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Can't Find My Way Home - Blind Faith

It is well after 10pm here, and finally cool enough to open the windows, and all I hear is a neighbor mowing his lawn, which he can only do because he has lights on his mower. This is just wrong. It is a little better than the last three weeks, which have been all mortar fire (illegal...

The last couple of days, I have been putting together a stand for the anvil I acquired through a trade deal recently. I whacked off a chunk of 6x6 i-beam from a length I had in stock: My little saw won't do that in one pass, so it requires flipping and cutting from the other side: I...

Today, I took an anvil in trade on a tool I was selling. This was the second "anvil offer" this week. I gave the buyer $250 credit for the anvil, on a $600 purchase. Yeah, someone welded two pieces of round bar to the side, but, hey, maybe I can use them to bend something. Markings appear...

Does the horizontal crack/line along the side near the top of this anvil indicate that the forge/weld of the top plate(s) has failed? A guy wants to trade it to me for something I have for sale, but I don't like the look of that scar along the side. It is three hours away from me, so I...

As much as I dislike the concept of "tool polishing", there are some rare instances where I am drawn like a moth to a flame and feel it is justified, or at least warranted. A few years ago, my mother-in-law gave me my deceased father-in-law's oxy-acetylene cart, with gauges, hoses and torches...

I saw these in a second hand store in Minneapolis today. The two boards would make about a six or seven foot tall display panel. I don't know much about display board values, but the price ($125) seemed pretty reasonable to me. If you want to know where they are, the store is called Hunt...

So, do I put this in tools, or fabrication? Anyway, I started a little project today, and can't guarantee it will be successful, but thought I'd share it either way. I was re-installing the quill on my drill press after replacing bearings, and when I tightened up on the quill stop/depth stop...

I thought the folks that enjoy vintage tools would also like to see this. My mother in law gave me some vintage shop/machinist reference books recently (that had belonged to my father-in-law), and among them was this cool Cleveland Twist Drill Co. reference book. I really treasure the items...

I need to find some good hi-temp paint for an exhaust system I have made for my tractor project. Any recommendations for good black (flat or satin) hi-temp paint?

Sort of. My brother-in-law said he'd found a contraption in the garage that his dad had made, and wondered if I was interested in it. I stopped by, and came home with this: It is home-made, but fairly stout and reasonable accurate. It has about 23-3/4" of usable opening. The clamping edge...

I am restoring a vintage garden tractor, and the original hood is badly rusted out along the hinge mount at the bottom edge: I have a donor hood from another model (not interchangable, or I'd just swap it). My plan is to cut out the area outlined in red here: And cut out the same area of...

I picked this ratchet up at a garage sale last Friday for $5. I figured there might be a Cman collector somewhere that is looking for one of these. I took it apart, hand brushed it with a soft brass wire brush to remove the gunk, and oiled it and re-assembled it. All ratchet teeth and pawls are...

I picked up this old Mac 3/8" ratchet at a yard sale this past Friday. I opened it up, cleaned out the old dried grease, re-lubed it and put it back together. It works just fine. If any Mac collectors would like to buy it, make me an offer. I just wanted to save it from some scrap...

I came across this Blackhawk Tool Co. Porta-Power Cart today at an antique mall in South Seattle. I have never seen one like it. And of course, they were asking four times its original price (and no tools were in it). So, if you want to sell an old tool box, just call it a "Bar Cart".

I have been bidding on drill presses in various government and surplus auctions for several years now, and last week, I finally won an auction for one. I picked it up yesterday, and unloaded it this morning. It has a 115/230v motor and a mag starter, too. I cleaned up the top end a bit, and...

I love working with Delrin for its machinability, but I hate the mess it makes! I have a power steering valve I am going to adapt to a garden tractor that i am rebuilding, and it had "too much slop" in the shaft, so today I polished up the shaft and made a new (tighter) bushing for it from a...

I have a Craftsman 1/2" female square drive ratchet that I acquired in a bunch of stuff a few years ago. I have no use for it, and it is wasting space in my ratchet drawer. If you collect old Craftsman and are interested in it, let me know via PM. We can work something out. I can even...

I have had this little, aluminum-handled hammer-like thing in my toolbox for quite a few years, and have no idea what its intended purpose is. The top of the "hammer head" has what seems to be abraisive particles bonded to it. And the "hammer head" itself is hollow steel tubing (about 3/8")...

For the garage that has everything, and everything in its place. You know you want one . . . .