Tool Forum

[Brmorgan]

Good job on the drawknife you made.Your handles turned out great as well.Once i get my wood lathe up and running I will be asking questions of you.Brad but any chance would you know the Rockwell hardness of those planer blades when they are new?
Lawrence

The handles are tricky for me, because I don't have a chuck for my lathe, so I can't just turn a tenon and then hold the piece by said tenon and turn the rest. I have to turn it all as if I'm doing a spindle, cutting it to shape as much as possible while between centers, and carefully turn the round end off with a skew; at that point I'll chuck the tenon in the drill press and do the final sanding and finishing there. It works but it isn't as accurate (and certainly not as easy) as I'd like. If only this lathe had a standard 1" spindle, I could get even a cheapie chuck for it. But I'm stuck for now.

As for the hardness of the steel I used, I've no idea. I could go look on others I have to see if there are any numbers I can run, but the reason I have most of them in the first place is that they've been ground back so far they can't be used in the planer at work anymore, so there's a good chance any pertinent info has been ground away. I have some knives made by Progressive (I think that's the name), and the ones we use at the mill right now are made by Ortho Jones or something like that.

Here's a portion of my knife steel selection:

Those big chipper blades are NOT going to be chopped up for smaller projects! The largest one there is probably 28" long or so and has never been ground or used; just had babbitt poured in once. It would make a really nice shear knife or something. Other than that, the long planer knives are grooved on top to fit grooved holders; there are a couple serrated planer knives, two zigzag double-sided knives at top right, a host of worn-out planer knives, and some 1/8" bandsaw steel strips. I have probably twice that many more chipper knives, many broken, and a few more packs of planer knives too. I figure I'm set for a while. There are Simonds, Progressive, and International knives there, and possibly more.

 

[WesternSaw]

Brad Morgan

Thanks for all the information on the knives.When you say you have quite a bit of steel to work with your not kidding
Lawrence

 

[parrisw]

Found a tool today. At work working on a Cube Van, about 1997 I think, so it looks that 13 years ago, a welder that welded the frame for the rear box, left a pair of welders vice grips to the C-channel where he clamped it to the frame to weld it, I rolled under there and it just caught my eye, pretty rusty, but some WD-40 had them working like new in no time, cleaned them up a little on the wire wheel.

 

[Brmorgan]

Vise-Grips that stayed clamped onto a working vehicle for 13 years? That's a product testimonial if I ever heard one.

 

[parrisw]

Vise-Grips that stayed clamped onto a working vehicle for 13 years? That's a product testimonial if I ever heard one.

LOL, ya your not kidding! And they still work! And I even used them today as well!

 

[blackoak]

Can anybody tell me what this unusual sledge hammer was designed for. It has a rubber piece around the striking face. The back a twisted fork type of set up. It is heavy duty. It has Tamco stamped into it. I assume the company that made it. I did a search on Google, but didn't really find much. I have seen these around before, but never knew what they are used for.

Found out what this hammer is for. It was used to pull up rail road spikes. Not actually pull them up, but to start them out so a longer pry bar could remove them. The way the head is twisted you can hold it off to the side and position it under the spike. Hit the face with the rubber around it with another sledge and it will slide under the spikes head enough for getting the 6' long pry bar under it. Actually this is a two man job. One guy holds this hammer and another hits it with a different hammer

 

[WesternSaw]

Vise Grips

Hey Will let the ViseGrip people know about it,maybe you can be in one of their ad's.Who the heck owns that name now?Is it Irwin?
Lawrence

 

[parrisw]

Hey Will let the ViseGrip people know about it,maybe you can be in one of their ad's.Who the heck owns that name now?Is it Irwin?
Lawrence

Hey. Ya I think its Irwin.

 

[Arrowhead]

What is a good model of vac tester to get? I've looked at the mityvac website and tehy have a million models.

I got the Mity Vac 8500. I like this model because it does pressure with the flip of a switch. E-bay for around $50... new in case.

 

[mtfallsmikey]

I got the Mity Vac 8500. I like this model because it does pressure with the flip of a switch. E-bay for around $50... new in case.

In true redneck fashion, could a vacuum pump used for air conditioning purposes be used to vac test a chain saw?

