$5 Brace and Bit Restoration

So on my way home on Friday I stopped at the American Way Thrift Store... Pretty rare occurrence for me but I am glad I did. I walked around the store not really looking for anything in particular but way in the back, actually in the area where they take the stuff and put price tags on it before bringing into the store. I found an old Brace and Bit, it was pretty rusty but checking the chuck and the ratchet part I realized it was in good shape, also the grip and head didn't wobble too much... "This is in good shape" I thought to myself... so I went to the counter to pay and since it didn't have a price the lady called the manager and he said... $5.99, to which I countered $4.99, he said ok. What does a $4.99 Brace and Bit from a thrift store look like?

Yikes!!!!! What did I get myself into... Let me just say I have never restored a Brace and Bit, hell I have never really ever used one. But I find restoring old stuff very fun, so I started by taking everything I could apart. I was able to take the wood head off. The head is held in place by 2 little screws and the wood has a threaded center so the brace threads into it. The I took the Chuck off and the little jaws come out easily. I couldn't figure out how to take apart the handle or the ratchet I think they are pressure pressed and don't come off.

Ok Let's get started... First I covered the wood handle with blue tape to not hurt the wood with the rust remover, I used a product called Boeshield Rust Free, It's part of my rust prevention and cleaning for my tools. I sprayed all the metal with it and wiped it down, took a couple of rags just to get the dirt and grime off, I set a wire brush onto my drill and put my drill into my vise and held it on with a clamp so I could start getting the rust off the metal. I started with the Chuck and Jaws.

At this point I found the first set of marking on the Brace. "STANLEY RULE & LEVEL CO. NEW BRITAIN, CONN. USA" Pretty cool start considering I had never heard Stanley Tools to be called Rule & Level Co.

Next here are the cleaned up Jaws...

Next I worked on the Auger bit and the Brace body. This took the most time since the U shape makes it awkward to get the wire brush on it and its round making it even harder. It was actually a lot of fun to watch the rust start coming off and revealing the metal... at this point I started to realize it didn't feel like tool steel, not sure why but just the feel was off, but what do I know I thought. So while removing the rust of the body I revealed the model number. One side says VICTOR and the other side says No 955 - 10IN and then upside down in larger stamping there is an SP12 (this looks off or put on later).

So after finding this all restoration halted and I ran into my office to do some research on this Brace. I was able to find a site that says it is from 1885....Wait what? 1885 yes its is over 130 years old...or at least the patent for it is... they made this brace until about 1915 so it could be anywhere in that range. That still makes it over 100 years old. The next thing I found out about this Brace is that it is Nickel plated, which makes so much sense why it didn't feel like tool steel, it actually feels like a nickel coin. After the wire brush I used a polishing wheel and gave it a pass on all the metal parts just to shine it up a bit.

Now the easy part, sanding all the wood parts which I found out from the web that they are Fruitwood/Hardwood, pretty descriptive if you ask me... LOL! After sanding I put a coat of Boiled Linseed Oil to darken the wood and I will be putting a coat of shellac to protect the wood once the BLO dries. When I put the oil on the wood it revealed a weird "4" shape that was put onto the head with a series of little holes, not sure what craftsman in the past did that or why but its interesting.

Next I went back to my computer and watched a few videos on how to sharpen the Auger bit and started sharpening the bit, its pretty easy, you just have to know which parts to file sharp and which ones not to touch because you don't want to change the size of it.

Then I assembled the Brace and Bit added 3-in-1 oil to the mechanical parts (every household should have a small bottle of 3-in-1, stuff if awesome for everything), then I added a coat of Boeshield T-9 Corrosion protection. I wiped everything clean, tested it and FINITO! Only thing left was to photograph it. Get ready for some Sexy Tool Porn!

