Tool Forum

[promac850]

You forgot Kersaw... best knife I've ever owned.

That I did... they do make good knives. A few friends of mine have Kershaw knives.


I've had good luck with my Gerber Paraframe II... nice lightweight knife. Edge lasts a good time from out of the box, but after a couple of years of daily wear/use, I couldn't get it sharp again. So I brought it to a local sharpening shop (all they do is sharpen stuff... saw blades, knives, chainsaw chain... you name it, they probably do it) and holy crap, he put an edge on the thing that is a mirror shine, and it is razor sharp... I could probably shave with it if I wanted to. It'll slice through paper, it never did that before...

Also have a Cold Steel Recon Tanto... that one is going to be sharpened by the guy at the shop soon... I want that edge on it... from the factory, these are pretty sharp. I've lopped small branch stubs off of firewood with it, no damage to the edge at all. Heck, I chopped a bottle cap in half... no chips or any other damage to the edge...

I will have to add a Kershaw to the collection at some point... then again, maybe not. I've also got a Case bowie... that one is one cool knife. Shiny too...


Which Kershaw do you have? Any other knives in your collection?

 

[srcarr52]

That I did... they do make good knives. A few friends of mine have Kershaw knives.


I've had good luck with my Gerber Paraframe II... nice lightweight knife. Edge lasts a good time from out of the box, but after a couple of years of daily wear/use, I couldn't get it sharp again. So I brought it to a local sharpening shop (all they do is sharpen stuff... saw blades, knives, chainsaw chain... you name it, they probably do it) and holy crap, he put an edge on the thing that is a mirror shine, and it is razor sharp... I could probably shave with it if I wanted to. It'll slice through paper, it never did that before...

Also have a Cold Steel Recon Tanto... that one is going to be sharpened by the guy at the shop soon... I want that edge on it... from the factory, these are pretty sharp. I've lopped small branch stubs off of firewood with it, no damage to the edge at all. Heck, I chopped a bottle cap in half... no chips or any other damage to the edge...

I will have to add a Kershaw to the collection at some point... then again, maybe not. I've also got a Case bowie... that one is one cool knife. Shiny too...


Which Kershaw do you have? Any other knives in your collection?

I have a Kershaw Blackout partial serrated.

I have a few other knives but this is by far my favorite. It came out of the box sharp enough to shave with.

Another good knife I have is the Cold Steel True Flight that goes in my snowmobile in case of the inevitable while in the mountains. It's a good light weight survival type knife since it's strong enough to split kindling with. With that knife, a small saw, a mag starter and a quick wick I could have a fire roaring in a few minutes. If not there is usually a 2 gallon jug of gas on the back as well. I you have to bunker down for the night... dig in on the downwind side of a mound, make a quick roof with pine branches, fire at the front, melt some snow for water and try not to look at each other as food. :biggrinbounce2:

 

[promac850]

Well folks, I brought home another skid of stuff. Affectionately known as a 'skidachit'...

Got another AEG brand motor, a bunch of scrap metal, a nice chuck for a drill press (or maybe a mill or lathe?) a grinding attachment for a lathe, a boring bar for a lathe, and some other cool/useful crap.

One of the best finds... a Starret dial indicator of some sort... not your typical indicator... it's a bit of an oddball. I don't know what it's used for or how to use it.

I will post pics of some of the stuff a little later tonight, after supper.


Oh, anyone know anything about Curtis compressor pumps? I got one that is a single cylinder, 2.5" bore by 3" stroke... I figure it might be one of those lower cfm running all the time pumps... it's stuck... I can't turn the shaft at all in either direction. It really needs a good cleaning, so it really isn't a big problem to me... I plan to tear the whole thing down and check everything over good. Probably throw new rings in and hone the cylinder. This is one heavy old cast iron pump... it would work even after you dropped a frigging atom bomb on it.

As I've said before, the old stuff is the good stuff...

And I got a couple of end mills. Now to find a Bridgeport for less than 800 bucks... and then find a spot to put the thing...

