This grinder was not moving smoothly and needed some rust removal. It still needs a proper handle and to have the grinding wheel dressed or replaced. There were no maker marks on this one.
This is a Millers Falls No. 16 block plane. Cleaned up very well and could still use some more material removal on the sole. Sharpened to 8000 grit.
This is a 1901 patented McCormick-Deering sharpener/grinder for sickles on a mower. All parts are present and nothing is broken! Even the stone is in great shape.
This chainsaw had a stuck pull-start and would not run. All it needed was some degreasing and a carburetor clean. It could still use some carburetor tuning, but does run completely fine now.
I thought I could make a chisel plane out of a stapler. I may have thought wrong... It planes things, but not much better than just using a chisel. I really should have sharpened the chisel a bit more to get a better idea of how functional this stapler plane could be.
In this video, I disassemble three separate, but similar, forge blowers in order to get all the parts needed to assemble one fully functioning forge blower. The bronze gear proved too difficult to remove without damaging some other parts, so I just left it in. I had triple of all the small parts like nuts and bolts, so my main goal was to get them off by any means. In the next video, I will paint and reassemble the forge blower.
In this video, I paint all the parts and reassemble the forge blower. It is too cold here for me to put thick oil into the crankcase as it would then be too difficult to turn over. It is also too cold to seal the fan case with some silicone, so I will do that during the summer. I am sure I could adjust the bearings to make it run even smoother, but I will do that when I go to use it in its final place. Final thick greasing will be done then as well, until then, the poor lithium grease will work for this video. Champion Blower & Forge Co. really knew how to make something last a long time and still run great! My hope is to pair it with a forge table one day.
This scraper plane restoration was fairly straight-forward. I de-rusted this plane about a year ago, but never liked the grey paint that someone put all over the body. It was too bad that someone also polished the brass as that can affect the value. It works fine now, even while taking fairly aggressive cuts!
This 1919 Stanley No. 610 Hand-cranked Pistol-grip Drill needed some major cleaning, but probably not a full restoration since it's quite rare, valuable, and not in the worst of shape. I decided to do the full restoration though, because I can. I am glad that the drill was found with original drill bits as they are quite neat. The drill was fun to hold and definitely works.
The antique cast iron clamp weighs almost 20lbs! I believe this may have been part of a larger revolving clamp machine that was used to save space for large glue-ups. I decided to convert it to a usable clamp in my shop. I decided to keep the raw steel and older look as I really liked it on this clamp.
This antique automatic saw set was is good shape to begin with. The spring on the advancing arm was missing and needed to be replaced, with a temporary fix. I decided to keep the bare metal look as it matches the age of the tool and looks good to me. I left the jaws loose so you can see how it pushes on the teeth. Oil or a wipe-on polyurethane would be a good choice for rust protection in the future. I have no idea what the piece marked "28" does. Would love help with that if anyone knows. Everything else works great and sets the teeth perfectly if setup properly.
This corner brace restoration required a lot of work. A previous owner attempted to repair it, but at some point, the repair failed and the brace would not turn. I ended up having to do some welding to get this brace back in working condition. I love the rosewood handles.
This rare 1964 Homelite XL-100 gas-powered circular saw arrived non-functioning. Initially, I thought it was just the spark plug that was the issue as I could feel the shock if I held the plug and turned the engine over. The real issue ended up being the dirty points underneath the flywheel. After that, the saw ran just fine. I did clean the points after sanding them, but I need to grab some needle files for next time as sand paper is usually too aggressive. I plan on doing a complete restoration on this saw at one point, so my main focus was making sure it would run first! It cuts well and quite fast with a new 8.5" blade in it. I have wanted one of these for quite a while!
This 1950 Skil 525 chain-driven belt sander was running a slow, probably due to the hardened grease around the gears. These are also known as "locomotive" sanders. I completely tore it down except for the area where the worm-drive is. I didn't want to risk breaking anything trying to access that area. I ended up just adding new grease to the worm-drive gears. Power cord should probably be replaced, but I wanted to keep all the parts original as this tool is going to AvE. The sander takes a 2 1/4" belt, which is not very common currently. The sander works fine now and it is back to near original condition. Interestingly, this sander was ~$65 in 1950, which would make the cost around $650 currently!
This transitional hand plane was most likely made by the Ohio Tool Company around the turn of the century. This restoration needed a lot of attention as some parts were missing or user-made. I've used a yoke from a donated Stanley No. 3. I also added a jatoba sole since the restoration process took off some thickness and it is much harder than the original beech. Shavings came off great from the black walnut!
This tool restoration is of a BeMaCo Rapid Saw Set from the late 1940s. I was surprised to find that most parts were made out of aluminum. This thing must have been pricey back then! It really needed a good cleaning and some de-rusting on the steel parts. The electric motor needed to be rewired and I wish I had time to replace the original wiring, but it is now in original dangerous condition and I'll fix it when I find the foot pedal power switch. I like the trip-hammer action and I wish it came with the original foot pedal, as that would have made operating this saw set much easier. I hope that someone can find the manual as I was taking a guess at how this machine works. The parts cleaned up very nicely and I am glad to have these machine in case I need it.
Jimmy Diresta sent me this tiny gas-powered hand drill made by Ohlsson and Rice for restoration. It was originally used to tap maple trees for syrup and was called the Drillgine. I believe it's from the 60s or 70s. I decided that I didn't want to do an "as new" restoration and wanted to make the drill look like it was one of his tools that he painted white and used every day. The drill needed its points cleaned, a new carburetor diaphragm, and a new recoil assembly. The small 22 cc (video says 2cc) engine produces 0.85HP. The carburetor design, in my opinion, is horrible, as the small carburetor parts have a tendency to move around under the diaphragm, causing damage. I believe one of these parts is damaged beyond repair and a new carburetor is VERY difficult to find. Until I find and replace the carburetor, the drill currently runs with less power and for short periods of time. Mucho sadness. From what I have read, this is a common problem, and part of the reason these tools were never successful. I thank Jimmy immensely for sending me this super cool and unique tool. I really appreciate it. I plan on returning the favour... If someone has the parts I need, I would gladly purchase them off you.
This 1892 patented Pearson's Nailer restoration was fairly straight-forward. It was made by the Pearson Mfg. Co from 1908-1921. This restoration was mainly aesthetic as the nailer was functioning previously. I decided to paint the nailer in its original bright blue colour. There was a larger version that was painted red. In most, but not all photos of these nailers online, the cast iron parts seem to be a darker blue than the tin parts. I tried to replicate that look by "staining" the blue paint with some black plaint. I could have used a darker blue paint, but this technique seemed to match what I have seen online. I also decided to place the writing on the other side of the nailer than where it originally was. This was done because the original side is heavily dented and the writing would not show up as well. In the future, I may add some gold pin-striping as well along the raised lines in the tin parts, as I have seen this is some, but not all photos online. These nailers were mainly used by roofers to set the nail for driving in by a hammer later on. I'm impressed by how well this tool still works.
This rotary jigsaw was also known as the Cutawl (Model K8). Based on the age of the motor and the history of patents on this machine, I believe it was made sometime in the 1930s. It had many other cutters available for cutting materials such as metal, wood, leather, fabric, drywall, and essentially anything else that is up to 1.25" thick and softer than hardened steel. This restoration was a lengthly process as the motor needed work as well. I am stunned this motor eventually ran so well. There is zero play in any direction other than back and forth when I move the armature. For a motor that is ~85 years old, I was very surprised to see the bronze bushings having essentially no wear. It's possible they were replaced at one point. After doing research on this tool and talking with some collectors and experts, I learned that there were certain parts that were fragile and prone to damage. The large wheel in the back is attached to the main shaft by a pin that does not go through the centre of the shaft, but is offset. This means that over time, the offset pin allowed the wheel to wear around the shaft and starting wobbling itself to the point of bending/breaking the shaft. I chose not to risk it and left the wheel as is. While looking at a parts diagram of this tool, I decided it was too risky to try and hammer and pry off the rotary mechanism as it's filled with small steel balls and retainer rings. These two things are my enemies. All I do is loose them. The part works completely fine, so there is no reason to mess with it. I could actually see myself using this tool for some applications. It has a very natural feel to controlling the direction of cut and I feel like I could be more accurate with this than a modern jigsaw. Hopefully you get a chance to try one of these out one day!
This antique wallpaper trimmer tool restoration was surprisingly complex. This trimmer was made by A. Allen & Co. MFRS. in the early 1900s and is the Eclipse model. I believe there were 2 other models called Keystone and Climax, each with single- or double-cutter options. There is very little information on this tool and the company that made it, but instructions and a parts list can be found here: https://mcleodhistory.pastperfectonline.com/archive/1C7F01CA-7F80-4B08-8B04-295338122549 This is the first viewer-submitted tool that I have made. Thank you very much to the donor! I hope to do more in the future. Contact me if you would like to donate a tool. Almost every single part was extremely dirty or rusty and needed to be cleaned, stripped, and repainted. I tried to match the colours as close as possible based on what I found while cleaning each part. I chose to braze the broken part that was going to be under the most stress and used steel-reinforced epoxy for parts that would be under less stress. Ideally, brazing would be used for everything, but I thought exploring some other options would be helpful. There was no need to grind a groove out for the brazing to stick to as the gap was already large enough. There are much faster and cleaner ways of brazing, but I wanted to show that you can do it with limited/inexpensive tools. I really could have used a metal lathe for this project. If I had one, I would have replaced all the rods and turned and taped each one. Maybe one day... I am not sure what the wood used is, as it's soft and lightweight, but does not seem to look like most softwoods. I am excited to see the paint fade and dull a bit as it should help make the tool look closer to its age.
I had a tough time choosing between a forge restoration and an anvil restoration. I decided to rescue them both instead! The forge was made by Thompson MFG. Co out of Grand Bay, New Brunswick, Canada around the 1920s. It is made of solid cast iron with pipe legs. The clinker breaker was missing and I replaced it with one I had on hand, but I cannot seem to find photos of the original breaker design. Usually the clinker breaker is further into the firepot that what the forge seemed to be designed to use. It is also odd that the firepot doesn't really fit the forge very well. The broken piece for the pipe housing was not worth repairing. Both of these pieces just need to be functional. The anvil was made by Soderfors in Sweden in 1928. I found this anvil with large amounts of torch damage and grinder marks all over it. The hardness of the face was most likely affected by the heat of the torch. Although not shown in the video, the anvil was heated up before it was stick welded. I got a friend to help weld and mill the anvil and that is why there is not too much footage of the anvil being welded. I think it actually came out pretty well, the hardness seems to have stayed about the same, but I am not sure if there is an improvement. The bottom of the anvil was flattened lightly also. The blower is now packed with grease and filled with oil and seems to be running great. Link to the blower restoration is here: https://youtu.be/adJ2PMVg7Hq Can't wait to do some blacksmithing! I just need to find some nice hammers, hardie tools, and a vise to help with the blacksmithing setup.
This "Little Giant" flamethrower/flame gun was made by the Hauck MFG. Co from the 1930s-1950s. The tool restoration was pretty straight forward, but the operation was not. I used high-heat oil-and-gas resistant paint wherever possible. The red handle is not the original colour, I just thought it looked nice. It was nice to see that the pump still had compression and the pressure gauge still worked. Operating this thing is not safe...at all. The shutoff valve is so far from the spout that there is a lot of kerosene left in the piping that needs to burn off before it shuts off. The flamethrower was still burning ~5min after I turned it off. I tested that valve and it works just fine, so the burning is just part of it's function. I couldn't use it for very long as there is a fire ban in my area and kerosene is much harder to put out than gasoline. This was a fun local find here in Saskatoon. I will probably put this one up for sale.
