FyrMe's Tool Restoration Thread

[Fyrme]

Here is my next quickie. I'm gonna get some shine on this little jewel in the next two weeks.

Some of you have heard about my more than awesome neighbor/friend I gained when we moved in May. He has helped me around my place to the point I feel like I could do something for him once a day for a year and not pay my debts off. He never wants nor takes anything in return, and most of the time I don't even have to ask for the help. I swear he has spy cameras on my place. I can walk out to my shop from my house in a path not visible from his house, and within a few minutes he comes strolling over. lol! Did I mention the man is 72 years old? I've been working with him for almost 7 months and have yet to hear one complaint about an ache or pain.
Here he is up on my roof with a hand saw fixing one of my screw ups

Anyhow, he has his own 30x40 workshop without a vise. I plan to change that on Dec. 25

 

[gsingh]

Good man! ^^^

 

[Fyrme]

Damn dude... Now you're just stunting on us... Show Off

Well nine, these are just petty little projects lately, but they do have a purpose. If nothing else it's helping get my blood pumping to get back to the bigger stuff. It seems my focus anymore has been on everything but my restos.

 

[Fyrme]

Got the 'ole Craftsman done today, just in time for Christmas.

I started with this jewel

A day in the electrolysis tank

and lots of paint and polish later, it's ready for it's trip next door on Christmas day.

 

[1/2 Cup]

You have done a top job on the vise, looks fantastic..

 

[nine4gmc]

great job on that vise Fyrme!!

 

[Fretters]

Nice work.

 

[Fyrme]

Thanks fellas!

 

[longlivepunk]

Nice looking vice, and good on ya for trying to repay your neighbor! I'm sure he'll be proud to have that in his shop! I have a buddy like that, all my friends love to help out whenever possible, but one in particular gave me a bunch of electrical supplies he pulled off his house and didn't need anymore that I used on my garage, and is constantly trying to help out with advice or whatever he can. In return I've given him a bunch of stuff as well, and helped him frame his garage, hang his heater, etc. He even built his motorcycle in my garage before he had one! Gotta love good friends with shared interests!

 

[JAKE-THE-TOOL-MAN]

Great job on the vice, I like how you chose to two tone it. I would of never noticed the design to it without it

 

[RivennHewn]

Your neighbor reminds me of my neighbor.

I came home one afternoon to find him limbing and topping a tree.

His wife was stacking limbs out by the street.

He was 82 and she was 78.

I can only hope to be like them.

 

[Fyrme]

Yeah Riven, he's out side mowing at least twice a week in the spring until the grass slows down. I was on shift one Saturday and my wife calls me and says "Jim is over here trimming up the fence row, (on the opposite side of our property to his) I feel like a prisoner cause I'd feel bad if I went outside" I just laughed, and planned to pay him a visit the next day to thank him and ask why and to make sure my property wasn't bothering him. He just said "well I heard you mention the other day that that was one of the projects you wanted to accomplish this summer, and I had nothing better to do, so I thought I'd get started on it" I was floored by the attention to our conversation and his willingness to do that. On another occasion, he and I were splitting wood at my house and we flat ran out of day light. I told him I'd be back out the next morning around 7 to finish up if he feels up to it, but If you want the day off, I understand. I walked out at ten til and he had already been out there with a rake cleaning up a huge mess of bark and junk that accumulates from splitting wood. He'd probably been out there an hour. I find my self thanking him constantly. and he always replies, "If I didn't want to do it, I wouldn't" Fair enough.

 

[Farfegnugen]

Love this thread, your work is top notch!

 

[Fyrme]

Re: FyrMe's Tool Restoration and Projects Thread

Thank you. I just wish I had time now days to keep pumping out projects.

 

[Galvonzo]

"If I didn't want to do it, I wouldn't"

I really like that, really says a lot about the guy without haven't to say much at all.

 

[7th Kahuna]

That vise came out great. I'm sure your neighbor really appreciated it. Sounds like you are both fortunate in the relationship. Happy New Year!

 

[Fyrme]

And Happy New Year to you too, and everyone else here on the GJ.

 

[jakemac]

I'd like to hear about the neighbor's reaction to your gift. I bet he was surprised and overwhelmed.

 

[nine4gmc]

Happy New Years Fyrme!!

 

[Fyrme]

I'd like to hear about the neighbor's reaction to your gift. I bet he was surprised and overwhelmed.

Well, in order to avoid him returning a gift, I took it over along with something for his wife. And dropped them on their porch Christmas night and ding-dong-ditched. He called me a few minutes later to thank me. But I haven't seen him in a few weeks due to the cold weather.

 

[jakemac]

Coward.

