"Ole Betsy" tools just show up

[James Pallas]

I was cleaning the bench up a bit when these guys just showed up.


Does everyone have those tools that you put away and then they just end up on the bench even though you have newer replacements for them.

[Jim Koepke]

I was cleaning the bench up a bit when these guys just showed up.


Does everyone have those tools that you put away and then they just end up on the bench even though you have newer replacements for them.

There are a lot of lower tier tools in my shop. Many sit until something is moved around or a job that could mess up a tool needs undertaking. They are also likely to get passed on, with full disclosure, to someone in need.

jtk

[Stew Denton]

Hi James,

I loaned a tool to folks I didn't know the other day, it involved my better half and Facebook, and it was not a good experience. I eventually did get all the parts back with no damage that wasn't fixable. It wasn't one of my good planes or saws, but it was a good tool that I have owned over 40 years and still looks like new. I discussed it with my wife, who wasn't happy with the other folks either. I made it pretty clear that it isn't going to happen again. The tool was one of those that, if you take very good care of it, will almost never wear out or look old.

I do have some second tier planes and other tools, however, that I could loan to friends that I know well and trust. (This is not, however, friends of my wife who asks everyone on Facebook if someone had such and such a tool that they could borrow.) The kind of tools I am referring to here are good enough, but are not favorites. They won't be missed much if something would happen to one of them. However, they are capable of good work in good hands.

I do have some junkers, but am going to get rid of the true junkers. I won't loan junk to close friends, so the friend will be using tools that are likely better than some of the ones I used to use. However, if a friend borrows a tool, I don't want a situation where if a tool gets damaged, and the friend asks how much it will cost to replace it, that I have to tell them $250. For example I have some good planes that I paid only $10 for.

I had been considering selling some of my second tier planes, but came to the conclusion a while back that I should keep them for loaners, or for where I am going someplace away from the house to do the work, etc. I am still fundamentally a carpenter a heart, not having reached the "fine woodworker" level yet, so still think in terms of carpentry.

(An example of this kind of job is a "work day" at church or to work on a daughters house, the kind of situation where someone other than me may use one of my hand tools. However, for that kind of situation I still want to have good tools with me, since most of the time I am going to be the one to use the tool.) The tools I am referring to are plenty good enough for my own work, just not as good as the ones I like the best.

Stew

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Sadly, I have the reverse problem; my Lie Nielsen No. 3 has gone AWOL. I have spent over an hour today looking for it.

[James Pallas]

Great replies you guys. I guess I didn't explain it well. What I mention was that do you have tools that you just automatically pick up for some reason. I have some really good tools but when I think plane I uncontiously grab that Sargent or that Stanley block plane. I do the same thing with channel locks or screw drivers. Channel locks have bare metal handles, don't they? When I am working and go for a tool I end up with the most familiar. By the way I don't lend tools, I'll give them away but not lend. I had a brand new truck that I lent out it came back with a dent and scratch in the door, six hundred worth. It was an accident, little Johnny rode his tricycle into it, not I'll pay for it. It was after all an accident. That did it for me. Old habits die hard and the older I get the harder they are to kill. It's all fun anyway.
Jim

[Kent A Bathurst]

Sadly, I have the reverse problem; my Lie Nielsen No. 3 has gone AWOL. I have spent over an hour today looking for it.

Harold got it via cosmic transfer.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Kent, I knew it!!!

My go-to tools:

My Veritas low angle jointer and jack. Love them!!! Put a toothed blade in the jack and tame any figured wood.
My No 4 bronze LN. It is the go-to for tough grain. I keep it tuned like a Lamborghini.
My Veritas set of skewed rabbeting block planes. They touch everything I build at some point.

I guess the the oddball tool I grab a lot is this little artisan-made awl that I bought on eBay from a guy that does nicely turned mallets, awls, and other turned tools. I just like it, and it has style. Also the picas pencils with a white lead are hard to beat for marking mahogany and darker woods.

[Jim Koepke]

Go to tools:

Karpenter (Winstead Tool Co.) short 1" chisel
Buck Brothers long 1" chisel
No name (looks like a Berg) short 1-1/4" chisel
Various other chisels
Stanley type 13 #3, type 6 #4, type 12 #4, type 12 #5, type 9 #6 bench planes
Disston #8 crosscut saw
Disston short back saw
Disston dovetail saw
Stanley 65 & 65-1/2 block planes
Shop made marking knives
Various squares depending on the size of stock being marked.
Stanley #1 Odd Jobs
Tite Mark® marking gauge

jtk

[Brian Hale]

I'd rather lend my dog then my tools, my dog knows it's way home

[Harold Burrell]

Harold got it via cosmic transfer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmzsWxPLIOo

[Pedro Reyes]

Great replies you guys. I guess I didn't explain it well. What I mention was that do you have tools that you just automatically pick up for some reason. I have some really good tools but when I think plane I uncontiously grab that Sargent or that Stanley block plane. I do the same thing with channel locks or screw drivers. Channel locks have bare metal handles, don't they? When I am working and go for a tool I end up with the most familiar. By the way I don't lend tools, I'll give them away but not lend. I had a brand new truck that I lent out it came back with a dent and scratch in the door, six hundred worth. It was an accident, little Johnny rode his tricycle into it, not I'll pay for it. It was after all an accident. That did it for me. Old habits die hard and the older I get the harder they are to kill. It's all fun anyway.
Jim

I don't lend money I am not willing to give away. Similarly with tools, with a few exceptions where I will talk about how much the tool means to me the other party feels like they are in a binding contract.