I had a lot of fun with this tool restoration. Essential Craftsman sent me the Model-F Improved Handy Asbestos Shingle Cutter made by Specialty Tool MFRS. INC. around 1936. It was in pretty good shape to begin with, but the paint needed to be redone. I think I could use this as a metal brake in the future. I left the screw holes uncovered as they are pretty coarse threads and could use some tightening. I went with a surprise cleat coat on this tool, but it left a finish that is not very smooth and even cracked in some areas. I make some changes to what needed to be painted based on what I think would look nicer. I made sure to wear a mask and not to bring my workshop clothes into the house after I worked on it. I am not sure of any asbestos on the machine, but I wanted to be safe, just in case. We breathe in about 1,000,000 fibres of asbestos each year, naturally, so hopefully this restoration doesn't contribute more than that.
Another tool restoration done! This is a 1960s Wright B-520 Blade Saw that has a 116cc engine. They originally had three different blades available: all-purpose, hardwood, and a meat cutting blade. The meat cutting ability was probably where this saw shined the most. I decide to give this tool a fairly thorough restoration with only the double cylinder not being taken apart. There are not a lot of parts available for this model saw and I did not want to risk breaking/damaging a part that would be so difficult to replace. Just the replacement carburetor kit was difficult to find and took months to get to me. I was able to find a spare blade online though. I decided to alter the paint scheme a little as well, as I thought it looked better. I hope to get a powder coating system one day so that the finish is as tough as possible. I found a digital copy of the old label online and had it printed onto vinyl. I then stuck it onto some aluminum duct tape to remake the proper label look. Operating this saw was ridiculous. The power switch is the trigger, so if you let go of it, the saw shuts off. You can make it idle by shifting the trigger slightly to the left when you let go, but it doesn't always work. This saw also does not have a muffler, and it is incredibly loud. Happy Halloween!
This tool restoration was mostly aesthetic and partially functional. The tool is a Minute Saw Filer made by the A.F. Geisinger MFG. Co. in the 1920s. It was mainly used to sharpen circular saw blades on trimmer saws. Trimmer saws were small table saws used by printers to trim printing plates so they would fit in a printing press. It was $25 USD in 1922, which is about $350 USD in 2017. The saw sharpener was covered in random black paint on top of it's original green paint as had some rust on it. I decided not to polish the brass plate up too much as I really do like the look of brass patina. Generally, in the restoration world, polishing brass is blasphemy. It was difficult to figure out how this machine works as the patent documents do not explain it very well. The main arbor and threaded nut needed to be moved to match the patent documents and a cone shaped metal piece was added to ensure the tool can work with a variety of saw blade arbor sizes. I could see myself using this on modern carbide-tipped blades if I can find a triangular diamond file and a blade without an anti-kickback design.
This tool restoration was a unique experience. This is a Model 256 power hacksaw was made by L. Krushel & Sons Ltd. (LKS) of Morden, Manitoba, Canada. I am not sure of the age as there is very little information on this saw, but the motor is from the 1960s. LKS was most known for building high quality welders and produced the first 180AMP welder in Canada. The LKS 180AMP welder is still sought after today, but this hacksaw should not be. I was not overly impressed with the build quality on this tool, so much so, that I would probably not use it and I do not want anyone else to use it ever again. That is why I decided not to replace the power switch on this tool. The majority of the hacksaw is made with sections of angle iron welded together. I even had to hammer off the slag from the welds for painting, as it was never done the first time around. It was also odd to see shafts with no bushings or bearings around them for support. I imagine heavy use of this machine would wear out these parts very quickly. There is no way to adjust the feed pressure or to make the cut more straight and square. This must have just been a nice thing to have that would quietly cut metal for further clean-up. I understand that this tool was built in a time when most tools were starting to be made with cheaper materials and methods for competitive reasons. I tried to match the colour as best as I could and applied 3 coats of filler primer, 4 coats of blue paint, and 3 clear coats. I used the snap rings I had lying around as I didn't want to buy whole new sets of them just for this application. With a fresh blade, the saw did cut quite fast, but was not square. If you do come across an old power hacksaw, look for something built better and with adjustment mechanisms. EDIT: The part of the video where it says "Title Text Here" was meant to talk about the old power switch location and why I didn't want to replace it. Also, the bearing was warm while the rod
It's nice to work with aluminum for a tool restoration. This tool is a Kango Jackhammer (Type E) from the 1950s. I believe type A, B, C, D came before it with the Type A starting in the 1930s. All labelled parts seem to be made in England. It was really nice to see ZERO rust for a change as most parts have been soaking in oil, forever. I couldn't get the part where you insert the chisel to unscrew from the main casting, possible due to dissimilar metals corroding over time. The jackhammer was extremely dirty inside, to the point that the brushes and rotor we covered as well. Once cleaned up, the motor started working again. The jackhammer does not have a lot of power (~only 500 watts) and the hammering action activates only when you push down on the chisel. This makes for an odd user experience. It also has ZERO anti-vibration designs and shakes my hands like crazy. The insane vibration and super cold temperatures annihilated my hands in short order. I remade the name plate strip on photoshop and had it printed on clear vinyl. I thought stamping the main casting would look nice and keep longer so I went with that option. In the future I hope to get a small CNC router or high-powered laser engraver so properly remake metal name plates/tags.
The -40 C/F temperatures made this tool restoration harder than it needed to be. This tool is a beam drill or boring machine made by the James Swan Co. in the early 1900s. I believe this one is the No. 6502 model as it has a solid cast iron frame. An original 1904 catalogue listing is shown here: https://i.imgur.com/e976xJF.jpg. The James Swan Co. existed in Seymour, Connecticut, USA from 1877-1951 and specialized in drilling tools. I decided to replace all wooden parts as they were either rotten or warped. I originally thought these were made entirely of oak, but some maple pieces showed up during the restoration. The original black japanning was almost entirely gone, so every metal piece was de-rusted and painted with 3 coats of filler primer. I was surprised to see black japanning on the semi-circular guides that allow the drill to be adjusted, as the paint would clearly be scraped and worn off from repeated use. The non-cast iron pieces seem to all be a fairly low grade of steel, and may even be wrought iron. The auger bit was severely pitted and definitely needs replacing. I was surprised to see grain structure in the bit, suggesting it may be wrought iron as well. I don't think the auger bit is an original James Swan bit, as those were cast steel and would have been stamped with their logo. I'd like to thank Evaporust for sponsoring this video. Their product definitely came in handy for this tool that was very rusty and pitted.
The restoration of this 1930s pneumatic Thor gun-style drill made by the Independent Pneumatic Tool Co. was not supposed to happen. When my basement flooded this tool was exposed to enough water to make it rust. Luckily, the tool is mostly aluminum, so not too many parts were affected. I decided to use rust remover and sand-blasting to make sure all parts were de-rusted. I gave everything a decent polish, even the brass name plate. I am fairly sure the drill used grease instead of oil, but I decided that oil would be enough for the use it's going to get. The drill runs very well now and makes noises like a jet-engine and R2-D2 had some fun. I chose to let you all hear the drill without any sound editing. I'd like to thank Evapo-Rust for sponsoring this video. The drill needed a good soak as I couldn't reach all the steel parts!
This tool restoration was on a 9in tiny bandsaw made by Duro Metal Products Co. most likely around the 1940s. I was given this saw for free by someone who had no idea about the make or model of it. It took a lot of looking to identify this band saw, but it was Frank Howarth on YouTube that was able to point me in the right direction as he has two of these. The paint on this was really poorly done, so I am glad I took the time to redo it. The table angle adjuster as well as the blade tracking adjuster were both missing and needed to be fabricated. I used what I had on to make those parts as I do not have a metal lathe or milling machine. I am thinking that this saw might make a good table top metal cutting bandsaw, so I may get the proper blade for that and reduce the speed it runs at.
This spark plug cleaner restoration took much longer that I thought it would. This tool is a 1944-45 Auto-lite or Autolite Spark Plug Cleaning Service machine. I bought this locally in Saskatoon, SK, Canada and thought it would be fun to restore. The tool is essentially a localized sandblaster for the tips of spark plugs. I went with several coats of filler primer in hopes of covering all the pitting and denting, but I feel like bondo may have been a better choice. I was not able to get the pressure gauge open to have a look and see if anything was damaged or broken. In the end, the machine worked great, but the gauge did not show that enough pressure for optimal functioning was there. I do not know if this was a gauge issue or a leak somewhere else. I have not been able to find any documentation or manuals for this tool so operating it was just based on how I think it should work. I can see myself actually using this when I come across more gas-powered tools. If you ever come across the different sizes of spark plug holders for this, please email me at handtoolrescue@gmail.com All graphics were provided by FORMA Graphics. You can contact them at formagraphicart@gmail.com. He has a passion for old tools and will help you make the decal/sticker that you need.
I decided to go with a different finish for this antique tool rescue / restoration. This is a Boomer Double Swivel Hay Carrier/Trolley made by the Milwaukee Hay Tool Company. The company lasted until 1931, but this trolley was likely earlier and possibly in the 1900s. The original patent is for 1906 and is located here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US8... This is one of the few antique tools I have restored that is malleable iron and not cast iron. It is really nice to deal with that instead of cast iron as I can be more rough as I am taking the tool apart. Malleable iron can also be bent and not shatter into a million pieces. The "trip" took a long time to find and definitely seem to be more rare than the trolley itself. I used 3/4" natural fibre rope in this video. I also used a simple recipe of boiled linseed oil, polyurethane, and paint thinner to make a simple "danish oil" finish that I like to use on bare metal to preserve patina. I feel like I should have welded the metal track differently with it ending in a "U" shape instead of a "T" shape, as that would have made installing the trip much easier and allowing more strength to the track. I hope to actually put this in my new workshop with some lights hanging down from the ropes. It would work great for some extra lighting right above the workbench.
I restore a bolt from the early 20th century. Fasteners, like this bolt, are used to fasten things together and that's why I find the fastenating. This one came off of a 1910s flux capacitor. The rust removal process was fairly easy with the wire wheel and sandblaster. I used an air finish for this bolt.
This tool restoration was on a Russian / USSR chain mortiser. I think it was made in 1973 by Electricgalvanic and has the model number IE-5601A. I do not know much else about this tool as most websites (which are in Russian) do not go into much detail. I believe the chain came in three different widths, and I have the 3/4" one. If you know more about this company or tool, please let us know in the comments. The restoration itself was pretty straight forward as only a few pieces were missing. I decided to paint the tool as some of the photos of this tool online show it painted and the person I was restoring this for asked for it. In this first part, I disassemble, clean, and paint the chain mortiser. In part two I reassemble, make new parts, and get it running. This thing is a beast!
This tool restoration was on a Soviet / USSR chain mortiser. I think it was made in 1973 by Electricgalvanic and has the model number IE-5601A. I do not know much else about this tool as most websites (which are in Russian) do not go into much detail. I believe the chain came in three different widths, and I have the 3/4" one. Most of the info is located here: http://stroy-technics.ru/article/ruch... The restoration itself was pretty straight forward as only a few pieces were missing. I decided to paint the tool as some of the photos of this tool online show it painted and the person I was restoring this for asked for it. In this first part, I disassemble, clean, and paint the chain mortiser. In part two I reassemble, make new parts, and get it running. This thing is a beast!
