Excellent. What I really enjoy when rummaging through old tool hoards are the weird, homemade, bodged up tools which were obviously the solution to a very specific problem and tell stories of long forgotten battles fought by long forgotten engineers.
This video shows why owning a vintage toolshop is the perfect side-gig for Ben - scratches the itch for checking out and buying the contents of places like this, while saving him (and more importantly, saving Mrs Crowe) from winding up living in a place like this (sleeping on a power-hammer, with a stack of moulding-planes for a pillow)
Yes more of this please! That was super fun. Would be nice to include an "after", as well... showing what made it home, tools cleaned up, maybe one of them restored, etc.
A real Aladdin's cave of joy! No wait, several Aladdin's caves of joy! I am NOT jealous at all. No wait, YES I am. I would want to handle everything, it would take hours to get me out! Thanks for sharing Ben, love it.
Seeing you rummaging around those various mountains of old tools and machinery, I was concerned that you might meet your end, buried under an avalanche of arcane implements. Then I realised it was how you would have liked to go.
Ben: you are rapidly turning into this century’s version of Jack Hargreaves, presenter of a classic TV show, “Out of Town”. His pen pictures of arcane crafts and crafts people were under-appreciated magic, and an all-too modest bulwark against the loss of tradition, knowledge and skills from previous ages. There’s treasure in keeping such things alive, and this episode, and I hope future episodes, will help spread the learning and appreciation just that bit further. Thank you.
Yes please! Definitely more of this! 20 minutes of Ben rambling about watches wouldn't go astray either Chances are I'd watch a supercut of those moments of reflection with thumbs touching chin, palms together just before the eyes come up to camera and start to gleam...
Very interesting and enjoyable trip. I'm jealous ! I once did some flooring for a gentleman in the countryside (British Columbia). Along with his woodworking workshop he had a metal working shop as well as a welding shop and storage for multiple vintage cars on his property. On the last day he was so happy with our work that he took myself and my helper on a tour of his property and workshops. I wanted to move in !
I just took a peek at some hand planes that I inherited from my grandfather. They are very old and are made in Japan by a maker called Tsunesaburo. These as well as a bunch of others were some of his most prized tools and each one has a hand made box for storage. He shared your passion for high quality vintage tools and much preferred them to new (modern) types. One of the reasons I like this channel with all the hands on craftmanship. Cheers.
Ben, you are wrong, we learend to know you by you building guitars and making awesome videos, but we really know you as an incarnation of joy, passion and exitement in their purest forms
I'd love to see you unload what you've bought! I love old workshops, I just reminds me of when I was a kid. I love looking in old gardening sheds as well.
You should start a space somewhere dedicated as a museum for showing off old big pedestal tools/machines! Stand around and talk tools all day with the oldies!
You would have loved my grandfathers blacksmith shop. He had a trip hammer that was run by belt from an AR John Deer tractor. A hand crank run forge. He had a hand crank drill press, as well as all the tools from that age. Unfortunately every thing is gone now, sold off or given away. I used to love playing in there when I was a child.
You would have gotten along great with my late grandfather. He used to be a metal worker who had a great tool shed and garage at home where he would do his magic. My late father would often say that what my grandfather built was for the ages. He built my parents a bed and when we had to move and take it apart out came an ungodly amount of screws. I think my father used only half upon reassembly and it never fell apart. Sadly when he moved I had no interest whatsoever in taking over my grandfather's tools. Which I now bitterly regret. Would you imagine, Ben, he even had gouges!
What a treasure trove! Places like this remind me so much of both of my grandfathers... I wonder if people will ever fall back to the type of lifestyle that necessitates shops and collections of even a quarter of this magnitude again, one day? Gods, I hope so! Thanks for sharing, Ben! As always, much love from southeastern Tennessee
Thanks Ben, now I’ve got to go out and find more metal working tool to go with the ones I already have and will get around to installing and using them “one day” 😟. 😎
I remember seeing you geek out on tools when I was much younger and thinking it was so odd and such an "old man" sort of thing. Annoyingly, the older I've gotten the more I get it. I got excited about those older planes and that old lathe!
welcome to the club.. I had the exact same journey.. though college seems to have accelerated it, studying how to build early stringed musical instruments will do that for you! B
Loved it mate. Would also love to see much more of this as well. I have the engineering talents of a dead gnat but I love watching anything to do with it. Be it tools, machines or anything. Thanks mate
The pillar drill is amazing, so many tools desperately in need of a loving shop where they will be appreciated and used to make beautiful and functional objects. Thanks for the field trip, always an adventure to ride along.
