Starter tool boxes for youngsters.

[john k]

That time of year again, was thinking to self, how many people here have started off a youngster, yours or others with a starter tool box?   When my daughter was 12 or so, I got her a plastic carry box, Craftsman, and every year have added a wrench, chisel, screwdriver, or something I know she can use.   Just sent her a pair of Crescent wrenches, a  6 and a 10, probably need to replace her philips screwdriver, as its gotten a workout around her apartment.   I know she'll never be a mechanic, but never want her to be helpless around her own home.  Who else has done this?

[skipskip]

Not quite the same... One year I got my wife a toolbox with NICE tools in it.

It was not a 19.95 30 piece set of crap, but name brand quality tools.

good screwdrivers, pliers, an awl, a good hammer, quite a bit of stuff.

Turns out, she likes to use them , and good ones make the difference, for years she had used her fathers bent and broken castoffs, and had figured she was "tool dumb".

Skip

[Papaw]

I set both my sons up with starter boxes with tools from my castoffs and garage sale buys. Both use tools, but not regularly on cars or trucks.

[Branson]

One of the many, many things that attracted me to my wife is that she came with her own set of tools.  She has a tool box that stays at home, and another in her car.  Also keeps a pair of saws in the car trunk.  I did find her a Makita, which I presented to her in a Makita box I had laying around, and I filled it with the charger and a couple of sets of tips.  My step sons are both very interested in electronics, and I've found sets of the tiny screwdrivers for each of them, which went into immediate use.

More good reasons to get duplicates of your tools!

[bunger]

I set my daughter up with a plastic toolbox and the basic tools when she was 5 years old. She got very good at changing the batteries on her toys all by herself.
She's in highschool now and is the only girl who's a whiz in tech ed class.

[Stoney]

I was working construction way back when and not well paid,so at Christmas I thought it would be nice to gather up wood cutoffs around the site and give them along with 2 hammers and nails to our 2 boys as part of their presents.  They were 5 and 3 at the time.  The only bad part was pulling the cutoffs off the furniture where the boys had nailed them.  This of course lead to discussions about proper nailing parameters.

One Christmas I gave my wife a Pink Snap-On tool set.  She carries it every day to work at C.F. Flag.  She is a long joiner on U.S. flags and uses them in adjusting her machine.

[rusty]

>The only bad part was pulling the cutoffs off the furniture...

ROFL! yeah....

My step sister got a set of finger paints one year...

It was very quite for quite some time before mom yelled, What's ya doing?'

"I'm painting my walls."

Eeek!

[Stoney]

Yeah Rusty the other bad part was listening to KatBird saying I told you so.

[bonneyman]

I set my niece up with a little tool box with basic tools for her car. So far....she hasn't had to use it.
Also a customer asked me to do the same for her daughters car.

[scottg]

I tried to set my boys up. I really did. They had plenty of tools since they were little, and I tried to always be gentle and kind with them.
 But it didn't take for either of them.
One a master computer geek and the other real estate. Neither can hardly change a tire. sigh

 But these things often skip a generation. Nikole has always had whatever I can give her and I can scheme!
 She was a shop girl as soon as she could walk. She could handle a spokeshave pretty well at 4.
I had her arc welding at 6. Torch cutting at 9.
 Oh, she gets all the girly girl stuff too, and I can sit on the floor and tea party with the best of them.
Here she is at 7 planing.
 Notice which hand is on that tote!!




Here is her second bench, of her own. (The first was just a toy, but then she was really little then.)
This one is more for the young lady about town. 
 The Lap Bench

 yours Scott

[Branson]

What a doll, Scott.  She's got enthusiasm, and skill too. 

The major computer geek in my family is starting to look at my tools with interest.  I'm hoping...

[rusty]

Kids start out with incredable creativity. They imagine things you would never have thought of, they know no limits to what can be done. They are willing to try anything out.

It is a fragile thing tho, give them tools that are too big to use, castoff junk tools that don't work at all, a workspace that doesn't work,  materials that can't be used to make anything usefull....

It doesn't take very long to convince someone that it is far easier to buy something than to make it.

I love the little work bench, it is a work of art in it's own right, both for form, and function.

And I am willing to bet that that plane, unlike the junk i was allowed to use as a kid, had a sharp iron in it....

(Begin ruined childhood rant)
Do you have any idea how many years it took before I realizes that planes were not some kind of sick joke perpetuated on people to convince them to take up any occupation but woodworking?

Exercise: Stick a block of unseasoned cherry in the vise. Drag the plane on a cement floor for 10 minutes or so. Try to plane something off the wood. Tell me what a joy woodworking is today.
 (end childhood rant)

I see you are holding out on us tho, what is that neat little bench next to the tablesaw?

[Stoney]

Oh Man or should I say Oh Girl.  Beautiful that she has the right guiding hand.  Do I hear a lot of Grandpaw love and pride.  And beautiful work in the background.

Both of our boys was hit or miss with tools but our youngest turned out to be a tool nut when he became a plumber/medical gas specialist.  My oldest daughter-in-law 's daddy was an auto/motorcycle mechanic and he taught P.J. all he knew.  She does all the work on her racing motorcycle.

[scottg]

I see you are holding out on us tho, what is that neat little bench next to the tablesaw?

What a doll, Scott.  She's got enthusiasm, and skill too. 

Yeah but shes all grown up. sniff. Old woman of 16 now.
 We are still eternally close, just different than my little peanut girl. sniff

Its just my sawhorse Rusty. You know that one. But here are some more pix not on my webpage/




 yours Scott

[rusty]

OK, I'm going to go burn all my furniture now....