All About Pocket Knives

cudgee wrote: ↑Sun Nov 29, 2020 12:19 am Found these that someone had thrown out in a rubbish heap. I can understand why, they were covered in rust and would not open due to years of neglect. And someone who did not know how to, probably highly likely letting it get to that stage in the first place, or could not be bothered would just throw them out. Especially in this throw away and replace society we live in now. I had to save them, my father would have picked them up and cleaned them up, they are made in Sheffield, England and great little solid pliers. I just soaked them in degreaser for a couple of hours, then in an alcohol bath over night, gave them a rinse in warm water with detergent, then a soak in inox for a hour, then just wiped them and dried them off. I love old, pre made in China, tools, and after fixing these up, i know why.
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cody6268 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 1:49 am

cudgee wrote: ↑Sun Nov 29, 2020 12:19 am Found these that someone had thrown out in a rubbish heap. I can understand why, they were covered in rust and would not open due to years of neglect. And someone who did not know how to, probably highly likely letting it get to that stage in the first place, or could not be bothered would just throw them out. Especially in this throw away and replace society we live in now. I had to save them, my father would have picked them up and cleaned them up, they are made in Sheffield, England and great little solid pliers. I just soaked them in degreaser for a couple of hours, then in an alcohol bath over night, gave them a rinse in warm water with detergent, then a soak in inox for a hour, then just wiped them and dried them off. I love old, pre made in China, tools, and after fixing these up, i know why.
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Great looking pliers! Those thick handles look quite comfortable. I'd get some rubber grips and put on them, however. Those bare metal handles are not the best for gripping down on hard. A lot of my pliers are like that, however; because less than a dozen of my close to 100 different tools are current production. Some are pre-1900; most 1950s-1980s.


Those side shears are why I like my Elliot Lucas so well. They make quick work of fencing, without damaging the regular cutters (a pair of linesman's pliers that have mostly seen fencing wire usually suck at cutting copper wire). I have a 6" (often seen in the toolkits of old British cars), and an 8" (with a 1952 dated MOD Broad Arrow). They got bought out, and production was moved to India. I didn't find this out until I almost pulled the trigger on some from England. Glad I learned this BEFORE I got hosed with crazy shipping costs. I instead bought Knipex from an American dealer. I still try to look out for Sheffield-made Lucas; but finding them with undamaged gripping surfaces, no play in the pivot, and sharp cutters is hard. At least Footprint wrenches are still Sheffield-made.

My great-grandparents all started families during the Great Depression; and my grandparents, during the Second World War; in the 1950s (my region of the country has always been a pretty poor area) and even as young adults were pretty poor. I am not a hoarder, but I don't throw anything out I can reuse--I often use old newspapers to pack up my diecast; electrical connectors, magnets (headphones; which barely last me a year before the wires break; often yield super-strong magnets), motors, linkages and hardware are usually salvaged from most small consumer electronics. I've rebuilt one MTD-made lawnmower (a Poulan) with parts from another (a Huskee) that was very similar in build. Heck, in mechatronics, we once built a project; and we were in need of some very small wiring. I took an old USB cable that had bit the dust, cut the ends off, stripped the outer insulation, and I suddenly ended up with 5 4-foot pieces of wire very suitable for small electronics projects.


Heck, most of my "real" tools as a teenager were rust-seized junkers acquired from a property we leased for almost ten years (it was sold a couple of years back, and we nearly bought it; except there were shenanigans between the owner and the individual whom they sold it to--we had first right of refusal, which was ignored). Axes, pliers, hammers, wrenches, shovels, saws, brace drills, and even a WWII Kabar among other items--all got into working condition. Some are still in use to this date, some displayed (1890s Kelly Works double Bit Axe, 1920s Williams Alligator wrench with Norfolk Western RR property markings. Some, I'd later find out, were borrowed from my folks decades ago and never returned (and I presume all the tools marked "Fairmont Dairies" or "N&W" walked off the job site). All the axes I still use--a good size American-made axe these days is $70 or more. I need to refine their edges. Some are blunt, the others bordering on blunt.

One thing I've learned--always ask. Often, I'll end up stuff when someone moves or retires; or someone who has inherited tools and such from a relative, and has no use for them. And around here, I've found tools no one knew existed in dark corners of garages and sheds. I found a very early (1950s) pair of Vise Grips in the bottom of an ammo can full of hardware; and Granddad gave me a really nice Craftsman toolbox from the late '60s-early '70s (which held the first tools he bought) that was just full of bolts. I used one of the Carmet coal-cutting bit boxes (.30-06 ammo can repainted blue) to store the hardware, and found a small fuse box that held my Dremel cutting bits well. I use that Craftsman box to hold my ratchets, sockets, and wrenches. My personal toolbox is my Great-Granddad's old toolbox; and a ammo can holding more sockets. He also gave me a busted 1/4 S-K Tools ratchet. One email to S&K, about a month wait for the rebuild kit, then five minutes of work and the purchase of a cheap snap-ring plier set; and I had a new ratchet.

Quick Steel wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 3:56 pm First snowfall of the year. Just enough to soften an overcast day.



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Quick Steel wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 11:51 pm Thanks for posting these cudgee. I am old enough to remember seeing these awesome men do their stuff on a small black and white TV. In fact, I recall them being featured in newsreels which used to be shown in movie theaters.

cudgee wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 9:58 pm

Quick Steel wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 3:56 pm First snowfall of the year. Just enough to soften an overcast day.



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Today is our first day of Summer. Thought i would post a couple of photos of some of our Life Savers in their old surf rescue boats, they now use rubber duckies, but still train and compete in the old boats for the state and national titles in the Life Saving Championships. When i saw your first snowfall post just reinforced my absolute awe of nature.
Girls surf boat wipeout..jpg

2010 Australian surf lifesaving championships.jpg

cudgee wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 9:58 pm

Quick Steel wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 3:56 pm First snowfall of the year. Just enough to soften an overcast day.



P1040017 (2).JPGP1040016 (2).JPGP1040018 (2).JPG

Today is our first day of Summer. Thought i would post a couple of photos of some of our Life Savers in their old surf rescue boats, they now use rubber duckies, but still train and compete in the old boats for the state and national titles in the Life Saving Championships. When i saw your first snowfall post just reinforced my absolute awe of nature.
Girls surf boat wipeout..jpg

2010 Australian surf lifesaving championships.jpg

Stanwade wrote: ↑Tue Dec 01, 2020 7:16 pm Great pictures everyone!

First snow of the year--here's a couple pictures from right down the road from my house...

FRJ wrote: ↑Wed Dec 02, 2020 1:40 am Here is the result.
Almost 7 feet total length. Quite stout.

Thanks for looking.

FRJ wrote: ↑Wed Dec 02, 2020 4:24 am Thank you, cudgee.
I wish I knew when that rod was built. If it was a Montague City rod it was built very early.
Early nineteen hundreds. That seems like a stretch to me. It was well used and it would be in very good condition
for being that old and fished for so many years, not to mention all the calamity that can befall fishing rods.

Thanks again.