In this video I reproduce an antique wrench / spanner that was originally patented in 1879 by Charles Billings. These style wrenches were first used mainly on bicycles, but eventually made their way into the glove compartment of very early cars. This style wrench was also commonly made by apprentice machinists as part of a test, since multiple skills are needed to produce it. The wrenches were originally made of "Norway Iron", which is a type of steel that has a slightly higher carbon content than wrought iron. I decided to go with 44W/A36 steel for this recreation, for this reason. The wrench blanks were cut by a laser out of 1/2in thick steel and then machined to match the originals as close as possible. I thought adding a brass adjuster would make a neat variation on the original, as well. I had a lot of fun getting this wrench made, but it was also a tremendous amount of work. I would like to that the patrons on Patreon for supporting this adventure as well as Colonel & Sons Machine Works for their incredible efforts machining these wrenches. You can contact them at yxecnc@gmail.com.
This was a fun tool for a restoration project! It was made by the Lowentraut MFG. Co. of Newark, New Jersey sometime soon after 1901. It was patented by Samuel Johnston on May 21, 1901 and you can view the patent here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US6... There was an earlier version of this tool and you can see the patent here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US5... Some people call this a brace wrench or combination tool. The handles are made of rosewood and the original finish was nickel-plating. I really do not like nickel-plating on antique tools as it is almost always degraded and prevents tools from getting that nice patina. I decide that, instead of re-plating the multi-tool, I would just polish up the metal that was there. I used Evapo-Rust to see if any of the nickel-plating was salvageable, and it was on the screwdriver part of this tool. The rest were either sandblasted or polished with an abrasive pad. Oil-based wood finished turn rosewood really dark, so I used wax to make sure the beautiful wood grain was showing through. I can see why something like this never really caught on as most multi-tools today suffer from the same problems; they are only somewhat good at each task. It was fun to have a nice and quick restoration for a change along with removing all the history from the tool! The MAN can't tell me what to do. I also caught my first "blooper" on video and included it in this upload.
I always love doing chainsaw restorations. This chainsaw (Model C. E) was made by the Strunk Manufacturing Co. in the 1960s. The chainsaw happens to be electric and has a massive 26 amp motor, which puts the saw at around 4HP. That is a LOT of power for an electric chainsaw. Strunk also made versions of these for the U.S. Army in the 1960s. I have not been able to find a photo of this saw anywhere on the internet. This saw was very dirty, especially inside the motor, which is probably the reason why it did not run. I couldn't sandblast the paint off as it contained lead. I decided to go a little bit further with this restoration and add a polished handle and bucking spikes. The chainsaw bar oil can was the most damaged and needed a lot of work to get back to original condition. In this video I take everything apart, clean, repair, and then paint. In Part 2, I will put it back together and get it running.
I always love doing chainsaw restorations. This chainsaw (Model C. E) was made by the Strunk Manufacturing Co. in the 1960s. The chainsaw happens to be electric and has a massive 26 amp motor, which puts the saw at around 4HP. That is a LOT of power for an electric chainsaw. Strunk also made versions of these for the U.S. Army in the 1960s. I have not been able to find a photo of this saw anywhere on the internet. This saw was very dirty, especially inside the motor, which is probably the reason why it did not run. I couldn't sandblast the paint off as it contained lead. I decided to go a little bit further with this restoration and add a polished handle and bucking spikes. The chainsaw bar oil can was the most damaged and needed a lot of work to get back to original condition. The clutch being present on this saw probably signifies a small production run. The patent for the chainsaw chain is here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US2... This was the first of the modern chainsaw tooth designs. In this video I check that the electrical motor is functioning correctly and put the saw back together to get it running.
This restoration was on a early 1900s Bacon Mfg. Co. seeder. These were also known as garden seeders, hand-drills, or cultivators. The Bacon Mfg. Co. was based out of Pontiac, Michigan, USA. I had a really hard time locating ANY information on this tool, but I did find the patent from 1901 located here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US6... I also found an advertisement for this seeder from 1899 here: https://i.imgur.com/677aZUQ.jpg There are several "BD" markings on the castings that lead me to believe this is a "Bacon Drill" seeder and not another type. The black finish on this seeder was most likely japanning, but I am still unsure about the finish on the silver parts. Usually nickel-plated steel builds up a greenish film that washes off after placed in Evapo-rust, but this did not happen at all. The rest of the restoration was fairly straight forward as these are all just metal parts that needed de-rusting and paint. I used 3-4 coats of paint and 3 coats of clear-coat on everything. There is a part on the back wheel that I do not know what it does. It may have been a counter or a measuring tool, from the looks of it. The seeder was actually really fun to use and if I had a large garden this would still come in handy today!
In this video Jimmy DiResta invited me to his workshop to help rescue this 1945 Delta Milwaukee 14" Bandsaw. We decided to not do a typical restoration, but go with a raw steel and brass look for all parts. We both really liked how this turned out and hopefully I can do more things like this every once in a while. The exposed parts of the bandsaw were fairly rusty, but the internals were in surprisingly good shape. Luckily not all of the bearings needed replacing as I only brought a few new bearings and finding new ones in the short time I was there, was not possible. I focused on disassembly, cleaning, removing paint and rust, and reassembling the bandsaw. Jimmy focused on remaking the knobs in solid brass, making the blade guard out of oak, welding the new pulleys, making the motor mount, and hooking up the power switch. Brett McAfee focused on "brassing" certain steel parts on the saw so it would look even better. You can see his process here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzCXP... We all had a lot of fun and I hope to do this again one day. Thank you for inviting me Jimmy!
Like a normal axe, but slightly safer. In this video I restore an old axe found by Black Beard Projects. While I was on vacation in Italy, I decided to contact him and we worked out a time and place to make a video together. We had VERY limited tools and time, so we decided to split this restoration into two parts. In Part 1, on my channel, I clean up and sharpen the axe and prepare the handle with some light shaping. In Part 2, on Black Beard Projects' channel he finishes the handle, forges the guard, and mounts the head on the axe. We decided to modify this axe into a "safety axe" as we wanted to do something different than all the other axe restoration videos out there. We had a ton of fun during the short time I was able to visit and Black Beard Projects is a really nice guy for hosting me. Hopefully we will meet again! If anyone knows anything about the maker of this axe, I would love to know.
This tool restoration was on an antique belt lacer. This machine was made by the Clipper Belt Lacer Company from Grand Rapids, MI, USA around 1910s-1920s. This model (No. 3) can lace belts up to 6in wide. These belts, usually made of leather, were used to power machinery during this time period and a tool like this would be very useful to link belts together quickly and get a machine running. I had to de-rust the parts first, just to see where paint was and wasn't. There was so much paint loss in areas that it would have been really hard to tell if a part was painted a certain way if I didn't have a better look with the rust removed. Sandblasting first would have messed this up. The metal pin used to hold the clipper belt lacing was incredibly stuck in it's brass or bronze housing. I had to use a mix of alum and water to dissolve the steel pin out of it. I used 4 coats of black enamel paint and 3 coats of a clear coat for this project. I remade the handles using jatoba even though the original handles were just a lighter wood that was stained black and thickly lacquered. I didn't want to do that to such a nice wood. I was really excited to restore this tool as I will definitely be using it in the future for more tool restorations.
This tool restoration focused on the Rawlplug Mechanical Hammer. This tool is an early hand-cranked hammer drill from what I believe to be the 1950s based on components and design. The patent number on the body of the tool leads to this patent from 1932: https://patents.google.com/patent/GB3... The restoration process was fairly straight forward, but the internals of the drill were peened together, forcing me to restore them all as one piece. I decide to not paint all over the aluminum casting so the polished aluminum could shine. I don't like painting high wear areas so I also did not re-paint the chest plate black. The paint on the handle seems important enough to the original look of the tool that I did repaint that part. I am still not 100% sure how someone could quickly change drill bits on this tool as they have a tapered end that gets hammered into a tapered spindle making it very hard to remove. I am sure there is a tool or trick to it, but I am not sure what that is yet! In the end, the tool did do the job it was designed for, faster than by hand, but slower than a power drill.
This is a tool restoration I have been wanting to do for a while! It is a A. B. Jardine & Co. power / trip hammer from around the 1920s. These were called "Canadian Giant" hammers as they closely resemble the "Little Giant" hammers made by a different company. Out of the two models they made, this specific hammer is the 25lb model vs the 50lb model. This hammer was $150 in 1915, so it puts the value at almost $4000 USD in 2018 dollars! I picked this up locally about a year ago with plans to restore it once I had the space. In this video, I take everything apart and inspect all bearing surfaces. The babbitt bearings are in fantastic condition and must have been re-poured at some point recently in its life. The other moving parts of the hammer are not in good condition. Many parts have been poorly welded back together and every single hole is worn out. In the next video I will repair all these pieces and add bronze bushings to all the holes so this machine is safe to use again. Even the die blocks need replacing as I cannot trust the welds to hold. You can actually still buy new parts for these hammers since they are so similar to "Littie Giant" hammers, but the parts are quite expensive. I am definitely excited to see this thing running, but I do plan on selling this hammer, since I have found an even larger one!
This is a tool restoration I have been wanting to do for a while! It is a A. B. Jardine & Co. power / trip hammer from around the 1920s. These were called "Canadian Giant" hammers as they closely resemble the "Little Giant" hammers made by a different company. Out of the two models they made, this specific hammer is the 25lb model vs the 50lb model. This hammer was $150 in 1920s, so it puts the value at almost $4000 USD in 2018 dollars! I picked this up locally about a year ago with plans to restore it once I had the space. In this video, I take everything apart and inspect all bearing surfaces. The babbitt bearings are in fantastic condition and must have been re-poured at some point recently in its life. The other moving parts of the hammer are not in good condition. Many parts have been poorly welded back together and every single hole is worn out. In this video, all pieces are repaired and bronze bushings are added to all the holes, so this machine is safe to use again. Even the die blocks needed replacing as I cannot trust the welds to hold. You can actually still buy new parts for these hammers since they are so similar to "Littie Giant" hammers, but the parts are quite expensive. The hammer worked well after the rebuild and it will be up to the new owner to make the final adjustments and motor mount. The safety shield is not original so I did not bother restoring it as the new owner may not want to use it anyways.
This is quite different from my normal tool restorations. In this video, I do some hand plane preservation. I am trying to show the technique I use to preserve the value of a collectible hand plane, even though this is specific hand plane is not very collectible. In most tool preservations the key is to remove large amounts of rust or dirt and keep as much patina and natural use/age as possible. All you need is some fine sandpaper, steel wool, a razor blade, a screwdriver, and some wax. I removed some paint marks with paint strippers and just used soap, water, and a brush to clean the plane. I am hoping you can enjoy this in the background and relax.
