Welp, time for a new 00-90 tap.

[jagged ben]

Found the old one broken off in the pin-vise in my toolbox.  Maybe I shouldn't have left it like that, but that had never happened before.

That tap had only been serving me well for more than 30 years.    It's the end of an era.   

It's not the oldest tool in my toolbox, but buying it was probably more memorable than any other tool.  The instructions for the first Interail Thrall stack car kit I bought as a teenager told me to drill and tap the white metal to install body mounted couplers.  I had no idea what a tap was or what 00-90 referred to.  Went back to the hobby shop with the instructions and asked "What is this?  Do you have this?"  The oldest guy who worked there pulled out a Kadee set with the tap and drills from behind the counter, and told me how to use it.  I distinctly remember when he told me I should use bar soap on the tap when tapping the metal.  He also told me how to use epoxy.  I felt like I grew up as a modeler that day. 

So...

What's the oldest or most memorable tool (or bit, or whatever) in your toolbox?  Broken or not.   

[nickelplate759]

My Flint Model Supply N Gauge Scale ruler.  Copyright 1969!

Still works 

[robert3985]

My 6" Atlas lathe and all of its tooling, which I bought in 1973 while serving my last year in the USN.  Let's see...that was 52 years ago and it's still in excellent condition (with a bit of its paint worn off), and I've used it for MANY model projects, including machining all of my N-scale Kadee 3-piece wheelsets into 1:160 RP-25 flange specs back before any plastic lo-pro wheelsets were available...which was pretty easy to do after making the wheel holder and grinding the tool to cut 'em.

I learned how to machine on an identical lathe and a medium sized Clausing vertical mill in the Summer of '63 at my first real job when I was 14, so it has a lot of sentimental value for me in addition to its functionality for my professional custom models over the years.

Photo (1) - My Atlas/Craftsman 6" Lathe in the machining room, otherwise known as the laundry room...


Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[Sumner]

Oldest tool I bought is from the late 50's (born in '44).  Have a lot of tools from the 60's & 70's but my favorites are from my dad and his uncle (my great uncle).

My dad was born in 1907 and his uncle in the 1880's.  My great uncle was a sheet metal worker and I have tool boxes my dad got from him that I have no idea how old they are.  I have numerous tools from my dad, huge 1/2" hand drills from the 20's/30's??.  I just gave a number of small tools that were my dad's to a younger friend, that were from the 20's to 40's.  He really appreciates them and will use them (car guy) and I don't have anyone to pass them on to. 



My favorite tool is the square above from my dad that I use all the time on the layout.  Have no idea how old it is.

Sumner

[randgust]

Way back in my HO days (pre-1972, when I was like 13) my father taught me how to use a multitester (VOM) because I couldn't figure out what was wrong with my HO trains.  Dead track spots.   How to test for voltage and resistance.  Later on we built a Heathkit depthfinder kit together and I learned to solder, but the multitester came first.

That 50+ year old multitester is still used today.   Probably the first real 'grownup tool' I had use of.

I also have single, unidentified small screwdriver that was my grandfathers, excellent tool steel, long thin shaft, only thing I have of his, and it's still in my toolbox today, has to be well over 100 years old.   It's some kind of hard resin fiber material on the handle, not plastic or wood.  Until I got optical screwdrivers, best small screwdriver I had and still is as it's so long it can reach anything.

[mmagliaro]

I have two files from my grandfather, who was a jewelry maker and diamond setter.  One is stamped Antoine Glardon Switzerland.
Antoine Glardon, Borloz, and Grobet merged in 1899 to form a single company.  They were all located in Vallorbe, Switzerland, and over the years, the files have appeared as "Grobet", "Vallorbe", and "Grobet-Valorbe", and some have the names of the merger companies added in there, as in "Antoine Glardon - Vallorbe".   I have dug around to try to confirm this (and if anyone knows, I would really appreciate it), but since this file bears no names of those other companies, I'm thinking this file is pre-merger, as in, made before 1899.  My grandfather started out in the late 1920s, so he could easily have had tools from the late 1800s in his stash.
Anyway, I'm pretty darn sure this is the oldest tool I have.
Randy, your story about your father and the multitester made me smile.  I still have an analog Kentrix VOM (actually made by Uchida, in Japan) from the late 1970s as well.  My father gave it to me as a Christmas or birthday present.  It's still quite a nice meter, and I still use it. My ancestors speak to me through those tools.  I'm so happy I have them.