Handy Andy Tool Sets?

Not to hijack another thread.....back when I was about 7 yrs old, I got a Handy Andy Tool set. Mine was in a metal tool box, tools were painted a light blue. Anyone else here remember having one of those tool sets?:confused:

I remember the block plane ( MIGHT have been a Stanley #110) and a 7oz (if that ) claw hammer. There was a blue handle saw, I think. Can't really remember all the rest. Of course, it WAS a long time ago...1960 or 61:eek:

This was back when my folks would drive down to Dayton, OH, just to shop AT Sears & Roebuck.....almost an hour's drive. Montgomery Wards had a few local stores, as did Western Auto.

I think, one year, we all got a Hawthorne bike for Christmas....from the Bellefontaine Montgomery Wards store.....

Just wondering about those Handy Andy Tool sets.......

I picked up a 3/4" Handy Andy chisel at a swap meet and put a new handle on it. Works great as a paring chisel.

Showed it to some people but they didn't know about the Handy Andy tool boxes, which surprised me.

I had one! Last week at the Brown Tool Sale and Auction, I saw at least one of the sets, though I can't remember the price, I recall thinking about buying it, so the price must've of been somewhat reasonable.

I still use the mallet in the shop for light duty stuff which includes closing my wax can.

Tony,is that Brown auction run by Bud Brown? For years he had a small but well stocked stall at that quonset hut housed flea market at Adams Town. He was pretty nutty even then!

I can't recall if I ever had a Handy Andy tool set,but I remember them quite well.

Hi All,

I went to the auction site, and there are several listed. Some look like the tools could be used for actual work. Some not so much. Pretty neat for a boy back then. I never knew about the sets until this post. My older brother had a small hand saw. It was a real saw, and I used it some when a boy.

Stew

The saw may be lacking unless sharpened and set well after market. But then only if the steel is decent.

My dad gave me a Handy Andy set in the late 50's. I wish I still had it today.

Cleaning out my dads basement I found several 'Happy Time' tools that must have been mine when I was little. Anybody hear of them?
jim

I remember the claw hammer quite well.......and that the "claw" broke right off.

Mine was in the metal box, with "Handy Andy" carrying a board on the lid. There were the older sets, sold in wooden boxes.....those were for the "Rich Kids".......

The saw wasn't all that bad, though.

I was about 6 when I drove my fist through a storm door window trying to retaliate against a heckling younger sibling. I injured my wrist significantly enough for a trip to the ER for stitches. Later I refused to use that wrist and I am right handed. So my Dad bought me one of those tool kits so I could help him build a covered sand box. It was a form of physical therapy.

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Originally Posted by Ken Fitzgerald

I was about 6 when I drove my fist through a storm door window trying to retaliate against a heckling younger sibling. I injured my wrist significantly enough for a trip to the ER for stitches. Later I refused to use that wrist and I am right handed. So my Dad bought me one of those tool kits so I could help him build a covered sand box. It was a form of physical therapy.

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Smart dad.

The hammer was cheap cast iron!!

I really think it is best to buy kids tools they can actually use. How would you like to actually try to make something with tools that are barely,if at all,functional.

Smaller tools can always be found. I bought my little wife a smaller size claw hammer at Lowes.

I remember them, and recall wanting one, and my Dad telling me I could just (carefully) borrow and use his tools instead, so I got a G.I. Joe Mobile Support Vehicle instead --- really wish my folks hadn't insisted on my gifting it to my cousins.

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Originally Posted by george wilson

Tony,is that Brown auction run by Bud Brown? For years he had a small but well stocked stall at that quonset hut housed flea market at Adams Town. He was pretty nutty even then!

I can't recall if I ever had a Handy Andy tool set,but I remember them quite well.

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I would not know George. Clarence Blanchard bought the auction service a number of years ago, to go with his tool mag, Fine Tool Journal. Several years ago, he sold the mag and I believe also the auction service. Used to see Clarence there, but I haven't for the past couple of auctions.

I had a red Happy Time tool box when I was around 7-8. I lost all of the tools but recently cleaned up the toolbox and gave it to one of my Grandsons. I sanded, primed and repainted it a bright red(as it was originally). Wish I had taken care of the tools.......but I was too young to know better.

Jim

I got a Handy Andy tool set for my 10th birthday in 1965. I still have the hammer from the set. With these tools, and a few others, I made the racing sloop from L. Ben Hunt's book "Crafts and Hobbies".

My aunt gave my a Handy Andy set for Christmas when I was probably 6 or so, would've been early 1970's. I think it came in a wooden box. I'm pretty sure my mom still has the picture of me with it in my photo album.

Jim,it would be a LOT more useful than the original Handy Andy set,if you would go buy him a set of small,REAL tools that can actually saw,plane,cut and square and measure wood. I'd try to get him some soft pine as well. If he starts at a very young age,there is no telling how great a craftsman he could become(NOT that I can recommend that as a CAREER!! I was lucky,very lucky to essentially have a whole museum as a patron.) But,great work is worth doing ,no matter what the real vocation is.

Remember L. Ben Hunt's books w/ great fondness --- still bummed that I didn't discover _The Flat Bow_ until recently.