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Decorating the Shop Wall with Antique Calipers

rivett608

Diamond
Joined
Oct 25, 2002
Location
Kansas City, Mo.
In the thread the other day about a not so special antique surface gauge a comment was made about just what can you really do with this old stuff. Well after doing a bunch of remodeling in the shop last month I had a spare wall that was a little too plain….. that is something that doesn't last long around here. Anyway I decided to hang up some calipers……. in this case about a 100 of them, from less than 2" to over 24" and from the late 1600's to the early 20th century. A few of these have been featured here on the PM in past years. These range from a huge early rack wing divider to many of the early patents by Fay, Stevens, Starrett and others……… it was a lot of fun to do because it gave me reason to play with each one of them. Some I had not held in years. I think I will enjoy these a lot more than I did when they were just stuffed in a tray type tool chest in the corner of a upstairs room.

So this is what you can do when you have a lot of something…….. BTW, I have a similar set-up of hack saws over the bench I do vise work on. Do any of you guys decorate with tools?

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The way they had been stored…. it will still be pretty full….

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I used to have some really big ones but sold them years ago..... Just kept stuff under 2 1/2 feet. How in hindsight I shouldn't have sold them and I should have bought the pair the late Doc Pearson (a antique tool dealer out of Eire, PA. And one of the nicest gentleman you could have ever met) had, it was a Starrett 60", somewhere I have a picture he sent of his grand daughter standing inside of it....... Oh well, my wall wasn't that big anyway.....

BTW.... That's a neat one.... Was it made and used by a pattern maker?
 
Interesting, nice display! Better than out of sight in a cabinet. What kind of cabinet, case, tool storage are you keeping the remainer in? More information and photos, please.

Was looking a some firm joint calipers at a tag sale when another person bumped my arm and said, "Put that down, no body uses those anymore, their junk." Reminded me of the link to the video CBlair posted in a different thread. Large calipers, surface gages, dividers, layout work, etc., in action. If like me, you don't speak Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, etc., you wont get full value, but still interesting.

?????????"??"???????????1????????????????? - YouTube
 
Thanks Reggie,

That chest can be seen in this thread near the end of post # 3...... It is a really cool chest!

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...ue-tool-exhibit-museum-kc-lots-photos-181838/

As for using these, I use dividers all the time, often a few at a time.... But most them are about 2" long....

That was a cool video....... Wonder how many American machinists still know how to lay out stuff that way? It reminded me of my uncle, he was a layout guy in a big shop making huge stuff.... I visited him at work once when I was a kid and was fascinated.
 
Terrific display, nicely executed. What is holding the calipers up - I assume something other than my go-to holder-upper, a nail. And what's the pie plate with the red ribbon?
-Marty-
 
Lot and lots of nails..... About 4 different sizes from 8 penny finishing on down...

The silver thing with the "remove before flight" ribbon is my hook-up for a vent hood. I just remove the cover and push in a vent hood for doing airbrushing....it is piped all the way outside with a inline fan in it....... Thinking about adding LED lights to the edges of the hood for even lighting.
 
Oh this is going to show how "old school" I am some times.:codger:
I still rough out pump and gearbox shafts ans such with firm joint calipers and a rule in an engine lathe. :cool:
Quick and dirty. Git - R - Done..then I grab the mikes and an indicator and finish.
 
BTW.... That's a neat one.... Was it made and used by a pattern maker?

Probably made by one, but used for some type of surveying. It measures 79.2 inches, so it is ten chain links (survey chains). The fittings are cast aluminum, and it is riveted together. Fairly nice but I always figured it was shop made. Dennis
 

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Rivett608 asked, "Do any of you guys decorate with tools?"


How about steam engine indicators in the family room?

Bruce E. Babcock
 

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nice layout... the shapes a person can use with calipers are only limited to one's thinking... I spelled out "TOOL TIME" on a wall in our previous house using several dividers/calipers... set an old oak machinists' chest in front and below, and used the felt lined drawers as display bases... as I gained old tools over the years, I would change the display box items and remember fondly how I loved handling old tools I hadn't seen for awhile... I always regret not thinking it was worth a pic or two, but wish I had now and then... presently my cool tools for display on a wall are old key top c-clamps... might take a camera to the shop Monday and snap a few... I would like to know if any other's have wall displays also. ... jim
 
Here's my wall of calipers in my man cave. They are all patented calipers or dividers from the 1840s to around 1920.
 

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Bruce and Apolune.... Those both look great!... I have zero steam indicators, thank goodness, because I don't have a room to devote to them. That is an incredible collection!...... As for the calipers, those are great.... I only see about 6 I don't have... Got to keep shopping! I also like your screen saver.... Humm..... More tools.
 
Rivett: I don't see any of the nice Stoddard patent pieces on your wall, but do see them in the drawers? Brass allergy?
It's still a great display.
 
Good call, you are right. By using nails I really couldn't put up any calipers that had loose and interchangeable legs easily...... And I didn't want to display them without all their attachments....... So none of those got up there.

Maybe someday we'll have to play a game of "name all the calipers"
 
When we moved my uncle we moved his tool collection that decorated the shop walls. He has always collected "monkey wrenches". I'm not sure why, he may not be sure why. He had over 300 when we moved, into a bigger shop, which he of course "grew into".

Awesome collection.

Someday I'll hang up my tool collection when I can have a space that they won't get covered in shop filth.
 








 
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