Those burners are inletting black fires. You’d hold a receiver over the fire to “black” it with soot, and then place it into the stock you’re inletting, tap it with a mallet, and scrape out the bits that turn black until the receiver fits perfectly. Awesome old technique.
Hi Ben, Totally with you on this. I would be there all day. I would get the forge and with all associated forge tools. I think the machine that you weren't sure about is a punch. Very capable. Cut through heavy plate etc. It should say on it somewhere what max gauge it will cut. If it functions then get it. Dave
Loved this video. Like your guitar building videos a lot. But this was great. I am only 50 years old, but I still remember a lot of those tools and brands even though I am Australian. That’s what we had, British or Australian made. Once a upon a time we in the commonwealth made precision machines and tools. That’s almost gone unfortunately. One day we will be back and make things that last as long as the tools you are looking at instead of the stuff we are buying now. Great video, and like all the others also
What a fabulous video. Not a place to be if you have OCD 😂. How could anyone work in that chaos? I find it absolutely fascinating. I just love how enthusiastic you are about tools. Thanks for sharing Ben. 🍺
Hey Ben. I met you at a tool show at Yandles about 18 months ago (you complimented my beard!) I was going to come and see you in the tool shop with a bundle of old tools to give you but then Covid happened.... I still need a frog and blade assembly for my No.7 Stanley plane so as soon as its safe to do so, i shall be coming to see you!
More stuff like this please. The what to look out for tips are great too. Just a dame shame that most of have no opportunity to go looking for stuff in these times.
The machine name you were struggling with is iron worker. It is used to cut/shear nibble and punch various shapes of steel in various ways. You definitely should search on Ironworker. They are quite versatile and give you a lot of capabilities in a relatively small footprint. I hope you get it. Another machine with an over head spinning handle is called a Flypress nice tool.
Part of my appreciation for, and enjoyment of, ultra modern, efficient, accurate, precise, tools and machines, like some CNC machines, is because of my appreciation of the pure works of art and science from which these modern machines arose. I learned how to do anything with tools on tools that were passed on to my grandfather from his grandfather. I know how to use CNC Mills and waves because I learned how to run manual build s and lathes had to grind my own cutting tools for those machines. So, when I say that even an ultra fine tool can be useless, producing copious amounts of scrap, wasted time and wasted stock, and a tremendous headache, if that tool is being used by the wrong set of hands, with an insufficient knowledge base, it's because I speak of this from personal experience many years ago, and from having seen it with my own eyes. Did you say drilling machine, or drooling machine?
Question: Unrelated to this video, but I may have painted myself into a corner on my current build. I am doing a hollow body prs style guitar and I planned to have no backplate and install my electronics through the f-holes. However, in my haste, I glued the back onto my guitar today and realized (too late) that I hadn't put any shielding tape or paint. I COULD easily solve my problem and add a backplate, but that kinda spoils my design on the back. My question is: can I get away with an unshielded guitar (basically home use since its only my third build, but I will sell it if I can). I have thought of a third solution: make a series of custom brushes and try and paint the cavity through the f-hole, but that would certainly not get 100% coverage. Thanks for taking the time to answer, hugely appreciate it!
I guessing this chap didn't actually use any of those tools? I thought my workshop was cramped for "moving about space"! I'm going to show this video to my wife to show her what my workshop will look like in 20 years time...when she has to clear it out after I;m gone!
Non. Collectors can have a lot of stuff but they know what they are doing. They often collect in a specific way, an certain era for example, which you see a lot with model train collectors. Or a certain brand or scale when they collect car models. Or something that happen in the past like ww-2 or civil war collectors. A hoarder has a mental issue, they need to collect. They collect compulsively and everything included totally useless things like old paper and even trash.
Please tell me didn’t leave that anvil behind... ???? I wish I could stumble upon a yard sale like this, I saw so many things in there I want. I’m green with envy Ben.
Ben, the other day I saw a video of Raintree wood being milled and the figuring and colouring was outstanding, during your timber buying exploits have you come across this wood?
What would be the smallest size band saw you would recommend for a hobbyist builder with a small shop? Been shopping around, but I'm unsure as to the lowest I can go b4 it's unusable for cutting/book matching body blanks and tops.
Hi Ben, I know you love your vintage tools but have looked at what Knewconcepts is doing recently? You might find some drool worthy tools that may make your inlay work easier. It might even inspire a marquetry guitar
To join many other commenters: more tool videos would also be appreciated. I think you could actually do it on this channel it would not interfere with the other content. Or make a second one😅
Fantastic stuff, what i would give for a small fraction of a shop like that. My garage is already too full of junk with an empty rectangular space that just fits my car.
