My two favorite tools hands down are both tools I bought out of old carpenters chests. Both tools, are dang near just about perfect in every way to me. Believe or not, the saw was ready to go. I bought the saw from a estate sale and maybe the owner was a neander or something, at that time in my life I didn't have a lot of extra cash and passed up some serious deals on nice tools. Anyways, the plate was straight, etch was fully visible, plate had been blued, handle fits like a glove and the best of all the teeth were sharp, a saw ready to roll from a rust hunt!. Matter of fact, It feels like the best cutting saw I've ever used, even compared to a brand new backsaw I have. The damn saw is just a joy to use.
My other favorite came out of a semi complete tool chest I purchased. The hammer, is about 4.5" long x maybe 3" wide or so, I think it is possibly made from Rosewood or some other very very hard wood. I've been smacking my Iron holdfasts with it and honestly cannot see any signs of deformation on the face. Weighs in about 29.5 ounces,The heft is near perfect to me, the handle fits perfect. I like the shape much better than the more rounded top hammer I made in the past (attached another pic side by side). For a hammer being such a simplistic and simple tool, I think its my favorite tool.
Here are some pictures of the tools below -
saw hammer.jpg saw etch.jpghammers.jpg
These tools are by far my favorites for whatever reasons. I think mostly I really enjoy old tools that work well or maybe they just fit me. Either way the point of this post isn't to showcase my tools. I know most everyone else here seems to love some tool porn. Hoping we can get a thread going, where every one can pitch in with pictures of their favorite finds / tools.
Lets see what ya got!