This tool restoration was on a 1920s jewelry or polishing treadle lathe (Model 29 1/2) made by the Goodell-Pratt Company. These lathes were made for light-duty use and came with a number of different attachements, including a buffing wheel spindle. This specific lathe seemed to contain parts from larger lathes made by Goodell-Pratt at the time. Regardless, each part was in fairly good condition, with only the chuck needing some machining. The ring on the chuck was welded up and knurled again, but the steel became quite hard after welding and annealing that it did not turn out the best it could. I am not sure what the type of steel is, so it's possible it can air harden. The original colours, as noted in catalogue listings were black and vermillion. I am sure sure if this grey painted base is original. I made a dead centre out of case-hardened mild-steel. I really hope to find the larger versions of this lathe as they had a full cross-slide that enabled you to do some nice metal lathe machining.
This is my voice.
In this video I reproduce a 3in version of an antique wrench / spanner that was originally patented in 1879 by Charles Billings. These style wrenches were first used mainly on bicycles, but eventually made their way into the glove compartment of very early cars. This style wrench was also commonly made by apprentice machinists as part of a test, since multiple skills are needed to produce it. The wrenches were originally made of "Norway Iron", which is a type of steel that has a slightly higher carbon content than wrought iron. I decided to go with 44W/A36 steel for this recreation, for this reason. The wrench blanks were cut out of 3/8in thick steel and then machined. I thought adding a brass adjuster would make a neat addition as well. I had a lot of fun getting this wrench made, but it was also a tremendous amount of work.
This thing blows. In this video I do somewhat of a different restoration than in most of my projects. This tool seems to be fairly rare as I cannot find very much documentation. The patent can be found here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US9... The only advertisement I can find is from a 1913 catalogue here: https://imgur.com/a/JfFsyNo It is an early 1910s "Hypress" blower and pump made by L. J. Wing Mfg. I believe this company is still in operation. Since this was such a unique piece, I did not want to remove the patina off the brass components as that ruins the historical significance and value. I also chose to repaint the tool with the original black japanning finish that would have been used at the time. This helps make the restoration more authentic than my usual projects. The design was very simple with only 4 parts making up the blower internals. After a good clean and oiling, the tool worked very well and had enough pressure to blow up some balloons. Apparently, this low pressure blower was used to separate pieces of paper for printing.
The time has come for this chainsaw restoration. This specific saw restoration is for me and I have been wanting to get to this tool for a long time. I started the disassembly in November 2018 and had to wait a while for some rare parts to arrive. This chainsaw is a McCulloch 99 two-man chainsaw made in 1954. The engine is 161cc and the powerhead alone is 51lbs making it one of the largest production chainsaws ever. In this video I focus on the bar, chain, and gearbox. Everything had rust and dirt removed and painted parts got 3 coats of yellow enamel and 2 coats of a 2K clear paint for gas and oil resistance. McCulloch chainsaws had very inconsistent yellow colours, so I tried to match the colour of this specific saw the best I could. The gear box was in fantastic condition and did not need much work at all whereas the bar and magnesium castings needed much more love. I sharpened the chain back to an aggressive 35 degree angle because I am sure the saw can handle it. I was surprised to notice that this model saw does not have a screw adjustment for tensioning the chain. I am not sure if this will cause issues when cutting and I will die. In the next video I will work on the completely destroyed muffler and the unique and complicated carburetor. In the final video I will work on the powerhead and hopefully cut some wood!
The time has come for this chainsaw restoration. This specific saw restoration is for me and I have been wanting to get to this tool for a long time. I started the disassembly in November 2018 and had to wait a while for some rare parts to arrive. This chainsaw is a McCulloch 99 two-man chainsaw made in 1954. The engine is 161cc and the powerhead alone is 51lbs making it one of the largest production chainsaws ever and the largest in McCulloch's production line at the time. In this video, I focus on the complicated carburetor and broken muffler. The carburetor is uniquely designed by McCulloch to ensure the chainsaw always has a reason to not start or run. It is a labyrinth of small holes and tubes that I hopefully fully cleaned. My main concern is that I won't know I did something wrong until I try and run the saw. I had to make a new gasket with some new carburetor diaphragm material that I found online as I did not trust the old gasket to function optimally. The muffler needed a lot of work! I cut the old dented parts off and used some thicker steel pipe and sheet metal to remake the muffler. I tried to design it so it was as close to original as I can get with the tools I have available to me. I am excited to hear what it sounds like. In the next video I will work on the main powerhead and reassemble the whole saw so we can try and cut some wood!
I finally show you the secret to my Academy Award winning restoration videos while restoration a railroad alligator wrench.
The time has come for this chainsaw restoration. This specific saw restoration is for me and I have been wanting to get to this tool for a long time. I started the disassembly in November 2018 and had to wait a while for some rare parts to arrive. This chainsaw is a McCulloch 99 two-man chainsaw made in 1954. The engine is 161cc and the powerhead alone is 51lbs making it one of the largest production chainsaws ever and the largest in McCulloch's production line at the time. In this video, I focus on disassembling the powerhead and getting everything ready for painting. I used 2 coats of self-etching primer, 3 coats of yellow enamel, and 3 coats of 2K fuel-resistant clear paint for each of the painted pieces. I was not able to get the clutch off of this saw, so instead of fixing something until I break it, I decided to leave it alone and restore the chainsaw without removing the clutch. This meant that the crankshaft had to stay together as well. Almost all pieces were meticulously cleaned by hand as solvents and degreasers can only do so much. In the next video, I will piece the whole saw together and hopefully and finally cut some wood.
The time has come for this chainsaw restoration. I have been wanting to get to this tool for a long time. I started the disassembly in November 2018 and had to wait a while for some rare parts to arrive. This chainsaw is a McCulloch 99 two-man chainsaw made in 1954. The engine is 161cc and the powerhead alone is 51lbs making it one of the largest production chainsaws ever and the largest in McCulloch's production line at the time. In this video, I finally piece the whole saw back together and try to get it running. It took me over 13hrs to reassemble just the powerhead and I am so glad to have it done. The parts, like the piston rings took months to arrive, but they fit great after I gapped them like a boss. Cutting wood with this saw is very different than with a normal chainsaw and requires a second person to risk their life during the entire cut. This project was entirely funded by Patrons and I have to thank them immensely for their support!
This video took me around 50 hours to make and just over 4000 photos. I have been wanting to get to item for a while now. It's a 1990 Super Soaker made by Larami Corp. This was the video I wanted to release on April 1st, but I ran out of time. This thing is almost entirely plastic and most parts are permanently glued together. Those features make it very hard to actually restore, but slightly easier to repair. I had to break off the orange plastic caps at the back of the Super Soaker in order to get it apart. Once apart, it was a simple glue up to fix the broken pieces. The HDPE plastic water containers cannot be revived to their original colour, so I just had to repaint them. I am "pumped" this works again as pressurized versions are not for sale anymore.
This restoration is on a 1920s Stikfast Label Paster made by The A.V. Ross Co. of Norwood, Ohio, USA. This tool seems to be fairly rare as there are only a few examples online and not much about the company that made it. The patent for it can be found here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US1... The label paster top is copper plated for some reason, but the bottom is not. I do not know why. I really liked the look of copper, brass, and iron used in this machine. The brass components were stone-washed and lightly repaired. Some brass discs had cracks in them, but not large enough to affect the function of the tool. I decided to get some practice on hand painting brass labels and took the time to do just that with the smallest brush I could find. I feel like this tool would not be very practical since the glue in the bottom part would start to harden if it wasn't always being used. I also imagine that cleanup would be more time than it's worth. It's nice to do some work on a smaller and less complicated tool after spending months on a chainsaw.
This restoration is on a 1910s ball-shaped motor off of a medical vibrator. The "Cologne Vibrator" was made and sold by the F.S Betz Co. of Hammond, Indiana. F.S Betz Co. started in 1909 and was the world's largest supplier of medical equipment by time it was sold in 1937. Betz also produced cars and ran an airline for a short time. Oddly, there is not much information about this company on the internet. I hope to find the attachments that were powered by this motor: https://i.imgur.com/xOcZkJu.png. Taking this motor apart was a lot of fun since it was a giant puzzle. The moment I found this motor I wanted to know how it was put together inside and why it was designed in this shape. The motor housings were completely japanned and I did my best to recreate that look with modern finishes. I am hoping to have a large oven hooked up in my workshop so I can do some real japanning soon. The motor was actually in fairly decent condition for being over 100 years old and just needed some de-rusting and cleaning to get back on it's feet. A lot of parts were nickel-plated brass, so I took the chance to remove the nickel-plated where I thought it would look best. The motor now runs well with fresh grease, but spins very fast. I was surprised at how fast it was and I wish I had a tachometer to see the exact speed. I plan on keeping this motor so I can be reminded about finding the attachments to it.
I restore these ~100 year old earphones so that they work with modern equipment. These earphones are most likely around 100 years old as the patents were filed in 1923. This restoration was on a pair of C. Brandes Inc. earphones. You can have a look at the original product catalog from 1916 here: https://www.sowp.org/wp-content/uploa... These sold for around the equivalent of $150USD in 2019 and all patents can be found under Dietrich Frederick. I was really excited to see if I could get these headphones working again. This was my first attempt at vintage electronics, so I tried to stay away from the more sensitive electrical components. Ideally I would have liked to have the coils all rewound, but the wires are 0.002" and that stresses me out. I need to work my way up to that. I decided to make only one modification and that was to remove the nickel-plating off the solid brass components. Nickel-plating was fancy back then, but now brass is fancy! Soap and water went a long way with cleaning up the headband. Sanding and polishing worked really well for the earphone covers. I was so glad I was able to hook these up to a modern headphone jack and listen to that sweet sweet sound of all metal speakers.
This restoration is on a 1930s Stanley "Fish-mouth" Unishear. This model is number 16A and is made to cut steel up to 16 gauge, but is over-powered and can do much more! This tool was sent to me by a viewer and arrived with rust that seemed to be fairly recent. It was also filled with mud wasp nests, which is something I rarely see in tools since I live in the frozen tundra. The shear is almost entirely aluminum with only a select few hardened steel parts. The motor cleaned up well, but one of these days I would really like to do a proper electric motor restoration where I rewind it all and have it dipped in lacquer. Apparently this tool needs an infinite supply of oil to function well, so I replaced the bearings with sealed ones in case I forget to oil it one time. It was missing an oil cap for one of its bearings, which was easily made and replaced. I also replaced all the screws in the handle with brass ones, just because I like to shear in style. I hope to use this around the shop to help me with some sheet-metal work for future restorations.
This tool restoration is on a model 27BC Acme Staple Co. stapler. The Acme Staple Co. is actually still in business today. This particular stapler is somewhat difficult to date as the aluminum castings contain reference to the Camden N.J. location where Acme Staple Co. was based out of from 1909-1959, but the metal label references the Franklin, N.H location where the company was based out of after 1959. I am going to assume this stapler was made around the time of the transition between the two locations. The first design for this type of stapler was patented in 1934 and can be seen here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US2... The restoration on this tool was fairly straight forward as no painting needed to be done. After disassembly all steel parts were de-rusted and the aluminum parts were sandblasted and then tumbled with fine media for a few hours to smooth out the look. The only stock removal I did was to smooth out any large dents or scratches on the aluminum parts that may have accumulated during years of use. The stapler came with a few copper staples in it, so I was able to test it out once put back together. It's definitely a heavy duty stapler and I can see it being used to staple thin wood boxes together in the 1960s.