Lathe Stand Build 02 - Main Base and Top

Let's see where did I leave off? Oh yeah I had all the wood milled and ready for joinery. I started by adding the Cherry edging to the double layer plywood, I glued it on and used small nails to hold it while the glue dries and for good measure a little blue tape never hurt.

After the glue dried I cleaned up all the edges making sure everything was flush and sanded it and I applied a coat of Poly because I wanted something that was easy to clean and durable.

Next I moved onto cutting all the joinery... The whole stand is built using Mortise and Tenon joinery and whenever possible I like to make all the tenons the same size or at least a size that means I don't have to change the table saw setup. Now here is a picture that shows that most of the tenons had the same size except the small ones.

This was an easy setup I set the table saw blade 1" from the fence and to cut 1" high and went to town on all the pieces, the small ones I did last and all I had to do was lower the blade to cut 1/2" high.

Then came the hard part....chopping out the mortises, this is where I'm glad I was using a soft wood like pine. I took my chisels marked out where I need to cut mortises and starting chopping...It actually didn't take too long. The top of the legs got a mortise that reveals the top and the middle of the legs just get a standard mortise.

Once all the chopping was done I decided I didn't want to sand everything so I used a hand plane and Its amazing how smooth you can get wood with hand planes... smoother than sanding in some cases. Check out the first picture... It shows the rough board and the second picture shows how smooth it gets after planning.




After planning all the boards smooth I built the side assemblies of the legs first. Once I had the mortises cut it was just a matter of putting glue in them and putting the pieces together, using some clamps and waiting for them to dry.

Once the side assemblies where dry it was time to add the long stretchers. Now I don't have clamps long enough for the span but I have a couple of band clamps and those did the trick. Once everything was glued up I put the top on with screws from the bottom up.

Notice the milky white look of the table top? Well I still don't know what the hell happened, maybe the Poly I used was old or something but since its just a shop stand I'm not gonna worry about it... but you better believe I threw that can of finish in the trash....

I put the lathe on top and its perfect height, stable and working great. 

Next I will be building the drawer cabinet that will fit below the table top and have 3 drawers I think.

Stay tuned....

Lathe Stand Build 01 - Intro and Lumber

Starting a new project today.... It's a shop project!!! Ok so I got a lathe and quickly realized that it will need a good place to live in my shop. There are some requirements that it will need to have:
1) Must be Heavy and Sturdy for the lathe.
2) Must have storage for the tools and accessories.
3) Must be easy to clean.
4) Must be easy to move.

Ok with that in mind here is what I have come up with:

This first image shows the basic stand, main carcass will be made using a combination of 4x4's and 2x4's with a double layer of plywood for the top, the edging for the top will be Cherry wood. The joinery will be traditional Mortise and Tenon and the top will be screwed on to the base from the bottom.
Heavy and Sturdy CHECK!
Easy to Clean CHECK!

Then I will make a cabinet much like the ones in my workbench made with plywood sides and drawers and all the exposed edges will have Cherry edging.
Plenty of storage CHECK!

The cabinet will fit in the open area of the stand to become a all in one Lathe Unit.

Heavy and Sturdy CHECK!
Plenty of Storage CHECK!
Easy to Clean CHECK!
Easy to Move...Hmm.

Well I will probably be using the same casters I have on my workbench, the great part about them is that they lift the cabinet up when it needs to be moved, but the move out of the way so that the cabinet will rest on its feet and stay sturdy, the only downside is the casters cost almost as much as the rest of the stand put together but still not to bad.

Easy to Move CHECK!









Ok now for a shopping list:

STAND
2 - 4"x4"x8' Lumber = $17
2 - 2"x4"x8' Lumber = $6
2 - 40"x16"x3/4" Baltic Birch Plywood = $25 (I had half a sheet already but here you can spend a lot or save a lot depending on the quality of plywood you use.)
1 - 4"x3/4"x8' Cherry board = $15 (Again save a lot if you use cheaper wood)

CABINET
1 - 4'x4'x1/2" Plywood = $25 (Again here you can save money depending on the quality of plywood.)

