I bought a Big Box of Stuff-----------> Help me identify these machinist's tools

Stampie said:

Woody said:

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

I think that this is as big as Photoberkit will let me make the pictures.

If you click on the picture (twice?) until it's full screen then right click (long press) and choose open image in new tab. That'll give you the large picture address to copy and paste.

I think the "fixture" thing on the left may be a transfer scribe?  I think that is what it's called, but it should be a pattern maker's tool.  On a granite surface plate you can adjust the pointy bit to a feature on the thing you are copying, then transfer it to the piece you are making the copy from.  So for layout work?  Never used one, so that's my best guess.

**Edit: make that a surface gage, not a transfer scribe.  Sorry!

Everything else sounds right to me- great find!

I have nothing to add, other than I love you guys, and wish I had gone to machinist's school>

I spent four years in high school learning to be a tool & die maker.   You have a goldmine of stuff - sweet deal.  

So this is really cool, in a creepy and semi-terrifying kind of way....

There were some papers in the box. I saw a few conversion charts and stuff, and one folded and faded piece of paper. It turns out that it was a contract or employment agreement with The Torrington Company from 1964. I've edited out the guy's name, but the agreement is pretty interesting. Just standard stuff from the Cold War Era...

These were on top, and combined with the X-Acto knives, were the main reason that I decided to buy the box.

I can definitively identify one thing in this photo. The round, wooden thing is a table.  

I don't know what this stuff is. The golf tee is puzzling to me.

In reply to pinchvalve :

Sorry, that's a stool.

Just how big was this box?

Another cool little discovery...

Remember these guys from the first page? I found one ruler/scale for the T-square, but couldn't find the one for the V shaped one.

Both were loose when I found them and I was the one who put the ruler into the T-square.

I decided to see if it would fit onto the V...

At that point, I realized that they were most likely a matched pair; One scale with two squares.

All three pieces are made by Starrett.

What's under these plastic covers?

Another mystery fixture. This thing is not symmetrical. One edge is marled "Straight", one says "1/4 degree" and another says "1/2 degree".

dculberson said:

Just how big was this box?

Not that big. See the first post.

Seriously heavy though.

Combination square

You've got me on the last one. I'm not sure.

Nothing to add other than I recognize a bunch of that stuff from my grandfather's tool box.  He worked at Grumman in the 50's and 60's as a machinist. 

Woody said:

I don't know what this stuff is. The golf tee is puzzling to me.

Not sure about the golf tee.

The flat pieces are templates for grinding lathe tool bits. The one shaped like an arrowhead is for thread cutting tools.

You guys are great! Lots of fantastic info in a very short period of time. Thank you!

I don't know what half that stuff is but i know if it was all laid on a table in front of me and offered to me for $200 i'd say yes. So that's something. In reality there's probably MANY multiples of that invested when new and probably still a good bit more in current value. Talk about a neat little haul. 

Daylan C said:

Combination square

 

Yes, the right side is a combination square.  The left side is a centering square, used for scribing the center of a cylindrical object.  Scribe a line, then rotate the cylinder a 1/4 turn or so, and scribe another line.  Dead center is where the 2 lines cross.

The tool all the way on the right in the center is a fun one:

It's called a riffler.  It's like a file, used for filing concave surfaces.

SVreX said:

Daylan C said:

Combination square

 

Yes, the right side is a combination square.  The left side is a centering square, used for scribing the center of a cylindrical object.  Scribe a line, then rotate the cylinder a 1/4 turn or so, and scribe another line.  Dead center is where the 2 lines cross.

Currently listed in the Starret catalog for $110 to $145.  The depth mic set (depending on model #) lists from $300 to $500.  Woody, you hit the jackpot.  Those reamers are $15 - $25 each from McMaster-Carr.

In reply to Hal :

I was going to ass anything Starret is big $ and well made tools.

I have a Starret punch from my grandfather. It broke, he fixed it decade's ago and it's still awesome. 

That angle block is over $200, even if it's a China one.

Where's The Jed? He should know more about these items than I do.

When is the garage sale, for the stuff that you don't want?  Seriously the replacement value of that box is in the thousands.