So a couple of months back, you may recall this Craftsman combo square followed me home...working on it a bit here, bit there, finally got it presentable...

 

About the only place not heavily rusted was where the head had sat for decades....

  

 

Before it all went into the Evap-O-Rust tank. I had hit the worst of the scale with a slow speed brass wheel.

 

Heavy rusting and pitting on the head surfaces

Ta-da...sorry for the poor lighting; discoloration (rust looking) is the reflection off my rust red t-shirt.

 

A lot of lapping on my sharpening plate first with 100g, 220g, 320g, 400g, wet or dry...all was done dry. The head is cast steel

 

The pitting here also is present on the face side; not sure but might have partially been a casting flaw/blow-out when cast.

 

 

It cleaned up pretty nice...wish I had some machinist greying to coat the surface

 

While i was at it I finished cleaning this one too.  

 

You might recall what it originally looked like (one with red zip tie) holding the square head made in Taiwan...turns out the blade is marked Made in U.S.A., No.1270 M F Co. (Millers-Falls).

I added the bottom head; no name or markings but seemed appropriate for this blade.

 

Thanks for looking...last one out please turn off the lights.

Now that would make Steve Newman jealous 

Always found the scales hard to read....until I used that gun blue paste trick.....Blue the entire ruler...let dry...sand away the excess and leave the rest down in the markings...

 

 

( got too many squares, now...)

7 minutes ago, steven newman said:

Always found the scales hard to read....until I used that gun blue paste trick.....Blue the entire ruler...let dry...sand away the excess and leave the rest down in the markings...

I do too....seems like the shiner they are harder it is for me to read. I did use the gun blue (paste not liquid) with pretty decent results. I've also tried using Rustoleum gray primer, then sanding away...works pretty good too unless the rule is pitted bad. I need to research getting some machinist tooling gray paste...works pretty much like gun bluing but less noticeable in the pitted areas.

7 minutes ago, steven newman said:

( got too many squares, now...)

Me too...but you know what? I'll bet we'll both buy more if the price is right I don't think we're at the hoarding stage yet are we?

...never enough; clamps, routers, planes, saws, chisels, squares...

Clean up nicely.  Nice addition to your collection.

Dave I found when looking for squares like that if you want the things usable to tighten the set screw up good and tight and seen if it locks on the rule.. I got lots of my kin folks carpenter tools and most all the were wore out where the bib on the end of the threaded part would over ride and slip out of the groove in the middle of the rule. Lot of the stuff made way back yonder was not good steel where a person using a tig or a torch could not reweld the notch and grind it back down to the right shape...Then later if you might want to try and sell any thing most people will want things that are all there and in good working order.

Old pictures....have even more of these..now...

2 hours ago, steven newman said:

Old pictures....have even more of these..now...

Sad to say, but as of today, so do I...Two more combination squares begged to come home with me and a 4" tri...probably a Stanley, but IDK yet...Stay tuned

 

What kind is your combination square above with the slot vs the groove in the blade? Different.

Edited June 2, 20187 yr by Grandpadave52

Just picked another brace, today....Stanley No. 945 ($4,,,sheesh)

 

 

The square with the slot is a Stanley Defiance No. 1221

 

Also in the pickings today..a Defiance BY Stanley No. 1251...1-1/2" socket chisel...of course there isn't a handle..but it does have a "Mushroom" ( may have overpaid..$2?)

41 minutes ago, steven newman said:

of course there isn't a handle..but it does have a "Mushroom" ( may have overpaid..$2?)

...nah, that's what Dremel stones or 1/4" shank die grinder stones in a drill chuck are for///I'm confident you'll get a handle made and have it looking good in no time...1-1/2" socketed is a pretty good find IMO.

44 minutes ago, steven newman said:

The square with the slot is a Stanley Defiance No. 1221

Guess I'd never seen one around these parts...cool...looks like I'm still one short in my collection.