Restoring Old Tools, well that didnt go as planned.

[Philipp Jaindl]

Picked up 2 drawknives at the fleamarket recently 1 of them in really good shape barely any rust the other very rusty in need of electrolysis. So i went about the usual throw the rusty one in the Electrolysis Tank, Steel Wool on the other to clean up the bit of surface rust and straight to flatten the quite rounded back with a filing guide to get an angle that would flatten enough of the back without removing tons of material.

Heres the Result, not very visible on picture but hairline cracks, hairline cracks everywhere, which surprised me since it looked very well used and even came reasonably sharp even though it has a bit of surface rust. Suppose thats what happens when the quench goes sideways.




On to Drawknife 2, comes out of the Electrolysis tank and after cleanup what do i find? a weld slap bang in the middle of the blade, still went on to flatten a spot on the back and since i didnt find cracks i just did the whole back. Well theres a definitive soft spot on the weld, obviously, but either side the steel is still good and it being a drawknife i can happily avoid using the middle section, not a perfect solution but it works. Also made 2 barebones basic new grips for it nothing fancy, they just work and are comfortable in the hand.

I guess this is just another reminder that not all old Tools (that seem good) are actually of "good old Quality"

The 2 Culprits

Regards Philipp

[Dave Parkis]

That sucks, but it happens. I bought a 5 1/2C a few years ago at a garage sale and giggled all the way home. Checked the mouth for nicks, checked the sole for flatness and pitting, and even checked the iron. Everything looked great. Got it home and when I started removing the frog I found that the threads were totally stripped for one of the screws. Turned out to be a parts donor.

[Bob Glenn]

That hair line crack may be the weld line left by the blacksmith when he welded tool steel on to the wrought iron.

[Jim Koepke]

Finding good draw knives is harder than finding good planes. It seems often there is an "antique percentage" added to the price.

That sucks, but it happens. I bought a 5 1/2C a few years ago at a garage sale and giggled all the way home. Checked the mouth for nicks, checked the sole for flatness and pitting, and even checked the iron. Everything looked great. Got it home and when I started removing the frog I found that the threads were totally stripped for one of the screws. Turned out to be a parts donor.

Sometimes it is possible to repair the bad threads in the body. There are a few different products that work will including threaded inserts or a heli-coil.

Of course just about ever repair method requires one to be able to cut new threads. If there is enough left in the casting it might be possible to cut a 12-24 thread and just change the screw. Some might even change it to a 1/4-20 screw.

jtk

[Philipp Jaindl]

That sucks, but it happens. I bought a 5 1/2C a few years ago at a garage sale and giggled all the way home. Checked the mouth for nicks, checked the sole for flatness and pitting, and even checked the iron. Everything looked great. Got it home and when I started removing the frog I found that the threads were totally stripped for one of the screws. Turned out to be a parts donor.

That Sucks indeed though you can drill out the holes and re-tap them if you wanted to.

That hair line crack may be the weld line left by the blacksmith when he welded tool steel on to the wrought iron.

No theres tons of them all along the lenght and width of the back you can see the hardening line in person, though seeing as it appears to be used well enough for someone to bother fixing on of the grips from cracking further, i may go back later to finish flattening the back. Still sucks to have both of them with "defects".

Finding good draw knives is harder than finding good planes. It seems often there is an "antique percentage" added to the price.

jtk

I've noticed that too, good condition Drawknives can get really expensive, and if theres one reasonably priced one its gone rather quickly. Funnily enough some of the best tools i did restore came in the worst condition, cant tell you how much i like the electrolysis to de-rust parts.

[Brian Holcombe]

can you show the cracks?

[Philipp Jaindl]

can you show the cracks?

Its really rather difficult to get them on camera, some are quite hard to see in person you gotta play around wiht the light for them to show but i did my best, i kept the pics large hopefully they show up ok.

[Brian Holcombe]

Do they show at the edge? From what I see it looks like it’s in the iron and the blade is laminated but I could be mis-sewing the grinder marks.

[Bruce Haugen]

Heck, make your own like this guy does
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sroUGl6ByKA

‘Course, you might have to develop some skills

[Kory Cassel]

I only buy rusty old fixer uppers, but this is the price. Just got burned by a 14" Disston no 5 Back saw with the bolt holes rusted completely through the sawplate. Still, restoring the antiques is kind of, mostly, rewarding?

[steven c newman]

backsaw.jpg
Mine is working just fine...

[Philipp Jaindl]

Do they show at the edge? From what I see it looks like it’s in the iron and the blade is laminated but I could be mis-sewing the grinder marks.

aye sadly they do, i probably will go back to finish it up and see if it hold up to use

Heck, make your own like this guy does
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sroUGl6ByKA

‘Course, you might have to develop some skills

I was actually thinking about making my own out of flat stock filed/ground to shape, the bigger problem is heat treating, maybe some day I'll give that a shot.

I only buy rusty old fixer uppers, but this is the price. Just got burned by a 14" Disston no 5 Back saw with the bolt holes rusted completely through the sawplate. Still, restoring the antiques is kind of, mostly, rewarding?

Can always shorten it cant you? or make some scrapers from it.

[Kory Cassel]

Can always shorten it cant you? or make some scrapers from it.

I've bought a replacement blade, just bummed out to lose the originality of the tool. Not to mention that I paid shipping from England to Texas and had to buy a new saw plate in the end. It was an unscrupulous ebay seller.