About picking up tools.

I have a LN62, I also have a Veritas Skew rabbet.

But I find myself thinking "nah the 5-1/2 can shoot this" or "nah the old 78 can cut this rabbet". Unless I grabbed them (the LN and Veritas) from the start, I usually just go with the old ones, it all goes back to what you said "I end up with the most familiar".

Pedro

PS: Crap now that I think about it I also have the Veritas Shooting Plane, still need to build the shooting board with a track/channel.

[Stew Denton]

Hi James,

Sorry I didn't understand the original thought. After I thought about the tools I go to, I laughed a bit, because even though now I have more good tools than I did for many years, most of my go too tools are the same ones I have used for 25 to 40 years.

My main go to tools are:

an unknown "warranted superior" 7 point rip saw
a Winchester 10 point cross cut saw (don't know the model)
a Disston wheat head carved tote 10 point cross cut saw (the etch is gone, but I think it could be a 12!)
a Disston D8 8 point crosscut saw (this is the first saw I ever bought, at an auction that was about 45 years ago)
a Stanley 605 jack plane that belonged to my dad (can't remember type on it, but do know it was made about 1925)
a Winchester block plane (I think this may have been my grandfathers)
a Millers Falls 732 10" brace
an unknown "made in USA" 10" brace that was my dads
the set of Irwin (with a smattering of Greenlee I think) auger bits I bought at an auction over 40 years ago
a fairly heavy duty Stanley coping saw that I bought about 35 years ago
a VA gents saw
a 16 oz TT carpenters hammer and a 20 oz TT ripping hammer, both bought new almost 45 years ago when I carpentered

Dads tools I have only had for a few years, but used some of them growing up, and grandpas plane maybe going back maybe 45 years. All of the rest I have had over 30 years or more. It becomes habit to reach for them. I don't even think about using one of the others that I have, unless, for example, I need different size plane like a jointer plane or a smoothing plane, but for most of the things I do, the 605 is the one I use.

If I reach for a tool of the type above, it will almost certainly be one of those. As for other tools, who knows which one I will use.

An interesting thing that I noticed about the above list, only the gents saw, the hammers, and the coping saw were bought new. In each case, I had no choice because I didn't have the option of buying used. Almost all of the hand tools I have bought in the past 30+ years have been used.

Stew

[James Pallas]

For myself I find it interesting that the human body is such a wonderful tool. It can feel a hair on a flat piece of wood and see 1/64" fairly easily. When a tool is picked up our body senses the balance the size of the handle and so forth instantly. When I look at the tools of an experienced woodworker I most often see a mix of old and new and a mixture of makers
too. I would guess that you could give Mr Koepke a brand new PM V11 butt chisel that Karpenter would find its way to the bench all by itself. I also think that many people look at tools and think "that old thing" how could it work well. The owner however looks at it as if it were solid gold. The tool doesn't have to be shiny and new or old and well used, it just has to work for the user. It is all fun isn't it?
Jim

[Jim Koepke]

I would guess that you could give Mr Koepke a brand new PM V11 butt chisel that Karpenter would find its way to the bench all by itself.

You could bet and win money on that.

There are more than a few 1" chisels in my shop. Two of them do almost all the 1" work. The only time this changes is if I am cutting a 1" mortise or working something that might hurt one of my good friends.

jtk

[lowell holmes]

An old #3 bailey hand plane is used most often than more expensive planes on my bench. I have an abundance of planes and they all get used from time to time, but the old Canadian #3 Bailey, which was a school plane, gets used more often than any other. It even has the original iron and chip breaker in it. I like the feel and balance of the plane.

[Shawn Pixley]

I don't really have multiples of any tool, so in the literal sense "no". But I do notice that certain tools are always on the bench - my little block plane, LV 1/2" chisel, scribing knife, favorite 5" square, and Bailey #5. Mybe they have imprinted upon me like geese (a'la Lorenz).

For metal working I always reach for my grandfather's small sledge. It brings up so many good memories and is an excellent tool.

[James Pallas]

So you are at the bench and you reach for "Ole Betsy" and not there.You go to that place on the rack or that place In a drawer and she is not to be found. Do you immediately go S&D to find her or do you pick up a comparable tool and go to work?
Jim

[Jim Koepke]

So you are at the bench and you reach for "Ole Betsy" and not there.You go to that place on the rack or that place In a drawer and she is not to be found. Do you immediately go S&D to find her or do you pick up a comparable tool and go to work?
Jim

Depends on the tool. Most times I try to take a flashback to the last time it was used. That will usually lead me to where it was left. Otherwise I start to wonder who has been in my shop and moved it.

jtk

[Ray Selinger]

Out of Kmart clearance bin I picked up a 1 1/4" black plastic handled Sandvik chisel. The thin blade and the hollow plastic handle made me rethink chisels.