CASTERS
1 - Pack of 4 workbench casters = $65 (These I will be buying next time they go on sale)

I started by cutting down the lumber to lengths.

LEGS, using 4x4's I cut them to 30" long using the miter saw.

STRETCHERS, using the miter saw again I cut from the 2x4's and 4x4's
Long ones are 32" (they will be 30" long and have 1" tenons on each size).
Short ones are 7.5" (they will be 5.5" long and have 1" tenons on each size)

TOP, using the plywood I cut 2 pieces to 40"x16" and glued them together, once dry I will be putting the cherry edging all around this top.

Here is a pic of all the rough milled lumber sitting onto of my workbench which basically shows what this stand will look like. Except no vises, to dog holes, no space between top and cabinet for holdfasts, basically much easier and simpler...

Ok so will all the boards rough milled and ready for joinery, this is a good place to end this post.
Stay tuned for the next phase of the build.

Tool Chest Build 08 - Finish and Hardware

Ok so I know it's been a while since the last post but there is a reason, well 2 reasons actually... 1) I bought a lathe and have been having a blast turning stuff... and 2) I had to let the finish dry before I could add the hardware and take the final pics.

Ok where did I leave off... oh yeah I had finished building everything and pre finished the lid. After all that I sanded and sanded and sanded... making sure everything was fitting perfectly and looked the way I wanted it to.

After a good sanding I cleaned up the wood dust with mineral spirits and let that dry then I started the finish... what finish should I use? First I thought a shinny lacquer, but then I started thinking about what this case is for... a tool chest... well then it should have a much simpler finish so I decided to go with an Boiled Linseed Oil base and then a Shellac coat over that and that is the reason it took so long. I put a coat of BLO (Boiled Linseed Oil) and let that dry for 3 days, then I put a second coat of BLO and I was planning on letting that dry for at least a week... well 1 week turned into 2 weeks and 2 weeks into a little more, but after I got back to it, the BLO was nice and dry and I added a couple of coats of Shellac which dries really quickly so that was awesome.

BLO finish looks amazing, if you like a natural non gloss wood finish, which I do.

This project took up my assembly table for 2 weeks and I really wanted to be able to use the table so top priority became finishing this project... I had a great time making this tool chest but  I am glad it is finally done.

I hope you all enjoyed this process as much as I did, Oh wow I almost forgot to talk about the hardware... Its really simple actually, I used 2 Non-Mortise hinges and 2 drawer pulls on each drawer, all in a antique bronze color.

Here is the finished piece in all its glory...

Can't wait to start a new project... Not sure what is coming next but I have a feeling its going to be a set of tools, tools you say? Well I did just buy a lathe and I think I want to make a set of Carbide tools... well actually I will buy the little carbide cutters but I will make the tools.

Tool Chest Build 07 - The Lid

Ok so I started to work on the lid... problem is I lost the photos of the beginning parts but I will explain and its pretty easy so it should work out ok.

First remember that piece of Crotch Walnut veneer I teased in part 5? Well I took 2 sheets of that and glued it to each side of a piece of plywood, this is a very easy process of adding a whole bunch of glue to the plywood and sandwiching the veneer to it... then applying something really heavy and let it dry. Once that piece was completely dry I cut it to size and pre-finished it.

Next I cut the sides that will make the frame of the lid out of Ash, they are 2" wide, I made a 1/4"groove down the middle of the boards so I could slip the panel into and the joinery would fit nice and tight.

Ok in this picture you can see how it all came together, this is still a dry fit just to make sure everything fit and to adjust anything that might need it. Also you can see why I decided to pre-finish the panel, since the panel is fit in a groove about 1/2" deep if I were to finish it after I assembled it I would not be able to put finish in the edges and if there was any wood movement it has a possibility of showing where there is no finish.

