Pin Nailer

[lostinthelight]

I still have mine somewhere

I still use my late Fathers. It dates back from the late 1950’s

 

[^woody^]

I still use my late Fathers. It dates back from the late 1950’sView attachment 208101

I'd bet you can pass that on to your kids too and it will be working in another hundred years.

I've recently been trying to "update" my old hand tool collection with the the things I wish I had bought back in the 80's - the seemingly basic things my old man had which were common then, but are no longer made.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

And what sort of things would that Woody? We used to have all sorts of stuff that has more or less disappeared - Yankee screwdrivers, star drills, brace and bits, Warrington hammers, mallets, reshsrpenable hand saws hatchets (for cutting wedges) and even decent hand planes... Mind you most if the power tools back then weren't much cop

 

[^woody^]

I've just brought my Yankee back into service. Despite having the original bits in very good condition, its interesting to note that the Philips bit is just that and not a Pozi, and I don't think they made original pozi bits for it - so pozi's could not have been a thing as recently at the mid 80's. Anyway I've got hold of a hex bit adapter and its nice to use the Yankee again.

And I've subconsciously just been using a claw hammer by default for the past few decades (and a wooden mallet for chisels). So I dug out some old Warrington hammers and what a difference. And got a Thor mallet and various ends to replace the claw hammer and blocks of wood!

Picked up a bargain unused expansive bit from the 50's that will cut holes up to about 3" or so - and to think that at that time these bits came in little well-made wooden boxes as standard! As it's a tapered fitting I needed a brace, and while I was at it I thought I may as well have a set of tapered augers and some other bits. And how nice to see holes cut with perfectly sharp edges for a change.

I used to borrow dad's brace, but then cordless came along when I started work so never got a tradditional brace, hand drill or chest brace. Now I have all three!

Now I'm after a router plane, rebate plane, some other planes and a few specialist chisels.

The thing is, I'm doing more and more joinery and furniture making and I want hand tools to keep the noise and dust down and give me more room in the garage than I would have if I had all the power tools lying about and dust extraction.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

.... the Philips bit is just that and not a Pozi, and I don't think they made original pozi bits for it - so pozi's could not have been a thing as recently at the mid 80's. Anyway I've got hold of a hex bit adapter and its nice to use the Yankee again.

They did do Pozi bits - they were a mottled blue in colour. Pozi screws appeared in the late 1960s/early 1970s

Have you got yourself an auger bit file to maintain your bits? Hard to come by decent ones since Nicholson stopped doing them a few years back. It was normal for site carpenters to have Irwin-pattern auger bits (stronger) whilst the bench (and hardwood) lads used Jennings pattern bits. There were other types used for drilling (ships) decking and starting a hole at an angle (Gedge bits), although I was taught a trick of using a centre bit (what you used on thin plywood, etc) to start the hole. You'll also.find turnscrew bits really handy - used with an electrians bit brace (about 6in sweep) they drive screws fast, but for torque you need to have one in a 12in or even a 14in sweep brace. For general use many trades had an 8 or 10 in sweep brace - and piumbers, sparkies and carpenters often had a joist ratchet brace for use with centre bits in tight spaces as well

I also still have my "egg whisk" drill - used for drilling small holes in plastics and metals

Now I'm after a router plane, rebate plane, some other planes and a few specialist chisels.

A tip about rebate fillister planes - pick the Record 778 twin fence rod style over the Stanley 78 single fence rod style. The fences stay put and don't change settings so readily. You can still get scoring blades (used for cross grain work) for both of those models, but not for other, older (defunct) tools.

Good grief! You'll be talking about shoulder planes, next

 

[^woody^]

They did do Pozi bits - they were a mottled blue in colour. Pozi screws appeared in the late 1960s/early 1970s

Have you got yourself an auger bit file to maintain your bits? Hard to come by decent ones since Nicholson stopped doing them a few years back. It was normal for site carpenters to have Irwin-pattern auger bits (stronger) whilst the bench (and hardwood) lads used Jennings pattern bits. There were other types used for drilling (ships) decking and starting a hole at an angle (Gedge bits), although I was taught a trick of using a centre bit (what you used on thin plywood, etc) to start the hole. You'll also.find turnscrew bits really handy - used with an electrians bit brace (about 6in sweep) they drive screws fast, but for torque you need to have one in a 12in or even a 14in sweep brace. For general use many trades had an 8 or 10 in sweep brace - and piumbers, sparkies and carpenters often had a joist ratchet brace for use with centre bits in tight spaces as well

I also still have my "egg whisk" drill - used for drilling small holes in plastics and metals


A tip about rebate fillister planes - pick the Record 778 twin fence rod style over the Stanley 78 single fence rod style. The fences stay put and don't change settings so readily. You can still get scoring blades (used for cross grain work) for both of those models, but not for other, older (defunct) tools.

Good grief! You'll be talking about shoulder planes, next

I need to employ you as my advisor.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

You can pay me in pints....

Worst of all for me is that I remrmber a lot of this stuff first time around...

 

[funinacup]

Would one of these do the job? Been considering one myself.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-6...vM5T1dpMZ2PkWHju5sQaAmyEEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds