Really enjoy your videos. I was a toolmaker for 15 years before going another direction with my career and really like your respect for quality tools and explain things so well. You could be a great teacher to some of our younger generations getting into this trade. Great job Keith!!
+Mike Belik Thanks Mike - teaching is something I like to do but I never done it in the formal sense, but I take the chance to share knowledge any chance I get.
This feller right here is one mighty good feller. Not only knowledgeable of machining but also very knowledgeable of the wood workers trade and many other fine good techniques. This a good feller to listen too.
Very nice haul and a great example of another tool guy paying it forward, or sideways or some such direction. A good example to us all when the time comes that our tools can do more good and be better appreciated by being passed on to a quality user and not end up rusting away or piled haphazardly on a flea market table. My hats off to Joel.
You're a great guy Keith. It is so nice to watch someone like you that respects all the old things you do and the people that you have in your fan club. Thanks for putting up such great stuff.
Hi Keith, Being nice to people and being their friend is always rewarding, sometimes in the most unsuspecting ways. Very nice collection of older tools in mint condition. Thanks for sharing, Pierre
Yeepers,,I would still be tripping out,,what a super viewer to give Keith these items..I am looking to see if anyone use's Helios brand tools? Bear, TX
Hi Keith, This is just proof that good things happen to GOOD PEOPLE! Congrats to you and hats off to Joel for getting the tools to a good home. Thanks for sharing. Take Care, Reid
Ahhh Nice set of tools ! I Have EVERY single tool you have shown here Plus hundreds of additional ones FYI the term "Jo Blocks" comes from /refers to the type of original "Johanssen" block set you show here. I also have a set of "Square" gauge blocks , including the accessory blocks and riser adaptors used for very precise gauging . Nice Video Thanks for sharing !
Keith you are a very lucky man to have a friend like Joel, I am addicted to your videos, I watch them for hours at a time while I am waiting to go into Hospital to have 2 replacement knees which hopefully will get me up and about again.
+Doug Borrett Good luck with that surgery. If your doctors are like the ones that worked on my wife's grandmother, they will have you up and walking around sooner than you think....
That was a great gesture on Joel's part & I plan on doing the same thing when I get to old to use some of my things like the old chainsaw stuff I collected for 15 yrs but know I'll never use again will go to someone that I know can use & appreciate them as I did!
Wow! Those were the CEJ gauge blocks you were talking about, man, very sweet set! From what I read he actually started to make these in his home workshop, and they were to a much higher standard than anything which was available at the time. He kept it a very close secret to how he made the blocks to such tolerance that they'd stick together. CE Johansson still exists as a company today, and they still make precision instruments. I actually ended up finding a lovely quality vernier caliper made by them in my toolbox when I was clearing out before the move. It easily rivals a newly made Mitutoyo.
Keith, I thought Christmas was in December! Wow! You really have some very nice stuff that I know you will put to good use. I'm like a kid at Christmas whenever I get something new even if I am the one that bought it! Good luck with all your nifty tools! This was really an exciting video! Thanks for sharing all your "toys" with the rest of us. Have a good one! Dave
Keith, U wring the blocks together, cleaning blocks perfectly, so they stick together. U can set height gauges on surface plate, parts inspection.....🍁
Wow, seems like we've all been very blessed recently with gifts from our fellow TH-camrs, and I too was just flabbergasted with the generosity of "The Texas Gun Guy" and all of the nice things he sent me earlier this month showed on my video titled "The Mother Load". Which seeing as I live in the Motherlode section of the Sierra-Nevada mountains near Sutter's Mill where James W. Marshall made the initial find that started the California Gold Rush in 1849. I am so grateful to have been welcomed into this group of top-notch people, who help in so many different ways from locating a needed tool and up to making hand crafted tools, goodies, or even measuring gear like those massive calipers LOL! Not to mention all of the vast volume of knowledge that flows so freely between the family we've become. It's become so inspiring I even decided to give school another shot at the local community college's vocational program on machining :D Thanks for sharing your wonderful gifts with us, and if you get a chance come over for a visit and see what I was lucky to receive, Aloha...Chuck
***** Well when you do, you know who to look up for a friendly visit...I bought my car in Shingle Springs, it is a very nice area but I'm sure it has ballooned since you were there. All the old back roads and great hiking and fishing are still there though ;)
Keith, You lucky dog you! I remember when I was going to Kent State University in the early 1990s. One of my professors brought out a very nice set of gauge blocks that were in a beautiful brown Bakelite case and everything was marked with the Ford logo. My mouth wattered at the site of them! I was told at the time they were WWII wartime production. However it makes more sense to me that they were actually produced as part of a different division of Ford. Afterall they had an aircraft division and most people know of the agricultural tractor division. Why not a precision machine tools division as well. I once read that machining and metalurgy technology would not have developed so rapidly through the 20th century had it not been for the demands of automotive manufacturing. I am sure that Ford likely built some of there own machines in the early years because no one else could meet their needs. Thanks for sharing! And congratulations on a very nice gift. All the Best! Mike
Junk Mikes World I have seen a complete set of Ford badged gauge blocks and they were beautiful. Also, don't forget Ford Aerospace & Communications which was sold to Loral Corporation in 1990 which was then bought by Lockheed Martin in 1996.
