What is your best looking/favorite tools?

[Braeden P]

I think I am the best looking tool in the shop.

Tell the lathe that then you won’t be the best looking

 

[MrWhoopee]

I hate when auto correct doesn't help you. I see my first word in my post is defiantly, it should be deffenatly.

Definitely

Friction stop if that is what it is called it is from the Westinghouse factory in philly the big knurled part slips similar to a ratchet.

Friction Thimble

Machinists fall into one of two categories, ratchet stop or friction thimble. Pick a side.

 

[Braeden P]

Definitely




Friction Thimble

Machinists fall into one of two categories, ratchet stop or friction thimble. Pick a side.

Ratchet for me!

 

[Nogoingback]

OK, as long as we're talking' micrometers, here are my favs: The mic on the left is an old German Weyersberg that came from my
Father-In-Law. It only reads .001", but I use it all the time. I like the size and heft, the larger easy to read numbers and the fact that it's
a bit different. The one on the right is a Swiss made B & S that I picked up on eBay for the princely sum of $25.00. Perfect condition
and silky smooth.

 

[mmcmdl]

I have a good bit of older tools from my uncle's dad , my uncle and my dad . Some are well over 100 years old . The tool steel back then seems like it was top shelf .

 

[f350ca]

Proceeded to buy a set of 1/10ths micrometers through the Ebay wing of a local tool store and pick them up at the store to save shipping. Bought a set of new old stock Brown and Sharpe for I think it was $150. Get a call from the chap in a bit of a frenzy apologizing that he'd put them behind the counter and his mum sold them, I laughed and said s$it happens don't sweat it, he said he'd do me good and give me a set of Mitatoyo that he had listed at a higher price. I said great but I don't really care if its a set I just need 3 mics to measure to 3 inches in 10ths. He said he'd do right by me. Dropped into the store the next Sunday, his mum then apologized, then he walked out with these, not a set but a little beter quality than I'd expected for what I paid.
These things are so smooth.


Greg

 

[Braeden P]

OK, as long as we're talking' micrometers, here are my favs: The mic on the left is an old German Weyersberg that came from my
Father-In-Law. It only reads .001", but I use it all the time. I like the size and heft, the larger easy to read numbers and the fact that it's
a bit different. The one on the right is a Swiss made B & S that I picked up on eBay for the princely sum of $25.00. Perfect condition
and silky smooth.

View attachment 347854

German engineers make stuff over engineered

 

[westerner]

Machinists fall into one of two categories, ratchet stop or friction thimble. Pick a side.

It is about FEEL, ya?

Friction all the way!

 

[Bi11Hudson]

With so many perspectives, that's a call that is dependent on what I'm working on at any given time. For machine work, it would have to be the Atlas benchtop mill. More so than the lathe, although it doesn't get used near as much. For general metal work however, it would be the homemade anvil. A chunk of railroad iron on a cobbled up frame.

Then there's the framing carpentry side of me, where I would have to say my framing square with stair tread stops attached. Cabinet working is a different craft entirely. For that I would have to say the routers probably were the most "desirable" or the most "useful". I have a couple of Porter-Cable 690's with any number of jigs and attachments. And a stand to make one stationary.

Not to be forgotten is the electrical aspect. My Simpson 260, Series 4 would have to be the most useful tool there. I have a half dozen digital meters, including a couple of Flukes. But I'm old school and don't trust digital meters very far. I guess my Kliens are the most frequently reached for tool in my kit. But so for any electrician. . . Of course, electronics is an entirely different craft. The most useful there would be a remnant of the widespread "electronics schools". A breadboard kit in a case with a built in power supply.

And last, but not least, is my models. I do railroad models in a small scale. The tools for that are often too small to get any photographs. And if I did, the useful details wouldn't be visible anyway. I can't say which tool would be most useful, or the most attractive, or a favorite. They all matter, they are all useful at one time or another. Many homemade, they simply don't exist and sometimes I'm just too cheap to buy when I can build one.

Even a dozen photos wouldn't show everything important to me. The best I can do is show my "light" work bench where a number of different functions take place. The project at hand at the time the photo was taken would be electronic design. Things will have changed somewhat, over time, depending on what I had going on. On the lower left, between the can with a yellow label and a jar with an orange label are my smaller taps and drills. The largest being Nr 3-48, the smallest being Nr 00-90. Anyone looking will have to make a mental transition from this to a 30 HP tractor out back. This is just the "end" result of my pursuits since 1975. A piece here, a tool there, it all adds up over time.



.

 

[WCraig]

I hardly ever use it, but this little spring-action micrometer just feels so good in the hand...



Craig

(Plus I got it for next to nothing in a box lot of tools!)