Excellent. What I really enjoy when rummaging through old tool hoards are the weird, homemade, bodged up tools which were obviously the solution to a very specific problem and tell stories of long forgotten battles fought by long forgotten engineers.
This video shows why owning a vintage toolshop is the perfect side-gig for Ben - scratches the itch for checking out and buying the contents of places like this, while saving him (and more importantly, saving Mrs Crowe) from winding up living in a place like this (sleeping on a power-hammer, with a stack of moulding-planes for a pillow)
Yes more of this please! That was super fun. Would be nice to include an "after", as well... showing what made it home, tools cleaned up, maybe one of them restored, etc.
A real Aladdin's cave of joy!
No wait, several Aladdin's caves of joy!
I am NOT jealous at all.
No wait, YES I am.
I would want to handle everything, it would take hours to get me out!
Thanks for sharing Ben, love it.
Seeing you rummaging around those various mountains of old tools and machinery, I was concerned that you might meet your end, buried under an avalanche of arcane implements. Then I realised it was how you would have liked to go.
Ben: you are rapidly turning into this century’s version of Jack Hargreaves, presenter of a classic TV show, “Out of Town”. His pen pictures of arcane crafts and crafts people were under-appreciated magic, and an all-too modest bulwark against the loss of tradition, knowledge and skills from previous ages. There’s treasure in keeping such things alive, and this episode, and I hope future episodes, will help spread the learning and appreciation just that bit further. Thank you.
"I want a power hammer. I'm not allowed a power hammer..." -Ben Crowe, 2021 ;-)
Definitely more of this. These are vintage man caves that you just never get these days to “that” extent
I am subscribed to restoration channels that could get a lifetime of content out of each of these rooms... amazing!
Yes please!
Definitely more of this!
20 minutes of Ben rambling about watches wouldn't go astray either
Chances are I'd watch a supercut of those moments of reflection with thumbs touching chin, palms together just before the eyes come up to camera and start to gleam...
Have to admit I really do love an old tool....... craftmanship AND history!
Very interesting and enjoyable trip. I'm jealous ! I once did some flooring for a gentleman in the countryside (British Columbia). Along with his woodworking workshop he had a metal working shop as well as a welding shop and storage for multiple vintage cars on his property. On the last day he was so happy with our work that he took myself and my helper on a tour of his property and workshops. I wanted to move in !
I love finding places like this ! I could kill a whole day just rummaging thru those old shop !
It's more fun watching others rummage than doing it myself. Though I can almost smell the workshop aroma.
I just took a peek at some hand planes that I inherited from my grandfather. They are very old and are made in Japan by a maker called Tsunesaburo. These as well as a bunch of others were some of his most prized tools and each one has a hand made box for storage. He shared your passion for high quality vintage tools and much preferred them to new (modern) types. One of the reasons I like this channel with all the hands on craftmanship. Cheers.
The forge bellows contraption, whaWow!
and all the random equipment.
Thanks for sharing!
I could watch this every day.
Ben, you are wrong, we learend to know you by you building guitars and making awesome videos, but we really know you as an incarnation of joy, passion and exitement in their purest forms
Yes, MOAR like this pls. Love vintage tools.
I'd love to see you unload what you've bought! I love old workshops, I just reminds me of when I was a kid. I love looking in old gardening sheds as well.
Yes please I love old workshops and tools more please
Even if you didn't know what a guitar was and this was the only content on the channel I'd watch it every time.
You should start a space somewhere dedicated as a museum for showing off old big pedestal tools/machines! Stand around and talk tools all day with the oldies!
Yes! More vintage tool videos.
WOW. Layers and layers of awesome! My braincell can't even process what I am seeing. Well done, good sir. More please, more please!
I do like seeing this as I am not a guitar builder, I like wood working tools and stuff, old is good. Cheers from Tasmania
Love these sort of videos....more always welcome Ben !!!
I LOVE this sort of thing!! I am also a vintage tool collector. I have dozens of planes, some of which actually get used for building guitars.
You would have loved my grandfathers blacksmith shop. He had a trip hammer that was run by belt from an AR John Deer tractor. A hand crank run forge. He had a hand crank drill press, as well as all the tools from that age. Unfortunately every thing is gone now, sold off or given away. I used to love playing in there when I was a child.
WOW... Just WOW!
