July 4th yard sale finds

[Paul Saffold]

My first find was a rasp. $1.00

I could read "....son" and "made in USA" so I thought I had a Nicholson 49. It is pretty coarse. When I got home and used a little emery paper I could read "Johnson" with an image of a hand holding a hammer. This might be a farriers rasp but should work OK for wood for me. It is still fairly sharp but rusty. Should I soak it in Evapo-Rust? Or just wire brush it?

Next a "Box of junk". $5.00

In the box was a Stanley 78. My other planes are bench type, so this will be interesting. It looks to be intact and used. I can't loosen the screw holding the nicker so I gave it a shot of WD-40 to set overnight.

Happy 4th to all. Paul

[David Keller NC]

Paul - Don't wire-brush your rasp - it will dull the teeth. Evaporust will get the rust off for you, but you might consider soaking it in citric or acetic acid, which will not only remove the rust, it will sharpen the teeth (soaking them in acid was the machinist's trick for sharpening up old files and rasps before the advent of liquid-abrasive sharpening).

Not sure if this is worth it to you, but if the rasp turns out to be duller than an acid treatment will take care of, and you'd like to ressurect it, you can send it off to Boggs Tool - they sharpen rasps and files by the liquid abrasive process.

http://www.boggstool.com/liquidhone.htm

[Paul Saffold]

David,
Thanks for the advice. Can you recommend any sources for citric or acetic acid that are strong enough? Would vinegar have acetic acid?

Paul

[Justin Cavender]

Paul I have used vinegar it works well let it set over night. Where is inwood? I am 5 miles outside of Charleston.

[David Keller NC]

David,
Thanks for the advice. Can you recommend any sources for citric or acetic acid that are strong enough? Would vinegar have acetic acid?

Paul

Vinegar is a 2.5% solution of acetic acid, and yes, it will work if the steel's left in it long enough. For sharpening purposes, stronger acetic is preferable. If you've got a traditional photography shop in the area, they may have a 10% solution of acetic used as a photographic fixer.

I prefer citric, because there's no odor associated with it. You can buy it at home brewery suppliers, and some drug stores. You don't need much - perhaps 25 grams or so, of which you'll use about 5 grams per run - about a teaspoon per quart of water.

[Jacob Reverb]

Be sure to degrease first with lye or strong ammonia, then rinse well, or the acid won't attack where you have oil or grease...

[David Hostetler]

Rubbing alcohol should also clean off wherever oil / grease are.... Lye might be a bit strong.

[Paul Saffold]

Thanks guys for all the good advice. I went to a beer / home brew supply store and bought 2 oz of citric acid ($1.59). I let you know the results.
Paul

[Dave Lehnert]

My first find was a rasp. $1.00

I could read "....son" and "made in USA" so I thought I had a Nicholson 49. It is pretty coarse. When I got home and used a little emery paper I could read "Johnson" with an image of a hand holding a hammer. This might be a farriers rasp but should work OK for wood for me. It is still fairly sharp but rusty. Should I soak it in Evapo-Rust? Or just wire brush it?

Next a "Box of junk". $5.00

In the box was a Stanley 78. My other planes are bench type, so this will be interesting. It looks to be intact and used. I can't loosen the screw holding the nicker so I gave it a shot of WD-40 to set overnight.

Happy 4th to all. Paul

PIC POLICE

NO pic, didn't happen.

[Paul Saffold]

The Stanley 78, and other goodies in the $5 box.
The saw set is BIG, no name just "USA".
I don't know the proper name of the hand clamp with parallel jaws and screws for controlling the depth of what is being held. I assume its a metal brake?
A mechanic's screw driver bit for a brace, plus a long 1/2" bit.
Various pliers & wrenches.
A hand held star drill?
A nice plumb bob.

Johnson rasp.
I'll post before/after closeup pictures of the teeth when I'm done cleaning it up.

A question about the 78. Why are there 2 depth stops?
This is the way it was setup when I bought it. Is it correct? It does not look right to me.

[Jim Koepke]

A question about the 78. Why are there 2 depth stops?

There should only be one, the second one may be one from a different plane that someone put there as a convenient place to store it.

Check out Patrick Leach's Blood & Gore:

http://www.supertool.com/index.htm

You may be able to recoup your purchase price by selling the spare depth stop on eBay.

jim