jonathan evans
11-01-2009, 9:54 PM
I have a rehab question I'd welcome any advice on. I picked up an old ugly-looking combination mortise gauge off a junk table this weekend, suspecting there's a gem beneath the grime & corrosion. I was right--it's either rosewood or some other dense, dark wood; brass wear strips, brass thumbscrew, and a brass sliding adjustment -- which freed up easy enough with some WD40 & judicious urging.
Here's the problem: the single pin on the marking side, and the two pins on the mortise side were rusted and worn down to just little nubs level with the surface of the stem. How to get the nubs out so I can replace them? They were just flush with the surface -- nothing I mean nothing to get hold of even with the finest nippers, etc.
On the marking-gauge side, the nub sticks directly into the wood of the stem; on the opposite side, i.e., the mortise side, one pin, or what's left of it, is staked through the brass slide close to the end, while the other pin is stuck in the wood and comes through the brass plate on the end of the stem.
As I said, the problem is what to do. I want make it usable if possible but don't want to mangle it in the process. The pin staked at the end of the brass slide will probably be easy enough. It's the other two I'm stumped by. I thought about driving the nub ends down deeper into the wood of the stem with a tiny pin punch and then retrofitting with new larger-diameter pins, which would probably seat okay in the resulting holes. Drilling out the old ones doesn't seem like an option -- any tiny drill bit would slide off center and just bore a parallel hole alongside the remains of the pins.
No doubt some would advise that I should just clean it up & put it on the mantle as a decoration and buy a new Marples one. But there's something of a challenge to this which I hope fellow Neanderthals will appreciate. Much obliged for any suggestions.
Jonathan Evans
Athens, Ga.
Here's the problem: the single pin on the marking side, and the two pins on the mortise side were rusted and worn down to just little nubs level with the surface of the stem. How to get the nubs out so I can replace them? They were just flush with the surface -- nothing I mean nothing to get hold of even with the finest nippers, etc.
On the marking-gauge side, the nub sticks directly into the wood of the stem; on the opposite side, i.e., the mortise side, one pin, or what's left of it, is staked through the brass slide close to the end, while the other pin is stuck in the wood and comes through the brass plate on the end of the stem.
As I said, the problem is what to do. I want make it usable if possible but don't want to mangle it in the process. The pin staked at the end of the brass slide will probably be easy enough. It's the other two I'm stumped by. I thought about driving the nub ends down deeper into the wood of the stem with a tiny pin punch and then retrofitting with new larger-diameter pins, which would probably seat okay in the resulting holes. Drilling out the old ones doesn't seem like an option -- any tiny drill bit would slide off center and just bore a parallel hole alongside the remains of the pins.
No doubt some would advise that I should just clean it up & put it on the mantle as a decoration and buy a new Marples one. But there's something of a challenge to this which I hope fellow Neanderthals will appreciate. Much obliged for any suggestions.
Jonathan Evans
Athens, Ga.