Before I got the insane idea to buy and rebuild an old benchtop lathe, I had been going through an assortment of tools that I inherited from my dad, who owned an appliance/repair store in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula that was started by his father in 1947. I remember as a kid going with him to house calls where he would tear down a washing machine, refrigerator, oven or what have you, diagnose the problem and, usually, be able to fix it. I was surprised by how simple some of these machines actually were once you took them apart. There’s not really all that much to a washing machine — The mechanical cycle timer was the most complex part, and those typically got replaced rather than repaired. I did learn how to tear down and reassemble a washing machine gearbox though. At 12 years old, I was engrossed by the way the gears, cams, levers, shafts, etc. interacted with each other and made it all work. My upbringing likely sealed my fate career-wise..
After I had already cleaned up all of these tools, I learned that there a lot of people who post YouTube videos of themselves restoring old tools and such. Kind of hypnotic to watch. I guess some of these guys even make a living from it. Anyway, these are what I’ve cleaned up so far to keep busy.
The title image and the one to the right are of a Stanley No. 39 ½ 6 inch machinist’s level. I have no idea why it’s a 39 ½ and not, say, a 40. Maybe they already had a 40.. It’s hard to make out, but the patent date is either 6-23-96 or 6-23-98. These were made through the early 1900’s and this one belonged to my granddad. I recall seeing it while growing up, but at the time it was just an old tool to me. I rediscovered it shortly after the stay-home advisory was issued and thought “This has potential. I need something to do. Why not clean this up and see how it turns out?” I think it came out nice — Over 100 years old and still looks and functions as well as it did when it left the factory. So that was the first rusty old tool I fixed up. That led to:
This. it’s a 14 inch Walco pipe wrench, produced by the Walworth Company in Boston, MA. I believe the company is still around, but I think they manufacture in Mexico now.
This tool is interesting because of the manufacture dates. On the handle, it’s marked ‘45C’, indicating a 1945 production date. But, on the moveable jaw, the date code is ‘43C’ — 1943. I speculate that the company switched over to wartime production in 1943, and when peacetime manufacturing resumed in 1945, they still had some inventory from the time before. Another thing of note: The 1943 casting quality is much higher than the 1945 casting. I’ll bet they wanted to get back to normal production as quickly as possible, so they used the old handle casting molds as they were instead of spending the time and money to refurbish them. Must have been a pent-up demand for pipe wrenches at the time..
I didn’t do much with this. I took it apart, soaked it in rust remover overnight, wire wheeled it, and filed off the sharp edges. Then I gave it a few coats of gun blue, steel wooled it, and a light oiling. To completely disassemble, I did have to grind off the pin that holds the lower jaw teeth to the wrench and knock it out. To replace it, I just cut a nail with the right diameter to length and peened it back in. I also peened my thumb in the process. Mrs.Ro0t once asked why I only have blood blisters under my right hand’s fingernails, but not my left hand. I told her it’s because the hammer is in my left hand :)
This has to be the most badass pair of scissors I’ve ever seen. They measure a bit over a foot long. Once taken apart, the blades are literally lethal knives with scissor handles attached to them.
These were made by a company called Wiss, in Newark, NJ. I don’t know their exact age, but I’m thinking 1940s — 1960’s. They’re still a going concern, but they were bought by some conglomerate a few decades back, and I don’t know if they’ve kept up their quality since then.
These were in rough shape — Heavy rust, some fairly deep pits. I didn’t think to take a ‘before’ picture, but they didn’t look very promising.
So, I take it apart and soak in rust remover for two days. Then another several hundred hours of wire wheeling and sanding, starting at 80 grit and ending at 2500 grit. I polished with a buffing wheel on a bench grinder, repainted the handles, and re-did the nickel plating on the fasteners.
Blades are sharpened, and holy shit, they’re sharp! They’ll shave the hair right off the back of your hand. You have to be careful handling these. I used them on a piece of leather and it was like cutting paper.
Here’s a Stanley No. 18 block plane. This particular version was made between 1930 and 1947, so it would have probably originally belonged to my granddad. It was in surprisingly good condition for it’s age. There’s a chip in the plane body casting at the bottom left but it doesn’t affect the function of the tool.
I’ve got it all stripped down and cleaned up, and still need to recoat the areas that were originally black. The original black finish is called Japanning and it’s very durable (And very difficult to remove. Paint stripper works, but it takes forever, combined with about two years of scrubbing). Fun times.
I want to try and recreate the original Japanning finish. It’s basically a 50-50 mix of turpentine and asphaltum powder that you brush on and bake dry. I have an old toaster oven that should do the job, and some turpentine. But there is no asphaltum powder to be found anywhere in the garage. I looked everywhere! Amazon doesn’t seem to have it. So this one’s kind of on hold for now. I could just mask it off and rattle-can it black, but I think I’ll wait and see if I can find some of that asphaltum powder somewhere. Meanwhile, the blade is sharp and it shaves wood like new, so it’s good for now.
This is just a plain old 4” C-clamp, but it’s a good one, made by the Cincinnati Tool Co. The circled H indicates it was made prior to 1955. Today, they’re called Wilton Hargrave and are owned by some holding company..
Renewing this one was the basic stuff — Soak in rust cleaner overnight, wire wheel, acetone wipedown, and prime/paint and oil. This thing is a beast. It will never die.
There are still a few more old odds and ends to go through but right now I’m working on getting an ancient ¼ HP electric motor back into service. It does run, but cloth insulation is cracking off of the wires and it appears to have spent decades in a woodworking shop because it’s packed with sawdust. I love a challenge..
Apologies for the awkward image layout. I haven’t yet figured out how to make them larger or how to put two or three images next to each other in a row.
Stay safe and healthy!