I have been machining for a little over a year i have bought myself a couple of things. But my buddy just left trade(20yr machinist) and he left me a fully loaded kennedy toolbox roll away middle box and top box i was stunned i still cant believe it.
In England those blocks are calles 'slips' because they are so flat they ring (slip) together. Not oil or magnetism, but molecular attraction. In GE they are, for obvious reasons, universally refer ed to as 'Jo' blocks.
It sure looks like you have a new best friend! I'm truly happy for you ! they say "good things happen to good people" keep having fun making the videos. thanks for sharing !
Again ‘Keith’ an outstanding video! I look forward for more! And watching I’m sure you guys will square-up. As always, thanks’ for taking the time to make this video! And I support this site. ~M~
Hello Keith, You always surprise me with lot's of tools I never heard of and the way you explain how the tools are working is great. The love for those old tools makes me feel happy because I have the same with old audio and hi-fi equipment such as receivers etc. Sometimes it seems to me that all those new tools are much to complicated and much more work to use them than those old tools. Old tools where made for the thing you needed them for and nothing more or less but just straight ahead For example those gauge blocks, very simpel at first sight but in use are the maybe more precise than new measuring tools. But anyway again thanx for the nice made video and looking forward to the finish of the front dial form the old safe. Many greetings from Roel, out of the Netherlands !
***** the early Pratt & Whitney jig bores used a gauge block stack with a dead stop on one end and a travel indicator on the other for x-y-z positioning. No shop is complete without a few sets of blocks and those are vintage, very nice. Don't be so hard on the machinist that drilled the hole on the calipers, he was probably told to do it so they could be hung in an inspection area by a Kaizen Black Belt.
Keith... It was very difficult to view this video on my IPad!! Damn, I just kept drooling on the screen.....LOL Great memories, that first Craftsman tool set! ATB Chuck
Hi from England, what you call gauge blocks, we call 'slip gauges.' If they are in good condition they should 'wring' together without oil. Just make sure they are really clean.
Great score Keith I would defiantly be interested in a video on reading a vernier scale. Have you given any thought to a restoration weekend for this year I enjoyed coming down last time and would love to make plans to attend all weekend if it happens again. Thanks again for the videos.
Generosity is a wonderful thing. A few years ago I reached the point where a few things clicked, and I was able to give more than received. It felt good, and so probably does Joel. I recently bought a new 24" Vernier with a scale claiming to resolve 1/128th of an inch or about 8 thou. I did a trial calibration and by the time I was at an "indicated" 16 inches, my actual was 15 15/16ths. The instruments scale had been mis-applied with short inches. It was less accurate than a carpenter's tape!! I returned it to the store with an explanation. It was not a Starrett. What's the Vernier resolution on your 24 inch caliper?
I love them for that reason, but also because they are not as delicate as dial calipers, and do not have batteries and electronics that fail. They are as reliable as a good hammer.
