• Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.

    We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.

    Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103

Is There Any Of You Guys That Use Vintage Tools When Building ML.

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Tenring

45 Cal.
Joined
Aug 7, 2021
Messages
925
Reaction score
813
Here is a couple pictures of a Bat Wing Clipper No.4 C Clamp I use to hold the lock and Barrel in place while drilling in the one pic you can see the company Shamrock logo .The company started in 1913 and went bust in 1922 so it’s got some age to it. I’ll have to post some pictures of a couple Hack Saws that I use to cut sites and Tenins with one of them is the old in-line handle job the other one is Beefy with a kinda ornate handle.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0340.jpeg
    IMG_0340.jpeg
    3 MB
  • IMG_0339.jpeg
    IMG_0339.jpeg
    3.4 MB
Drawknife, 3 different spokeshaves, 5 or 6 different planes, hand saws, gimlets, scrapers come to mind first. Of course chisels date to the Bronze Age, so I guess should be included.
 
Now we’re talking I love old tools, and like the old saying goes they don’t make them like that anymore because now when you go to buy something we know where it comes from don’t we and it stinks..
 
I use a lot of very old tools. This tool box was my great grandfathers, I have two like this. There are 10 total in the family chocked full of tools and old hardware. He was born in Lawrence Kansas in 1884. I also have his Athol vice and his 90lb anvil out in my big shop.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_6710.jpeg
    IMG_6710.jpeg
    2.5 MB
  • IMG_6712.jpeg
    IMG_6712.jpeg
    2.5 MB
  • IMG_6713.jpeg
    IMG_6713.jpeg
    2.4 MB
  • IMG_6711.jpeg
    IMG_6711.jpeg
    2.6 MB
Here is my 40’s vintage Atlas Craftsman lathe. She runs like a top. Just last week I used it to make a drill guide and depth gauge for building muzzleloaders.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_6697.jpeg
    IMG_6697.jpeg
    3 MB
  • IMG_6696.jpeg
    IMG_6696.jpeg
    3.3 MB
  • IMG_6694.jpeg
    IMG_6694.jpeg
    4.4 MB
  • IMG_6698.jpeg
    IMG_6698.jpeg
    3.8 MB
  • IMG_6700.jpeg
    IMG_6700.jpeg
    3.8 MB
  • IMG_6699.jpeg
    IMG_6699.jpeg
    3.6 MB
  • IMG_6709.jpeg
    IMG_6709.jpeg
    3.9 MB
You bet I love using old tools. Grandpa's brace and bit, egg beater hand drill, hand planes, antique blacksmith vise, old chisels and gouges, old rasps and files.
 
Well, the only "builds" I've done are kits, so can't really speak to "vintage" tools. I just use whatever it takes to get the job done, which sometimes means frabricating "one-off" special purpose tools. Not exactly vintage, but also probably what they might have done back in the day.
 
This old Gal has seen a few barrel cuts.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0341.jpeg
    IMG_0341.jpeg
    3 MB
I guess it depends on what you consider "OLD". All of the basic hand tools are old tools. Now if you are talking flint tools and bronze tool then THAT'S OLD!
 
I am more of a woodworker and tool restorer due to age. The local woodworking club has had a Hand Tool SIG for the last 20 years. I am one of the few left from that first meeting. The new location prevents attending any more.

I have a thing about socket chisels. Love them because even the cheap ones of the day are better than most chisels made today. That big 2" Swan awaiting a replacement handle cost me $4.

Some of my restores and yet to restore. For info on the planes google "stanley blood gore". The bench planes are types 9-13.
1725295291798.jpeg

1725295469478.jpeg

1725295531841.jpeg

1725295603091.jpeg

1725295813206.jpeg
 
When you talk about old tools these come to mind. Most were my father's or my wife's grandfathers. I'm in the middle of a carving project so my workbench is a bit of a mess.
20240901_172330.jpg
 
I have many but this is one of my favorites. Not sure of the years they were made. Versa vice was the maket. this one has the tall jaws. I have another pin on another bench also. Not sure if gyro-vice we're marketed for someone. I love it for gun building and woodworking.
 

Attachments

  • 20240902_192738.jpg
    20240902_192738.jpg
    1.8 MB
  • 20240902_192803.jpg
    20240902_192803.jpg
    1.7 MB
  • 20240902_192818.jpg
    20240902_192818.jpg
    2 MB
I have four vises I have acquired through out the years two of them are the dark green like Kibler uses and one that moves in four different directions and a Columbia I rebuilt from trash but I have never seen a versa vise with the long jaws that is a keeper for sure to build long rifles, how cool is that.
 
I guess it depends on what you consider "OLD". All of the basic hand tools are old tools. Now if you are talking flint tools and bronze tool then THAT'S OLD!
Yep. What is vintage? I'm 85 and a lot of my tools were inherited from my father. For years I used a hand crank drill press. It worked fine. A lot of small tools. Have an antique post vice which is very handy at times. Reality, though, is modern tools allow the work to be done better and faster.
 

  • rp77469 - you got some VERY NICE tools there!

 
I don’t know if this qualifies because I am not a muzzleloader builder, but I do make muzzleloader accoutrements like turn screws and vent picks in my amateur blacksmith shop. I use my great grandfather’s anvil, blower, vise and tongs all from the late 1800’s.
 
  • rp77469 - you got some VERY NICE tools there!
Thanks. Been lucky over the last 20 years. The number 2 Stanley at the near end of the table saw was in a set of three in an antique store. The #4 was priced at $45, next size down, a #3 was $30. That tiny (and scarce) #2 was also priced by size....$15. I grabbed it so fast and hard I thought left finger prints on the tote. One of the only two planes I have that will never be used.

I have "frozen shoulder" so only have one working arm right now. When it clears up, I will make my third attempt to build a good, working spill plane. Got some plain maple set aside for that.
 
Thanks. Been lucky over the last 20 years. The number 2 Stanley at the near end of the table saw was in a set of three in an antique store. The #4 was priced at $45, next size down, a #3 was $30. That tiny (and scarce) #2 was also priced by size....$15. I grabbed it so fast and hard I thought left finger prints on the tote. One of the only two planes I have that will never be used.

I have "frozen shoulder" so only have one working arm right now. When it clears up, I will make my third attempt to build a good, working spill plane. Got some plain maple set aside for that.
That’s bad when you have a wing that’s out of commission and dealing with only one operating arm, I was there when I had a rotator cuff thing going on.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top