I test out the top recipes for recreating an antique japanning finish while letting you know what in the world japanning is. I also show you how to japan a hand plane. Recipe: 50% Turpentine 30% Asphaltum/Gilsonite 20% Boiled Linseed Oil Mix together and set aside for at least 24 hours. Check if consistency is like molasses/nutella, and add more turpentine if too thick or more asphaltum if too thin. Wait at least 24 hours after the addition of any further ingredients before use. Once ready to paint, do not stir or shake the japanning as undissolved particles will be at the bottom of the container. Paint on one thin coat and let sit for a few hours before baking. Place painted item in cold oven and set it to 200F for 1hr then let cool. Bake it again at 300F for 1 hr and let cool in the oven. Then bake at 350F and finally 400F for 30 min each, cooling in between steps. If japanning is still not hard after 400F, you can bake at 425F for 1 hr. Once fully hard, you can smooth out the first coat with sandpaper and apply further coats. You can also apply further coats before you bake past 300F, if you think your first coat is smooth enough. You can also choose to not bake this finish at all, but you will have to wait at least 90 days for it to cure. Addition of japan drier to the recipe may make it cure faster. Keep the unused japanning in a container with a tight lid. If the japanning starts to get too thick or hardens, you can always add more turpentine to bring it back to life. I hope to put this out there so more people try the recipe and experiment with it so that we can all get as close as possible to a working recipe.
This thing is amazing! It is a Foley Automatic Filer Model 61 from 1954-1958 made by the Foley Manufacturing Co. of Minneapolis, MN. It has the capability to sharpen and joint hand saws, band saws, and circular saws. These sold for around $250 USD in 1954, which is equivalent to $2300 USD in 2019. They were marketed as the all-in-one sharpening solution for running your own sharpening business. This specific unit was generously donated to me from a viewer. This restoration ending up turning into a "rescue" as I decide to keep the original paint and not repaint the tool. Usually, if a tool has more than 90% of its original finish, then I will not repaint it, and that is what happened here. Even though, originally, the tool was not painted very well and painted almost fully assembled, it was still worth saving. I just gave all parts a semi-gloss clear coat to bring back the original luster and prevent future rusting. The only parts that were missing were a set of thumbscrews, a lock nut, and the light attachment. I ended up making the light attachment and had the custom lock nuts remade at the machine shop. The machine was also originally missing the hand saw carriage and bandsaw blade attachment, but luckily, I was able to source the saw carriage from a follower on instagram. The bandsaw blade attachment is still needed, so let me know if you ever find one. Getting the machine set up properly is definitely time consuming, but once perfected the sharpening goes quickly. I would love to use this machine to sharpen some hand saws that I find during my antique tool searches. I know you can use it for jointing saw blades as well, but I did not show that in the video.
This tool restoration focused on a Craftsman "Model 109" metal-cutting lathe from 1948. The lathe was giving to me by a fan about a year ago. This specific lathe is quite small for a metal-cutting lathe and everything about it has been miniaturized compared to "normal-sized" machining lathes. These were marketed as a model-makers lathe or a hobbyist lathe. These lathes do have some fatal flaws that I point out in the video. Most notably, the spindle is only 0.5" wide and completely hollow. This means that the lathe will never be able to take large cuts or work well with harder metals. If you follow the limitations of this small lathe, then you can definitely get the job done. I decided to repaint all parts as there was too much paint splatter on most of the castings. Several of the bronze bushings were worn out, so they needed to be completely replaced. I do believe this lathe was only missing one of the remaining gears, but hopefully I can find it one day. The decals for this machine were found here: http://wiki.vintagemachinery.org/Deca... After fully reassembled, I was able to get a pretty decent cut out of some brass stock that had, so I was pleased. I may take this a but further and do some modifications on the lathe to improve performance. You can see what can be improved here: http://www.deansphotographica.com/mac...
Some say, it's necessarily complicated. Some, not me, but some. This restoration was on an 1891 patented apple peeler. These were made by the Goodell Co. in Antrim, New Hampshire beginning in the 1890s. I do not know when they halted production of this apple parer, so a more exact age of this specific peeler is unknown. Later models even had a spiral slicer attachment. Personally, I love tools with tons of moving parts that all work synchronistically. You can see the patent document here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US4... You can see a 1918 advertisement here: https://i.imgur.com/EfGZlJZ.jpg This specific tool was previously repainted and so I decided to leave the metal parts completely bare after paint removal. I really do like the "raw steel" look for a type of restoration where you still want the tool to look "old". I ended up only replacing the brass bushings on this unit and the rest of the restoration focused on making sure the peeler looked great and was safe to use. It would be fun to remake the parts that touch the apple out of stainless steel, so that you didn't have to oil everything again after you cleaned the metal parts. Finding more complicated apple peelers is definitely moving up on my list!
I remake a wrench from an 1883 patent by Fredrick H. Seymour. This video is a first in a series of videos I hope to continue making. This wrench patent was applied for at a time when it seemed like everyone and their mother had an idea about how to make the best wrench. Mr. Seymour did not explain what advantages his wrench design has, but I can assume they were designed for ease of production as drop-forging methods left more finishing work on each piece. I am fairly sure drop-forging wrenches eventually won the great wrench wars of old. This project was a lot of fun and was fairly simple and straightforward to remake. The most difficult part to make was the lower jaw, but luckily I have access to a mill for that. I case-hardened the entire wrench with some Cherry Red compound. It leaves a very thin layer (a few thousands of an inch) of hardened steel on the surface. I do not know if the original was case-hardened at all or how deep it would be if it was.
And so begins the restoration of the gas-powered washing machine! This restoration is on a 1929 No. 92 Maytag Multi-Motor. These hit and miss engines are actually quite common with around 600,000 made between 1927 and 1937 in Newton, Iowa, USA. These motors originally powered washing machines for clothes, but were also put on things line lawn mowers and toy race cars. The restoration on this particular motor was a lot of fun as I had a secondary motor for parts as well as access to brand new parts that are still made today. It is an excellent project for someone wanting to restore a small engine. I decided to change the paint scheme just a bit from original, but I really like how it turned out. Obviously, I was disappointed at the motor exploding at the end, but luckily I had a replacement part! The carburetor needed the most work as it was not in the best condition. I decided to give all painted surfaces a coat of clear fuel-resistant paint, just in case. I am super excited to put this thing on a restored washing machine, which is what I plan on doing next! The new parts were made by Flywheel Supply.
It's real and you are going to want to see this run. This restoration is on a late 1920s Model 92 Maytag gas-powered washing machine. Electric versions were also available, but I restored the Maytag engine previously, so it is only natural that I slap it on this washer. This machine contained the most amount of parts I have had to deal with to date! It also gave me a very hard time, with several broken bolts, locked up parts, and damaged or missing parts. I was able to source some replacement parts from a viewer that kindly offered to share. I decided to paint the machine a light grey, but did not choose to paint the tub, even though it was originally painted. I felt that covering up all that aluminum would be a travesty. Getting this machine back together was a very lengthy process, as I had to learn through trial and error where each internal part should go and how it should move. Since the machine was so heavily rusted and locked up, it was hard to envision how the parts all work together, making it harder for me to figure out how to put it back together. I am satisfied with the result although I would have loved to do a mirror polish on the aluminum, but I have a life to live and having something that large and highly polished in the workshop would give me more anxiety than I need right now.
This restoration is on the largest C-clamp I have ever found. I purchased 6 of these clamps from a local stair maker, who said he bought them about 20 years ago from the Beaver Lumber Co. in Saskatoon, SK, Canada. Beaver Lumber was a lumber and hardware store started in 1906 in Saskatchewan. He mentioned they were used in the lumber yard to glue large wooden beams together. I was hoping to uncover a maker's mark on these clamps, but was unsuccessful. If they were made in Saskatoon for the Beaver Lumber Co., I would guess that they were made no later than the 1940s by John East Iron Works Ltd., which was also based in Saskatoon from 1910-1960. John East Iron Works was the largest foundry in Saskatoon at the time. I decided to remove all rust and leave the large casting unpainted to show of as much of it as I could. I also chose to smooth out the edges of the clamp to help highlight its amazing design. I estimate that these are around 200lbs each. All 6 clamps are in fairly decent condition. I had some friends come over and test the clamping force that one human could apply and it ended up being around 20,000lbs of force. I am tempted to test what the maximum clamping force it could reach before breaking, but I do not want to waste one of these awesome clamps!
This restoration is on an early 1900s W.F. and John Barnes Co. No. 5 velocipede screw lathe. James from the @Wood By Wright YouTube channel came to my shop with two of these lathes; one for me and one for him. We both absolutely love the look of this lathe and he plans on using his frequently in his workshop. The lathes were missing many parts and James had them re-cast while I did the machining on them. The lathes were both is better than expected condition for being over 100 years old. I decided to paint mine black which was consistent with the original japanning used for a finish on this lathe. If I had sorted out my cold-cure japanning recipe, then I would have loved to do japanning on this restoration. We only had three days together, so after we put primer on the parts, James had to leave. James kept the only 3-jaw chuck, as he plans on using the lathe on a regular basis, so I had to do some test cuts using the old drill chuck. This was a poor choice and the cut quality was horrendous. Pedalling the lathe is actually pretty fun for about 25 seconds until you start cutting and you have to start pedalling with some serious force. This lathe could easily be converted to an electric powered one and it would make a pretty nice 11" lathe.
In this tool restoration I focus on a 900-Sterling Rectifier made by The Sterling MFG. Co. of Cleveland, Ohio. The rectifier was most likely used as a battery charger for radios and cars in the 1920s. From my research, I do no think this exact model is a common tool as the pricing suggests it was around 5% the cost of a Model T in 1922. I believe this is a vibratory reed half-wave rectifier, but I am not 100% sure. This technology was used before vacuum tube diodes became popular. The actually restoration was much more involved than I thought it would be and I was concerned that I would not be able to get this to work once back together. Electrical wiring is not my area of expertise, but a bunch of research helped. I was not able to find an exact patent, but this one was close: https://patents.google.com/patent/US1... I chose to replacing the nickel-plating on some of the brass parts, but not all. I had to remake some bakelite pieces, but was able to revive others in plastic restorer cream. I also chose not to do a clear coat on this tool as the original paint seemed to not be that glossy originally. I would have also liked to rewire the main coil, but I just do not feel comfortable yet tackling that. I really do want to have a try at rewinding an electric motor, but I don't want to practice on something so uncommon. I was VERY surprised that this worked after I wired it back together. It took me about 5 hours of wiring to make sure this was put back together in the exact right way.
This restoration was on a 1920s paint sprayer made by the Crown Spray Gun MFG. Co.. Once again, there is not much information on this tool online and my access to American library sources, but from what I could find, this company began in 1913 and produced products until at least the 1950s out of their Los Angeles, California location. I picked up this paint sprayer/compressor a few years ago because its design caught my eye. It was made with two diaphragm pumps that push air into a long tube and finally out to the spray gun. You can see a version of this paint sprayer in a 1929 photoshoot here: http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref... I replaced all gaskets and diaphragm with oil-resistant fabric-reinforced rubber to match as close to original as possible. I left the aluminum bare as I really don't like to paint over aluminum. I had to completely remake the top tube and fasteners as they were too pitted to be salvaged. I also made sure to oil this tool like crazy during assembly. I ended up powering it with a drill as my original motor setup was making the tool spin way too fast. It seem to work, but not as well, at the lower rpm. Maybe I can actually use this to do some airbrushing on future restorations!