Or does someone want to trade a BP for a bunch of boat stones?

 

[nick 55]

Post a pic of the dial indicator. I spend a good amount of time taking small measurements and can probably identify what that specific one is used for.

I bought a 20 gallon parts washer yesterday, well ordered it. The NAPA my dad uses has always treated us well and I had them order one for me. When it comes in, the manager told me to bring some chemical containers and he would give me enough solvent for free from their bulk tank.

Nick

 

[promac850]

Post a pic of the dial indicator. I spend a good amount of time taking small measurements and can probably identify what that specific one is used for.

I bought a 20 gallon parts washer yesterday, well ordered it. The NAPA my dad uses has always treated us well and I had them order one for me. When it comes in, the manager told me to bring some chemical containers and he would give me enough solvent for free from their bulk tank.

Nick

Which kind of solvent are you going to run? The nice stuff that needs to be heated a little bit to work well (in fact, works better than regular solvent, but is real easy on the hands) or the old skool paint thinner/mineral spirits based stuff?

Since I just finished my supper... I can post a pic.

Here ya go... a Starrett No. 711... the glass or plastic, whichever it was, viewing screen is no longer there...

 

[bigbadbob]

Starrett Last Word Compact Dial Test Indicators, No. 711 Series
Starrett 711

 

[Metals406]

Which kind of solvent are you going to run? The nice stuff that needs to be heated a little bit to work well (in fact, works better than regular solvent, but is real easy on the hands) or the old skool paint thinner/mineral spirits based stuff?

Since I just finished my supper... I can post a pic.

Here ya go... a Starrett No. 711... the glass or plastic, whichever it was, viewing screen is no longer there...

Starrett Last Word Compact Dial Test Indicators, No. 711 Series

Expensive little buggers!

 

[promac850]

Starrett Last Word Compact Dial Test Indicators, No. 711 Series
Starrett 711

Cool... now to find some tips and a couple of different mounts for it...

I might buy tips from the site you just linked, but first I'll be seeing if the machine shops around here just happen to have one or parts of one and hopefully they'll be willing to let it (them) go.

 

[nick 55]

That looks like something used to measure run-out on real small shafts or pulleys. Does the tip move perpendicular to the barrel and shaft or up and down inside the barrel?

Starrett makes real nice dial indicators. I'm jealous!

Nick

 

[parrisw]

That looks like something used to measure run-out on real small shafts or pulleys. Does the tip move perpendicular to the barrel and shaft or up and down inside the barrel?

Starrett makes real nice dial indicators. I'm jealous!

Nick

They work well for indicating inside bore's. I have a similar indicator but its not a Starrett, they are $$$

Added this to my lathe the other day.

 

[Nardoo]

I love good knives too. I have always had great luck with Gerber and Buck but I see they make quite a bit of their stuff in China now. I have a nice Puma, which is my favourite, but usually do most of my work with Green Rivers, Victorinoxes and ####s.
To sharpen them I have a Tormec wet bath grinder which is the best investment you can get to put good repeatable edges on your knife stock. I have had it almost 20 years and it is still going strong. And to touch up I have a Gerber and a #### steel which have done a mountain of work.
I found a pic of a couple of knives I have had for over 40 years, a Gerber shortie and and I forget what the other one is. I do not think it is an Okapi but it has beautiful Soligen steel that keeps an amazing edge. They have both done a lot of work but are far from worn out.

Al.

 

[Nardoo]

I was not being a potty mouth. These German knives have a funny name but are great knives.

Al

 

[turtle561]

i had the same thing happen when talking about a dirt track racer from the 60's named richard mann, as you can well imagine. lol never occured to me before. wish i had your photo then, let's see 'em censor that !

 

[promac850]

That looks like something used to measure run-out on real small shafts or pulleys. Does the tip move perpendicular to the barrel and shaft or up and down inside the barrel?

Starrett makes real nice dial indicators. I'm jealous!