 

[Faisal]

5 stars thread really you are doing professional job !!!!

keep it up

 

[Florida_Surveyor]

5 ☆ Review on the thread. You're work is amazing. You ever thought of advertising to do restoration jobs? I know a lot of people that have sentimental tools and such that would throw cash to make it look brand new.

 

[Fyrme]

Thanks guys. I really appreciate it. If you like this type of stuff search around a bit. I'm not the only one on here that does these tool resto's. There are many members on this board with lots of talent, and honestly, i feel like my work is sub-par to many resto's I've seen on the GJ. nine4gmc does some top notch work as well as yaidunno. these are just two that jumped in to my head. But there are tons more.

 

[nine4gmc]

Re: FyrMe's Tool Restoration and Projects Thread

Hey, heard my name and had to come see what's shakin... Thanks for the props Fyrme but I don't even belong in the same sentence as yaidunno, that cat has madd skills! Definitely some talents on this site though, you got that part right!!

Check out dozerbuilder's thread and the model/John Deere guy named Don. Again, those are just two that I remembered first, there are lots of great people here!

 

[NUTTSGT]

I think I can get this moved for you.

 

[KMinAF]

After hitting it with the hotwater pressure washer. I found 4 colors. The blues may all be the same blue just in different stages of fading. Any input on color would be great. The internet is proving to not provide the needed info. A lot of people just paint them what ever they want. And I read where someone suggested that Walker custom painted these jacks to the customer specified color. It would be cool to find out if this was an original service station jack and match the companies colors.
The colors I found were.......
Red, light blue.........no wait, medium blue, or maybe it was dark blue?

The Walker that I restored had remnants of dark blue in the underside cracks and crevices so that is what I went with.

 

[drivesitfar]

Fryme: thanks for moving your thread over here so we can see it easier and more often and a big thumbs up to Nutts too.

All the WT jacks I've seen are blue, but that doesn't mean I've seen them all. Walker Turner also had a greenish color that i have on this almost 100% original DP i bought from a great 80 year old machinist i know.

looking forward to a few more great ideas like the wheels on your vise stand I've probably posted 20 times on various threads.

 

[Carla]

Awesome, thanks. I'll have to research some to make sure I can duplicate the handle correctly. I would imagine it was made of oak or hickory, but I doubt I'll find a 140 year old piece of hard wood at the lumber yard, lol.

I've de-rusted and refinished a few of those wooden-handled wrenches, one time and another. Every one I've seen had the handle made of a straight-grained hard maple (or, at least, a plain but hard wood which had the appearance of a maple.)

There would have been a lot of northern hard maple from Maine relatively cheaply available to the New England tool makers of that period. Close grained northern hard maple is, even today, the best practical choice for tool handles, other than hammer, axe, and pick handles, for which the flexibility of hickory is preferred.

Good quality standard wrenches and screw drivers would be provided with hard maple handles, whereas 'premium' level tools like the best grades of screw drivers, and the Stanley planes, had more expensive imported coco-bolo wood, rosewood, or sometimes ebony used for 'aesthetically nice' handles.

If that wrench wasn't so pitted, one could be tempted to polish it out to a very pretty high finish (the New England tool shop folks called this the 'lime polish'), and heat-blue it, with small parts 'strawed'. A wrench might be finished to this level, and then fitted with a rosewood handle, to be a 'display piece'. (the few 'display wrenches' which have survived are now quite sought-after 'collectibles', and considered 'valuable'.)

cheers

Carla

 

[Fyrme]

I think I can get this moved for you.

Again, Thank you Eric. this category is much more homey feeling to me. Less competition with the S.O. junkies and just new tools in general. Even though, I do strongly feel there are many "new" tools that are far superior to some of the old stuff, just not as ****.

The Walker that I restored had remnants of dark blue in the underside cracks and crevices so that is what I went with.

As you may have noted, I sold to the jack to another member here for what I had in it. He took it home and loved it and it now lives as a functional show piece in what I feel is a close color match, powder coated blue.

Fryme: thanks for moving your thread over here so we can see it easier and more often and a big thumbs up to Nutts too.

All the WT jacks I've seen are blue, but that doesn't mean I've seen them all. Walker Turner also had a greenish color that i have on this almost 100% original DP i bought from a great 80 year old machinist i know.

looking forward to a few more great ideas like the wheels on your vise stand I've probably posted 20 times on various threads.

