I too suffer from the near addiction of buying old tools (the assumption being that you might, too?) I try not to acquire stuff I won’t actually use and am
generally pretty good at sticking to that. Most of the time. I’m also an amateur student of tool brands, especially American stuff. Some of the hand tools left to me came from maternal grandfather, the late George Smith; I think Brits generally like US tools (as did Enzo Ferrari, I’ve read). If I still lived in the UK, I’d likely know more about its tool companies; there’s the “King Dick” wrenches, or spanners as we call them, for example.
Starrett of the somewhat funnily named Athol, Massachusetts (no lisping, please) still produce the finest measuring and other tools from their formidable old factory, about 90 minutes north from me. So when I saw a complete Starrett metric tap and die set for $30, 50 mins east of me (still in Connecticut but on the way to Providence, Rhode Island), I pounced.
This would be the ride that put the odometer past 200,000 miles; I was tuned-in to capturing the moment… until I wasn’t. Six miles too late, I remembered. Oh well. For the record, the car has 183,XXX when I was blessed with her arrival in the summer of 2014. Hey, that’s ten years ago!
One more note: today is Memorial Day and my drive took me past/through three different towns’ events marking this somber day. On the way home, I stopped in the delightful hamlet of Hampton, CT (near Willimantic) at the General Store where some locals were congregating. Good coffee. Like the guys who sold me the T&D set, everyone was unfailingly polite and welcoming, interested in the old Porsche and my weird accent. We certainly have our challenges here in these United States but I’m so grateful to be here and “part of the team”. Driving around in great roads, no one telling me what I can or cannot do, or think … count me as appreciative. Lots of shared history between our two countries, first as opponents, but long since as allies.
Kind regards to all reading this,
John