Nick

It moves perpendicular to the barrel... kinda the opposite of the dial indicator that parrisw posted.

I visited the link that bigbadbob posted and these run about 140+ bucks... in there, it says this is one of the most versatile indicators that you can get. I'm missing the tips and some of the mounting attachments.

Then, just for chits and giggles, I did a price comparison on my USA made Empire dial indicator and a Starrett... 40 bucks for the Empire... 200+ for the Starrett... good fricking damn... Then again, a Mitutoyo dial caliper in your typical 6" length can easily run well in excess of 300 bucks...

Actually kinda makes me glad I am not a machinist on a day to day basis, and that I do not need that kind of precision... I'd #### my pants and run around in circles every time I misplaced these kinds of very expensive things, lol.

However, I, with the enthusiasm of a dog chasing after a stick, will pluck a Starrett out of the scrap bin on any day...

I was surprised to find this in the scrap bin. My eyes got all big and I was thinking "Wow, a Starrett..." and grabbed it, lol.

I grabbed a little Mitutoyo box from the trash, and it was empty... and put it into my bin for some reason. It now protects the Starrett...


As for the pics that I didn't post last night, that was because I was tired from cleaning out the loft at work and took a nap after supper.

You could hardly walk up there on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday... Thursday and Friday, however, proved to be a bit easier as it was much, much better and more organized than it had ever been in the past 10 or more years. Lots of scrap and a few cool things up there. Also pulled an AEG motor off of a Traub machine... and the gears and whatever crap I could remove with the few tools I brought with me.

Pics will be in the next post.

 

[turtle561]

thanks nardoo, can't seem to help myself. trying to balance out the ####'s we got.

:bang:

 

[promac850]

Heeere we go!

AEG motor, probably around 3-4 hp. The big motor that I forgot to take a picture of (again) looks similar to this one... it's just another 50+ pounds heavier and probably is around 7-10 hp. I'll have to do the conversions of the metric ratings and get us the straight poop on the old iron.

Curtis compressor... dates from 1916 or so... Old. (but good too! ) It'll definitely get a go through and parts rebuilt/replaced as necessary.

Some end mills (where's my Bridgeport!?! I can't find it...) a box of polishing stones (the one with what I guess is Japanese type all over it) and a pair of grinding wheel arbor adapters.

Binochit, as it's affectionately known... lots of random stuff in there, including the aforementioned gears, and scrap metal as well. It weighs somewhere around 100+ pounds. Yep, a bin full of stuff...

 

[nick 55]

That's what I thought. That 711 is for getting inside very small places to measure play.

Nick

 

[promac850]

That's what I thought. That 711 is for getting inside very small places to measure play.

Nick

When I picked the tiny bugger up, I knew it was small for a reason. Just wasn't exactly sure at first what it was used for, due to the odd way the thing works, but now we all know it is probably the gauge of choice when doing work inside of a bore or the like.

Should I get the tips for it now, through the site BBB linked? Or should I wait until I have no successes at finding them at nearby machine/tool and die shops?

 

[nick 55]

That's probably a tool the local machine shops don't have, and if they do, I will bet money it is sitting in a felt lined drawer in their tool chest with all the little attachments accounted for. Make sure you have or can find an attachment base for it before you buy tips for it. It is a little bit of an odd size and I doubt a standard dial indicator base will hold it.

Nick

 

[promac850]

That's probably a tool the local machine shops don't have, and if they do, I will bet money it is sitting in a felt lined drawer in their tool chest with all the little attachments accounted for. Make sure you have or can find an attachment base for it before you buy tips for it. It is a little bit of an odd size and I doubt a standard dial indicator base will hold it.

Nick

I found a friction type holder specifically for this indicator. 13 bucks for that part, and it has a 3/16" shank for fitting to a base or stand, etc. 6 bucks a piece for the steel tips...

It can also be used to check surface smoothness, which would explain why it has a perpendicular movement to the barrel...

Should I order now?

And of course my mom and pops both will think I'm crazy...