Dad's Hammer

[raito]

Nothing from my father. An actual ton from my wife's.

 

[Grodad]

I'm glad to hear working with your Dad's tools is a thing. I thought it was just me.

I have a lot of tools, but just a very few of my Grandfathers and my Fathers. They both taught me a lot of skills and I think about them both everytime I am in my garage, working with those tools. Very happy memories.

My 14 year old son does not have an interest in working with tools like I did, maybe one day he will!

I also have cutlery etc that are from Grandma, to others they are worthless but to me they are everything when used (daily).

 

[Gardo]

My great grandfather was a machinist for the Pennsylvania Railroad. His nickname was “Shorty” because he was so tall.Great grandma was a small woman and wanted a hammer she could use around the house so he made one for her. Being a big man he made a big hammer , hard to imagine great grandma using it to put screens on the wind.He even engraved it with his initials and the year he made it,1912.
It came to me when my father passed a couple of years ago.

 

[johnny k]

 

[mally]

I have had the same hammer for 40 years its had 3 new heads on it and 5 new shafts its called "Trigger" !

 

[4pickupguy]

My dad has been giving me some personal items lately, to ensure they get into my hands when his time comes. He kept after me to tell him what I wanted. For a long while, I said I didn’t want anything, but he finally dragged me to his closet (which could be a museum of Texas and hot rod stuff) and said, “Tell me now!”

Some of the stuff he’s had for decades, some are more recent. I cherish them all.

I was worried for a while, and sat him down and asked he he was “planning” his exit (giving away important or personal items is sometimes a sign and/or cry for help)…he laughed and said, “Thank you for caring, but no. I’m just making sure your brother doesn’t take something that belongs to you. He’s already done that too many times.”

That hurt my heart, that an old man who’s slowing down more and more is worried about things like that.

I haven’t asked for the more “expensive” things—I’ve asked for the “valuable” things; a pocketknife that belonged to his deceased brother; the pistol, shotgun and rifle (all cheap) that he (my dad) taught me to shoot with; a snake-skin cowboy hat band that he made when I was eight years old; an old adjustable wrench that belonged to his grandfather; the Zippo-style lighter I won at a carnival when I was three and he took away; his old switchblade from the 1960’s…

The only “expensive” thing I asked for was his 56 Ford…the main reason being, my wastrel brother will wreck the thing trying to be Bo Duke. I told dad I’ll keep it as long as I can, and if I HAD to sell it, it was a last resort. He put in his will that I get the car.

Of all the things my dad left behind, its the things that marked his life and hint at the man he was. My dads knives. His tools. His black powder guns. His photographs of flowers and insects. The cameras he made or altered. His war chest with all the A-26 manuals, wings, etc.

The knives and tools are special. Those are the things he used his entire life, to get through life. They bear the scars of a lifetime of use. One must be my grandfather’s because its an old ford wrench (one like you got with your new car that says “Ford” on it) and its obvious it has been used as a hammer two lifetimes ago.

 

[Sgt Pepper]

I have been a carpenter and residential contractor for 40 years. I guess I have accumulated more than 20 hammers of various shapes and sizes and a large basement toolroom of various tools. My children will just have a yard sale or post it on marketplace. I guess too many to make for anything personal. The musical gear, though, my son will probably keep.

I had a nice elderly lady neighbor whose family never came to visit , but it was like Black Friday at Target at her place when she died. That was sad.

 

[Sgt Pepper]

One must be my grandfather’s because its an old ford wrench (one like you got with your new car that says “Ford” on it) and its obvious it has been used as a hammer two lifetimes ago.

One of my great uncles once commented that automobile manuals used to have instructions how to adjust the valves and now a great many can’t change a tire.

I laughed about it then but I guess not so funny, really.

 

[imwjl]

Actally the family mjolnir, being that he chiseled his initials into it, he obviously favored it...that, and our
surname is literally translated "Son of Thor"
View attachment 1075982

That's neat. My kids appreciate some stuff like that from both their grandparents.

Something on classic and old tools that bothers me is my dad always had a nice Parker pen set in his pocket. A basic Jotter pen/pencil for work uniform clothes and the classic sterling and gold 75 set with a dress shirt. My kids appreciate that stuff but his Parker 75 set was given to my brother in law who with his kids has no appreciation and joke you only need a Bic.

One of my sons appreciates some really old Milwaukee and a Cummins drill but that 1940s or 50s drill that won't die is not very feature rich. It is single speed and won't reverse.

 

[Joebanjocolo]

Interesting. My father and I worked on many projects together, from items for the home to rebuilding the engines of the family cars. He had a huge basement workshop with hundreds of tools, many specific to certain jobs. When he passed, my two brothers, neither of whom worked with him much, were interested. I took the lot. I've got the tools we used to build stereo speakers and guitar cabinets. I've got his soldering iron. I think about him every time I use one of his tools.

The thing I wanted the most from him was his Winchester Model 1892 lever-action rifle that hung over the mantel in my room as I was growing up.

My brothers got his rifle and a favorite pistol he owned and I couldn't be sad because we get along great. But then after the funeral, my younger brother and I were chatting and things changed. More, HERE.

Bob

 

[Joebanjocolo]

Interesting. My father and I worked on many projects together, from items for the home to rebuilding the engines of the family cars. He had a huge basement workshop with hundreds of tools, many specific to certain jobs. When he passed, my two brothers, neither of whom worked with him much, were interested. I took the lot. I've got the tools we used to build stereo speakers and guitar cabinets. I've got his soldering iron. I think about him every time I use one of his tools.

The thing I wanted the most from him was his Winchester Model 1892 lever-action rifle that hung over the mantel in my room as I was growing up.

My brothers got his rifle and a favorite pistol he owned and I couldn't be sad because we get along great. But then after the funeral, my younger brother and I were chatting and things changed. More, HERE.

Bob

Got to love the 1892, I have a couple that I collected over the years and plan on leaving them to my boys.

BTW- Great web site!

 

[Informal]

Interesting. My father and I worked on many projects together, from items for the home to rebuilding the engines of the family cars. He had a huge basement workshop with hundreds of tools, many specific to certain jobs. When he passed, my two brothers, neither of whom worked with him much, were interested. I took the lot. I've got the tools we used to build stereo speakers and guitar cabinets. I've got his soldering iron. I think about him every time I use one of his tools.

The thing I wanted the most from him was his Winchester Model 1892 lever-action rifle that hung over the mantel in my room as I was growing up.

My brothers got his rifle and a favorite pistol he owned and I couldn't be sad because we get along great. But then after the funeral, my younger brother and I were chatting and things changed. More, HERE.

Bob

That was a great story!

My Dad's father had a very impressive gun collection, with Antiques going back to the Revolutionary War, a few 1892's just like yours.. Old Colt pistols, and also several newer rifles and shotguns.
They were all promised to me and my brother.

We never got them, Apparently my witch of a Step-Grandmother, had somehow switched up my Grandfathers will, and effectively cut my Father..his Brother, and me and my brother out... At the time, my Father was going through a health scare, and didn't have the energy to battle with her.

Last we heard, her Grandson from a previous marriage (Who met my Grandfather exactly 1 time) got everything... and promptly sold it all.
This was decades ago.

 

[Bob Womack]

I'm very fortunate in that I picked up a few things that remind me of him. One is a pair of 1943 Westinghouse-built U.S. Army Mark 17a1 binoculars that we used on the river as I was growing up.

My father got them from Army surplus and we used them on every camping trip that I can remember. In the 1980s I got them rebuilt and collumnated for him at the bench of a local optical specialist who rebuilds for the Navy. Memories baked in!

Bob