Vintage Tools.

[prospero]

I have a handful of these.....



....which I have been using on a daily basis for quite a few years.

I could do with a few more, but unfortunately they are no longer made. None of the modern 'alternatives' are up to the job.
I did find a almost similar thing made by Rockler and I bought four. Not quite as easy to use as the Stanley ones but sort-of OK.
That if until this morning when I was cinching one up and broke it. Sheared the winding mechanism off. That's 20 quid I'll
never see again.....

I looked on EBay and was delighted to find one in the 'Vintage' tools section. Got a bid in. Perusing further I found a few other
so-called collectable tools, many of which I have and still use.

This really should be in the Wanted section, but if any members see any of these clamps on their travels please shout up.
You won't be out of pocket.

And in a similar vein, if you find a Morso brand nail driver I'd like one of those too. I have one, but I'd like a backup.

[Not your average framer]

Not vintage, but I use a black spur ratchet strap to keep my CS-88 underpinner held tightly against the edge of my work bench. Maybe not critical, but it stops the CS-88 wandering about while in use.

I don't know why, but the legs on the CS-88 are not the same length as each other and this how it arrived as new. Most strange! I have too pack under the legs to make them the same length and make the top of the underpinner level. It's not a prolem with the floor not being level, I am measuring from the top of the face plate casting to the bottom of each leg. I find it hard to believe that it is meant to be like this!

[prospero]

I've tried ratchet tie-down straps. They are quite complicated and the last thing you need when clamping up is having to faff about
for ten minutes figuring out what bit goes where. You can't get a lot of tension on as the built-in lever is quite short. The ratchets
pawls are very imprecise and slip out of place. All-in-all a PITA.

[Not your average framer]

True, but at least the underpinner does not need to be moved usually after you've locked it in place.

[prospero]

Agreed.

[poliopete]

I've found this thread very depressing It's made me realize that most of my tools are vintage, Record G clamps, wooden folding rules, manual planes and drills and a Stanley 400 vice etc. The depressing thing is they were all "state of the art" when I purchased them.

However, as attached to them as I am I would happily swap the lot for a CMC or a CS200, any takers?

Peter.

[prospero]

Sorry to depress you Peter.

It depresses me a bit.

Someone said (might be Aristotle) "The Better is the Enemy of the Good".

The older I get, the more I realise the truth in that.

[prospero]

I realised the other day that I must have one of the few cars equipped with a tape cassette player.

That's one thing I wouldn't miss. Trouble is, memory sticks are little and easily lost. But you can back up the files on PC
and make another one. Not everything changes for the worst.

[Not your average framer]

It's not always true that modern tools are better than vintage tools. I have gradually obtained various old fashioned wooden bodied woodworking planes. Generally old ones need re-flattening to bring them back to their best, but there is a big difference when trying to replace broken bits on anitique, or vintage furniture when staining and varnish a piece of wood to match something that was burnished by the hardwood bottom of a wooden plane and did not need to be sandpapered afterwards. Burnished wood does not absorb wood stain in exactly the same way as sandpapered wood.

I have some planes with profiled blades also to cut convex, or concave features into wood, I also have and use a spokeshave when the need arises. We are of course losing the desire to learn how to use many of the more traditional woodworking tools. I don't suppose that many can be bothered about this in this day and age, when some many prefer to use cheap disposable power tools. I guess there are a few of us old dinarsaurs left, but we are already an endangered species. Oh well.