What were your first tools as a child?

[FlyingFish]

When I was a small child I spent all my time making Airfix models. I saw an x-acto tool set advertised and must have told my Dad I wanted it. I remember it was £18 - a great deal of money in those days, and I never dreamt I would have one. Imagine my excitement when for Christmas I unwrapped a big box and found this set - which I still have complete to this day, some 50 years later. What tools do you have from childhood?

[Louie da fly]

I have my Dad's old bench vise and his "rivet snap" (https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=119369) which I used to get a lot of use from when I was into re-enactment and made mediaeval helmets, but is really no use for ship modelling.

 

Steven

[Roger Pellett]

The first tool that I remember was a vibrating jig saw.  You could actually touch the blade while the saw was operating without getting cut.   It did cut wood.

 

Roger

Edited March 20, 2021 by Roger Pellett

[catopower]

My first ever tool set that I have memory of was a little wooden play bench that looked something like this, but smaller!

 

 

After that, I don't really think I had much in the way of tools that I can recall. I was building plastic model kits, in not very sophisticated fashion. I probably just twisted parts off the sprues. Didn't use a knife blade until my dad gave me a balsa airplane model, then I needed one. 

 

I guess I did have a kids carpentry tool set that had hammer, pliers, hand drill, screw drivers, maybe a hand saw.

 

Still, as a kid, nothing that was any more sophisticated than X-Acto knife, coping saw, razor saw – stuff passed down from my dad. Oh, and I did get his vaccu-form machine, though I had NO IDEA what to do with it...

 

 

[Clark Griswold]

Aside from toys... my first tool set was a hand-me-down X-acto carving set and Montgomery Ward soldering iron when I was 9 or 10yrs old.  At that time I was splitting my hobby time between my model trains and plastic models.  I think I pretty much stuck to the standard #2 blade but I thought it was really cool to have the other stuff that came with it.  I gave the wooden case with the remaining blades and handle to my daughter when she was about the same age.  She actually took them with her to art school, used the blades I never used, and keeps sharpening them (she uses them to carve wood blocks for prints).

[Richard44]

The first tool I ever had ( I was less than10) when making balsa model aircraft was a double edge razor blade pinched from Dad. The tips of my fingers took a battering!

[modeller_masa]

Plastick kit was dominant model hobby in South korea when I was a child and it is still be. I remember that I made my own diorama toolkit box which included colored dusts, glues, bonds, and pliers to assemble war vehicles and express battlefield.

 

I found the toolbox recently, and extracted some useful things such as dried enamel paint and pliers. Resin bonds are gone, but enamel paints works agains after I refilled white spirits a little bit.  

[FlyingFish]

3 hours ago, Richard44 said:

double edge razor blade

Ha! I actually still have a scar on my leg from using one to shave mould lines off an airfix Hawker Hurricane. Best H&S training going!

[Bossman]

Growing up I the rural south, I never had “my tools” as a kid. You used dads or grandads. Axe, hatchets, handsaws hammers. I don’t remember at what age but but I’m sure it was pre teen when I graduated to a chain saw. The only instructions were, “that thing will bite you!” Luckily I still have all my limbs and fingers. 

[bruce d]

1 hour ago, FlyingFish said:

still have a scar

Left middle finger, age nine. Lesson not learned, did it again and again. Still do it.

[Jack12477]

Does an A C Gilbert Erector set (motorized ferris wheel) count ?  I still have mine. 😁

Edited March 20, 2021 by Jack12477

[modeller_masa]

 

15 minutes ago, Jack12477 said:

A C Gilbert Erector set

 

Now I knew an original form of a toy I played! I played and made 'science box' series which seems very similar to the Gilbert erector set series. Amazing. 😍

 

 (example picture)

[rraisley]

My only modeling tool for a l-o-n-g time was one of my dad's double edge razor blades. You know, the kind that cut the two fingers holding it with the less-sharp interior cuts. Later on, I learned to cover one edge with masking tape, meaning I could apply more pressure.

 

When I discovered single-edge blades, I thought I was in Heaven! I honestly don't remember any other tools in early modeling, as my dad's tools were mostly too large.

[grimey]

I didn't have any tolls specifically for modelling until my father gave me a set of very basic tools for Christmas 1970 - rasps, a bench vise etc. Most disappeared over the ensuing years except for one which I still have today - a Stanley No. 1 Eight Inch Square. Made of steel. Made in the USA. And still true after 50 years ( I just checked it against an engineer's square).

[Charles Green]

The two that go back as far as I can remember were both saws.  The first was my Dad's prized Winchester hand saw.  I was allowed to use it but was admonished to be careful with it.  Without him knowing, I left it outside overnight.  The dew got to it - no rust but it was stained.  To this day I kick myself for it.  That and a few (many actually) other acts of stupid negligence as I was growing up - I'm surprised my Dad didn't put me and a bunch of rocks in a gunny sack, take a walk to the river and come back empty-handed.

 

The other tool was a Dremel, power jig-saw I bought with my own money for my first ship-model project.  It ran on one speed - Too Fast.  It made more noise than corn-picker; enough to startle anyone not familiar with it and it vibrated so much following a line was impossible.  Anything over 1/4 inch pine was too much for it.

