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This is one of my recent measurement tool repair projects. I've got this piece from eBay in partially functioning condition. I was unable to find the actual manufacturing date, but the latest date of a patent listed on a package goes back to 1935. This makes me believe that it was made by still existing B.C. Ames Co. sometime right before the Second World War. It has 0.0001″ resolution and 5-0-5 large (⌀ 3.5″ or 89mm) bidirectional dial. Both graduation and text were not screen-printed but written (probably, using a pantograph copying tool).
This tool is now perfectly functional and quite accurate even after almost 90 years.
To bring it back to life, I had to:
- disassemble it and clean some moving parts,
- realign hand shaft to make it perpendicular to the face plane,
- restore black oxide finish on a hand tip,
- size, fit and replace the dome (I used a glass from some old alarm clock rather than a celluloid dome that has been used originally because I didn't find a good replacement).
Here's another light brush that I built recently that has green. The jar light in the background is a unique tool that I've yet to use. It's a glass milk jug filled with transparent colored stones and a fluorescent light bulb inside. The idea was to color and texture the light. Unfortunately, the whole assembly is ~ 3 lbs and requires an electrical outlet. Cool, but impractical so far.
A few extra shots below.
© Chase Hoffman Photography. All rights reserved.
I have expanded the pegboard storage system I inherited. It has taken a year, but I finally have most of my tools organized the way I want. The power tools still need a little organizational help.
I tend to vacation in mining areas....
Cliffs Shaft Mine, in Ishpeming, was perhaps the most important of all Michigan iron mines. There were a few mines which shipped more ore, but this was the first great Marquette Range mine, and it was an important producer for decades.
Now a museum, and definitely worth the stop. Our guide was a retired Cleveland Cliffs engineer, and most informative. To me, the most interesting thing he said was that he doesn't believe the Negaunee/Ishpeming mines will ever reopen, despite significant remaining deep-underground deposits, because the economics seem unlikely ever to justify the effort. I've heard other opinions from apparently-knowledgable people, but this guy seemed to have impeccable credentials.
Development Impact and the PhD Scholarship - Tool Kit training held at Cumberland Lodge, Windsor from 30 July - 1 August 2014
Tools of the Trade. Metal is placed in pitch to hold it stable while it is formed with punches. In this case the metal is Sterling Silver.
This is a tube flaring jig that was cobbled together from a little bar stock and a couple of bolts. The top and bottom inserts are interchangeable for different size tubes and flare profiles. Yes, eventually I'll get around to cutting down that ridiculously long adjusting bolt. It's on my list, right after cleaning up the studio.
Day 99 / 365
The "Tool de Force" sculpture in front of the National Building Museum across from Judiciary Square Metro station and two blocks away from Chinatown (and the Verizon Center) in Downtown Washington DC.
Aside: This was donated to the museum by John Hechinger, Sr., the owner of those Hechinger home improvement stores across Maryland -- a time before your Home Depot and Lowe's stores.
Hechinger is a blast from the past for me... I always associated it that TV show, Home Improvement, from the 90's.
The D 3 golf divot tools. Rare earth magnetic ball marker in stainless steel. Automatic mechanism.
Probably the most exclusive divot tools in the world.
P1040592
Charity shop find: € 0.50.
Boxwood rule, made by John Rabone & Sons, Birmingham, England, probably around 1960.
Detail: www.flickr.com/photos/100761653@N07/33165445290/in/album-...
In 1963 the company merged with James Chesterman and Co, and the name was changed to Rabone Chesterman.
In 1989 Stanley purchased Rabone Chesterman and the name disappeared.
At this month's Open MAKE: Tools event, visitors were invited to explore their own creativity with our four Featured Makers from around the Bay Area, who shared their art, ingenuity, and techniques.
Guests made needle-felted creatures with Moxie, created three-dimensional shapes by sewing sheets of fabric together with Judy Castro, fused plastic with clothes irons, used sewing needles and conductive thread to make circuits embedded in bracelets and badges, and used motors and other tools to take Light Painting to a whole new level.
Photo by Gayle Laird
© Exploratorium, www.exploratorium.edu
Two orange sizer rings and pair of citrus clippers. (These sizers were used for valencia oranges. It was difficult to find a navel from our home tree small enough to fit through the larger sizer.) These old tools were used in the Orange County citrus industry.