Drives, I'm thrilled as well. Eric get's all the credit for bringing me over here, I just asked for it.
I appreciate all the credit and publicity on the vise stand, you've given me. I'm sad to say though, I no longer own the stand. In a moment of weakness, well not really haha, I had someone offer me a rediculous amount of money for it. And with my future plans to have multiple receiver style mountling locations in my new shop, and the fact that I was moving, I took the cash. Which by the way was much lighter to move. So light I'm pretty sure it flew right out of my wallet shortly after! LOL! Anyway, I have access to all the materials if I ever want to build another one.

I've de-rusted and refinished a few of those wooden-handled wrenches, one time and another. Every one I've seen had the handle made of a straight-grained hard maple (or, at least, a plain but hard wood which had the appearance of a maple.)

There would have been a lot of northern hard maple from Maine relatively cheaply available to the New England tool makers of that period. Close grained northern hard maple is, even today, the best practical choice for tool handles, other than hammer, axe, and pick handles, for which the flexibility of hickory is preferred.

Good quality standard wrenches and screw drivers would be provided with hard maple handles, whereas 'premium' level tools like the best grades of screw drivers, and the Stanley planes, had more expensive imported coco-bolo wood, rosewood, or sometimes ebony used for 'aesthetically nice' handles.

If that wrench wasn't so pitted, one could be tempted to polish it out to a very pretty high finish (the New England tool shop folks called this the 'lime polish'), and heat-blue it, with small parts 'strawed'. A wrench might be finished to this level, and then fitted with a rosewood handle, to be a 'display piece'. (the few 'display wrenches' which have survived are now quite sought-after 'collectibles', and considered 'valuable'.)

cheers

Carla

Ya know, I realize that wrench was my first project and it still isn't finished. I finally got a wood lathe last year, so I could make my own handles. But I've not had a place to get it set up. So the ole wrench just sits in a tote with some other tools waiting to get finished some day. I do give that wrench high credit though because it is was got the ball rolling on so many other projects I have completed.

 

[Fyrme]

Got started on an old B&D grinder I picked up a over a year ago for like $10. I don't have much info on this thing. The closest the internet provides is a B&D "Junior" But no "Home-Utility" versions. If any of you guys have any info on this, I'd appreciate it.

There appears to be welder burn marks or something in a couple places. What ever did it, it was hot enough to melt the aluminum.
I know this one is going to be quite the challenge. I was planning on waiting on the restore until I got my TIG machine hooked up to make the aluminum repairs. But that is still a ways out. So other aluminum repair methods will be attempted. Maybe I'll try brazing. Or if that fails, Good old JB weld will do the trick.

 

[Fyrme]

Maybe you electric motor guys can enlighten me on what the function of this part of the motor is?

(EDIT: lost these pics)

 

[Fretters]

Maybe you electric motor guys can enlighten me on what the function of this part of the motor is?

That's the centrifugal switch for the start winding. As it gets upto speed, that weight on the other end from the carbon block causes that shaft to move, hence breaking contact between the carbon block and the slip rings.

 

[jmarkwolf]

Subscribed.

 

[Fyrme]

That's the centrifugal switch for the start winding. As it gets upto speed, that weight on the other end from the carbon block causes that shaft to move, hence breaking contact between the carbon block and the slip rings.

Gotcha! Kinda like the push car at the dirt track.

Subscribed.

Welcome.

I've got all the paint stripped from the case. The outer most edge of the wheel guard has taken a beating over the years, and is out of round pretty bad. But don't worry, I have a plan! Stay tuned.

 

[Fyrme]

Did a little label work on the B&D today.
Original

Comparison overlay

Finished label to be transferred to a new tag

The "HOME-UTILITY" was REALLY tough to match. But as few of these grinders that are out there, I doubt anyone but me and you will ever know the difference.

 

[nine4gmc]

Re: FyrMe's Tool Restoration and Projects Thread

You're getting pretty good with those labels Fyrme!!

 

[Fyrme]

Re: FyrMe's Tool Restoration and Projects Thread

Thanks nine. I had to go on to vintage machinery to find the only other grinder of its kind known to the web, in order to get some of the words off the tag, since mine is in such bad shape. Unless I can have one of my kids make out the serial number that's stamped in the old tag, I'm gonna have to make one up. The original is very un-legible. Man that makes me sound like my parents with their eye sight. I'm getting old I guess.

 

[rmalkow2]

Nice work so far. Looking forward to the end result. Great job duplicating that tag. To read the old serial number, can you wipe some ink across the old numbers to give them more contrast and maybe be readable?

 

[Ben Buck]

Fryme, I have one of those grinders, it's tagged Junior

No tool rest or bell covers, it was a mess, but for $10.00, I couldn't let it go.

I'll try to get a close up of the tag for you if your interested- probably around noon. I hope it will help, wish I could get mine looking like yours! Tag wise I mean, and those bell covers were made from two 6 inch cake pans?