Vintage Tools: Millers Falls No 8

Following my last post and to continue on the same subject, I got a Millers Falls #8 for a reasonable price, and I definitively wanted one to satisfy my insatiable appetite for Millers Falls planes.
That No 8 came in its original box, no doubt the box was original, it clearly shows the offense of time:

That box is a bit tired.

The plane itself was in ok condition, knob and tote were good and clean except for a drop of paint on the knob, but sole was dirty and blade was dented.

Left body side shows Millers Falls No 8...
and a fingerprint from previous owner.

As usually the first step is to dismantle the plane in pieces so to be able to clean everything.

Main pieces of the plane.

The lateral adjustment lever as well as some hardware are showing some surface rust so they deserve their own green slime bath.

Lever and hardware bathing in the green slime.

While these lucky pieces are bathing in peace, let's take care of the plane body. First step is the sole, I traced some lines with a sharpie pen before starting to rub the sole on the marble plate.

Some line marked with a sharpie.

After few strokes on 120 grit paper came the first result. The sole shows a light cupping behind the mouth and will require some more strokes.

The sole shows a light cupping behind the mouth.

After enjoying some more strokes on coarse paper I switched to finer ones, stepping up to 2000 grit. The sole shows no more cupping.

A flat sole.

I cleaned the sole from residue using the polishing paste and got a shiny clean sole.

A clean sole shining under the light of my workshop.

The body sides were dirty too so they also received some care and rubbing.

Dirty body side...

... that looks better after some care.

Last step was to clean the japanning from dust and dirt and the sole was ready.
The lever cap was is in the same condition as the body side, dirty and oxidized and needed some love too.

The lever cap received its beauty mask...

... and few minutes later it is shining in the light.

Time now to look at the blade assembly. The cap iron is also oxidized and a bit dirty so needs to be cleaned.

Tarnished cap iron.

After rubbing it I noticed that the bottom lips of the cap iron has a kind of wedge.

The cap iron shows a wedge at its end.

This was nothing some strokes with a good file cannot resolve. Few minutes later the cap iron was clean and in good shape.

A cap iron ready to be back on its blade.

Let's take a look to the blade now.

This is not what I would call a sharp blade...

Using the marble plate and coarse paper, then the water stones up to 8000 grit, the leather strop, and finally polishing paste for final cleaning, I got the blade back in proper order.

That is better now.

It is time to switch back to the bathing parts before they are totally dissolved in the slime. A gentle rubbing and a water shower and the parts were good to go after a thin coat of light oil.

A clean lateral adjustment lever...

... and the remaining pieces of hardware.

Now that everything is clean, it is time to put everything back together. After some tweaking it was time to give it a try.

A nice addition to my toolbox.

I now have a nice and shiny Millers Falls No 8 in my toolbox, the next one will be a No 14 that I received last week.

Vintage tools: Millers Falls #9

As I am a fan of Millers Falls planes, few weeks ago I was lucky to find and receive another Millers Falls No 9 plane. I already have one but wanted a second, maybe to get one in each hand.

The plane body is in good condition but needs some cleanup as usually with an old plane. It retains most of its original japanning. Unfortunately I did not think about taking a picture before tearing it apart.

Millers Falls No 9

I cleaned the gunk on the body, then made some trace with a sharpie pen and rubbed it on the sandpaper on my marble plate. The sole revealed to be perfectly flat.

A clean flat sole.

I cleaned the body using a polishing paste I never tried before so I was not sure about what to expect. I put a few drop on the part, rubbed it with a clean clothe and it was clean of any residue on it. I must say I am pretty happy with the result, it removed any residue from flattening the sole and any dirt from the body.

A clean and shiny plane body.

The blade has still a lot of life but was badly ground at incorrect and inconsistent angle. After 30 minutes playing with it on coarse paper onto the marble plate the blade bevel was back in proper order and ready for sharpening. Some workout on the water stones from 1000 to 8000 grits and few last strokes on the leather strop made the blade as sharp as it could be (or as sharp as I could make it).

A sharp blade.

I used the same polishing paste to clean the blade body that was oxidized and got a similar shiny result.

A shiny blade.

Time to put all pieces in place now. While putting back the handles I noticed that the tote had some clearance at the bottom that allowed for some movement. Maybe the wood shrank a bit while aging and the screw was not tight enough to have a sturdy fit. I used a little brass washer at the top to get just enough room to slightly tighten the screw and the tote was good to go.

Last step is to clean the lever cap that shown the same oxidation. Again I applied a bit of polishing paste and rubbed it.

Let's rub it!

After some adjustment it was time to give it a try.

Nice shavings.

