Reynolds Hand Morticer c 1875

[condeesteso]

The question is to restore or not, or partially. Technically it is very good and had been in regular use until recently. It came from the Chevening Estate nearby and was apparently used for barn repairs and fencing. And it really does work.

The main shaft runs in bronze bearings with no apparent play and rotates 180 degrees to turn the chisel

The chisel is traditional mortice form and is angled slightly into the cut, then it deflects slightly as it enters (and I haven't worked out how yet as the shaft does not flex at all and the bit seems to have a Morse-type taper on it.

I have found someone with about 8 more chisels, and it needs a clean at least. I don't fancy making it shiny, and I'm too busy anyway. Thoughts on sympathetic 'restoration' welcome. Apparently there is one more known survivor in a museum near here. May need to go and see that, but I like this faded paint etc.

and many thanks to AndyT for the tip off, as it was only 3 miles from me - a find indeed!

 

[jimi43]

So it was YOU who bought all the CORRO DIP!!! :mrgreen:

Personally...I would do a full restore....but technically correct so that should present an amusing research problem! Since it's all the Professor's fault anyway...surely he will help! 8)

Why not wait unil you see the other one at the Museum of Kent Life and go from there.

I would certainly get the other chisels and if you are missing any, it shouldn't present a problem with the blacksmith skills we have here to create replacements from a sample.

It certainly cuts some lovely clean mortices...I bet you're made up!. Didn't buy any tractors while you were there did you? :mrgreen:

Jim

 

[Racers]

Hi, Condo

Thats a beast! :shock:

I would go for a full restoration, any thing else would keep you awake at night.

Pete

 

[marcros]

how does it work, is it a combination of leverage and brute force, or is it somehow ratcheted?

 

[AndyT]

I'm so glad you got it and will give it a good home!

Somewhere there has to be a good middle way between making it look brand new and leaving it looking neglected. I think if it was mine I would want it to look as if it had been stored indoors, and in continuous use. The paint would have worn away, but there would be no rust; metal surfaces would be burnished by hard use or an oily rag.

Maybe that's all it needs - a good hard rub with a very oily rag. Possibly something like Zebrite grate polish (I used some on a lightly rusted plane in this thread.)

The page on Grace's guide leads to images of its relatives: this one is in Dover and looks good to me - some realistic dirt still on it:

Edit: I just found this nice advertorial from the Sydney Morning Herald in 1880: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page1429039 - which I think covered machine tools more thoroughly than any of our present day newspapers!

 

[dickm]

That's a wonderful beast.
Out of interest, what is the stand made of? It looks as if it's cast iron, but I'd have thought there would be a danger of that cracking under the repeated bashing of the chisel? Especially given that lovely splaying out of the ends of the legs; must be one heck of a lot of stress on them.

 

[condeesteso]

Ah yes forgot the Reynolds brochure of 1876, listing it at £12. I note the one in Dover is grey, this one is a very dull 'drab-crab' red. But mine could easily come up like that one. I think I'll start with the beds, slides, wheels and all controls. Then consider the cosmetics. Yes for Zebrite - I did a 52 1/2 vice with it - looks very good indeed on castings I think.
Does that rag have to be oily? - I don't really like oil, or getting dirty.
And Marcros - no it's just leverage but given the blade tip is (on at the moment) half-inch, and it is reasonably sharp - it cuts deep with ease... but does not clear chips, which become compacted in the mortice. I suppose through-mortices may be better, but that oak there is 6".
Re the base, cast definitely. Due to the lever action it slices rather than impacts and you can progress the cut quite smoothly. If I sharpen the bit a little it looks like it will slice cleanly - the first attempt was not bad I thought, esp for more structural work. I may be getting this to do some proper work even!. I think it can be quite fast and I just need an implement to clear chippings.

 

[Richard T]

If it t'were mine Douglas, (and I wish it was :mrgreen: )mineral oil it would be. Old oil is best - it sticks better but maybe for something that you are likely to get close to, clean new oil. I would brush it on lightly especially in to the relief lettering and take off excess with a rag.
I know it sounds messy and wrong but if you just try a small area I bet you get hooked on the shine and the general healthy look. A little really does go a long way. This is how generations looked after their cast iron kit ... machinery, steam engines etc.

If you get in trouble you can blame me. :shock:

 

[Tony Spear]

this one is a very dull 'drab-crab' red.

You might want to be a bit careful with that finish.

