More boot sale finds

[carpenteire2009]

I picked these 3 items up last Sunday at another boot sale, all after cleaning and limited fettling:

Stanley 10" hand brace, 2 jaw (jaws in perfect condition, no signs of wear or use at all), I've been looking for a Stanley in good nick for a few years now. This one was covered in old adhesive and other muck which hid its promise.

Small (3/4 lb I believe) ball peen hammer by Gordon of Sheffield (a good mechanic's and engineer's tool maker in their day I believe). Handle seemed like a replacement but cleaning back the muck revealed it to be original, just needed a good clean and the wedge needed a little tap!

1" brace bit by Footprint of Sheffield. A light cleaning and touch up of the cutting edges was all that was needed. This complete my set of brace bits.

Cost me €10 for the lot which I think was a bargain. Made up for the €4 I spent on a crusty Sanderson handsaw- haven't made my mind up whether this can be salvaged yet.

 

[Richard T]

Good finds there. I noticed a few years ago that my local ironmonger were charging £61 for a new Stanley brace - plastic handles and everything :shock:

Good to have a bit for every occasion too.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

About the only problem I've ever had with my Stanley brace was a mis-shapen jaw spring. It's a bit of bent wire, basically. The bit of bent wire in mine distorted and caught in the screwthread of the closing piece, making it very hard to open the chuck. Once identified, easily remedied by bending the bit of wire back into shape. No problems since. Might be worth checking that the wire sits snugly in it's place, and isn't fouling anything.

The saw might be salvagable, especially if the blade is straight. Try removing the handle, soaking in vinegar, Citric Acid, Corrodip or whatever other patent rust-eating gloup you know of. Then joint the toothline straight, reshape the teeth, set and sharpen. If you haven't done that before, this would be a good saw to practice on - the most you can loose is four Euros and a few hours of time, and the latter is just an investment in increasing the skill range.

 

[carpenteire2009]

Thanks for the feed back guys. Brace is sweet and works very well, I reckon it saw very little use. In the middle of a house move right now so I can't spend anytime on the saw just yet but I will certainly be giving it a go. Tried my hand at sharpening some old handsaws over the past year with some success. No excuses now that I've spent a small fortune on the various saw files, set etc! It's a great skill to have and well worth the initial effort. I'll post before and after shots IF it works out!