Keith, Those gauge pins and blocks in bakelite cases are a treasure, I'm green with envy. You said the gauge blocks needed oiling to stick them together. DON'T oil them. They should adhere to each other by rubbing them together to exclude the air. Atmospheric pressure will do the rest. Tom Lipton and Stan (ShadonHKW) have both done good videos on using gauge blocks correctly. Cheers Eric
and i believe you are one of them also, you sir help a museum that the next generations will visit and learn for many years to come your country is lucky to have you, and all other as people, usa is nothing without U all the great people :) , we others are left only with the desire and envy:)
I was actually looking at the hole, thinking, what kind of design choice is that? For that matter, who'd make a hole so big or so off-center. Go figure, somebody learned to use the drill and poor tool got the shaft end of it all. Edit: those tickers beat really, really strong. Great fix on them!
***** , in your collection of tools, do you have a old dial indicator that is usable and in need of a loving home? I cannot seem to find any where i live.
*****, thank you. I always try to salvage tools at car boot sales, would a tools trade section be a option? A fan forum to discuss and request or trade tools?
***** Yeah, the sizes do sort of seem to be random. I have an import set where the smaller block measure 1.1805 x .3560. I also have assorted Webber and no-name blocks that measure 1.0175 x .4585, and 1.1785 x .3485. The 0.1000 block is different again, measuring 1.3675 x .3545, actually pretty close to yours. If you want it, I;ll send it over, just let me know,,,,
I had to rewind the section where you said *He Drilled A Hole* to hang it. People like that don't respect there tool's it's like using a monkey wrench as a hammer. There are people out there that do just that. :-(
Keith - to my surprise, Horberg is (as of 2007 anyway) still around, in Bridgeport no less! horberg.com/hi_home.html Way back when there was a lot of precision and quality industry here in CT - sadly most of it's long gone. When we get lucky, we hobbyists have managed to pick up various remnants of it since.
Keith, mate - the word is HEIGHT not HEIGTH - its pronounced HITE - my one man attempt to correct this common mis pronunciation - really enjoy your youtube posts
Really enjoy your videos. I was a toolmaker for 15 years before going another direction with my career and really like your respect for quality tools and explain things so well. You could be a great teacher to some of our younger generations getting into this trade. Great job Keith!!
+Mike Belik Thanks Mike - teaching is something I like to do but I never done it in the formal sense, but I take the chance to share knowledge any chance I get.
This feller right here is one mighty good feller. Not only knowledgeable of machining but also very knowledgeable of the wood workers trade and many other fine good techniques. This a good feller to listen too.
Very nice haul and a great example of another tool guy paying it forward, or sideways or some such direction. A good example to us all when the time comes that our tools can do more good and be better appreciated by being passed on to a quality user and not end up rusting away or piled haphazardly on a flea market table. My hats off to Joel.
What a stunning package of gifts, but we all know that you are just the guy to make use of them and carefully look after them properly.
Man thanks Joel ! Great tools Kieth , Very nice of him to help you out there .. Thumbs up man ..!!
You're a great guy Keith.
It is so nice to watch someone like you that respects all the old things you do and the people that you have in your fan club.
Thanks for putting up such great stuff.
Steven Thompson And thank you Steven for taking the time to watch!
Hi Keith,
Being nice to people and being their friend is always rewarding, sometimes in the most unsuspecting ways.
Very nice collection of older tools in mint condition.
Thanks for sharing,
Pierre
That's a helluva an awesome tool score there Keith!! Everything there is too notch and high dollar! Wow!
Wow that's is really a good friend to do this
for you. wow!!!!
Yeepers,,I would still be tripping out,,what a super viewer to give Keith these items..I am looking to see if anyone use's Helios brand tools? Bear, TX
You Blew it I now know you are my age. Good thing someone in our tiny generation is preserving these machines !
Hi Keith,
This is just proof that good things happen to GOOD PEOPLE! Congrats to you and hats off to Joel for getting the tools to a good home. Thanks for sharing.
Take Care,
Reid
Ahhh Nice set of tools ! I Have EVERY single tool you have shown here Plus hundreds of additional ones
FYI the term "Jo Blocks" comes from /refers to the type of original "Johanssen" block set you show here. I also have a set of "Square" gauge blocks , including the accessory blocks and riser adaptors used for very precise gauging .