This restoration is on an antique check/cheque perforator made by the B.F. Cummins Co. This tool was patented in 1918 and the original patent document can be seen here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US1... The perforator was recently sent to me by a viewer and was interesting enough to try and restore right away. It was used to cancel checks by marking them with the word "PAID" and the date. I decided to give the tool a brand new coat of japanning as that was the original finish. I ended up using 3 coats of japanning on all castings. The punch plate for the perforator was made out of aluminum and most of the pins were incredibly stuck. For some reason, the pins are surrounded by an incredible amount of solder, for no discernible reason. The brass rings help index the proper date to perforate the paper and must have been an absolute nightmare to machine. I had to nickel-plate a bunch of parts for this machine as well. In the end it worked well and I wish it could do letters as well as that would much more fun!
I accidentally came across Jesus' personal hand plane while cleaning my shop. I do not know how it ended up in the middle of Canada, but carbon-dating determined this plane is around 2000 years old. The restoration focuses on resurrecting all broken and missing parts of the plane so it can function once again.
The restoration is on the oldest tool I have worked on so far for YouTube. This is a food chopper or hasher patented by L.S. Starrett (of Starrett tool fame) in 1865. It was one of his first patented inventions. You can see the patent here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US4... At the time of production, this was used mainly to dice meat in to smaller pieces at a much faster pace than doing it by hand. The rich or businesses would find this affordable as it sold for $10 USD in 1869, which is equivalent to ~$2000USD in 2020. I found this tool about two years ago and wanted it for my personal collection. Since this piece was not a commission, I was able to do whatever I liked with it during the restoration process. With that in mind, I purposely did not remake any wooden pieces as they had a very attractive pattern on them from years of use. With that decision made, it would look odd to remake the damaged bucket as well, so that was just repaired and left as found. The parts were dunked in Evapo-Rust to reveal what colour and where the original paint was. The only painted part seemed to be the bucket base. The bucket and its base both showed some bright blue paint on the hidden seem where they meet. I am not sure why this colour was there or if it even was paint. The main castings were all cleaned and had their bores enlarged to accept bronze bushings. There was just too much play all over the machine to make sure it functioned properly, so it had to be done. The restoration decisions on this tool were very hard to make as I wanted to respect the age and inventor while also maintaining a specific look. Hopefully I achieved a nice balance of those two. There were MANY different variations of this tool in images online probably due to many production changes over time as the production shifted from Starrett himself to the Athol Machine Co. over time. If someone ever makes a "type study" for this tool, I will be greatly appreciative.
The restoration of this saw filer was the most amount of work yet! 0:00 Life-changing introduction 0:47 Disassembly 14:34 Head smash 16:09 Pouring new babbitt bearings 19:46 Brazing cast iron 20:47 Machining new brass knobs 24:16 Reassembly 36:38 Pain This tool is a saw filing and setting machine made by Black Diamond Saw & Machine Works of Natick, MA, U.S.A. sometime after 1911. The original patent from 1909 can be seen here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US9... Unfortunately, the saw setting attachment has been lost, but I would love to find it one day. This particular machine showed signed of been very well used and repaired in ways that suggest it was used in a production environment. I ended up needing to pour new babbitt bearings, machine new parts, repair old parts, replace fasteners, and completely change all the paint colours to get the tool back to a more original state. I absolutely love saw filers and settings since they have some of the highest gizmocity of almost any tools their size. I will be saving this one for my personal collection.
This restoration is on a 1965 Toro Flymo 19 hovering lawn mower. It was patented in 1963 and you can see the exact patent here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US3... I believe Toro only manufactured this in 1965 before selling the Flymo brand to Electrolux. The hovering action was especially useful for mowing ditches or golf greens. A viewer sent me this lawn mower in 2017 and I am happy to finally get to it. Despite looking like it had been used quite a lot, this Flymo had remarkably clean engine internals. The engine still needed new gaskets as they were most likely contributing to a loss of lubrication, fuel, and compression. I decided to only repaint the parts that were not aluminum or ones that would get hot. Personally, I dislike painting those types of parts. The fiberglass base was the most difficult to restore and I did not get it back to 100% new. I first cleaned it with degreaser and then slowly used a razor blade to scrape off any damaged or discoloured fibres. I then gave it a clear coat of two-component fuel-resistant paint. There were some deeper stains, but it definitely looked much better. This is literally the first time I have had a tool with fiberglass parts. I had all the digital art for the decals recreated by Jeff at formagraphicart@gmail.com. He has done a bunch of recreations for me and does a fantastic job. I then had the digital decals printed on vinyl at a local shop. As for the function of this mower...it's amazing! I had way way too much fun cutting my lawn with this and I might just keep using this one from now on. The biggest downside is that you have to carry it to your lawn when it's not on, as it does not have wheels. Luckily, the whole unit weighs 25lbs, so it's relatively light. I am surprised these are not more popular in North America, like they are in the U.K.
In this restoration I tackle the largest project I have done to date! This is a 1920s drag or log saw made by the Ottawa Mfg. Co. of Ottawa, Kansas, USA. This is a TE model with a 5HP 4-stroke engine on it. The saw mimics the sawing action of two people using a non-powered crosscut saw. The saw blade itself is 5ft long. I have not dealt with 4-stroke engines very often in my restoration history, so it was a lot of fun learning along the way. The tool itself shows signs of many repairs over its ~100 years, including a lot of brazing due to large frost cracks and completely broken castings in other places. The wooden base is rotting away and is cracked in many places as well. The magneto does not produce spark and the piston is stuck as well! In this video I tackle the disassembly as well as make new parts or repair parts when I can. In the final video I will paint parts, reassemble, and test it out on a log!
In this restoration I tackle the largest project I have done to date! This is a 1920-1930s drag or log saw made by the Ottawa Mfg. Co. of Ottawa, Kansas, USA. This is a TE model with a 5HP 4-stroke engine on it. The saw mimics the sawing action of two people using a non-powered crosscut saw. The saw blade itself is 5ft long. I have not dealt with 4-stroke engines very often in my restoration history, so it was a lot of fun learning along the way. The tool itself shows signs of many repairs over its ~100 years, including a lot of brazing due to large frost cracks and completely broken castings in other places. The wooden base is rotting away and is cracked in many places. The magneto does not produce spark and the piston is stuck as well! In this video I tackle the repair of the wooden base as well as reassemble everything for testing. I decided to only paint certain parts and to leave the new wooden base rustic looking to match the rest of the saw. I plan on bringing the saw to antique engine shows, so I thought that making it look "old" would be the right choice. This project was entirely funded by patrons so I want to keep this tool and show it off when I can as a way to remember everyone's contributions.
In this video I show you the process for creating the Large Wrench along with all its improvements over the original design. I would like to that the patrons on Patreon for supporting this adventure as well as Colonel & Sons Machine Works for their incredible efforts machining these wrenches. You can contact them at yxecnc@gmail.com.
In this restoration I restore a vise drill anvil combination tool. This odd tool was manufactured by Rock Island Mfg. Co. from 1915-1930s when the company went out of business. You can see the original patent here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US1... This tool was sent to me by a viewer in hopes of getting everything back in order. The only part missing was the "hardy" tool for the anvil, but those can be easily made. I would not recommend using cast iron as an anvil material though as it will most likely shatter. The entire concept of this combination tool is something that is not synergistic and is actually just a poor anvil, drill, and vise. Nevertheless, these are somewhat common and must have been popular with at least some number of customers. I replaced all the old japanning with new coats of japanning. I tried to slap on more layers of japanning as an experiment to see if I could get a smoother finish. The anvil portion had some cracks that needed to be brazed and the vise jaws were machined off and completely replaced with soft metal ones. I personally use soft jaws more often. To use the drill you have to turn one handle to advance the bit and another to spin the drill. It's a very odd experience, but neat nonetheless. Since this tool was sent to me, I would love to pass it along one day, so if you are interested, let me know!
These saws were apparently used in bridgework, but also had different saw blades for meat or ice. I believe this one may have been used for ice as the saw blade teeth do not have any set to them. The internal components of the saw were in great condition as they are almost all aluminum and covered in oil. The external steel components were fairly rusted. I rebuilt all the internal components and de-rusted, sanded, painted, and polished the external components. Remaking the decal was difficult as most words were missing and photos online did not give a clear example of what it should. Eventually, I found enough different photos and catalogues that let me piece together the wording (https://imgur.com/pM1qFhp). The digital recreation of the decals was done by Forma Graphics (formagraphicart@gmail.com). There was no information whatsoever on how much air was needed to run this specific saw. All I could find was an advertisement of a similar later model smaller saw made by Wright that mentioned 60CFM at 80-100psi, so I decided to rent a 70CFM compressor and hope for the best. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough and the saw did not cut well through wood. The fact that the teeth had no set also may have made things worse. My guess is that this needs 100-150CFM to function properly. You can see parts of the saw explode out the front of the saw during the first test. The rod that the springs slide onto snapped in two and needed to be completely remade before the saw would function again. You can see on instagram (https://www.instagram.com/handtoolres...) how I remade that part out of tool steel. I also wish I could have tested this in some nice clear water like a pool, but all of those are now closed, and the saw spits out an INSANE amount of oil to function. I am really excited to add this saw to my collection as it is not common and sounds absolutely amazing when in use!
This restoration was on a 1940s "The Model" swing saw made by Irvington Machine Works of Portland, Oregon, USA. I was unable to locate a specific patent related to this saw, but swing saws were popular even in the late 1800s in sawmills and lumber yards for quick cross-cutting. The swing saw was sent to me by a viewer after he purchased it in an auction in Minnesota, USA. Once I saw it, I knew I had to have it. The danger level is too high for it not to be mine! For this restoration I needed to remake a brass angle indicator through acid etching. I also had to create a custom bushing for the saw blade as the saw arbour is an odd size. The machine tags on both the saw and the original electric motor were left alone with only a little clean-up. All other parts were completely disassembled, de-rusted, sandblasted and painted. The saw arbour had more modern roller bearings whereas all other bearing surfaces used babbitt. Luckily they all seem to be in good enough shape as to not need repair or replacing. The new saw blade for this tool is one with a negative rake. This means the teeth of the blade are hooked in a backwards direction in relation to the the direction of spinning. Negative-raked teeth on circular saw blades are the safest choice for swing saws, radial arm saws, and sliding miter saws as they have less of a chance of grabbing the wood and driving saw toward your body and face. Personally, I find this tool to be one of the most terrifying to use out of all the ones in my collection.
I fully remade a tool that was patented in 1878. This specific patent in on a very odd design which includes a hand plane within the handle of a chisel. You can see that patent document here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US2... I decided to use brass and Brazilian cherry as the materials for the tool. I did not have any specific measurements to reference so all decisions on design were made through the patent drawing. While the final outward appearance of the tool is close to the patent design, I did choose to attach the brass portions by threading them into the wood plane body, for extra strength. I have not made a hand plane solely by carving it out with chisels, so this was a large challenge for me. I did practice several times and found that purchasing some specific plane-making tools (plane floats) were key to success. I found this patent recreation process to be incredibly rewarding and it was great seeing each piece come together. I hope to do many more in the future.
