I've always been interested in old hand tools, although I mainly use power tools for speed and ease. However, with no electricity in the garage/workshop space in New Jersey, and likewise in the coffee land workshop I have been forced back on greater reliance on tools that are strictly powered by hand. At the same time, I have been freeing up a bit of time for small hobbies and projects, and one that I got interested in recently was locating and restoring some old hand powered bench grinders.
We found a couple on eBay. I took one to Mexico and got it into operation with a quick clean up and nothing more. It's time will come. The one I kept up in New Jersey was in grotty condition. The handle was bent, it was clogged up and obviously hadn't been used in a long time. I don't know how old it is and cannot find any brand name or other indications of its identity. I took it apart and soaked it thoroughly in a petrol bath for a couple of days, and then scrubbed it down with a small nylon brush and reassembled it. A couple of teeth were chipped on the main gear, but apart from that it was intact and the mechanism hummed beautifully after the petrol bath and acrub and with a bit of light oil added through the oiling points.
I found a few remnants of red pain on the grinder face, so decided to paint it red, and then use black on the parts that were originally chrome plated. A full and proper job would have involved chroming, but I am only up here a few days at a time and wanted to get this machine working. So I forewent the chrome and used paint instead. Since apartment living is not conducive to spray painting I just used small artist's brushes with rust-proof enamel paint. This was definitely a case of not gilding the lily.
It's finished now and will get a work out later, after I have tidied up the makeshift work area in the lounge. I tried out the macro function on my new SLR camera and captured the finished job as best I could.