Nice Video Thanks for sharing !
Keith you are a very lucky man to have a friend like Joel, I am addicted to your videos, I watch them for hours at a time while I am waiting to go into Hospital to have 2 replacement knees which hopefully will get me up and about again.
+Doug Borrett Good luck with that surgery. If your doctors are like the ones that worked on my wife's grandmother, they will have you up and walking around sooner than you think....
Here's hoping it will, I have a few friends who have had it done, they're all doing well.
That was a great gesture on Joel's part & I plan on doing the same thing when I get to
old to use some of my things like the old chainsaw stuff I collected for 15 yrs but know
I'll never use again will go to someone that I know can use & appreciate them as I did!
Wow! Those were the CEJ gauge blocks you were talking about, man, very sweet set!
From what I read he actually started to make these in his home workshop, and they were to a much higher standard than anything which was available at the time. He kept it a very close secret to how he made the blocks to such tolerance that they'd stick together.
CE Johansson still exists as a company today, and they still make precision instruments. I actually ended up finding a lovely quality vernier caliper made by them in my toolbox when I was clearing out before the move. It easily rivals a newly made Mitutoyo.
Keith,
I thought Christmas was in December! Wow! You really have some very nice stuff that I know you will put to good use. I'm like a kid at Christmas whenever I get something new even if I am the one that bought it! Good luck with all your nifty tools! This was really an exciting video! Thanks for sharing all your "toys" with the rest of us.
Have a good one!
Dave
Keith, U wring the blocks together, cleaning blocks perfectly, so they stick together. U can set height gauges on surface plate, parts inspection.....🍁
Goes to show there still are good people in the world...great bunch of tools.
when you were hauling those tools out I found I was holding my breath in anticipation of what the next one would be. what a wonderful gift!!!
Wow, seems like we've all been very blessed recently with gifts from our fellow TH-camrs, and I too was just flabbergasted with the generosity of "The Texas Gun Guy" and all of the nice things he sent me earlier this month showed on my video titled "The Mother Load". Which seeing as I live in the Motherlode section of the Sierra-Nevada mountains near Sutter's Mill where James W. Marshall made the initial find that started the California Gold Rush in 1849.
I am so grateful to have been welcomed into this group of top-notch people, who help in so many different ways from locating a needed tool and up to making hand crafted tools, goodies, or even measuring gear like those massive calipers LOL! Not to mention all of the vast volume of knowledge that flows so freely between the family we've become. It's become so inspiring I even decided to give school another shot at the local community college's vocational program on machining :D
Thanks for sharing your wonderful gifts with us, and if you get a chance come over for a visit and see what I was lucky to receive, Aloha...Chuck
***** Well when you do, you know who to look up for a friendly visit...I bought my car in Shingle Springs, it is a very nice area but I'm sure it has ballooned since you were there. All the old back roads and great hiking and fishing are still there though ;)
Keith,
You lucky dog you! I remember when I was going to Kent State University in the early 1990s. One of my professors brought out a very nice set of gauge blocks that were in a beautiful brown Bakelite case and everything was marked with the Ford logo. My mouth wattered at the site of them! I was told at the time they were WWII wartime production. However it makes more sense to me that they were actually produced as part of a different division of Ford. Afterall they had an aircraft division and most people know of the agricultural tractor division. Why not a precision machine tools division as well. I once read that machining and metalurgy technology would not have developed so rapidly through the 20th century had it not been for the demands of automotive manufacturing. I am sure that Ford likely built some of there own machines in the early years because no one else could meet their needs.
Thanks for sharing! And congratulations on a very nice gift.
All the Best!
Mike
Junk Mikes World I have seen a complete set of Ford badged gauge blocks and they were beautiful. Also, don't forget Ford Aerospace & Communications which was sold to Loral Corporation in 1990 which was then bought by Lockheed Martin in 1996.
Holy Smoke! Over the top is too tame to describe this assortment of tools. Joel is a true friend.
For sure! Thanks!
