All About Pocket Knives

Some of my grandpa's tools when he worked for a local cutlery and watch repair shop in the early 1900s

Nice little Anvil GD

Check this out, I picked it up today
Cool spring action wrench 8"

Heller Brothers Co.
Newark N.J. USA
Last Pat# Date 11/12/1929

I found another but this one is made in Germany

These were used by plumbers.

Fosset wrench??

Back in 2005, I inherited a few of my Great-Grandfather's tools. He was born in Bramsche, Germany in 1856, and came to America in 1885. He settled in Missouri for a while, then moved to Oklahoma in 1906. He was a farmer and carpenter.

The tools were really rusty when I received them, so I wanted to preserve them as best I could, as I consider these family heirlooms. So first order was to stop the rust.

I made a little electrolysis bath for them, and it removed the rust (or at least most of it). Here are the before and after shots.

The Stanley #45 plane dates to pre-1895. I think most of these tools will date from 1885 to 1927, when he (Rudolf Wilhem Meyer) died. All these tools are kept in my home office in his camel back steamer trunk (circa 1875-1885 - which I also inherited).

Those are pretty neat Unk. Nice to have some of grand-dad's things

Unk wrote: I made a little electrolysis bath for them, and it removed the rust (or at least most of it).

How about some details on that. I see a battery charger, a plastic five gallon bucket and some re-rod.

COOL; Whats the amp meter read during this???

Hi Guys,

I'm no expert on the process - lol. I did this only one time 6 years ago, so my memory may be a little rusty (pun intended).

There are several websites that describe how to do it (and how NOT to do it!). I do remember the re-bar on the sides kept gunking up (they are supposed to do this), so had to clean them (rinsed them off) every day while I was doing the tools. There are some soft metals as well as stainless steel that you shouldn't use this method on. It was real easy (and cheap) to do, though. I soaked all the tools overnight....I think I had to do some of them twice. It's kind of a "repeat as necessary" kind of thing, until it gets clean enough. It works by reversing the rust process and "pulling" the rust off of the steel, towards the sacrificial re-bar pieces (which is why they get gunked up.) I haven't ever tried this on a pocket knife....might be a little "too much" for some of the non-steel parts of the knife.

Here are a few of the websites that I used for instructions:

http://antique-engines.com/electrol.asp

http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/rust/ ... usting.htm

http://users.eastlink.ca/~pspencer/nsae ... lysis.html

Here's how I did it......

Supplies:
- 5 gallon bucket
- 5 pieces of re-bar (4 for electrodes plus 1 piece to hang the item being cleaned - I bought these pre-cut at Home Depot)
- 4 clamps to hold the re-bar to the sides of the bucket
- 2 alligator clips (you can use your clips from the battery charger, but I didn't want to submerge mine (the black one has to submerge) in the solution, so I made "extensions" for them using the alligator clips and electrical wire)
- Electrical wire ( I used an old torn up extension cord which I stripped the ends off of)
- Arm and Hammer Laundry detergent (not baking soda)
- Battery Charger

Mix the detergent and water to the specified mixture in the bucket. Clamp the 4 pieces of re-bar to the sides of the bucket. Wire the 4 pieces of re-bar together. Put the last piece of re-bar over the top of the bucket, making sure it isn't touching the other 4 pieces. Hang the item being cleaned from this piece of re-bar (I used a bent coat hanger to do this). Clip the black battery charger lead to the item being cleaned and submerge it in the solution (making sure it isn't touching the 4 pieces of re-bar). Clip the red lead to one of the 4 pieces of re-bar which are wired together and clamped to the side of the bucket.

Go watch TV and drink a beer.....for about 8-12 hours. Come back and remove the item and clean the black gunk off of it with a paper towel. Then marvel on how many hours of dremeling, sanding, wire brushing you just saved yourself.

Notes - I kept the wood handle of the Stanley plane OUT of the solution, as shown in the pictures. I also cleaned the brass parts by hand - not in the solution.

Thanks Jerry. Now I need to bookmark this thread because I'll never be able to find it this summer when I get ready to do this. Wait a minute. Any odor go along with this procedure. Could I do it in the basement?

jerryd6818 wrote: Wait a minute. Any odor go along with this procedure. Could I do it in the basement?

I did it in the garage with the door shut......it does give off some hydrogen, but the websites say that a Hindenburg like explosion is not likely. Most just say to use adequate ventilation......whatever that is.

The only odor it gives off is from the Arm and Hammer laundry detergent....lemony-fresh.

That's just what you need Jerry, a basement full of hydrogen gas, in the same room with the furnace and hot water heater

OOPS -- -- --

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcncgf_sGzQ[/youtube]

Not too sure what this is or even if it is a tool.
Anybody have any idea?

JW

That is a 'jiggler'

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-2-Mirro-Mat ... 3f12c8781d


IM

I don't think the newer pressure cookers use those anymore. They've invented some fancy shmancy new device to replace the old simple weight with holes in it for maintaining pressure.

As the song says, "I can't feel at home in this world anymore."

jerryd6818 wrote:I don't think the newer pressure cookers use those anymore. They've invented some fancy shmancy new device to replace the old simple weight with holes in it for maintaining pressure.

As the song says, "I can't feel at home in this world anymore."

OK ~ now that I know what it is could you explain how it was used to regulate a pressure cooker?
Is it just dropped in the water or does it attach to the top of the cooker?
What are the 5 - 10 and 15 numbers for?

JW

I think it fits on top the lid, it gets installed over a port in the lid and its weight
provides the PSI indicated on the jiggler. I am not 100% on that, someone correct
that if its wrong please.

IM

It is PSI, as IM said. Below is a link to instructions on how to use the mirro matic pressure cooker. My mom had one....she used it all the time back in the 60s and 70s.

http://www.ehow.com/how_7801902_mirro-m ... tions.html