Tulsa's Own "Tim the Tool Man"

Before power tools, carpenters and woodworkers created everything by hand.  Over the years some folks have developed a fascination with those old hand tools.  They may have bought them to use, then kept them as collector's items.  That's how it started for Tulsan Tim Hoss; a man News On 6 reporter Rick Wells calls "Tim the Tool Man."

Out behind his house, Tim Hoss has a wonderful collection of antique hand tools. He says the whole thing started innocently enough about 20 years ago; he needed a tool he didn't have, a plane.

"The following weekend I went to the flea market and bought a plane," said Hoss.

A couple of weekends later he bought another, that's how it starts.

"Two or more you're a collector," said Hoss with a laugh.

A carpenter would have used it to shape different styles of molding. He's got English planes and American planes.

You could shape curves into whatever would you were working with.

"I have a whole library of books that tell me how to collect," said Hoss.

Hoss has anvils, tire gauges and a bunch of coffin wrenches used to tighten down the lids.

The collection seems endless and when asked if he's looking for anything he doesn't have, he responded:

"When I see it I'll grab it. I'll know it when I see it, but I'm always lookin' for a deal."

That is how small collections get bigger.

Each spring Tulsa hosts an antique tool show.  Hundred of collectors from all over the region show up looking for one more tool to round out their collection.