From the colour it sounds as though somebody might have given it a coat of lead primer at some time.

 

[DTR]

That is an impressive chunk of iron Douglas

 

[jimi43]

I'd definitely have the XY table apart and clean that up...

Boy...can I come over tomorrow (today) and have a butchers?

Also...given the other examples....is it possible that the red is a later refurb?

Cheers

Jim

 

[GazPal]

We used to have one in our old workshop when I was an apprentice and swan necked mortising chisels tend to work nicely regarding chip clearance when using these mortising machines :wink:

 

[condeesteso]

Gary - I'm trying to imagine how a swan-neck worked as the blade moves vertically down into the stock - although this blade does deflect very slightly as it cuts (due to the bevel).
I need to release the 3 large nuts on l/h side to lower the lever mechanism and get the bit closer down to the work. There is a crank at the top to do that.
There aren't that many components here, so I may strip the beds, slides etc and get cleaning. Old oil Richard - i'll give it a go, promise.
Re the red there is no evidence (yet) that it is a later coat, nothing under certainly although it could have been stripped - the dull red does look quite period.
And I need to contact the guy with 12 bits that appear to fit it. I do think this has potential to be genuinely useful.
Oh yes, and the man I got it from said 'about 60Kg'. And the rest, I'm thinking.

 

[GazPal]

The swan neck chisel / hook is simply used intermittently to clear the mortise as you progress and comes into play if waste becomes problematical (Bungs the hole), but another option is to bore a clearance hole prior to commencing the cut and have the waste fall into the void to cleared on completion. The major downside to these mortisers is the lack of waste clearance typically afforded by the auger found in modern mortising machine bits, but it certainly doesn't detract from their utility within any workshop.

If mortising for frames ALWAYS leave horns (Additional material) to be removed at a later point. This helps avoid blowing the end of the mortise.

The workshop in which I apprenticed had a large collection of belt driven Briggs & Stratton machinery, including such mortisers (As well as the model you have) and on through jointer/thicknessers, drill press, band and bench saws. It was akin to working in a museum, but was a fabulous - although very noisey - education in the use of centrally belt driven machinery dating from circa 1875 and onwards.

 

[AndyT]

Ah yes forgot the Reynolds brochure of 1876, listing it at £12.

Just in case anyone was looking for this, and had forgotten about the Old Wood Working Machinery site, this page: http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=2696&tab=3 has links to several catalogues showing the Monarch at that price.

What's embarrassing me is that having given Douglas a push to buy it, I realise from the Sydney Morning Herald that it's actually the most basic model of the range! I hope this won't prompt a rash of old morticer envy and one-upmanship!

 

[Jacob]

After a bit of a clean I'd brush the whole thing everywhere with half n half raw linseed oil and turps. It'd revive the paint, such as it is, and stop rust. Then working bits would slowly get polished up with use.

 

[kirkpoore1]

After a bit of a clean I'd brush the whole thing everywhere with half n half raw linseed oil and turps. It's revive the paint, such as it is, and stop rust. Then working bits would slowly get polished up with use.

That'll work. Linseed oil was used as a machine coating, even on bare castings. The red paint may be original, too. A careful cleaning with soap and water will show traces of any other paint. Very cool machine in excellent condition.

19th century machinery had a great variety of paint, anything from none at all to elaborate pinstriping and even murals. At least on American machines, black was most common, but red and green were frequently used, raised lettering painted, and lots of gold paint used for scrollwork.

Here's a large bandsaw, circa 1874, in original paint--brown with red & gold highlights and red wheels:

Kirk

 

[AndyT]

That's a handsome machine, Kirk, and no mistake, but at first glance I imagined some inattentive draughtsman sitting down at what he thought was his drawing board, getting a nasty shock!

It certainly shows how worthwhile it is to save these historic artefacts from the scrap yard.

 

[gounthar]

Very nice piece of machinery, well done!

 

[jimi43]

I went to see Douglas' morticer this afternoon and it is a really wonderful machine...as is that bandsaw!!

The paint looks like red lead to me...probably either an original protection coating or a later addition...

It really works well and the mechanics are in tip top condition.

I wouldn't mind one of those on my patio...excellent conversation piece!

One mystery at the moment is that the chisel seems to be drifted into a taper socket and we were pondering how to get it out. I thought at first there might be a lever that you turned that pushed it out but it's not obvious. Mind you Douglas...why not use the taper drift you got with the ML7...that should sort it!

Cheers

Jim