Today's rust hunt

[Andrew Bangs]

A blacksmith was selling his entire workshop, everything from nuts and bolts to hammers and tongs to a Bridgeport milling machine. I found some chisels (Marples, Ward, and all the Sorbys) and saws (Disston, and Drabble & Sanderson who I've never heard of) and a few other bits. This Ultimatum brace came home with me. Looks like I need to figure out how to clean brass:



291290

[Dale Murray]

I wonder if that will clean up to look like this:


http://dale-murray.com/web/Sheffield_Brace_sm.jpg

More old tools here.
http://dale-murray.com/tools/index.html

[steven c newman]

Most stores carry a can of Brasso. Used it for years, shining up the Army Brass stuff..

[Andrew Bangs]

Dale, your one looks better than mine! Great photos, too.

[Dale Murray]

Thanks.

It was my grandfathers. He never used it or the bits, when he retired he started buying and selling antique tools for the fun of it. I also have a Stanley #1 and a "Shoe Buckle" plane I really like, mainly because I remember the day he bought them and how happy he was - like a cat who got the canary.

[Frederick Skelly]

I wonder if that will clean up to look like this:


http://dale-murray.com/web/Sheffield_Brace_sm.jpg

More old tools here.
http://dale-murray.com/tools/index.html

Wow Dale, that brace picture is just STRIKING... like the kind of thing youd see on a calendar or the cover of a Lee Valley catalog. I think the lighting and the contrasting colors are what does it. Just beautiful.

Fred

[Dale Murray]

Thank you very much. I shot that a few years ago. Now I'm thinking I may want to reshoot them.

For the record, those chips are not from that bit. They are from a forstner and I just piled them up there. Photography = smoke and mirrors.

[Andrew Bangs]

Dale, what condition was your grandfather's brace in? Did you have to do much cleaning/restoration? Any tips that you can share would be greatly appreciated.

So far all I've done is wipe the loose dirt off with a dry cloth, and then a damp cloth, and then a cloth damped with meths (denatured alcohol). The wood looks more like ebony than beech, although there's still plenty of dirt to come off the surface (decades of sitting unused in a blacksmith's forge, it seems... I don't think they ever threw any tools away over several generations) and the brass is very rough to the touch with a greyish-green layer of corrosion.

[george wilson]

Do be careful using those OLD braces,especially those made of beech wood. I had one twist right in half when I first used one. Marcus and I were horsing around,and I was pretending I was going to drill him. He grabbed the END OF THE BRACE,and it twisted right off!! Beech can get so rotten,but still look o.k. on the outside. I recommend that you do not really use it. Especially if it has not been cared for,and left on a bucket of stuff near the floor of a shop. Polish it up and keep it as a collectible.