Do you still use any tools that you made in shop class?

I still have two hammers, a ball peen and a small hammer that I use all the time. My daughter has an aluminum pie spatula that I made. This was in Jr. High in the early 60's. My metal shop teacher's favorite saying when looking at something we had made was "that's a mell of a hess you got there" which was a pretty accurate description of most of the projects we made.
 
Some of these posts are really jogging my memory. I know that we made heart shaped spatulas from ???. The material was way too thick to be useful; on the plus side, learned how to set rivets. I don't think the spatula lasted too long around the house. I also remember making a small ballpein hammer, a center punch, a small tool box as well as the already mentioned cold chisel. Only thing left is the chisel.
thanks for the memories guys :encourage:

Am I the only one who would like to hear more about Bi11Hudson, going to the South Pole ( Antarctica) as a kid? I wouldn't mind hearing more about it.
 
I went and dug these out for the picture. I made these in shop class in 1972 or 73. They were fun casting and forge projects. Took a sheet metal class too but that project (a tool tote) disappeared in my parents estate sale.

John

20170304_132447.jpg
 
The projects in my HS machine shop class were a single hole paper punch made like a punch press, a cross pein hammer and a screw driver with hollow handle and milled hex. all the projects were nicely polished; I still have the hammer and screwdriver, now niter blued; the paper punch I gave to a girl friend from the day; I asked her if she still had it a couple of years ago, but sadly it was gone. After I started apprenticeship in '64, I made a pair of parallel clamps, using brazed on carbide tool shanks for the steel, and two sets of hardened parallels of 0-1 steel and a pair of 1-2-3 blocks, also 0-1 steel, using scraps from shop jobs; since then I made several dial indicator accessories for deep holes, after designs from tools made at the local Navy yard. I very much like the design of RandyM 's hold down clamps that are reversible; I'm surprised that someone does not manufacture them, at least, I have never seen anything like them
 
I had the advantage of having a shop teacher who I believe was head and shoulders above nearly any other; He was a Mare Island Navy Yard apprentice starting in the late 1930s, taught in their apprentice school and later in the Napa, Calif. High school and Junior College shop (shared). There was no bad behavior tolerated in class, and he knew when anything was not right and was on top of it in an instant; the shop was kept meticulously clean and orderly, everything in it's place. I kept up a cordial relationship with him until he passed away. His three period class for guys planning on entering the trade was the only time I ever made the honor roll at school (3 As) Rest in Peace, Paul (Goldberg) Kruger.
 
pandreasen said:
I don't have any tools THAT OLD anymore! But.. I do use several that my kids made! My youngest daughter made several better than I could buy! She rebuilds her own engines, you name it. (She just got done changing the engine to a bigger one in her husbands truck)
Click to expand...
More Valuable than Rubies! From the bottom of my Heart,......BLJHB.
 
Drill press vise- 1974, shown here holding Peruvian Mauser receiver. I use it at least once a week.

IMG_3278 (640x480).jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top