 

The saw came with provision to power a flex-shaft tool.  The motor ran too fast for controlled sawing but too slow for rotary tools.   Friction created by a bend in the flex-shaft robbed all the power. 

 

The jig-saw was a real disappointment but I learned about tools and what you get for your money.  

[jud]

Had joined the Cub Scouts and really wanted a Boy Scout Knife because it was so neat with all sorts of different blades and I could join in on the toothpick making process of Dad and Grandad as they discussed the world events while soaking up the sun. One night, the dog got into it with a skunk and Dad shot the skunk. The bargain was that if I buried the skunk, I would get the knife. Got the knife, also learned that when burying a skunk, dig the hole before retrieving the skunk.

[FlyingFish]

21 minutes ago, jud said:

dig the hole before retrieving the skunk

😄 What a wonderful life lesson. Many a politician would have benefited from that.

[Bob Cleek]

6 hours ago, Jack12477 said:

Does an A C Gilbert Erector set (motroized ferris wheel) count ?  I still have mine. 😁

Me too! We took good care of our toys, didn't we?

[mtaylor]

9 hours ago, FlyingFish said:

Ha! I actually still have a scar on my leg from using one to shave mould lines off an airfix Hawker Hurricane. Best H&S training going!

Basic rule is: There will be blood.

 

Early tools were my grandfathers workshop where he carved German style coo-coo clocks.  

 

Not I tool, but had one of those early chemistry sets that had all sorts of what are considered "hazardous" chemicals including a few that were radioactive.  One of the "experiments" was making gunpowder as I recall.... big bang in the driveway where I had my 'lab'.   I'm surprised that I've lived as long as I have. 

[Bob Cleek]

I got a Handy Andy boy's tool box with a selection of basic low-quality tools when I was about four or five. I think it was my dad's intention to keep me out of the drawers in his workshop. I still have the tool box and a few of the tools... a screwdriver, a hammer a square, and a (practically useless) plane. I also still have the scar on the back of my left hand that I gave myself using the handsaw sixty-seven years ago, too! 

[Jack12477]

11 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

had one of those early chemistry sets that had all sorts of what are considered "hazardous" chemicals

My Dad, being a Chemical Engineer, wouldn't let us kids have them 🙂 He knew too much ! 

 

17 minutes ago, Bob Cleek said:

Me too! We took good care of our toys, didn't we?

Yes we did! But mine does show a lot of wear and tear. 

[wefalck]

Of course I also had one of those wooden toy sets. Otherwise I am not sure what came first. Probably the the Märklin construction set (the German version of Meccano), which did have a screw-driver and a spanner. Otherwise, when I was about seven or eight so my dad got fed up with me sneaking to his tool cabinet and I got a boxed tool-set for Christmas. I still have it and use some of the tools regularly, such as the fret- and hack-saw for instance. That means some 57 years of use.

 

When we had to clear out my parents' house a few years ago, I took many of my das's old tools and some that originally even belonged to his dad in his navy times, I believe. Some of the tools look, as if they came out of set my father got, when he was a boy.

[Louie da fly]

I was working on the Great Harry when I was about 17. I'd just changed the scalpel blade so it was nice and sharp. I knocked something off the table (I'm still just as clumsy today) and it bumped on my foot.

 

I looked down on the floor, thinking 'I don't remember having a bottle of dark purple ink on the table".

 

Oh.

 

The blade had landed point first on the big vein that feeds blood to the toes. So sharp I didn't feel any pain. A very nice clean cut. Just needed a band-aid.

 

Steven

[Bob Cleek]

1 hour ago, mtaylor said:

Basic rule is: There will be blood.

This is the corollary to "If your mother says you might put your eye out doing it, then it's definitely going to be fun."

[druxey]

Ah! Memory lane.... My very own first tool was probably an X-Acto knife. I recall having a small set in a wooden box with the small and large handle. Before that I used my father's tools, some of which I still use today.

[Roger Pellett]

I also used to get into my father’s tools causing periodic banishing from his shop. I now enjoy using many of his hand tools.  Although he died 35 years ago the tools remain as a connection to him.

[Dr PR]

My dad was a mechanic and carpenter. My first tools were whatever I could find in his tool boxes. But woe be to me if I didn't return them!

 

When I was seven or eight I got a switchblade knife from my older brother (who wasn't supposed to have it) that I used for wood carving. One day I sharpened it razor sharp, and no sooner than I had finished it snapped shut on the knuckle of my index finger. Lots of blood and I could see the ends of the vein it had severed.

 

Mom was a nurse and was in the bathroom bathing. I knocked on the door and said I had cut myself - I didn't mentioned the severed vein and pool of blood. She asked if it was serious or if I could wait a minute. Well I wasn't dying so I put my finger over the cut and waited. When she came out I had already put a band aid on it and told her it was OK. She probably would have wanted to put in a couple of stitches. I still have the finger but the scar has long since disappeared. I didn't get to keep the knife after Mom found out about it.

Edited March 21, 2021 by Dr PR