I haven't been keeping on top of this thread as I had intended due to a few deadlines coming thick and fast over the past week, so I thought I should just do a quick update.
The Stanley no4 has been de-rusted and reassembled with mixed results;
A closer look reveals a small problem, which only came to light once the rust and heavy paint had been removed
A crack right through the side from the seat to the edge. It seems to work ok, but I think I will consign this one to a dignified retirement on a shelf. Shame, but never mind.
I've also reassembled the Millers Falls 120A breast drill, but there are a few teeth missing on the small ring of the two speed main drive gear, which didn't seem to be a problem, but do catch a bit...more on this later though.
Other than that, I just have a list of jobs for this week, including putting the WS no4 in the electrolysis along with a few other bits.
The last two car boot weekends have been an interesting mix of the usual basket cases though!
A Millers Falls 120B fell into my hand for £2, which I think I will use to make one good drill out of two rough ones.
Apparently it's the same drill as the 120A, but with an unexplained name change. It has a few bent parts though, but will make a good donor for the other.
I saw this Acorn no5 and I don't know what possessed me, but I parted with £4 and after a clean up it's not too bad. To be honest, as I walked away and I began to wonder what I'd done, I was just thinking of using it as a big bit of sacrificial iron, because I remember reading they were not very good/fairly crude, but the wife came over all sentimental, so I gave it a clean and oil. I may camber the blade and use it as a scrub cleaner-upper before turning to something a bit better for squaring stock.
Next, a bag of bits yielded a Woden no4, sadly on returning home it became apparent that the plane had been dropped, with a chunk missing and a bent blade explaining the £3 price, good for spare bits though.
An I Sorby gouge which looks like it's spent some time in citric acid came next, along with a selection of brace bits. The gouge was black before a rub with a brass brush and the picture shows the tidemark on the handle where it was dipped up to! The bloke on the stall did mention that this was his favoured method of rust removal.
Then the wife saw this, "Oh look at him, isn't he sooooo cute..." she said. It is British made (no name though) and works ok, but next to a Record No6 vice, it does seem a little on the small side; that's not perspective, they are a couple of inches apart! I suppose he is cute though...now she's got me at it!
This was her idea too, seems to think that a 4 foot, 2 man logging saw will look good hanging on the wall of the stairs. I told my daughter it was for cutting up the bodies of her boyfriends if I didn't like them. She wasn't impressed.
These two saws are bent and kinked, so I'm going to use them as sacrificial metal when I set up a long trough electrolysis affair to de-rust a couple of old saws that I don't fancy going at with white spirit and fine wet-and-dry. That is when I get up the bottle to undo the split nuts holding the handles on for the last hundred or more years!
But the best find was this, a leather cased 66 foot tape measure. Feet and inches on one side, links and poles on the other! It's in really good condition, just a few recent looking marks, but it was buried under a load of tools thrown onto the grass. It was a house clearance stall, everything for a pound.
It appears to be by J Rabone, but the only marks on it are 'Hockley Abbey, England" with the Rabone 3 triangles trademark. No mention of Rabone on either the case or the tape. I guess this would make it earlier rather than later, but I've no idea of date. Other ones I've seen have all had either Rabone or Chesterman mentioned by name on the case, and the tape typeface does look like a very old fashioned font. Lovely brass fittings and an over-engineered crank. Lovely old thing.
Right then, back to the de-rusting.
El.
(no access to certain sites at work :evil: )