I have been machining for a little over a year i have bought myself a couple of things. But my buddy just left trade(20yr machinist) and he left me a fully loaded kennedy toolbox roll away middle box and top box i was stunned i still cant believe it.
Finally... a bench block. I made two of them in my apprenticeship. Don't think I ever used either one.
In England those blocks are calles 'slips' because they are so flat they ring (slip) together. Not oil or magnetism, but molecular attraction. In GE they are, for obvious reasons, universally refer ed to as 'Jo' blocks.
I,ts blowing my mind. What a great friend to know, Wow.
Very very nice addition.
Years ago, during my apprenticeship, the old-timers referred to gage blocks as "Jo-Blocks," for the obvious reason.
Frank
I've never known why either, I almost took a trip to wikki and then a light turned on in my head...too early in the morning.
Yes I’d heard them called jo blocks before, didn’t know why until now
Never have to many tools. Some nice things there.
It sure looks like you have a new best friend! I'm truly happy for you ! they say "good things happen to good people" keep having fun making the videos. thanks for sharing !
Again ‘Keith’ an outstanding video! I look forward for more! And watching I’m sure you guys will square-up. As always, thanks’ for taking the time to make this video! And I support this site. ~M~
Understood but I am sure you will. Been their done that ~M~
Hello Keith,
You always surprise me with lot's of tools I never heard of and the way you explain how the tools are working is great. The love for those old tools makes me feel happy because I have the same with old audio and hi-fi equipment such as receivers etc.
Sometimes it seems to me that all those new tools are much to complicated and much more work to use them than those old tools. Old tools where made for the thing you needed them for and nothing more or less but just straight ahead
For example those gauge blocks, very simpel at first sight but in use are the maybe more precise than new measuring tools. But anyway again thanx for the nice made video and looking forward to the finish of the front dial form the old safe.
Many greetings from Roel, out of the Netherlands !
***** the early Pratt & Whitney jig bores used a gauge block stack with a dead stop on one end and a travel indicator on the other for x-y-z positioning. No shop is complete without a few sets of blocks and those are vintage, very nice. Don't be so hard on the machinist that drilled the hole on the calipers, he was probably told to do it so they could be hung in an inspection area by a Kaizen Black Belt.
Keith...
It was very difficult to view this video on my IPad!! Damn, I just kept drooling on the screen.....LOL
Great memories, that first Craftsman tool set!
ATB
Chuck
Hi from England, what you call gauge blocks, we call 'slip gauges.' If they are in good condition they should 'wring' together without oil. Just make sure they are really clean.
+William Skinner I have heard them called slip gauges before as well.
the stainless on that caliper is tough to drill through too!
I always like a good tool score. Nice one Keith.
WOW Great acquisition. Glad they went to the right guy
To this day, many toolmakers and QC inspectors call gage blocks "Jo blocks", short for Johansen.
Great score Keith I would defiantly be interested in a video on reading a vernier scale. Have you given any thought to a restoration weekend for this year I enjoyed coming down last time and would love to make plans to attend all weekend if it happens again. Thanks again for the videos.
Generosity is a wonderful thing. A few years ago I reached the point where a few things clicked, and I was able to give more than received. It felt good, and so probably does Joel.
I recently bought a new 24" Vernier with a scale claiming to resolve 1/128th of an inch or about 8 thou. I did a trial calibration and by the time I was at an "indicated" 16 inches, my actual was 15 15/16ths. The instruments scale had been mis-applied with short inches. It was less accurate than a carpenter's tape!!
I returned it to the store with an explanation. It was not a Starrett.
What's the Vernier resolution on your 24 inch caliper?
Maybe, on one of your Odds & Ends, you could expand on square nuts/bolts and sockets...
I love Vernier calipers. Mostly because I can read them but nobody where I work can. As a result nobody messes with them. Nice haul though.
I love them for that reason, but also because they are not as delicate as dial calipers, and do not have batteries and electronics that fail. They are as reliable as a good hammer.
That is one generous gift
Keith,
Those gauge pins and blocks in bakelite cases are a treasure, I'm green with envy.
You said the gauge blocks needed oiling to stick them together.
DON'T oil them.
