a blast from the past....

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Fulthrotl

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
Location
HB, CA (19 Hrs. 22 Min. from Winged Horses)
Occupation
E
i stopped by a friend of mine's project, which was a remodel of
his great grandfathers house, that is still in the family.

the great grandfather was a sparkey in the 1920's, and the
garage out back was full of stuff.... i grabbed some cellphone
photos, but old tools and material were around in abundance...

here ya go.... quit whining about not having the latest battery
drills.... check out the brace and bits....

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peter d

peter d

Senior Member
Location
New England
I love it. :cool:

The TW in a cardboard box reminds me of some wire that my father had from the early 70's...only it was THW but it was still in a box like that one. I gave it to a coworker who sent it to his family in the Dominican Republic.
 
peter d

peter d

Senior Member
Location
New England
mdshunk said:
When you get in enough houses, working on the original equipment, and have folks tell you when the place was built, you begin to recognize what time period certain material is from.
Click to expand...

Right...I was just thinking they could be from anywhere from the 50's, 60's or later, is all. They made those for quite some time.
 
S

SEO

Senior Member
Location
Michigan
That looks a lot like a corner of my shop. Despards were very popular in the 60's. All you needed was the yoke and you could make all kinds of combinations. Could put 3 four-way switches on a single yoke.
 
Pierre C Belarge

Pierre C Belarge

Senior Member
Location
Westchester County, New York
Those pictures are very cool. :cool:


My father was a GC, he started me and my brothers at young ages, even though he did not want us to follow in his footsteps. He started working in the '30's.

I started with the old handsaws - that we constantly resharpened by hand. I also used the bit and brace. I cannot believe I did not save any of his tools.
I remember the hand axes for shaping wood and the really heavy square nails.
We had barrels and bushels of nails, sometimes we would buy them by the pound if we were not in town at the local lumber yard.

They took very good care of their tools back then. Today, I see tools lying all over the place when I am on a jobsite.
My father had this really old METAL case drill. It use to shock me all the time, that is why I use to like working with the bit & brace. Also, that drill would bust my hand or wrist all the time to....talk about binding.

When I went to college, I worked for him in the summers & holidays. I bought a Sawzal for demo one time, and he did not like it at all. :grin:


My favorite part of working with my father was the lumber yard visits. These were relatively small places, everyone knew each other and the smell was my favorite. Those big old clunky saws use to scare the heck out of me too.
 
Fulthrotl

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
Location
HB, CA (19 Hrs. 22 Min. from Winged Horses)
Occupation
E
mdshunk said:
The way the Leviton logo was on the switch and the metal covering on the pilot lights is what makes me think 60's.
Click to expand...

i've never played with them much myself.... but they had ampacity
ratings marked on the toggle, visible with the plate on... at the
risk of appearing stupider than normal, can they possess an overcurrent
function as well? my sum experience with them is that my grandmother's
house had them, but i was only 7 at the time, so deep investigation
of the nature of them was not possible.....
 
ultramegabob

ultramegabob

Senior Member
Location
Indiana
My grandfather was an electrician way back in the day, and I remember going into his basement as a kid and seeing the old fashioned brace and bit drills, brass torch, and cast iron pots and dippers for soldering, along with the big old cast iron headed soldering irons with wood handles..... also, my dad still has several screwdrivers like in the picture...
 
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quogueelectric

quogueelectric

Senior Member
Location
new york
Pierre C Belarge said:
Those pictures are very cool. :cool:


My father was a GC, he started me and my brothers at young ages, even though he did not want us to follow in his footsteps. He started working in the '30's.

I started with the old handsaws - that we constantly resharpened by hand. I also used the bit and brace. I cannot believe I did not save any of his tools.
I remember the hand axes for shaping wood and the really heavy square nails.
We had barrels and bushels of nails, sometimes we would buy them by the pound if we were not in town at the local lumber yard.

They took very good care of their tools back then. Today, I see tools lying all over the place when I am on a jobsite.
My father had this really old METAL case drill. It use to shock me all the time, that is why I use to like working with the bit & brace. Also, that drill would bust my hand or wrist all the time to....talk about binding.

When I went to college, I worked for him in the summers & holidays. I bought a Sawzal for demo one time, and he did not like it at all. :grin:


My favorite part of working with my father was the lumber yard visits. These were relatively small places, everyone knew each other and the smell was my favorite. Those big old clunky saws use to scare the heck out of me too.
Click to expand...

You are going to make me pee myself. I remember in 1972 working for my father at the ripe old age of 11 I tried to use his voltmeter a multiple neon where one end slid out and the other lead was on a piggly wiggly tail. I got the tip in between the cut wire and blew it clean off the meter. After he yelled at me for a week I left it laying on the back of the truck till the spots cleared from my eyes from the blast. About 5 minutes after driving away I remembered I left the meter on the back of the utility truck box.
 
brantmacga

brantmacga

Señor Member
Location
Georgia
Occupation
Former Child
the guy i apprenticed under used those same tools when he started in the trade back in '53 i believe it was. i remember him telling me about hand-drilling every hole. we're so spoiled now. ;)
 
peter d

peter d

Senior Member
Location
New England
stickboy1375 said:
We're not spoiled, just born in the right decade. :wink:
Click to expand...


Although those old timers didn't have much to think about NEC or circuitry wise. No grounding to speak of, most homes had 5-6 circuits at the most. Pretty much everyone used sectional metal boxes. No smokes, GFI's, cable jacks, Cat 5 jacks....the good ole days.
 
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