Quick poll: too far gone or worth trying to salvage?
Posted Oct 13, 2015, 3:48 PM UTC
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Is there anything specifically broken or not working? It looks usable as is. As long as the adjustment knobs spin, you can knock the corrosion off and use it now.
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Sorry, you posted simultaneously to my post with more details.
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not even too close to too far gone. Fix her right up.
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i'd buy it just for aesthetics, its a nice looking tool. Clean it up and put it on the wall if you use it or not. Depending on price
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Restore and reuse or send them to me.
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The single marking pin still has plenty of length left in it.
How stuck is the fence? If you hold the fence and smack it against your bench, any signs of moving? Put the fence in your vice then tap the nose of the rod with a hammer?
If I were going to renovate it, I would start off by removing the screw and cleaning up anything in that hole. Next, I'd use a sharp chisel to carve some light bevels into the fence's mortise. That might help relieve enough of the sticking for the fence to get smacked free.
If that doesn't do it, I would put the fence in a vice, nose up, then tap it firmly with a hammer. If there's any movement (even a mil), push the rod back the other way, then repeat. WD-40 will probably help.
I've had a lot of luck doing this procedure (slowly working it out) to remove saw nuts without damaging them. There's no need to be gentle, but no need to go neanderthal either.
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How stuck is the fence?
When I was handling it it was solid as a rock. Once I got it back home it really confirmed that, I lubricated it and still had to go full caveman on it to get it to budge 1mm.
Once it moves at all you think you're on to a winner, and I was expecting/hoping that once I 'broke the seal' so to speak it would let go and begrudgingly slide the rest of the way. But no, cue 40 minutes of bashing with a rubber mallet. Fought me the entire length of the stem.
Man am I glad they made these from strong hardwood!
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Damn, if it was that rough, maybe touch up the stem with a block plane, or clean up the mortise with a file once it comes off. Whichever looks dirtier.
But it's a gorgeous looking gauge. I've always wanted one with the screw adjust for mortises made out of rosewood or some other fancy hardwood.
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maybe touch up the stem with a block plane, or clean up the mortise with a file once it comes off. Whichever looks dirtier.
Did a bit of both actually.
The inside of the mortise was dog rough, much less finished than I expected. I can't date this accurately, but I think it dates from the 70s or later when standards were slipping.
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I had to use a club hammer to free the stem of my first marking gauge, a twin stem ulmia. The fence was a lamination of two different woods that had expanded at different rates. I had to pare the mortise, oil the screws, sand the finish on the outside of the stem and add a coat of carnauba wax. It's been working like a champ since.
I had to do similar repairs to captive wedge gauges last year, before branching into antique brass-stemmed gauges. I may try cam gauges next... one can never have too many marking gauges :)
EDIT: My vote is obviously fix it ;)
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one can never have too many marking gauges :)
(That's a pic from Paul Sellers in case you didn't recognise it, I only have two so far.)
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I'm not there yet, just 6 or 7 (I think).
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Forgive the newbie question, but what is this? Some kind of marking gauge?
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It's a combination marking gauge, for both regular marking and for marking mortises — see the pair of pins on one side of the stem? Usually those are spaced by holding up to the chisel you'll use to cut the mortise.
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I was wondering what the pair of pins was for, thanks!
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I vote that it's always worth a shot. At the very least you'll learn from trying.
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I vote that it's always worth a shot.
When something's very cheap I would agree (anything around the price of a cup of coffee I'm willing to take a chance).
I certainly took that attitude when I bought this spokeshave at the same time!
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That would be somewhere between "NOS" and "like new" at the antique markets I go to.
Put some life back in it
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That would be somewhere between "NOS" and "like new" at the antique markets I go to.
LOL And do the prices reflect that? If so I'd hate to think what they'd charge for one in actual like-new condition!
Put some life back in it
Already done, posting album soon.
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Buy it. Easy to restore.
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Basically wondering if you'd buy or not buy if you saw this for cheap.
Some further details:
literally in a bucket of old, rusty tools and other crap
threaded knob turns easily (totally amazed by that TBH)
brass adjustment mechanism also turns, but very stiff
fence stuck absolutely solid on the stem.
Depends how cheap it was, if it was only a couple of dollars I would. The fence shouldn't be too hard to unstick unless someone's glued it in place or something. It doesn't look like it needs much restoration, just a clean up.
Yes, about that.
Felt like it! But it's probably just due to the wood swelling from being soaked through.
If it was only a couple of dollars I'd probably just buy it for the parts. if you can't get the fence unstuck you could just make a new fence and stem for a bit of fun and use the hardware from that one.
I hadn't considered buying it just for the parts, but then I wouldn't plan on making a gauge this complex by hand: deep threaded hole down the stem (about 3" deep I think) + a very small T-track groove along the top.
The threading I might just about manage, no clue how to do the T-shaped groove. Dado then scrape?
My only concern is the fence being stuck. It's either rust holding it in place or the wood being swollen. The only thing you're really going to be able to do is toss it in Evaporust, which case I hope you're not attached to the finish. Or... give it a solid whack and either break the fence or set it loose.
That's gamble on buying this.