In this next picture you can see how the pieces are joined together. All 4 side pieces get the groove and the short side pieces get a tenon on the ends that fit into the groove of the long pieces. Also the Walnut panel fits into the grooves on all 4 sides. The tenons I started by making the a little long and cutting them down little by little until they fit perfectly in the groove so there would be no gap. Ofcourse there is still a hairline gap, but I can live with that cuz the glue should expand the wood and fill that gap.... I hope.

Ok well now the glue up...It went pretty well, it was an easy glue up because only the sides get glue the panel "floats" in the groove" now with the plywood and veneer construction I used you don't have to leave it floating because plywood is very stable and doesn't move. The floating panel is more a practice used when you are putting a solid wood panel in the frame, so it has room to expand and contract with the humidity, but Its a good practice to get used to even with plywood and since I made the groove fit tight around the panel it doesn't rattle, it's not loose just not glued.

Now that the lid is done I will be moving onto sanding, sanding and more sanding and then applying the finish, which is going to be just a simple oil finish for the entire piece, and maybe a coat of danish oil at the end to give it a little protection.

Stay tuned cuz next post will (should) have the finish applied and the hardware installed...

Tool Chest Build 06 - Dovetail Drawers

Well it's been a while since my last post... life got in the way a bit... actually I spent the last couple of weekends getting my car fixed and had no time to be in the shop. But now my car is all fixed (thanks Mom!) and I have gotten back into my shop. Ok so last time I said I would probably work on the top next but I decided to tackle the drawers first instead because I might change the top design a bit.

First I milled up the walnut drawer fronts using my planer to get the stock flat and then the table saw to cut them to rough lengths... and when I say rough lengths I usually mill them about 1/16 larger then they need to be so I can finesse with my hand tools.

Then I used my plane and shooting board to get them square and to final size, final size being a tight fit into the drawer slot, I make sure they are super tight so that once the whole drawer is finished I can plane them down and give it some breathing room, usually about 1/64" side to side and 1/32" top to bottom to allow some expansion and not get locked in during the humid months.

After the drawer fronts are fit I moved onto the blind dovetail sides. First I cut the tails on the side boards and then using those I mark the sides of the front with a knife you can see the fine lines on the picture, using a saw I rough cut and I use chisels to finish it. First I chop the bottom a bit then chop down about 1/16" at a time.

Here is a picture of the final mortise all cleaned and at this point I am about to fit the side to it so I was hoping it fit.

Oh good it fit! There is a small little gap on the right side but hopefully it will swell a little with the glue and fill the gap. But other than that I impressed myself...

Hey the glue did swell it a little and the gap is not so noticeable. Want to mention that before I glued them up I did drill holes for the drawer pulls and counter sunk the backs so the screw is hidden. Do it before the glue up because it's harder after, (learned that one the hard way last time LOL!)

I glued up the sides, back and front and then slid the bottom panel in and we have a completed drawer, at this point I fit it into the drawer slot and it was way to tight, but I was expecting that, so I took the hand plane and shaved down all the sides, tops and bottoms fitting it every few shavings.

Now for the final fitting, sliding in perfectly and fit really nice. I was so excited to see the fit of the closed drawer that I made a super rookie mistake, and It is a great tip to share... wait for it...

Ok so this next picture shows the final fit I am really excited that they fit so perfect. Ok now for the tip... see those pieces of tape, well when I first fit the bottom drawer it was stuck, since it has no pulls yet I couldn't pull it back out....ooops, I actually had to do a lot of work with a chisel, ruler, tape and finally what saved me was that I had drilled the holes for the pulls and I was able to use a coat hanger to pull the drawer back out... reminded me of trying to open a car when you locked your keys in it back in the day. Then I put tape on the bottoms so I had temporary pulls and could keep fitting and be able to pull it out...LOL!

Now I am waiting for the drawer pulls they are coming from the interweb, and will be starting the lid as soon as I decide on the design... Stay tuned.