They should adhere to each other by rubbing them together to exclude the air. Atmospheric pressure will do the rest.
Tom Lipton and Stan (ShadonHKW) have both done good videos on using gauge blocks correctly.
Cheers Eric
it's nice to live in the usa! nice addition there mr. Keith
and i believe you are one of them also, you sir help a museum that the next generations will visit and learn for many years to come your country is lucky to have you, and all other as people, usa is nothing without U all the great people :) , we others are left only with the desire and envy:)
Nice gift. Makes you wonder why so many around the world call us "Greedy Americans"?
CE Johansson is now part of Hexagon Metrology (ie Brown & Sharpe)
I was actually looking at the hole, thinking, what kind of design choice is that? For that matter, who'd make a hole so big or so off-center.
Go figure, somebody learned to use the drill and poor tool got the shaft end of it all.
Edit: those tickers beat really, really strong. Great fix on them!
***** Is there, really, no way to restore it?
Wow, great stuff!!
They couldn't have been donated to a better cause.
Hi Keith, those pin sets, their not go no go are they? I can no longer work in my shop... Too full.
Dear Mr. Rucker, shooting a comment your way. DANG!!
8 jealous wiewers thumbs down on this! I'm jealous too, but heck no downer from me! I'll keep coming back for more free info. Thanks, Keith! ;)
I do like gage blocks. Very useful.
***** , in your collection of tools, do you have a old dial indicator that is usable and in need of a loving home?
I cannot seem to find any where i live.
*****, thank you. I always try to salvage tools at car boot sales, would a tools trade section be a option? A fan forum to discuss and request or trade tools?
Hey Keith a I have a spare 0.100 Webber block that you could have-what is the overall size(length and width) of your Jo blocks?
***** Yeah, the sizes do sort of seem to be random. I have an import set where the smaller block measure 1.1805 x .3560.
I also have assorted Webber and no-name blocks that measure 1.0175 x .4585, and 1.1785 x .3485.
The 0.1000 block is different again, measuring 1.3675 x .3545, actually pretty close to yours.
If you want it, I;ll send it over, just let me know,,,,
Keith did you send that dude a pack of Chicklets for all those tools?!!!!
I am just messing with you. Obviously he is happy with you just using the stuff.
Hmmmmm
Careful what you say Keith...
I hope it wasn't Joel that drilled that caliper ;>))
I figured that was the case... I knew you know better.
Great additions to your collection !
You talk about your toolbox a lot but I don't think you have ever shown it, that would make an interesting video.
I had to rewind the section where you said *He Drilled A Hole* to hang it. People like that don't respect there tool's it's like using a monkey wrench as a hammer. There are people out there that do just that. :-(
Deg-gum ding dong!
Keith - to my surprise, Horberg is (as of 2007 anyway) still around, in Bridgeport no less!
horberg.com/hi_home.html
Way back when there was a lot of precision and quality industry here in CT - sadly most of it's long gone. When we get lucky, we hobbyists have managed to pick up various remnants of it since.
A buddy gave me a Starrett vernier very similar to that one in a box.
I think mine is only 12"
It needs a little cleanup... then it will be Purdy. :)
I need a Joel!
Keith - Wow just doesn't say it. You owe Joel big time. Enjoy - Chris
What i wouldn't give
Keith
wiki has a good explanation of how and why gauge blocks wring together. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauge_block
James
GREAT VIDEO !!!!
I JUST DISCOVERED I'M MISSING A (( 0' )) GAGE PIN & BLOCK PLEASE LET "JOEL" KNOW !
:-) :-) :-) --- TOUNGES ARE SLIPPERY ???
Mine in particular....
MAYBE I HAVE THEM & JUST CAN'T FIND 'EM ???
Keith, mate - the word is HEIGHT not HEIGTH - its pronounced HITE - my one man attempt to correct this common mis pronunciation - really enjoy your youtube posts
not first again :( some nice tools keith
that was a pretty awesome viewer mail keith i try to get there first
The hole driller probably wasn't the same person that paid for it. Unless it was just a wealthy idiot that doesn't care.
Hi name is pronounced yo-hawn-son.