New Carboot Tools

[tombear]

I've been a bit busy playing catch up so not had a lot of time for tools but theres been the odd find.

This ones a bit of a mystery, not what it is but how the hell you use it. i butchered a can of custard trying to work out how its supposed to, well, work. Its a Camp P. C. PATENT No 185226 can opener. This one doesn't have the patent number on it but there's several on the interweb with more complete markings It says " English Make" rather than "Made in England" which I've not seen before. Anyway looking at the others it is complete

The patent is from about 1920 i've read but my limited google fu hasn't found me a copy which would of course completely tell me how to use it! 'Cost me 2 quid from my Tool guy in Colne. Tala made a very similar opener as late as the 1950s so by any chance do any of you know how to use it? It cleaned up well, a 2 hour dip in oxcillic acid, a rinse in weak bleach to neutrilse the acid, a good wash then a light buzz on the wire wheel.

A quid got me 84 heavy pure copper tacks that will cut down nicely to be rivets.

I've got this far with the 1 3/4lb Brades hatchet I'm doing up for herself.

I'll have to redo some of the varnish on the handle but once i discovered how useful a flappy wheel is on fitted to a chuck on my bench grinder its been plain sailing. I'll polish the blade with the black paste block on the buffing wheel then sharpen it on the Tormek first time. After the edge is set up I'll use the three grades of wet and dry glued to MDF blocks method as in Robin Woods excellent video tutorial. Then I need to make a head cover for it.

ATB

Tom

 

[Tony]

Nice haul

 

[Trotsky]

Nice work there! I couldn't help but notice those cutting discs and I must ask, what date is stamped on the reinforcing ring in the centre? If it's a date in the past, throw them out, the resin that binds the grit is likely to fail and the disc burst on you.

 

[tombear]

i made time to get the axe itself finished, the edge is nearer 22 degrees than the 25 i intended and after stropping is arm baldingly sharp. Having been set up on a wet wheel its currently concave so I think after its been sharpened flat a few times it will be nearer the 25. At least that's whats happened on others I've done this way.

She chose not the traditional red for the butt end of the haft to make it easily identifiable amongst her scout groups axes but ( after I'd vetoed various earth tones on the grounds its meant to be so you can spot it easily...) on orange. Fair enough thought I and dug out the tray of Humbrol paint tins and found some 82 Cockpit Orange. So after masking it got three coats of that on and a coat of yacht varnish over the top. I haven't the heart to tell her it now looks like some tat B & Q used to flog.

To get rid of the deep scratches I had to thin down behind the cutting edge where it bulged out quite dramatically. polishing the file marks out was proving a slow business until i remembered I had some flappy wheels. after that it was plain sailing, finishing with black steel polishing paste on a cotton wheel on the bench grinder. Since this will be a user i didn't go mad on the finish.

Now I'm playing hunt the buckle, having discussed the type of mask she wants for it. I had thought of something functional with the Scout Logo embossed into it using those fine stamps a member of this parish supplied. She wants it riveted, which saves work but she want's it riveted using diamond shaped washers and hand embossed like the faux Saxon spearhead cover i made for myself.

Pic when its done.

ATB

Tom

 

[MartiniDave]

Very nice work Tom.

 

[Tony]

Yeah, that looks nice, I like sharp axes

 

[tombear]

We got a couple of OK 20mm buckles off of a plaited leather belt in a charity shop ( since taken apart for the laces ) so I took a couple of hours off today and made the mask. three layers of 4mm veg tan.

I'm waiting on herself picking a design to emboss on it before plunging it into a double boiler of hot beeswax.

Once it was riveted together I trimmed the edges with a fresh scalpel blade and finished with a quick rub with smooth permagrit block. once the wax is on I'll burnish the edges.

ATB

Tom

 

[tombear]

Well, here it is finished, the motif herself wanted on came out hamfisted ( i'm no artist ) but that doesn't seam to bother her. Hay ho. It doe's the job anyway.

ATB

Tom

 

[Herbalist1]

Lovely job Tom - would be very happy to have made that mask for one of my choppers - the embossing looks good too. Not at all hamfisted, and I should know, I'm a master at hamfisted!

 

[tombear]

Thanks! 'very kind of you. I was really quite chuffed with it, up to putting the decoration on it, something I only normally do if I'm replicating a historical example. Even then I pick something i can do with a ruler! Still she loves it so i shouldnt get all angst ridden about trivialities. Its copied from a silver charm she is fond of.

Back to doing nice plain masks for myself now, one for my Ray Illes scorp and another for the last drawknife i did up.

ATB

Tom

 

[hiho]

3 months and I've only just seen this, great as ever

 

[tombear]

I got out to the Thursday fleamarket In Accrington and found a few bits of interest ( I'll spare you the charity shop finds of high end outdoors clothes for the lads, all now man sized but slim enough to fit into the 28" and 30"s waist, sub 38" chest stuff that seams to turn up unworn ( or as good as ).

The unfitted folding drying rack was a quid and is just what i was looking for for over the industrial sink in the shed. I have to drip dry quite a lot of stuff and this will save me having to rig lines each time i need extra space.

"The Chairmaker's Workshop" is great, I've already got "Country Woodwork" by the same guy. £2. There's plenty about pole lathes and bodging in it and although I don't intend to make Windsor chairs anytime soon i have promised herself a spinning stool (as in wool not rotating).

The new NWS 10" English pattern tinsnips are made in Germany and well up to the quality I like. The guy (whos always on the market of a Thursday, front and centre of the open air market at Accrington) also had a tray full of still carded Irwin Record Gilbow tinsnips for the Same £4 each i paid for mine 10" and 8" i think, but I have those minty from back when they were made in the UK so wasn't tempted. The pair I got have pointyer ends than my Gilbows so fill a definite requirement and will save me hammering the little jewelers snips Ive been using in tight spaces.

