Thread: Tool Forum

I love good knives too. I have always had great luck with Gerber and Buck but I see they make quite a bit of their stuff in China now. I have a nice Puma, which is my favourite, but usually do most of my work with Green Rivers, Victorinoxes and ####s.
To sharpen them I have a Tormec wet bath grinder which is the best investment you can get to put good repeatable edges on your knife stock. I have had it almost 20 years and it is still going strong. And to touch up I have a Gerber and a #### steel which have done a mountain of work.
I found a pic of a couple of knives I have had for over 40 years, a Gerber shortie and and I forget what the other one is. I do not think it is an Okapi but it has beautiful Soligen steel that keeps an amazing edge. They have both done a lot of work but are far from worn out.



Al.

I was not being a potty mouth. These German knives have a funny name but are great knives.



Al

i had the same thing happen when talking about a dirt track racer from the 60's named richard mann, as you can well imagine. lol never occured to me before. wish i had your photo then, let's see 'em censor that !

Originally Posted by nick 55

That looks like something used to measure run-out on real small shafts or pulleys. Does the tip move perpendicular to the barrel and shaft or up and down inside the barrel?

Starrett makes real nice dial indicators. I'm jealous!

Nick

It moves perpendicular to the barrel... kinda the opposite of the dial indicator that parrisw posted.

I visited the link that bigbadbob posted and these run about 140+ bucks... in there, it says this is one of the most versatile indicators that you can get. I'm missing the tips and some of the mounting attachments.

Then, just for chits and giggles, I did a price comparison on my USA made Empire dial indicator and a Starrett... 40 bucks for the Empire... 200+ for the Starrett... good fricking damn... Then again, a Mitutoyo dial caliper in your typical 6" length can easily run well in excess of 300 bucks...

Actually kinda makes me glad I am not a machinist on a day to day basis, and that I do not need that kind of precision... I'd #### my pants and run around in circles every time I misplaced these kinds of very expensive things, lol.

However, I, with the enthusiasm of a dog chasing after a stick, will pluck a Starrett out of the scrap bin on any day...

I was surprised to find this in the scrap bin. My eyes got all big and I was thinking "Wow, a Starrett..." and grabbed it, lol.

I grabbed a little Mitutoyo box from the trash, and it was empty... and put it into my bin for some reason. It now protects the Starrett...


As for the pics that I didn't post last night, that was because I was tired from cleaning out the loft at work and took a nap after supper.

You could hardly walk up there on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday... Thursday and Friday, however, proved to be a bit easier as it was much, much better and more organized than it had ever been in the past 10 or more years. Lots of scrap and a few cool things up there. Also pulled an AEG motor off of a Traub machine... and the gears and whatever crap I could remove with the few tools I brought with me.

Pics will be in the next post.

thanks nardoo, can't seem to help myself. trying to balance out the ####'s we got.

Heeere we go!

AEG motor, probably around 3-4 hp. The big motor that I forgot to take a picture of (again) looks similar to this one... it's just another 50+ pounds heavier and probably is around 7-10 hp. I'll have to do the conversions of the metric ratings and get us the straight poop on the old iron.



Curtis compressor... dates from 1916 or so... Old. (but good too! ) It'll definitely get a go through and parts rebuilt/replaced as necessary.





Some end mills (where's my Bridgeport!?! I can't find it...) a box of polishing stones (the one with what I guess is Japanese type all over it) and a pair of grinding wheel arbor adapters.



Binochit, as it's affectionately known... lots of random stuff in there, including the aforementioned gears, and scrap metal as well. It weighs somewhere around 100+ pounds. Yep, a bin full of stuff...

That's what I thought. That 711 is for getting inside very small places to measure play.

Nick

Originally Posted by nick 55

That's what I thought. That 711 is for getting inside very small places to measure play.

Nick

When I picked the tiny bugger up, I knew it was small for a reason. Just wasn't exactly sure at first what it was used for, due to the odd way the thing works, but now we all know it is probably the gauge of choice when doing work inside of a bore or the like.

Should I get the tips for it now, through the site BBB linked? Or should I wait until I have no successes at finding them at nearby machine/tool and die shops?

That's probably a tool the local machine shops don't have, and if they do, I will bet money it is sitting in a felt lined drawer in their tool chest with all the little attachments accounted for. Make sure you have or can find an attachment base for it before you buy tips for it. It is a little bit of an odd size and I doubt a standard dial indicator base will hold it.

Nick

Originally Posted by nick 55

That's probably a tool the local machine shops don't have, and if they do, I will bet money it is sitting in a felt lined drawer in their tool chest with all the little attachments accounted for. Make sure you have or can find an attachment base for it before you buy tips for it. It is a little bit of an odd size and I doubt a standard dial indicator base will hold it.

Nick

I found a friction type holder specifically for this indicator. 13 bucks for that part, and it has a 3/16" shank for fitting to a base or stand, etc. 6 bucks a piece for the steel tips...

It can also be used to check surface smoothness, which would explain why it has a perpendicular movement to the barrel...

Should I order now?

And of course my mom and pops both will think I'm crazy...

Order it now while you know you can still get it. If you don't it will be NLA before you know it. Hey, nice load you got there but what is that white powdery packing material you have on it?

Took a pic of my Tormec, mock sharpening a Buck 110 (there is no water in the bath). The tool holder ensures a constant edge angle.


This metric tap and die set is a very useful asset to the workshop seeing I do not have a lathe like all you guys.



And I use this adjustable reamer set all the time. It is quite old - my father bought it after the war but it has been well looked after. Made here in Australia although I have never heard of the company - I guess it is defunct.




Al.

Originally Posted by Nardoo

Order it now while you know you can still get it. If you don't it will be NLA before you know it. Hey, nice load you got there but what is that white powdery packing material you have on it?

Took a pic of my Tormec, mock sharpening a Buck 110 (there is no water in the bath). The tool holder ensures a constant edge angle.


This metric tap and die set is a very useful asset to the workshop seeing I do not have a lathe like all you guys.



And I use this adjustable reamer set all the time. It is quite old - my father bought it after the war but it has been well looked after. Made here in Australia although I have never heard of the company - I guess it is defunct.




Al.

That adjustable reamer set is something that I wish I had... it's gotta be one of the handiest things in the shop.

I don't have a lathe either... Stuck with the taps and dies.

Hmm... about how much would one of them grinders run? I might have to pick one up...


Oh, and the white packing material is called 'snow' You might not have driven in it... Dry down there in Aussieland...

Used to do a lot of skiing in my younger days - I thought I recognised it!
It is hot here, about 35 degrees C and I have the A/C on flat out. I love summer though.
Those tormecs are spendy but they often come up s/h on fleabay down here. I bought mine new nearly 20 years ago and I forget how much I paid.
I love the old hand made box for the reamers.

Al.

Well, since you Aussies and Canucks are somewhat smart with metrics and stuff, how much power is a ,6/,8 Kw motor supposed to be putting out? The spec plate doesn't have a rated HP stamped into it.

From the size and looks, I figure it's around a 3-4 hp motor. However, when I did the calculations, the Kw rating was saying it was a .8/.10 hp motor... I'm confused, to say the least...

That's what my calculations come out as too, well, a .8hp-1hp. Not a .1hp

Nick