Old Tool, New Life

I have posted several times about tools that were my grandpa's or great grandpa's, but here is another. My favorite hatchet to carve with belonged to my grandpa. It had a handle on it that he had made himself.

Here is Grandpa's hatchet with the handle grandpa had made

I wasn't knowledgeable enough about axes/hatchets to know how to correctly fix the fact that the head was loose on the hatchet. I would typical bang the bottom of the handle on a stump to try and tighten it up while working, One day mid winter while splitting some kindling to get the stove going the head broke off the handle. I was sad that I had broken something my grandpa had made. I then did some research on the correct way to fasten (hang) a head on an ax or hatchet.

Hickory is the wood of choice for ax and hatchet handles. After digging in the wood rack I found some Hickory. I rough cut the overall shape on the bandsaw and then did all the shaping with rasp and files.

While making the handle and studying the hatchet head I realized that one side of the head was flat and the other side was beveled. After looking online and talking to some friends I decided that originally the hatchet head had a single bevel and would have been for hewing timbers, and that some point someone sharpened it putting a bevel on both side. I decided to reshape the head and sharpen it back having a single bevel. I didn't want to remove all the pitting and patina on the blade so I didn't grind the sides, and focused my work near the cutting edge. I did the majority of the reshaping using the old stationary belt sander that I had gotten from grandma. With a 60 grit belt I established the single bevel cutting edge and with a little filing it was sharp enough to shave. I plan to polish the cutting edge more soon.

The flat side of the hatchet 

The curved/beveled side

I hung the head on my hickory handle and then finished it with boiled linseed oil. The hickory really came alive when I applied the oil. I shaped the handle where it had a nice place to grip right under the head for detailed work and made a nice palm swell on the bottom of the handle to give a good grip when taking a full swing. What I have learned while doing this has made me want to restore some other axes and make some more tools.  I am very  glad to have grandpa's hatchet back to usable condition. I really enjoy using these old tools, thinking about what was built using them. I hope that someday someone in my family will be using these tools and some of mine also and thinking back about me.

Tool Handles

As I was cleaning in the shop recently I found some old files and rasp that were NY grandpa's. I had forgot I had them. Only one of them had a handle. I need a simple lathe project to get my fix so I used some scrap and turned some handles. Files are a lot nicer to use when they have a handle.

Oak handle on top and a maple handle on bottom.too

A photo essay of what I've been doing

Turned a mallet from a piece of maple firewood

pallet wood planter

Mother's day planter made from cedar fence picket

Raise bed garden built from cedar fence pickets (6' by 3')

My wife and I built this clock for our back porch

Turned my first yo-yo

This froe belonged to my great-great great-grandpa

more family tools

My Great Grandpa built this table, I plan to clean it up and fix the loose joints. 

This saw was my uncle's grandpa's.

The spoon on the bottom is Red Bud and was carved for my Mom's Birthday

Zebra wood pen

Me at the age of 4 helping Dad build his garage

Tigerwood bolt action pen

Old Craftsman block plane that belonged to my grandpa

My co-worker was remodeling a 140 year old building and gave me some wood from it.

Wine bottle holder made from the 140 year old wood.

I finally got around to build some wood working for mere mortals inspired clamp racks

Pumpkin decoration to pain with the kids

More of Grandpa's tool

Grandma had told me a while a go I could have grandpa's drill press and with some of my up coming projects I was needing it so over the weekend we went to see grandma and to pick up the drill press. I haven't been able to find how old the drill press is, but it looks to be in good shape.

While I was getting the drill press I found a bench top belt sander and grandma let me have it as well. It is a Dunlap 4"x36" belt sander. I looks to be around a 1950 model from what I can find. I plan to clean it up and build a stand to hold it and a motor.

Several of my tools used to be grandpa's having them and using them is a wonderful feeling. 

Dunlap Lathe and D R Barton tools

Turning the pens and watching some other turning videos has got me really interested in getting my old lathe setup. So I stopped by dad's where the lathe is in storage and check it out and looked for any tags on it so I could look up any information on it. The lathe was my Grandpa's.

From what I can find it appears to be a 1942 Dunlap sold by sears.

1942 Sear Catalog

The motor looks a little scary but the lathe looks to be in good shape

Dunlap

 I also gathered up the turning tools. They  are all D R Barton tools look to be from 1880 or prior according to the Davistown Museum

I am looking forward to getting this all cleaned up, and ready to use. Using the tools that once belonged to my grandpas is a neat feeling for me. 

Walnut Pens

One the UFOWW forum there are a lot of members who turn and make pens. I have a lathe that was grandpa's but I've never used it and it is still in storage. I was really impressed and with the pens and became interested in turning some.

A fellow UFOWW member,Robert aka Bob, lives about 80 miles away. I started talking with him and we talked about meeting up some time. Then I got the idea I wanted some pens made from the walnut that came from my grandpa's farm. I asked Bob about making some pens for me, and he offered that I could come over and he would teach me how make the pens.

I cut the boards to pen blank size and then mailed them to Bob so he could prepare them. Yesterday was the the big day. I got an early start so I could be at Bob's house around 8 am. 

It was beautiful morning.

Bob taught me how to turn using some extra pieces he had and then I got started making my walnut pens. I was amazed how easy and gratifying making the pens were the first pen took a little while to make but I got the point where I was able to make a pen in about 45 minutes. 

Now for the part that makes the blog better, less words more pictures. Some of these pictures Bob took of him preparing the blanks and he took the action shots of me making the pens.

The bundle of blanks right out of the box

Bob lablled each blank

next they were cut to roughly the correct length, leave a little extra on each

the blanks

Next a hole was drilled through the center of the blank

each blank has a brass tube glued inside, this is part of the pen kit

the ends of the wood blank have to be trimmed flush and square to the brass tube

Now the fun starts

Shaping

wiping on the polish

buffing the polish

laying out the tenon

cutting the tenon

all the parts of the pen

pressing the parts together

the 7 finished pens