This restoration is on a pre-1920s Chauncey Wing's Sons mailer/tape dispenser. The tool is one of the most intricate and complex machines I have seen to dispense tape. The modern cost to replicate something like this would be astronomically expensive, but it is beautiful. You can see the original 1894 patent here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US519185​ A viewer sent me this specific tool a few months ago to compliment one that I found which was missing too many parts to be functional. Between the two, I could compile one completely functional tool. I sandblasted almost every part and wire-wheeled them with a very soft brass wheel, so as to not scratch the brass parts. The handles seemed to be made out of cherry that was heavily varnished. I stripped the old yellowed varnish and applied a thick coating of shellac to the cherry wood. I have to remake the wooden roller that sat in the glue holder, as it was missing. The original glue holder was repaired and filled with water so I could use some water activated tape that I had lying around. After the restoration was done and cutters sharpened the tape dispenser worked really well and was surprisingly easy to use. Maybe I'll use it once in a while to tape up special packages that I ship out. I would like to thank Evapo-Rust for sponsoring this video. Wrenches are now for sale at www.handtoolrescue.com
This restoration is on an 1870s Davis Level & Tool Co. level/inclinometer. I found this tool years ago, but was intimidated by the amount of work required to restore it, its value, and its age. The level was clearly dropped at some point as almost all edges had some form of damage. The far edges were missing large chunks of cast iron, there was a large crack on one side of the level, and the ornate floral casting portions had multiple cranks within it. Surprisingly, the glass vial was completely intact. The entire level was also coating with silver paint, for some reason. Due to its age and value, I felt like repairing the broken casting with bronze would be a complete eye sore and not appropriate for beautiful of a tool. So I decide to torch weld the cracks used 100% cast iron filler rod. This is an incredibly difficult task, but the only way to ensure the repairs are not visually noticeable. I also decided to use japanning to keep the restoration as authentic as possible. I experimented with spraying japanning out of a pressurized can, which actually worked decently, but definitely needs to be perfected. Furthermore, I decided to use my 1870s metal planer to flatten the welded repairs to replicate the original marks made by a metal planer during its original production. This restoration took me longer to complete than some of my more complicated tool restorations, but I am really happy with how it turned out. Wrenches are now for sale at www.handtoolrescue.com
Screwdrivers and wrenches are now for sale at www.handtoolrescue.com The largest in antique screwdrivery, this screwdriver is based off an 1904 patent by William Ward, but with several modern improvements. These are sometimes referred to as "Perfect Handle" screwdriver due to the name H.D. Smith Co. used for there line of screwdrivers will a similar style. Each screwdriver is made from 1144 steel, is 10.5in/26.6cm long, and weighs 1lb/454g. The square shaft is 5/8in/1.5cm thick. The blade is 1in/2.5cm wide and 1/8in/0.3cm thick. Blade is hardened to 52 Rc. The blade on the screwdriver is now a consistent width, unlike the tapered design of most modern screwdrivers, to assist in removal of countersunk screws. The blade tip also has a hollow-ground design ensuring 1/10in/2.5mm of the tip is parallel, allowing for maximum engagement with the fastener. The handle has been re-positioned so that it is perpendicular with the blade to allow for increased strength when using the screwdriver for prying. The handle has also been designed to encapsulate the handle scales, so that even without brass pins, the scales will stay in place. The square shaft allows you to use wrenches to increase the amount of torque you can apply to the fastener if they are really stuck! This was a major design and production undertaking that took about 2 years of prototyping to finalize. I excited to share this with everyone! Big thank you to @yxecnc as well!
This restoration is on a 1900s patented door mortiser made by A.W. Miller Mfg. Co.. You can view the original patent here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US7...​. I obtained this tool knowing it was missing several parts that needed to be remade. Luckily, the missing parts were mostly easy to reproduce, except for the missing hand-wheel. For this, I decided to have all the hand-wheels re-cast in bronze by Windy Hill Foundry. The full process of that re-casting can be seen here: https://youtu.be/qHczjyWYcIU​. Big thank you to him as well! The original finish for this tool was japanning, but I actually ran out of the ingredients to make a new batch, so I had to resort to repainting it. I made a new handle out of jatoba and brass. I was able to salvage the original cutter, but I wish I could find the other cutters, which apparently came with this tool originally. As specialized as this tool is, it does perform very well and make quick work of cutting a slot into some test pieces of wood. Definitely faster, easier, and more accurate than chiseling it out by hand. This tool has an amazing look to it, so I might end up selling or giving this tool away.
It is time to bring my 1960s Bridgeport milling machine back to life! This is a 100% genuine clapped-out mill that I picked up about a year ago. I always hated the horrible white paint job someone did on this machine, so that needs to be fixed. There are also several worn, missing, or completely broken parts that all need attention. This isn't a full restoration, but more of a "rescue". I first needed to remove all paint and body filler, which there was a lot of! Then I needed to install a new quill spring and make new cam ring pins, a new quill lock handle, and install new measuring indicators. Someone converted this mill to use grease instead of oil, which is blasphemous, so all oil lines needed to be fully replaced with ACTUAL oil in them. I decided to not paint the mill at all and leave it completely bare metal. This matches the look of the tools in the rest of my shop and makes it easy for me to add paint later if I feel like it. I took everything related to the axes apart, but I did not disassemble the head, as I wasn't planning on replacing any worn parts in it. Overall, the mill is in an average condition and I think some bronze wear components will need to be replaced within the next 5-10 years depending on my usage. I am not a machinist aiming for high levels of accuracy, so as long as the tool can get the job done, I am happy for now.
You can bid to own this wrench here: https://www.ebay.ca/itm/133751872553​ I only made 1 for sale! This patent reproduction is based on a very simple and elegant 1909 patent for a ratcheting wrench by Frederick Walden. You can view the original patent here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US9...​ I always love the patent reproduction videos as they challenge me in ways the restoration videos usually do not. This reproduction forced me to get a dividing head and shaping attachment for the Bridgebort milling machine. I decided to use 4140 for the main ratcheting part of the wrench and both the lathe and the shaping attachment did NOT like that as much as mild steel. Using the shaping attachment was a massive learning experience as I first had to custom make a cutter out of O1 tool steel and then learn how to use the tool itself. After a bit of practice I learned enough to be confident in machining the square hole as perfectly as possible. I am pushing the shaping attachment to well beyond what the limits apparently are so dealing with that was a challenge as well. The handle reproduction was fairly simple with just a couple of bends, but the exactly length of the arm of the handle the engages the ratchet is important as too long or too short will cause the mechanism not to function. I decide not to harden any of the components to match the original design, but the ability to do so is still there if I ever decide to change that! I did decide to make an extra one that I am putting up for sale at auction. I've never done something like that before, so I think it will be fun to see what happens.
This restoration was on an AMAZING vise that was made by the Mantle & Co., most likely in the 1920s. Very little history remains of that company or this vise they made, but the patent can be found here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US1... If anyone has any information on this special tool, please contact me at handtoolrescue@gmail.com This vise was found is a fairly poor condition with many holes drilled into it, broken castings, as well as a small jaw missing and swivel base missing. I spent an insane amount of time thinking about how to approach the repairs as I really didn't want to risk doing something that could ruin things further, so naturally I chose the hardest and most risky option; cast iron welding. I wanted to use pure cast iron rods to torch weld the holes in the vise so that the colour match of the repair would be perfect. Any repairs that were not going to be visible, were fixed with brazing. I also completely re-japanned the whole vise with 5 coats of japanning. Making the missing jaw was complicated enough that I had to get the machine shop that makes the wrenches and screwdrivers for me to 3D model it and replicate the part in-house. It turned out amazingly well! A lot of this restoration was spent sanding and lapping mating surfaces to ensure the vise was actually useable and restored to previous working condition. I shall keep this insanely unique vise forever and ever as it is just too interesting to part with! I would like to thank Evapo-Rust for sponsoring this video.
This restoration is on a 1920s Orr & Sembower vertical steam engine. It was apparently found in a river in Kansas, USA before being shipped to me. This steam engine is one of the worst condition items to ever come across my workbench. I have not worked on a steam engine before, so this will be a fun learning experience. In Part 1, I completely disassemble what is remaining of the steam engine and start to work on remaking all the missing parts. At some point, it was stripped for bronze or brass scrap metal, so almost all of those parts will need to be replaced. This includes the bronze shoes on the crosshead, as well as all the steam fittings and fasteners. After rust removal, I can see the steam engine used to be black and that there is significant wear in all of the babbitt bearings, so they will need to be re-poured. The piston and piston rings are damaged and will both need to be replaced. The main shaft is too deteriorated to be salvaged and the eccentric has an improperly fit repair. At this point, if this steam engine can be brought back to life, I will be very impressed.
This restoration is on a 1920s Orr & Sembower vertical steam engine. In Part 2, I remake all the missing and broken parts as well as slowly reassemble the entire tool. I decided to make a few sensual upgrades as well. The missing bronze shoes on the crosshead were complicated enough to remake that I decided to call for help to @Keith Rucker - VintageMachinery.org and @Windy Hill Foundry. My machining equipment and personal skill were pushed to the maximum for this restoration, but I think it all turned out well enough to function. Making a new piston and piston rings was particularly challenging but was very rewarding. I really want to run this steam engine on actual steam instead of my air compressor, but I do not have a steam boiler. Maybe I'll restore one in the future for this use. The steam engine seemed to run just fine on 14CFM @ 90 PSI and lower.
This restoration is on a ~1920s International Business Machines (IBM) cheese cutter. Several different parts of this machine were all patented between 1901-1907 by William G. Templeton. The main patent can be seen here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US7... This item was brought to me by a friend for restoration, so I made sure that whatever restoration choices the needed to be made were discussed with him. The cheese cutter was most likely used for commercial purposes in a local deli, but the exact provenance is completely lost with time. Most of the time spent restoring this tool was spent on me trying to figure out why it was so much more complicated than it needed to be. I finally figured out how the cheese cutter works, and you can skip to the end of the video for a detailed explanation by me.
The finest in antique screwdrivery, this screwdriver is based on an 1904 patent by William Ward, but with several modern improvements. You can view the original patent here: https://patents.google.com/patent/USD... Each screwdriver is made from 1144 steel, ~9in/22.8cm long, and weighs 0.44lb/200g. The square shaft is 3/8in/0.95cm thick. The blade is 0.5in/1.27cm wide and 1/8in/0.3cm thick. Blade is hardened to 52 HRC.
I finally discovered a decent method for spraying on japanning. For more information on japanning, check out my original video here: https://youtu.be/SBqgpdBNrt8
THE ONE TRUE DANGER SAW! This 1949-patented portable power actuated rim-driven annular saw or "Sally Saw", as it was marketed, was born in the depths of hell to seek revenge upon its enemies. Once double-crossed by a half-man/half-tree hybrid, it now seeks for limbs of any kind. Luckily, as an amorphous blob-of-a-human-being, I alone posses the ability wield power over it. Watch as I unravel this 1.5HP circular saw on a stick made by Cummings Machine Works of Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
This restoration is on a Type 1 Stanley No. 113 compass plane patented in 1879. You can view the original patent documents here:https://patents.google.com/patent/US2... The Type 1 planes of the No. 113 were made from 1877-1880 and allowed users to plane curved wooden surfaces.
In this patent recreation, I work on a type of alligator wrench designed to work with tapered fasteners. Do I know of any tapered fasteners? No. Does that mean the person who originally designed this wrench in 1911 as insane? Possibly. You can view the original patent here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US9... All major parts were made of 1" thick 4140 steel hardened to 47 HRc. I tried to cut the serrated swivel-jaw portion with the metal planer, but switched to machining on the milling machine after one face because my arm was going to fall off.
