Jan 272018
 

A while back I picked up some rusty, old garden tools from my friend Harry’s House. If you’re interested you can find more information here.

Paint day

Jess was away for the week and the weather was nice so it seemed like a perfect time to get some painting done. A couple of weeks before I removed the rust using naval jelly and gave them a couple of coats of prime (Rust-oleum Rusty Metal Primer). On painting day they were sanded almost to bare metal and prepared for paint.

The handles on two of the shovels were painted metal flake blue–which I really liked. I had a couple old cans of Dupli-Color MetalCast paint, one was blue so I thought that would be a perfect fit. The MetalCast spray paint requires a base layer (metal flake ground coat), which I had a can on hand. Unfortunately, that was only enough to do some of the tools and one shovel had to be put away for another day.

I hadn’t used this paint for a while and I forgot how frustrating it is. It spatters, clogs and is just generally frustrating, that being said its amazing if you take your time. The spray paint, now 10+ years old was particularly frustrating. The blue can was only about 1/3rd full, and was depleted very quickly, but I had a partial can of purple and green which I finished up the project with.

Before Paint:

 

After Paint (Day 1):

 

Update: After Paint (Day 2):

Update: 2/15/18 – More tools completed and ready to use.

After a couple of cold rainy weeks the sun came out for a day and I quickly gathered some more tools that were ready for paint. Most of these got primed over a month ago and got all non-working areas coated with metallic paint a few weeks ago in the paint project above. Today was just finishing the working surfaces with a coat of flat black paint. I really think the floral spade came out especially nice!

Jan 272018
 

My dad always had every possible tool on hand. These days I’m always trying to force the wrong tool to do the job. While I can’t afford to buy quality new tools, in this throw away world you can often find great vintage tools on eBay for just a couple of bucks.

I’ve been keeping my eyes open for old tools on eBay and when I find interesting stuff for only a couple of bucks I bid, and occasionally win a lot or two. Since I’m trying to keep my costs below $10 shipped I usually watch for lots, which offer the best pricing.

Here are two lots I won recently. Among them are a few items I’m really excited about.

Lot #1 contains a couple of really nifty small hammers made from great steel.

Lot #2 contains a mini miners pick and a craftsman half hatchet.

Also included is a picture of some handles I picked up in town.

Lot #1: Assorted Unusual Small Hammers

Style (best guess) Length Width Shape Lb./Oz. Grams
Brick Hammer 6 3/4″ 7/8″ Square 1# 457g
New York Style Masonry Hammer 5 3/4″ 1 1/8″ Square 1#/5oz 600g
Tinners Setting Hammer 5″ 7/8″ Square 14.5oz 400g
Cross Peen Forming Hammer 5″ 7/8″ Circular 1#/1oz 490g
Riveting Hammer 4″ 3/4″ Square 10.5oz 300g

 

 

Lot #2: Half Hatchet, Mini Mining Pick, Claw Hammer and Ball Pein Hammer

Style (best guess) Length Width Shape Lb./Oz. Grams
Craftsman Half Hatchet – Finished 6″ 1″ Round 15oz. 422g
Ball Peen 4″ 1-1/4″ Round 1#/2.7oz 533g
Curved Claw Hammer 5″ 1″ Round 15.5oz. 436g
Small Prospecting Pick
(maybe a Lining Hammer)
8″ 1″ Pick 10oz. 283g

 

 

Handles Ready for Heads Above (Mostly from Nichols Hardware in Purcellville, VA)

Assorted Hammer Handles


Some additional cool hammers can be found here Small Rusty Hammers (part two?)

Jan 262018
 
Michigan Pattern House Axe

The Slammer: 3-1/4 lb. Michigan Pattern House Axe

So here is a fun little toy.

I got an unmarked Michigan pattern head a while back and I have been using it to experiment with different files and methods. It is good steel and probably has some years, but without a makers mark there is really no way to know much more about this head.

I ordered a hatchet handle on Amazon that turned out to be a house axe handle (full-sized eye on a 19-inch curved handle). A house axe is usually 1-1/2 to 2lbs much bigger than that and you end up with something that’s a little hard to control with one hand, but I just wanted to try something so I gave it a whirl and she came out pretty good.

A hatchet that can easily split 12-inch oak rounds with a single swing is something to see.

A fellow axe junky called it “the sawed-off shotgun of the axe world” and I think that’s quite fitting.

Facebook Post (private group): https://www.facebook.com/groups/AxeJunkies/permalink/1635872123118015/


Update 2/7/18: Yesterday Jess took the Slammer out and chopped some 18-inch red oak rounds. She’s a beast (the hatchet and Jess, lol)