Sorting through my Father-In-Law's tools

[Billohio]

There was an estate auction a mile from my dad’s that the guy had piles of tools. They were selling lots of 15-20 at a time of vice grips, screw drivers, needle nose pliers, channel locks, end wrench's. You name it and he had it. All good name brands too. Most of them looked never used. Friend of mine worked with him and we decided the tools may have snuck out of whirlpool in the years he was there. It was unreal.
Not saying that’s how Steve’s tools go to be, just sharing what was unbelievable to see at a place that a guy didn’t seem to work on anything

[njsteve]

The grey toolbox was his work box from the trailer company down in Lakeland, Florida in the 1980's. I think it was Kidron, makers of refer trailers. They're still in business in the same location. It had his initials and an employee number stamped on it. I think one of his jobs was drilling all the holes in the aluminum panels and installing them. Prior to that he worked at a trailer roll-up door manufacturer in upstate NY. There's also a ton of rivets and a vintage rivet gun. This would have been the box he carried around all day from trailer to trailer.

[Too Many Projects]

Hmmm... who gets the rivet gun...

[big gear head]

Drill bits come in fraction sizes, letter sizes and number sizes. Then there are the metric sizes too. One of the first things I learned to do in machinist school was to hand sharpen drill bits on a grinder. It's not hard with the larger bits, but small ones are difficult. I've got more drill bits than I can count. 3 sets of fraction, 3 sets of letters and 3 sets of numbers, plus 2 boxes of loose bits.

[njsteve]

Originally Posted by Too Many Projects

Hmmm... who gets the rivet gun...

Here's that vintage Montgomery Ward rivet gun for you old tool fans:

[big gear head]

I have one of those. It's got a little wrench for changing the adapter for different size rivets. The wrench fits in the rubber grip.

[njsteve]

What does the wrench look like?

[olredalert]

----Who doesn't remember "Monkey Ward".....Bill S

[KevinW]

Steve, I am going through the same process now too. Bought my friend's tool collection for my kids. Same cleaning/ ID /sorting process going on.

Just wait until you get to the Allen key sorting. I'm still in the process, got a bunch of standard sets, still have to do the metrics.

The drill bits went to a friend since I have plenty from my father and FIL. The drill bit sorting for me was not as pretty, but got sharpened sets out of them

[njsteve]

Surprisingly he only had a dozen or so hex keys. There are tons of little, flat, stamped steel, ignition wrenches, though.