This restoration is on a 1920s Hobart coffee grinder that I recently found at auction. You can see the patent for this tool here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US1... The smell of ~100 year-old coffee is now something I can never forget. The coffee bin was missing so I ordered a replacement off another Hobart grinder. The hopper was significantly dented and may not be original to the machine. The tool was also coated in over 7000 layers of paint for some reason. The burr disks were in excellent condition and seems to be made of some of the earliest stainless steel I have come across so far.
I'm dizzy now...
The finest in antique socket-drivery, this socket driver is based on an 1904 patent by William Ward, but with several modern improvements. Each socket driver is made from 1144 steel, ~9in/22.8cm long, and weighs 0.44lb/200g. The main shaft is square so you can use a wrench on it for more torque. The socket driver end is for 3/8" square drive attachments and hardened to 52 HRC. The wooden (solid cherry) scales are hand finished with a hardening wax. Each socket driver is UNIQUELY NUMBERED under the handle scales. There is also a fully steel-handled version and a DIY-handled version.
This restoration is on a 1910s Model "B" electric breast drill made by the Temco Electric Motor Company. The tool was sent to me by a viewer who wanted me to bring it back to original condition. I was immediately intrigued as this is the oldest electric drill I have ever had my hands on. This drill was designed and produced before the trigger switch drill was brought to market so the switch design was incredibly interesting and complicated. The drill also had a ball bearing around the drill chuck shaft, which would have been quite expensive at the time. Temco also offered a grinding wheel attachment for sharpening drill bits as well as a valve grinding attachment. The drill is so old that it was made before electrical wall outlets were common and standardized, therefore the tool would have originally been plugged into a light socket. Restoring this drill was quite a lot of work as all the bushing needed to be remade, aluminum castings repaired, gears brazed, and cast iron parts.
This restoration is on a 1908-patented "Yankee" wine corking machine made by The Gilchrist Company. The tool immediately caught my eye with its ornate floral scrollwork castings and gizmocity. It was so complex that I actually could not figure out how it actually functioned until everything was all restored and back together. Several parts were broken or missing entirely and needed to be fixed or remade. I also took the time to completely nickel-plate almost all parts of the tool back to its original lustre. The tool was missing its original clamp foot, but luckily Jimmy Diresta had several to spare.
This restoration is on a 1920s armature tester or "growler" made by the the Armature Rewinding Co. I believe this is the patent: https://patents.google.com/patent/US1... 0:00 Intro 0:30 I do the thing 16:54 How a growler or armature tester works Even though this is a simple tool with no moving parts, it proved to be quite a challenge as I have never rewound any electrical components for my restorations, until now. It was really fun to learn what needs to be done to rewind a simple transformer and exciting to see if you did everything correctly or if you perish from electrocution. I am having a very hard time finding information on this specific tool as my research has only lead to a few mentions of the company and some advertisements, but nothing on this exact tool ever existing.
This restoration is on a 1903-patented Babcock tester made by the Creamery Package MFG. Co. of Chicago, USA. This tool arrived completely seized, but with no known broken or missing parts, other than the original glass vials known as babcock bottles. Surprisingly, during the de-rusting process, the original blue paint showed up. Blue painted tools of this era are relatively rare and I was way too excited about it. I even had chunks of the original blue finish sent off for analysis with preliminary results suggesting the blue colour comes from natural cobalt. As per usual, I decided to sensually brassify most fasteners. Near the end of the video I explain how milk, sulfuric acid, and this machine work together to allow almost anyone to test the milk fat percentage from their cows. Spinning almost pure sulfuric acid at a high speed in fragile glass bottles very close to your face really makes you think about your life choices.
Welcome to the greatest thing you are going to see for a long time. This restoration is on a Barco BR-5 Rammer made by the Barco Mfg. Co.. This marvel of insane engineering is technically a 2-stroke motor with no rotation and two pistons. You read that right... The tool can actually keep running without human input, slowly stomping down the street, crushing everything in its path, and the only way to stop it is to grab the handle while in motion and hold it up so the top piston can no longer trip the magneto. That is the only off switch. Other than the horror, it's insanely fun to use and is great at children's birthday parties and cideries.
This restoration is on a 1920s Model B12 "Safety Saw" pneumatic circular saw made by the Ingersoll-Rand Co.. The "Safety Saw" name was in reference to the patented design of the retractable blade guard, one of the first of its kind. This saw runs off of a triple-piston "Little David" motor that Ingersoll-Rand seemed to use in a number of their larger pneumatic tools.
In this patent recreation video I focus on a mysterious wrench patent from 1919. I still do not fully understand why this was patented nor what the function of its design truly is, but I made it anyways, in hopes of finding out.
It's 1896, you and your pipe-loving home boys are out on the town and come across a 18in diameter pipe that is leaking. Luckily, you always bring your 140lb wrench with you everywhere, so you get to work. Within a matter of hours, you can lift the wrench up to the pipe and wrap the chain around to begin tightening. You and the boys all hang off the end of the wrench, feet dangling in the air, in order to get enough force to move this pipe. Unfortunately, it was a left-handed thread and you just unscrewed more, leading to the beginning of a mass flood even that will forever change life on this planet. Great job guys! I still don't understand how many people are needed to use this wrench. I have never seen a wrench so large that one person cannot operate it. This was made by the J.H. Williams & Co. and is the size No. 16. Based on the design and colour, I estimate this wrench to be from around the 1910s.
This restoration is on a 1930s dental casting machine made by the Torit Manufacturing Co. of St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. I was unable to find a photo of this model with the exact same base design, but similar designs exist. This machine would most likely be used for casting gold teeth and fillings. The base was extremely rusty, but all other parts are made of aluminum or brass, so they held together much better over the years. I decided to use babbitt as a casting metal since it melts at such a low temperature and isn't very expensive. This was my first time casting any metal on my own and learning the process was a lot of fun. It's nice to see this tool back in service and spinning molten metal very close to your face at high speed.
The most powerful electric chainsaw Stihl ever made is finally in my hands. This 1960s 3-phase Stihl E-30 chainsaw is something I have been trying to find for a long time. Stihl made 4 different versions of this saw, but only one was made for the North American market. I have an affinity for electric chainsaws as I absolutely love the torque they can provide when cutting wood, so I had to find this saw. I ended up finding one in Germany and shipping it over to Canada. The saw was not in horrendously bad condition, as most issues were entirely cosmetic, but I needed to bring this saw back to its original glory. Everything was stripped down and repainted with the original RAL 7035 white and RAL 3000 red colours and finished with a 2K clear coat for durability. I also had to completely remake the decals for this saw as they are unique.
I have recreated a "fractal" chair based off a patent from 1913. Similarly to the "fractal" vise that I previously restored, this chair uses the same series of pivoting sections to fully adapt to the shape of someone sitting down. The original patent can be seen here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US1... I used the original patent explanation as best I could to help design the function of the chair which uses stacked tongue and groove steel plates that interface with each other through a series of ball bearings that provide the movement. The design was fully realized with the help of Josh Fick, who digitally created all the pieces needed to be cut with a fibre laser.
This restoration is on a Harvey Manufacturing Corp. Butterfly filing machine from the 1950s-1960s. Also known as a die filer, or its proper pronunciation "defiler", this tool perfectly and quickly moves a file up and down to rapidly remove material. The one I have also has a scroll saw attachment. I actually used this tool in a previous video, but it kept seizing on me every time I would shut it off and would need a giant wrench to get it moving again. The annoying seizing became too much for me so I decided to restore this machine and fix the problem.
Time to recreate another long lost patent! This patent focuses on a design for a spoke wrench that is meant to adjust spoke nipples on bicycle rims. I believe these were put into production by the Buffalo Specialty Mfg. Co. of Buffalo, N. Y., U.S.A and called the Neverslip and Baby Neverslip, which is hilarious because that's exactly what they DON'T do. These wrenches seem to be quite rare... I'll add this tool to the patent remake collected and never insert it inside myself (most likely).
This restoration is on a model "M" round knife cloth cutter made by The Wolf Machine Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. The company had been in business since 1888 and still makes these types of products today. My best estimate places this machine being made in the early 1950s. This tool made for a very interesting restoration as I came across several parts and problems I've never seen before. Most interestingly, this machine runs on a 25 Hz electrical network which only existed in small ares around the Great Lakes region in North America from 1895 to around the 1950s. Other than the motor, the entire machine has a much smaller amount of steel components than you would imagine. In the end I will probably use this to cut all my pizza from now on.
I have decided to give away this Millers Falls No. 9C hand plane for reaching 5000 subscribers. To enter you must be subscribed and leave a comment below. The comment will be chosen at random and the winner will be announced in about 1 week from the date of this video in the next video. Thank you all for the support so far! I've had a lot of fun making these videos.
5000 Subscriber Giveaway Winner. Congrats to the winner and thanks for entering. Look forward to more giveaways.
I have decided to give away this late 1800s Birmingham No. 8 hand plane for reaching 11,120 subscribers. To enter you must be subscribed and leave a comment below. The comment will be chosen at random and the winner will be announced in about 1 week from the date of this video in the next video. Thank you all for the support so far! I've had a lot of fun making these videos and I hope to continu
11,120 Subscriber Giveaway Winner. Birmingham No. 8 plane and glue custom stick. Congrats to the winner and thanks for entering. Look forward to more giveaways.
Thank you to everyone who has watched and subscribed! I really appreciate it. In this video I talk about the giveaway items and how to enter. I also mention a few upcoming tools, a website, black japanning, Patreon and a Q&A session. You can post your questions in the comments and I will try and answer them in an upcoming video. Contest will be open for about a month.
Thank you all again. I really appreciate all the support, especially the Patrons. I'll see you all at the next giveaway! Congratulations to the winner!
I thought it would be a great way to end a year of tool restorations with some answers to questions you have asked most often.
Thank you all for your continued viewership and support! Lots of cool tools to come.
Congrats to the winner!
Enjoy this time filling video of me rambling on about things in my workshop. New workshop soon! I am slowing going insane due to lack of restoration work.
Thank you all for subscribing! I am really excited to show you what I have planned for restorations once the new workshop is ready.
Congratulations to the winner! New restorations soon.
Thank you all for entering!
I've been in the new workshop for around a year. Come and see how I ruined it. If you want to see and hear more you can follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/handtoolrescue
All shavings donated to the Smaller-Than-Normal Toothpick foundation.
Have you ever had a dream that you, um, you had, your, you- you could, you’ll do, you- you wants, you, you could do so, you- you’ll do, you could- you, you want, you want him to do you so much you could do anything?
An accidental experiment leading to a serendipitous discovery. I left a wrench in Evapo-Rust for 3 years because after about a year, I honestly just forgot about it. Did I accidentally create life? Maybe.
Today we dive deep into the manufacturing of a new size adjustable wrench for sale on my website. This smaller pocket wrench is a new version of the wrench we have been making for years. Every part is now fully machined resulting in much tighter tolerances and a better fit and finish than ever before. This video is in the style of Season 1 of How It's Made hosted by Canadian Olympic swimming gold-medalist Mark Tewksbury. Unsurprisingly, I loved this show and consider it a perfect piece of Canadiana.