How Old is Your OLDEST Tool????

Great old tools, I’llhave to go have a poke around my show to see what is there.

-- "so much to learn and so little time"..

Your wrench was made by the Gendron Iron Wheel Co.

Here is the patent information.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

200 years +/- 50 years.

-- 温故知新

Oldest hand tool, i’m not sure. But, here is my oldest power tool. It is an 8” Crescent heavy jointer. Due to the fact that Crescent didn’t keep good track of there serial numbers exact age is unknown. But, by comparing to various pics on OWWM.COM we have determined mid-late 20’s. It is one of the first ball bearing models which would date it 1925-1928.

-- My job is to give my kids things to discuss with their therapist....medic20447@gmail.com

Scrappy – That’s not a ‘G’. It’s a ‘C’ with a diamond on it. That;’s the mark for Diamond Caulk tools. I think they originally made blacksmithing & farrier tools & then branched out to other stuff like wrenches.

Sorry Fencer, but it is definitely a “G”.

Check out this page, about halfway down, you’ll see Scrappy’s wrench.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Not entirely certain of how this fits, it isn’t a woodworking tool at all. But I have a gas door key (which is a tapered square shaft with a hoop sort of handle) that I had with a 1962 Volkswagen Microbus that I owned in high school…

-- Manufacturer of fine quality sawdust since 1984. Comments and advice on my shop welcome. Check it out at http://lumberjocks.com/dbhost/workshop. Gladly accepting shop build donations!

My oldest tool .. which i just cleaned up is a Seymour Smith & Sons spokeshave. Made by the Seymour Smith & Sons company that moved from Sharon CT to Oakville CT in 1866. I assume that this was my great grandfathers spokeshave which i recovered from my grandfathers house when he passed. Another old tool is a Stanley #18 block plane with a split lever cap, patent date on the adjustment lever was 1877 and patenet date on the cap is 1896. I just started blogging about sliding the slippery slope into hand tools featuring that old plane, with handsaws, spokeshaves, and drawknives coming soon.

I love the history .. just imagine what these tools did in their previous lives.

-- "there aren’t many hand tools as awe-inspiring as the #8 jointer. I mean, it just reeks of cast iron heft and hubris" - Smitty

I have a few tools that go back to the early 1800s late 1700s
Cool saw scrappy

-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/

Well Charlie has the logo right from that webpage. I’m going to say I don;t know who made the wrench. I don’t know of a Gendron Company. I’ve got quite a few old handtools. Nothing much earlier than the last half of the 1800’s although it’s hard to tell with wood molding planes. Some could be older. I’ve got some machinery from that era also.

Here is a little more info about the company and the wrench. Just scroll down the page a bit.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

My oldest tool, one that I use on a regular basis, is my Stanley #8 pre-lateral Jointer. 1870 something as near as I have been able to figure it out.

-- "Everything that is great and inspiring is created by the individual who labors in freedom" -- Albert Einstein

I don’t know the age and I don’t have a picture but I have a very old wooden plane from the Ohio Tool Company. The company was in business from 1851 until 1920 and I suspect my plane is one of their earlier ones. 99.99% of the time, this plane is a display piece, but it works just fine. The iron is sharp. It is a big jointer type of plane.

FYI – The Ohio tool company used prison labor until in their earlier years. My plane was probably built by a prisioner.

If curious, here is some information on the Ohio Tool Company.
http://www.mvr1.com/Ohiowoodenplanes.html

-- Rich, Cedar Rapids, IA - I'm a woodworker. I don't create beauty, I reveal it.

I have a Barton Drawknife that dates to the mid 1840s I have a couple of old wooden planes that are older but can’t pin down how much older.

-- Galootish log blog, http://www.timberframe-tools.com

Sounds like a lot of old tools out there still getting used. Glad to hear it.

Charlie, Thanks for the info on Gendron Iron Wheel Co. It almost makes sense, I grew up in Toledo Ohio. That is were most of my family is from.

Thanks again everyone. Lets see how many more “Old Timers” are out there.

Scrappy

-- Scrap Wood's the best...the projects are smaller, and so is the mess!