You would have gotten along great with my late grandfather. He used to be a metal worker who had a great tool shed and garage at home where he would do his magic. My late father would often say that what my grandfather built was for the ages. He built my parents a bed and when we had to move and take it apart out came an ungodly amount of screws. I think my father used only half upon reassembly and it never fell apart. Sadly when he moved I had no interest whatsoever in taking over my grandfather's tools. Which I now bitterly regret. Would you imagine, Ben, he even had gouges!
You are really making me consider a side business in vintage tools to feed my addiction as well🤣
What a treasure trove! Places like this remind me so much of both of my grandfathers... I wonder if people will ever fall back to the type of lifestyle that necessitates shops and collections of even a quarter of this magnitude again, one day? Gods, I hope so! Thanks for sharing, Ben! As always, much love from southeastern Tennessee
Thanks Ben, now I’ve got to go out and find more metal working tool to go with the ones I already have and will get around to installing and using them “one day” 😟. 😎
I remember seeing you geek out on tools when I was much younger and thinking it was so odd and such an "old man" sort of thing.
Annoyingly, the older I've gotten the more I get it. I got excited about those older planes and that old lathe!
welcome to the club.. I had the exact same journey.. though college seems to have accelerated it, studying how to build early stringed musical instruments will do that for you! B
Yes, this is great Ben!
Loved it mate. Would also love to see much more of this as well. I have the engineering talents of a dead gnat but I love watching anything to do with it. Be it tools, machines or anything.
Thanks mate
The pillar drill is amazing, so many tools desperately in need of a loving shop where they will be appreciated and used to make beautiful
and functional objects. Thanks for the field trip, always an adventure to ride along.
Definitely yes ! Absolutely more vintage tool videos. Too cool 😎👍🎶
You had me at engineering workshop and forge.
I have the same affliction.
Locations like these are what my dreams are made of.
Those burners are inletting black fires. You’d hold a receiver over the fire to “black” it with soot, and then place it into the stock you’re inletting, tap it with a mallet, and scrape out the bits that turn black until the receiver fits perfectly. Awesome old technique.
I am so jealous! I'd take it all. I'd need a bigger shop. . . . and bank account.
Hi Ben, Totally with you on this. I would be there all day. I would get the forge and with all associated forge tools. I think the machine that you weren't sure about is a punch. Very capable. Cut through heavy plate etc. It should say on it somewhere what max gauge it will cut. If it functions then get it. Dave
That was fun, thanks for posting!
Yes, more please
Very cool. Yes more of this please.
I can not possibly imagine having to go through all that stuff, sort it, and move it.
Love old tools and machines as a Toolmaker. As with most old sheds lots of old and not very usable junk as well
Loved this video. Like your guitar building videos a lot. But this was great. I am only 50 years old, but I still remember a lot of those tools and brands even though I am Australian. That’s what we had, British or Australian made. Once a upon a time we in the commonwealth made precision machines and tools. That’s almost gone unfortunately. One day we will be back and make things that last as long as the tools you are looking at instead of the stuff we are buying now. Great video, and like all the others also
What a fabulous video. Not a place to be if you have OCD 😂. How could anyone work in that chaos? I find it absolutely fascinating. I just love how enthusiastic you are about tools. Thanks for sharing Ben. 🍺
Really cool! More please.
Love to see more of this
I love this! I would also be very interested in learning more about care of tools (restoration as well). Thanks for sharing!
UKWorkshop forum under hand tools (I think) have some very good stickies on tool restoration (and use!)
Completely astounded by all of the great tools in that one person's possession !! Love these types of videos !!! More , more , more please !?
Love this kind of video...Jealous as heck though :) Thanks for sharing!
You must show more like this. I am a habitual rumiger, if there is an old shed or out building that needs clearing I'm there. stay safe J.
I certainly will do, thank you. B
Hey Ben. I met you at a tool show at Yandles about 18 months ago (you complimented my beard!) I was going to come and see you in the tool shop with a bundle of old tools to give you but then Covid happened.... I still need a frog and blade assembly for my No.7 Stanley plane so as soon as its safe to do so, i shall be coming to see you!
More stuff like this please. The what to look out for tips are great too. Just a dame shame that most of have no opportunity to go looking for stuff in these times.
The machine name you were struggling with is iron worker. It is used to cut/shear nibble and punch various shapes of steel in various ways. You definitely should search on Ironworker. They are quite versatile and give you a lot of capabilities in a relatively small footprint. I hope you get it. Another machine with an over head spinning handle is called a Flypress nice tool.
Love tools you can never have enough hee hee.
wow wow wow
Definitely like these videos. Some more tool restoration videos would be fantastic as well. 👍👍
Great vid. Thank you.
Very cool stuff!
