What's Your Oldest Workshop Item?

Moving from old cars to old tools. I have an electric soldering iron (small, circuitry size) in good condition that I've had for 50 years, since I was a boy.
 
Very heavy (150 pounds) cast iron sheet metal brake, benchtop. Circa 1915. Hardened replaceable blades. Very useful, will bend 16Ga steel easily. Other than that, my body!
 

Randy V

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I've got a Civil War Canon Ball that I use as a mandrel from time to time in shaping steel / aluminum sheet.

I've got some other hand tools that I inherited from my father / Grand Father / Great Grand Father.... They don't get used anymore, but I keep them in my tool box..
Maybe a bit odd, but I sometimes take them out and oil them and think about how the owners before me would have used them to help solve a problem I'm currently stewing on..
 
I have a large heavy dute hanging scale - doesn't get used very often, maybe just once every couple years (last: I weighed an audi 016 with it to see if UPS would take it). It says "Barnes & Bros. 1815" on the backside with a few stamps that I assume indicate some sort of compliance certification. You wouldn't think it would be very accurate any more, but it was w/in 1lb of the digital scale at UPS!
 
Maybe a bit odd, but I sometimes take them out and oil them and think about how the owners before me would have used them to help solve a problem I'm currently stewing on..

Nothing odd about that at all Randy. There is a strong catharsis in these kinds of actions. Only yesterday I gave my music room a MASSIVE tidy out, and along the way cleaned up old guitars and drums and things I haven't used in ages.

I loved every minute of it.

hang on....maybe that means I'm weird too...:shocked:
 

Jeff Young

GT40s Supporter
Not nearly as old as you guys stuff but when my dad passed, he gave me his ratchet set -- "Mustang" brand, probably cheap when purchased in the mid 50s, but oddly enough it was higher quality than the new Craftsman stuff today. Solid.

And stolen out of the back of my truck 5-6 years ago....

Randy, I did on occasion think about my dad building a motor for a 50 Ford or something with them.
 
I have a stainless steel Craftsman drill, one speed one direction, locking trigger that my father had well before I started taking an interest in cars.
Charley, I think Al was referring to her as a "TOOL" rather than in his workshop!!

Bill
 
I have a hammer that belonged to my great great grandfather. I replaced the handle a couple of times and had to replace the head once. Best hammer I've ever owned. Seriously though, I have an axle off of a covered wagon that I bought from guy at a garage sale who said his father gave it to him. I use it as a pry bar and post hole digger. Kind of like a pick for really deep holes.
 
Well, for me it's my grandfather's 9" Southbend. He is a self-taught engineer and worked on many state of the art systems in the 50's and 60's. He's 94 or 95 now and still kicking. There are a few things I want to do that lathe, but then again I don't want to change it too much from how I received it from him. He bought it cheap because it was in a fire and tore it completely down and rebuilt it so it runs smooth and true. I'm never selling it.
 

Jim Craik

Lifetime Supporter
I've got a Civil War Canon Ball that I use as a mandrel from time to time in shaping steel / aluminum sheet. QUOTE]

Randy,

I could be wrong, but that Civil War Canon Ball migh just be worth $. I know there is a large group of folks that collect Civil War stuff. I would hate to see you banging on a priceless historical object.
 
Not the oldest but the most valuable, my Craftsman 5 gallon air comperssor. One of my Grampas didnt have a will. His wife (second) hated his sons, so she saw fit not to give them ONE thing of their fathers. I happened to have his compressor at the time of his passing. It is the only thing that was inherited from him by any of his sons.

Very sad and true. She even called me to get it back....my Dad put a quick end to that. What a witch.
 
Not finished working on it yet, but I've got an Atlas horizontal mill that's somewhere north of 65 years old. And I covet your 9" SB, Chris...American Iron!
 
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