sutton083

Another fresh find, this one is practically unused and in NOS (New Old Stock) condition, well almost... Its from the seasonal flea market in Wilmot, same vendor from whom I  have been getting some good braces and Hand drills lately. Including that mechanical marvel, the North Bros 1545, I sent to Gerhard. When I see her, now I just ask her what she got for tools and she shows me stuff she has not unpacked yet, for lack of space. I guess you can say, I get 1st dibs  :-) Today, when she shown me this brace, I was immediately taken aback how new it looked, yet, it is well made in the older tradition. No plastic, all metal, plated with wood (Beech, no stain, varnished), ball bearings in the head, ink markings almost perfect etc. For $20? Did not even bothered haggling for it, take my money please. See anything wrong yet? Footprint Sheffield England Footprint ratchet brace No 170 10 in sweep BS1978 NO, that brace is not dated 1978, it reads British Standard (BS) 1978. This just ha...

It took me a long time to acquired my first one, a Sheffield plated brace, from Ebay back in the days... Lately, they seems to pop up more often in my local searches, go figure...!!! I wrote earlier about the development of the brace, here I only made provision for one wooden brace in my ongoing Boring till, but I now own 4. All lined up to give you an idea of relative sizes The first one to arrived about 15 years ago, via EBay, was this Sheffield plated brace manufactured by Abbot. It feature the button chuck, which relies on a notch cut on one side  of the tapered square tang of the brace bit. Next was another local finds, last year, while out buying handsaws, responding on a Kijiji sale... When I asked if he had anything else, this is what I spotted. This one was manufactured by Barton Also featuring the ubiquitous button holder. Since there was no real standard, the location of the notch required varies. In this pic, the bit inserted does not goes deep enough. Then came across...

My draft entry for the boring till tool holder is awaiting me actually finishing them holders... Too many distractions right now :-) So instead here is a post on some tools that recently "Followed me home" Tm :-) You know, I just had to play with them... These tests were with the tools as found, I did not touched up the cutting edges (but I will later) But first, lets introduce the tools in questions: The bits From T-B Stanley No 22 Dowel sharpener, and  Stanley No 18 Countersink STANLEY No 18 Countersink, brace bit, nickel plated. This countersink design features an hollow head and a cutting lip formed by a cut after the casting. Hard to see, but the inside of the bowl has  a pretty rough casting surface left Cutting edge being formed by a single cut In order for it to work, that cutting edge must  protude slightly from the other side of the cut. There is evidence of file work on that side to lower the edge. The cutting lip, thus made is sticking out slightly. This resul...

We are experiencing some strange weather, not our usual fall weather for sure. We still have the occasional mid 20s C temps then frost warnings at nite... Will you please make up your mind Mother nature already.... You can just make up the dead brown tomatoes plants  outside the protective dome on the left handside behind Rudy. In case you ever wondered, it sure works,  look at the greenery still inside the dome. There are three big green tomatoes inside turning yellow The furnace is back on, the remaining vegetables still producing are covered at nite and sometimes until noon or so. The remainders have all been harvested and cleaned up. Only celery left in the brown two tier raised garden. Was harvested soon after. We are done with the cucumbers, but still are harvesting tomatoes, bell green peppers, celery and some spices. Will see how long we can extend our growing season using covers. With everyting gone, cover has been relocated It now protect a remaining producing  ...