Great video, some really cool old tools
Part of my appreciation for, and enjoyment of, ultra modern, efficient, accurate, precise, tools and machines, like some CNC machines, is because of my appreciation of the pure works of art and science from which these modern machines arose. I learned how to do anything with tools on tools that were passed on to my grandfather from his grandfather. I know how to use CNC Mills and waves because I learned how to run manual build s and lathes had to grind my own cutting tools for those machines. So, when I say that even an ultra fine tool can be useless, producing copious amounts of scrap, wasted time and wasted stock, and a tremendous headache, if that tool is being used by the wrong set of hands, with an insufficient knowledge base, it's because I speak of this from personal experience many years ago, and from having seen it with my own eyes.
Did you say drilling machine, or drooling machine?
that all looks a little overwhelming but fascinating as always thank you :)
That engine looked like it had a gen attached. Thank You for taking us along.
For em as a metalworker, the fire place and the anvil are interesting.
That was fascinating.
Absolutely fascinating! Your delight is evident in your voice, and it makes the tour even more special 😀
Thanks for sharing , It was very interesting 👍 from a vintage Carpenter 😀 👍 👌
Glad you enjoyed it
Loved it. Wish I was doing the same!
I'd like to say I'm not deeply envious, but you know, its wrong to lie!
Question: Unrelated to this video, but I may have painted myself into a corner on my current build. I am doing a hollow body prs style guitar and I planned to have no backplate and install my electronics through the f-holes. However, in my haste, I glued the back onto my guitar today and realized (too late) that I hadn't put any shielding tape or paint. I COULD easily solve my problem and add a backplate, but that kinda spoils my design on the back. My question is: can I get away with an unshielded guitar (basically home use since its only my third build, but I will sell it if I can). I have thought of a third solution: make a series of custom brushes and try and paint the cavity through the f-hole, but that would certainly not get 100% coverage. Thanks for taking the time to answer, hugely appreciate it!
I guessing this chap didn't actually use any of those tools? I thought my workshop was cramped for "moving about space"! I'm going to show this video to my wife to show her what my workshop will look like in 20 years time...when she has to clear it out after I;m gone!
Wow 😊
At what point does collecting turn into hoarding?
Non. Collectors can have a lot of stuff but they know what they are doing. They often collect in a specific way, an certain era for example, which you see a lot with model train collectors. Or a certain brand or scale when they collect car models. Or something that happen in the past like ww-2 or civil war collectors.
A hoarder has a mental issue, they need to collect. They collect compulsively and everything included totally useless things like old paper and even trash.
I think I would be lost in there for days just jonesing over the tools
My god so much STUFF. Think of all the people that could work with the tools that are in there covered in bikes, lol.
The drool factor in this video on a scale 0-10 is about 12...
More videos like this please!
I would love to see a follow up video with everything laid out that you picked up.
Please tell me didn’t leave that anvil behind... ????
I wish I could stumble upon a yard sale like this, I saw so many things in there I want. I’m green with envy Ben.
What planes would you suggest are the first to buy? Looking to start a collection!
Bring it
Ben meets himself from the future!
Ben, the other day I saw a video of Raintree wood being milled and the figuring and colouring was outstanding, during your timber buying exploits have you come across this wood?
What would be the smallest size band saw you would recommend for a hobbyist builder with a small shop? Been shopping around, but I'm unsure as to the lowest I can go b4 it's unusable for cutting/book matching body blanks and tops.
Ben, you have to tell us why a No4H plane, is so much more valuable, I`m scrabbling around trying to find the 3 I own to see if any have an H??
I can’t wait to see what you make with the forge... Maybe a samurai sword guitar neck😱 the neck dive would be ever so slightly dangerous 😂😂😂
Hi Ben, I know you love your vintage tools but have looked at what Knewconcepts is doing recently? You might find some drool worthy tools that may make your inlay work easier. It might even inspire a marquetry guitar
To join many other commenters: more tool videos would also be appreciated. I think you could actually do it on this channel it would not interfere with the other content. Or make a second one😅
Fantastic stuff, what i would give for a small fraction of a shop like that. My garage is already too full of junk with an empty rectangular space that just fits my car.
Just how important is a car...
@@carlpeberdy9086lol, Yeah im in a part of Canada where it gets cold, having a garage and vehicle that isnt an ice cube is worth a lot
I could move in there.
Please sir, I want some more.
I love molding plans. They are so hard to find in Germany.
This would be one of the greatest making spaces that I've ever seen if it had a foot wide space to step on.
Was that a Myford ML8?
Toolgasm 2021
i need a roundover plane. wish i had a workshop.