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Original poster

Tool identification required!

30 replies

SoupDragon · 30/11/2018 08:34

I am clearing out my dad's workshop and have come across these.

Can anyone tell me what they are please?

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Original poster
SoupDragon · 30/11/2018 08:35

Picture would help 😂

Tool identification required!
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PurpleWithRed · 30/11/2018 08:35

Will definitely need a photo for this one....

PurpleWithRed · 30/11/2018 08:38

Aah, I can confidently say they are Etsy Craft Items. Get yourself some deep frames from Hobbycraft and make some quirky attractive little arrangements of them - maybe with the odd leaf or pebble to mix things up texturally - and sell them on Facebook. (If they don't come out that well pretend the kids did them).

I have absolutely no idea what else they are for though.

Original poster
SoupDragon · 30/11/2018 08:40

Yes, I'm thinking of adding sawdust and hessian.

I can tell you they are "dies" if that helps as that is what he's written on the box 😂

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bongsuhan · 30/11/2018 08:41

Those are screw taps, you use them to make screw threads

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tap_and_die

Original poster
SoupDragon · 30/11/2018 08:44

Thank you!

Not something I will ever need to use then :)

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bongsuhan · 30/11/2018 08:49

Looks like a good collection, might be worth something on Ebay!

bilbodog · 30/11/2018 09:32

They look like drill bits to me and attachments for a drill?

BernardsarenotalwaysSaints · 30/11/2018 09:36

It's amazing what they have in their workshops/shed/tardises(tardi? tardis'?). I had to empty my Dad's shed at the start of the year. I did it with his cousin who owns a fairly diverse set of tools himself & is a carpenter & even he had a few 'wtf is this/ are these for' moments. It took 18 man hours Shock

Original poster
SoupDragon · 30/11/2018 09:40

This is going to take a lot longer than 18 manners...!

There are more tools and "bits" than Screwfix.

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Original poster
SoupDragon · 30/11/2018 09:40

Man hours. Bloody autocorrect.

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Original poster
SoupDragon · 30/11/2018 09:41

I thOught they were drill bits at first, bilbodog but couldn't work out what for as they weren't quite right.

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BernardsarenotalwaysSaints · 30/11/2018 09:42

The worst thing is Dad had allegedly halved the contents last year. We were brutal & quick. And his cousin kept quite a lot because 'it might come in useful for something one day. Is there a number you'd lile us to call if we don't see you on the boards for a while? Or have you tied a string around your waist?

Original poster
SoupDragon · 30/11/2018 09:46

😂 thankfully I only have brief periods when I can go in there as it's 50 miles away or so. I am struggling with the "might be useful" gene (and I suspect that's where this started!)

My mum said that the box of brassware bits I brought home this week came from a man who lived a few doors up from our previous house, probably in the 1970s. They were clearly "things that might come in handy" when that man collected them as they weren't new!

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BernardsarenotalwaysSaints · 30/11/2018 10:14

Yes, I have it too, but more with anything related to sewing, embroidery, knitting etc.
I limited myself to 2 crates plus lathe under the guise dh can learn to turn. The fact Dcousin has a lot helps as if we do need something we can just pop & get it.

We found the top off a Flowers Brewery barrel, apparently Dad found it down by the brewery on a night out & he & dcousin were going to make a stool/coffe table out of it. This was a good few years before I was born. I'm 30 soon. Also a 1920's tractor seat that had belonged to my Grandad.

Are you just trying to reduce the amount? Or do you need to fully clear?

Original poster
SoupDragon · 30/11/2018 10:21

Fully clear!

There are wood turning blanks (loads of roughly turned wood. Loads of it...) turning tools, screws, saws... you name a tool and theres probably one there.

As for sewing, if you look on my "stripping" thread you'll see one of a pair of amazing drawer sets I found in the workshop full of tools.

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BernardsarenotalwaysSaints · 30/11/2018 10:26

It's so daunting isn't it? In a way I'm glad Dad was rented & we had to be out quickly.

Yes we split the blanks between us & dcousin, but kept the lathe as he already has 2. I found a collection of lovely turned toadstools & mushroom with silly quotes written on the bottom.

Off to find your other thread & continue procrastinating Grin

CanadianJohn · 30/11/2018 17:32

The long things that look like drill bits are definitely taps, used for cutting a thread in the wall of a hole, so a bolt can be screwed in.

The picture isn't quite clear enough, but I am 90% sure the round things are dies, used for cutting a thread on the outside of a rod.

I'm a retired tool maker, I still have some taps, but I gave away all my dies when I retired 15 years ago.

PigletJohn · 30/11/2018 17:57

the size and thread might be stamped on them. You could try selling on ebay. They are probably obsolete, pre-metric sizes which are not often seen (though two primitive countries in the world still use them).

PigletJohn · 30/11/2018 17:58

like this

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SoupDragon · 30/11/2018 19:21

I'm certain they would be imperial sizes.

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Original poster
SoupDragon · 30/11/2018 19:26

That picture wasn't all of the taps - there's another box with more.

They're definitely imperial as they have fractions stamped on them

Tool identification required!
Tool identification required!
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PigletJohn · 30/11/2018 19:41

there will (should) be letters as well to identify the thread. UNF,UNC, BA, Whit etc

Some of the thread names are nowhere near the measured dimensions.

If only there was some internationally accepted standard....

Original poster
SoupDragon · 30/11/2018 21:39

There are several different ones. Whit and BA plus some others. There's something very tactile about them... perhaps I'll just keep them in a box.

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PigletJohn · 01/12/2018 00:59

Can you guess which are the only two primitive countries in the world that don't use the international standard?