 

[parrisw]

In true redneck fashion, could a vacuum pump used for air conditioning purposes be used to vac test a chain saw?

Yes, but it'll pull 30" of vacuum, you only need 10.

 

[WesternSaw]

Hey Fellas

Great to see some on here that I don't think we have before.Let's make this thread the best source for pride of tool ownership,old or new.Tool talk,ones to buy, one's to stay away from.What's new in tools.Homemade tools.Tool tips,repair's.What about how to use tools to there full potential?I know there is a whole whack of fellas on AS that have great knowledge as far as tools go.So you tool Gurus step up and be known. P.S. If you talk to fellas on here that have yet to be on this thread tell them to have a look they just might like what's going on here.
Thanks
Lawrence

 

[Mastermind]

I check this thread out every day, it's one of the great ones.

 

[Trigger Man]

A member may have posted about this already but ,I found a set of torx bits put out by Briggs & Stratton they are 4" in length and are hex shank ed, a 1/4" socket will fit them. There's 8 bits in the set t-10,15,20,25,27,30,40,45. The part number for the set is #19442 and the bits can be bought individually, the part # for the t-27 bit is #19513.

 

[820wards]

Now we know why you made the draw knife. Nice score on the blades.

jerry-

 

[Paul001]

The handles are tricky for me, because I don't have a chuck for my lathe, so I can't just turn a tenon and then hold the piece by said tenon and turn the rest. I have to turn it all as if I'm doing a spindle, cutting it to shape as much as possible while between centers, and carefully turn the round end off with a skew; at that point I'll chuck the tenon in the drill press and do the final sanding and finishing there. It works but it isn't as accurate (and certainly not as easy) as I'd like. If only this lathe had a standard 1" spindle, I could get even a cheapie chuck for it. But I'm stuck for now.

As for the hardness of the steel I used, I've no idea. I could go look on others I have to see if there are any numbers I can run, but the reason I have most of them in the first place is that they've been ground back so far they can't be used in the planer at work anymore, so there's a good chance any pertinent info has been ground away. I have some knives made by Progressive (I think that's the name), and the ones we use at the mill right now are made by Ortho Jones or something like that.

Here's a portion of my knife steel selection:

Those big chipper blades are NOT going to be chopped up for smaller projects! The largest one there is probably 28" long or so and has never been ground or used; just had babbitt poured in once. It would make a really nice shear knife or something. Other than that, the long planer knives are grooved on top to fit grooved holders; there are a couple serrated planer knives, two zigzag double-sided knives at top right, a host of worn-out planer knives, and some 1/8" bandsaw steel strips. I have probably twice that many more chipper knives, many broken, and a few more packs of planer knives too. I figure I'm set for a while. There are Simonds, Progressive, and International knives there, and possibly more.

For several years now, I've thrown away dozens of sets (4 per set) of chipper knives for various reasons . Typically one of the set is cracked, has a large chip out of it, etc.

Thinking I might start saving a few of those sets

 

[WesternSaw]

Triggerman

Thanks for sharing the Torx information!That's what makes this site so good, people like you helping othere's out
Lawrence

 

[joe25DA]

vacco

I recently found this set of NOS VACCO ball end allen wrenches. My Dad has some Vacco tools that he has used since the late '70's. What I like most about these is that as the tool size gets larger, so does the handle. These would cost top dollar now.
<a href="http://s729.photobucket.com/albums/ww294/joe25da/?action=view&current=saws602.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww294/joe25da/saws602.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s729.photobucket.com/albums/ww294/joe25da/?action=view&current=saws603.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww294/joe25da/saws603.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

[WesternSaw]

Hi Joe

Nice set of hex ball end Vaco tools you have there! I think you mentioned if you had to buy them new today they would cost a fortune,so are those NOS or used?I think I have a set od their wire strippers but they are hard to use because they are not spring loaded.
Lawrence

 

[Brmorgan]

I got the go-ahead from the boss to bring that knife grinder home at my leisure. Now just to borrow a truck and trailer to get it here. It's not quite as big as it looked when it was back out in the boneyard, but it'll suit my purposes just fine once I've overhauled it. I need another project like I need a hole in the head though.