A few estate sale finds

[Bundoman]

Not all that exciting but here are a few estate sale finds of recent.  Brown and Sharpe, Starrett, and Craftsman in the mix.  The box scraper is Stanley Sweetheart.  Most of these were cleaned by me before pictures.

 

Edited November 21, 2017 by Ron Dudelston
tags added

[lew]

Nice Score!!

[Courtland]

Bundoman, I like your cleanup jobs you do on these old finds, you clean to the point that they retain the original patina, and they look like they have been used continuously over the last century, great job.

[John Moody]

That is a awesome find. Some real gems there. Nice job on the clean up also. They look like the true classics they are.

[Bundoman]

Thanks all,

I know that techniques folks use out there are all over the board.  I use electrolysis for most of my stuff these days, then follow up with fine steel wool and Minwax paste wax to get some shine back.  Occasionally, a buffing wheel comes into play.  With wooden parts, it depends upon initial condition.  Sometimes a full strip and sand, with refinish.  The scraper in the picture got a quick light sand with fine paper, a wipe of minwax golden oak to even color, and a wipe of BLO for some protection.  I do like Evaporust for small parts but frugality rules for bigger items.  My E-tank runs cheap!

Brent

Edited August 10, 2015 by Bundoman

[lew]

Thanks for the tips, Brent!

[Courtland]

Thanks Brent as Lew said, for the great tips! Some folks would have gone over board and just wire wheel the heck out of everything! I like the more subtle method of electrolysis. Larry Buskirk our machine restoration expert here on TPW uses his tub frequently, it seems to be the restorers go-to way of removing stubborn rust without knocking the snot out of the metal itself with abrasives.

[Larry Buskirk]

Thanks Brent as Lew said, for the great tips! Some folks would have gone over board and just wire wheel the heck out of everything! I like the more subtle method of electrolysis. Larry Buskirk our machine restoration expert here on TPW uses his tub frequently, it seems to be the restorers go-to way of removing stubborn rust without knocking the snot out of the metal itself with abrasives.

Expert?  

Far from it! 

But I do tend to go a bit overboard.  

[Cliff]

do you know how the box scraper was originally used?

[Courtland]

do you know how the box scraper was originally used?

I am all ears Cliff! Or was this a question for Brent?

[Bundoman]

If the question was for me, and, if I read correctly, the scraper would have been used to clean the old labelling off of shipping crates so that they could be used/re-labelled for another shipment.  Is that so?

[Bundoman]

As an aside to this posting, there is more to the story of this group of tools.  The estate sale that these items came from was to settle the estate of a distant relative of my wife.   The house was passed through 4 generations of family, the first of which was my wifes great grandfather.  He was a stone sculptor of note in the Peoria, IL until his passing in 1942.  His tools were a part of this estate, passing along with the house all of these years, and although the chisel prices were very high, I was able to buy a couple of his hammers along with the other tools pictured.   The rusty hammer in the pictures still has stone residue intermingled with the rust and has seen a lot use as can be seen by the mushrooming of the head.  It will remain in its original condition.  The small pick was also with his stone tools.  I am including a picture of one of his many stone pieces as part of this story.  I understand it is not woodworking and apologize in advance for that, but, I really felt I should share this as I know many here appreciate hand work a great deal.  Much effort and energy was required to make this piece a reality, all with hammer and chisel.  Indiana Limestone was used for the table with marble checkerboard inserts in the top.  My wife played checkers on this table as a child.  It remained with the house for nearly 100 years and 4 generations.  It is at our house now.  Over time it was damaged and will need some restoration.  The broken piece was located during the tag sale to make it complete.  This was one of two stone pieces that we bought at the sale.  Pardon my departure for a moment from woodworking.  Just had to share a little of his carving with you.  

[DRAGON1]

That small scraper is great for removing alcohol based finishes as well as milling marks from wood. 

Remember they didn't have much sandpaper back then and scrapers like that were used to get the wood down to as smooth as possible.

They are great for removing finish without gouging the wood like some of the commercial scrapers.

[Larry Buskirk]

Brent,

Woodworking or not, that is a beautiful chess/checkers table.

[Gene Howe]

Nice work, Brent. 

That's some gorgeous stone work, too.