a couple of "Wen" grade tools, bent screw drivers
and claw hammers with broken claws...SURPRISE

When we went down stairs, he took a couple of plastic sheets off of a
table that contained the "cutest" little lathe...a 1952 Craftsman 6",
with
3 and 4 jaw chucks, a dead center, a steady rest, a couple of mics, a
bunch of tooling, a couple of gear sets, pulleys, and a box of stock
(brass, "tool steel", rods and shafts, bushings, and aluminum....

If seems that he was a "Bowling Alley Mechanic" from WWII until he
retired
in the 70's and he bought the lathe to make bushings and shafts for the
pin setters he had to keep running. He made a lot of the parts because
he
couldn't see paying AMF or Brunswick 50 cents for a bushing he could
make
him self..... Over the past 25 years or so, it has been sitting in his
basement waiting for a new home. He hasn't run it since it left the
bowling alley, but it has been lubed. Each year when he changed the
batteries in the smoke detector, he went down to the basement and
slopped
oil on the ways, the gears and just about anything that got in his way.
Through the years, the oil has built up and dried out so that It is just
about like Cosmoline... Sticky and gooey. I cleaned the bed with "Brake
Kleen" and it is flawless. Like wise the chucks, steady rest,ect. The
tooling was wrapped in the rust resistant paper and all looked new.

As I was marveling over my good fortune, he dragged me over the the
other
side of the basement and uncovered a set of shelves with a great
collection of wooden hand planes, chisels and funny little tools that I
still have to figure out. It seems that my MIL's grand father was a
cabinet maker and these are his tools, and he inherited some of them
from
his father and grandfather (both cabinet makers). I haven't brought the
wood working tools home yet, but I expect them to have been cared for
just
like the lathe.

I feel like a kid in a candy store....

I know that I won't be "running with the big dogs", making the big chips
like many of you with big iron, but I does feel good to "get off the
porch" and be able to make little chips with my little lathe.

Greg Postma




Very cool! Depending on the model of the Sears lathe, you could have a
very
fine machine. Some of those old planes could be worth some money to
collectors!

And a right ******* he would be to sell them, too.

Fourth generation tools are not supposed to be sold just 'cause they are
worth some money.

On Thu, 7 Jul 2005 19:58:08 -0300, "jtaylor"
wrote:



And a right ******* he would be to sell them, too.

Fourth generation tools are not supposed to be sold just 'cause they are
worth some money.

No point in keeping tools one would never use if another might
appreciate them and use them well. I agree that they should go to
the "best user", not necessarily the highest bidder. That kinda
rules out Ebay.

Don Foreman wrote:
On Thu, 7 Jul 2005 19:58:08 -0300, "jtaylor"
wrote:



And a right ******* he would be to sell them, too.

Fourth generation tools are not supposed to be sold just 'cause they are
worth some money.


No point in keeping tools one would never use if another might
appreciate them and use them well. I agree that they should go to
the "best user", not necessarily the highest bidder. That kinda
rules out Ebay.


Seems He already was given very specific instructions .
" get them to a good home " , no confusion I can see . The gentleman
loved his tools and wants them in the hands of someone who will work
them with respect . Isn't that the way we all feel ?
Ken Cutt

jtaylor wrote:

And a right ******* he would be to sell them, too.

Fourth generation tools are not supposed to be sold just 'cause they are
worth some money.


Yes, I am a right proper ******* and thank you for noticingG.

How ever, I do agree about 4th generation tools. When my grandfather
moved to Florida in the 1960, he gave me his tools. He also was a
cabinet maker and never owned a power tool. He was a pattern maker at
Pullman Co. from the 1920's til he retired in 1960. I still remember
this tool box, flat black and butt ugly on the out side and cherry,
mahogany and rosewood on the inside. A place for ever thing and every
thing in it's place. I got married, moved about and when I went back to
my folks place to collect the tool box after I bought a home, I found
out that the tool box and tools were badly damage by a flood in the
basement and my Dad tossed the whole works out. I was heart broken.
I now have a second chance at owning experienced tools. I hope that my
hands will someday be as good as the hands that once owned these tools.

Greg

"jtaylor" wrote in message
t.ca...
snip-------

And a right ******* he would be to sell them, too.

Fourth generation tools are not supposed to be sold just 'cause they are
worth some money.


Yep! Sometimes you have to appreciate things for what they are, and what
they represent.

Harold

Just Me wrote:


Very cool! Depending on the model of the Sears lathe, you could have a very
fine machine. Some of those old planes could be worth some money to
collectors!
Lane

Lane, I think that the Craftsman lathe will suit me fine . I don't plan
on doing any thing with tolerances to close. Mainly just learning the
craft.
As for the planes, my beloved and I were at dinner tonight and she was
trying to figure out how old the WW tools might be. She figures some of
them might be from the 1840-1850 era. I plan on using those which are
usable and displaying those which are not. She even offered to let me
put "the prettiest one" in the display case with her Royal Dalton
figures. Gotta love the woman.........
In any case, I don't believe that they will leave my grubby little hands
until I pass them down to one of our sons.

Greg