The python safety handles were 50p a pop and I also got another chunky beech rolling pin for 50p to eventually use as a turning blank. The middle son keeps swiping them to turn presents for his friends, so i will keep stockpiling them.

Incidentally the flan dish has the recipe for Fidgety Pie on it ( well, one, there's at least half a dozen variations), I now have three of them which is enough to do for the whole family now and we had it last night. It's a dish that goes back to when it was normal to mix sweet ( in this case sultanas, apples and brown sugar ) with savoury ingredients (bacon, onions, potatoes, sage, pepper).

On the vague note of bargains and alternate sources of kit a couple of days ago I processed that last of the beeswax a friends been saving for me when they are cleaning the hives at the country park he does volunteer work at. I also got some in a very generous swap with someone of this parish and now have over 8 lb of th good stuff.

All i've done is boil in water the goo I was given after pulling the wires and bits of wood out of it, run it through a fine metal sieve, let cool/solidify, remove from the pan, rinse off any loose muck. Allow to completely dry. heat up in a double boiler and pass through the sieve again but this time lined with fine kitchen muslin, straight into very clean none stick bread tins. If you want them to weigh a certain amount I just put a paperback book for something that wont be effected by up to 100C on top of my electric kitchen scales (plastic so not heat proof) with the tin on top and zero it. Then i just stop pouring when its up to weight, well just over to allow for wastage.

So thats enough sweet smelling beeswax for 80 plus size 10 candles or a awful lot of wood polish!

ATB

Tom

 

[tombear]

I finally got around to making a basic no frills mask for the last drawknife i restored so it can now go safely in my green woodworking toolbox.

3 layers of 4mm veg tan, a bunch of copper rivets and washers and a couple of the big poppers I got for a song. It's been dipped in hot beeswax and will lighten off a bit when its completely cured.

I need to do the scorps mask tomorrow.

ATB

Tom

 

[tombear]

I got to Colne today to see my tool guy and he had a couple of bits for me, a eclipse No.55 saw in good condition and the dile holder I needed for a dreadnought type file i have with no tang and a hole at each end.

He also had some tiny screws I need for a job and the Footprint leather knife (I think) which the wife wanted for reasons unknown.

I've wanted a No. 55 for a while as I am lousy at making straight cuts in Aluminium sheet etc with my big hacksaws.

Pic to follow when they are fettled. I'll probably put a bigger handle on the file holder while i'm at it.

The button attacher is for herself and the kids who despite me showing them how to do it repeatedly would rather wander around with a belt than sew a smegging button back on. This is especially annoying as one regularly ( guess who) steals my trousers and despite having a waist double figures in inches less than mine still manages to pop the buttons off!

ATB

Tom

 

[Alreetmiowdmuka]

Never seen a hacksaw like that before what a great design.could I ask you which carboots you frequent as I’m looking too pick up some vintage wood chisels for work


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[tombear]

It's cleaned up well, soaked the blade in hot but relatively weak oxcillic acid, rinsed, a quick buzz on the wire wheel and another on the polishing wheel and then a final hand polish with Autosol before a wash dry and oiling.

The blade was new so I just put that back on.

Oddly the guy at Colne Tools (theres a website with how to find him and when hes open) had 4 in so I picked the one in best nick, all being £5 a pop. The ones I'd seen before had all been battered so I was chuffed to find these.

I think all my normal carboots are finished now until the spring although the one at Haslinden industrial estate may carry on through as its mainly indoors. saying that its been pants for years, only one really good tool stall, ever since a much bigger and popular boot at Whinfields shopping centre ( on the road from Haslinden to Accrington) started and pulled a lot of its stalls. That occasionally has dedicated old tool stalls. The best bargains I've had recently are from a once a month boot at Tescos carpark in Accrington, its either the first or last sunday of the month but i've not had a chance to go recently and it may too be finished for the winter. that has a lot of genuine one off family stalls where they just want rid of stuff and are beautifully unprofessional so you can pick up some real bargains.

Colne Tools have wood chisels in but they aint dirt cheap like on boot stalls but are ready to use and a fraction of the price of new ones of the same quality.

ATB

Tom

 

[Alreetmiowdmuka]

Come. Up well.cheers for the info.i may hang on till the new season starts then.i am not necessarily after a set just that they’d need too be in decent nick.i have looked on eBay but theirs no way of knowing what your getting.a lot of older chisels have been abused opening paint tins and chipping out tiles etc it’s a shame.

 

[laro13]

@Tombear: How do you put tension on the hacksaw-blade?


@Alreetmiowdmuka: If you don't mind new chisels, Aldi/Lidl has a decent set: https://paulsellers.com/2013/10/aldi-supermarket-chisels/

You can even made some nice handles for them: https://paulsellers.com/2014/12/changing-the-shape-of-ash-chisel-handles/

 

[tombear]

To give the blade the correct tension you flex the main blade slightly and loosen off the upper of the screws on the mounting near the handle of the main blade which passes through a very small slot in the blade and can be moved a small amount back and forth, then tighten off middle screw, test the tension and repeat until it's as you want. If you are using the same brand of blade you wont need to touch that middle screw again, to replace the toothed blade you just have to flex the main blade and remove the lower screw at the back and the only screw at the front and slap in a new toothed blade and replace the screws, then release the bend in the main blade which puts the tension back on the toothed blade.

Lordy it's far easier to do than explain!

ATB

Tom.

 

[tombear]

'Finished the dreadnought file, it's still good and sharp, just needed the muck removing. Somewhere i have another blade, but wider, and hopefully the holes in that match this one. The grip was a bit rough and on the small side so i replaced it with a bigger Python safety handle. No markings.

ATB

Tom