Now I have a second Millers Falls No 9 in proper order and I will enjoy playing with it.

I am not sure about the type of this one, the lever cap without red background paint and tote attachment let me think it is a type 3 so made between 1941 & 1949.

Vintage tools: Peugeot Frere 314 hand grinder

As mentioned in a previous post, I recently received an old hand grinder made by Peugeot Freres. Before starting with the restoration of this nice gift I wanted to know as much as possible about that grinder. After some research I found it in the catalog No 751 from Peugeot Freres.

Peugeot Freres, catalog No 751

The grinder appears at page 50 of the catalog.

Page 50 of the catalog.

The model I received is a model 314 "lion", described as ultra-robust, with an oil sump allowing for constant lubrication of the gears. The gear multiplication ratio is 1 to 10 and the wheel is made of superior vitrified corundum (that everybody know is a crystalline form of aluminium oxide of course) which is the second hardest mineral after diamonds (thank you Wikipedia).

The No 314 "Lion" grinder.

From the catalog I can trace the manufacturing of that tool back to 1951.

Now that I am a bit more familiar with the tools and that I know what is corundum I can start with the restoration of this little piece of history.

First thing was to give a good green slime bath to all the hardware like screws, handle, bolts etc. But before doing this, and based on my previous experience with the green slime, I need to first wear this:

Trying to avoid getting my hands colored in green for a week.

I put all the hardware in a plastic box and filled with the green slime.

Hardware bathing for 20 minutes or so.

After around 20 minutes these were ready to be brushed, rinsed with water and oiled a bit so not to rust again.

Hardware cleaned and oiled.

Next step was to do the same with the grinder body. The internal gears are in perfect shape and thanks to the oil that was applied to the interior part there is no any trace of rust so no need to bath everything, just the external part of the body needs to be cleaned a bit what took me multiple coats of green slime applied with a brush and a final brushing and rinsing.

Grinder body, cleaned from any rust.

When clean I was able to read the model number 314 at the bottom of the body.
I decided not to repaint the body  as I want to keep the original paint (well what is left of the original paint) and patina.

The wheel is in very good condition and barely shows any usage.

The grinder wheel, a bit dirty but in good condition.

I will keep it for now and will see if it is of any good usage, if not I will replace it with a brand new one.

Time now to get all pieces back together and look at the final result.

All pieces back together.

The sharpening guide in front of the wheel show 2 gutters used to sharpened drill bits at different angles using the side of the wheel.

The grinder set on a temporary place.

I will need to find a permanent place where to set this little gem and cannot wait to try it on some plane iron or chisel.

Some great visitors and tools.

Last weekend we received some great visitors. My parents came from Europe to visit us for a month. Fortunate as I am, my father did not miss the opportunity to bring me some more interesting vintage tools, the list is quite long!

• A nice vintage hand brace. I will need to clean it as it appears to be a bit rusty but it is still functioning properly.

A vintage hand brace.

• A bunch of old gimlets. These will need to be sharpened and I guess it will be something tricky to do.

A bunch of gimlets.

• A complete Record 050 combination plane in very good condition, a bit dusty though.

A Record 050 combination plane.

• An old hand drill that was owned and used by my father for a very long time. It is in pristine condition. This one has 2 speed set by setting the handle on one side or the other.

My father hand drill.

• A bunch of Stanley chisel, not antique ones but they still are something like 30 years old.

Some not so old Stanley chisels.

• A gigantic bung hole auger, the handle is almost 2 feet wide.

A gigantic hole auger.

• A hand wheel grinder. The picture is showing only the body but it is complete and in perfect working condition. This one is made by Peugeot Freres and is quite old (not sure about the date though)

Peugeot Freres hand grinder body.

• A small plane, made in St Etienne in France. I am not able to read the maker yet but will try to find out while restoring it.

Small plane, maker not yet identified.

• Another plane, from Germany this time, made by Goldenberg.

Goldenberg german plane.

• Another plane, made by Peugeot Freres and in very nice condition. Note the use of the long screw in the iron. The wood used to make it is Cormier.

A nice Peugeot Freres bench plane made in Cormier.

Peugeot Freres stamp.

• A small size block plane made by Narex that was once owned by my grand father.

Small Narex #102 block plane.

• A small axe. It will need a bit of cleaning and sharpening but the handle is very comfortable and the way it is locked to the iron is not common for me.

An old axe. The handle is locked to the iron using a metal plate
going through the iron.

• An old wood level that was owned by my grand father.

My grand father level.

• Finally a mallet that my father made for me!

A custom made mallet. The handle is locked to the head with a dovel.

There will be a lot of fun (and work) to come to restored all these and put them back to use!