Uploaded March 2019 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Podcast: https://anchor.fm/fitzall
Maker's Central:
makerscentral.co.uk/YOUTUBE-MAKERS
Hand Tool Rescue
|
Giveaway & Exciting Announcements
🔇 TAP TO UNMUTE
![Antique Business Card Letterpress [Restoration]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/w6FgF4usxzU/mqdefault.jpg "Antique Business Card Letterpress [Restoration]
This restoration is on a Chicago No.11 printing press made by the Sigwalt Mfg. Co., possibly in the 1920s. I do not know the exact date of manufacture of this specific unit as Sigwalt made these kinds of letterpresses for decades.
When I received this tool, I immediately notice the massive chuck of cast iron missing from the corner of the base and that both in rollers were missing, but otherwise the printing press was in great condition. The pin-striping and floral decals were mostly intact and the make and model decals were fully intact. Unfortunately, everything original had to be destroyed in order for me to make a large repair to the missing/broken section. It took several photos combined with research online to piece together a complete design of the now destroyed decals. I used modern oil-resistant rubber as the new ink roller material.
The restoration was fairly straight-forward as there are almost no screws holding this thing together. The original lead letters were still in the chase, so I used those to print example business cards once restored. The original letters spelled out Clough Drug Store from Seymour, Texas with a 3 digit phone number. I could find exactly when this town in Texas has this store or only 3 digit phone numbers, but its definitely before the 1940s.
The press takes some fine-tuning to get the prints perfectly dialled in, but once they are, you can go crazy and print quite a lot pretty quickly. I think this would be fun to use if I could custom CNC something I find interesting in the future to use as a printing stamp.
Big thank you to @dpmakestuff and @jimmydiresta for their help during the restoration procedure!
Id like to thank @CRCAutoUS for sponsoring this video. Ive switched to a food-grade penetrating oil from them as a more safe alternative, and it as worked just as well as the usual penetrating oils Ive used.
You can check out the products from them used in this video in the link below:
https://www.crcindustries.com/handtoolrescue
Wrenches, screwdrivers, and socket drivers are now for sale at https://www.handtoolrescue.com/
Watch narrated videos and help secure more tools for future videos (if you want):
https://www.patreon.com/handtoolrescue")
![Gizmortiser [Restoration]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/x66xynjmk9o/mqdefault.jpg "Gizmortiser [Restoration]
This restoration is on a 1912 door lock mortising machine called the Champion Mortiser by J. Leukart Manufacturing Co. of Columbus, Ohio, USA. The original patent can be seen here: https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/c3/17/6c/8079b652ead2f8/US1037939.pdf
Mortising machines are among some of my favourite tools to restore as they all seem to have high levels of gizmosity. The amount of mechanically moving parts that all seem to do something and nothing at the same time makes this tool so mesmerizing to watch.
The restoration itself was fairly straight forward, except for a few broken castings and annihilated fasteners. Instead of replacing the fasteners, I decided to remake my own so they could match perfectly with the unique style of each one. I also truly thought this entire machine would be japanned, but apparently it was coated in some early form of enamel paint, which would not be too common for the time.
Id like to thank CRC for sponsoring this video. You can check out the products from them used in this video in the links below:
www.evapo-rust.com
www.crcindustries.com/evapo-rust/
www.crcindustries.com/smartwasher/
Wrenches, screwdrivers, and socket drivers are now for sale at www.handtoolrescue.com
Help secure more tools for future videos (if you want):
https://www.patreon.com/handtoolrescue
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/handtoolrescue
Facebook Group - Share your restorations
https://www.facebook.com/groups/handtoolrescue
https://www.facebook.com/handtoolrescue/
Reddit - Share your restorations
https://www.reddit.com/r/HandToolRescue/
Podcast (with @jimmydiresta and Andrew Alexander) - https://anchor.fm/fitzall")
![Two-Man Chainsaw - Final [Restoration]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xDsJOz3aGdI/mqdefault.jpg "Two-Man Chainsaw - Final [Restoration]
The time has come for this chainsaw restoration. I have been wanting to get to this tool for a long time. I started the disassembly in November 2018 and had to wait a while for some rare parts to arrive. This chainsaw is a McCulloch 99 two-man chainsaw made in 1954. The engine is 161cc and the powerhead alone is 51lbs making it one of the largest production chainsaws ever and the largest in McCullochs production line at the time.
In this video, I finally piece the whole saw back together and try to get it running. It took me over 13hrs to reassemble just the powerhead and I am so glad to have it done. The parts, like the piston rings took months to arrive, but they fit great after I gapped them like a boss.
Cutting wood with this saw is very different than with a normal chainsaw and requires a second person to risk their life during the entire cut.
This project was entirely funded by Patrons and I have to thank them immensely for their support!
You can contact Jeff at Forma Graphics if you would like new decals made: formagraphicart@gmail.com
Id like to thank Evapo-Rust for sponsoring this video.
Wrenches are now for sale at www.handtoolrescue.com
Help secure more tools for future videos (if you want):
https://www.patreon.com/handtoolrescue
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/handtoolrescue
Facebook Group - Share your restorations
https://www.facebook.com/groups/handtoolrescue
Reddit - Share your restorations
https://www.reddit.com/r/HandToolRescue/")
![1920s Power Hammer [Restoration] (Part 2)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xflVNifjPwc/mqdefault.jpg "1920s Power Hammer [Restoration] (Part 2)
This is a tool restoration I have been wanting to do for a while! It is a A. B. Jardine & Co. power / trip hammer from around the 1920s. These were called Canadian Giant hammers as they closely resemble the Little Giant hammers made by a different company.
Out of the two models they made, this specific hammer is the 25lb model vs the 50lb model. This hammer was $150 in 1920s, so it puts the value at almost $4000 USD in 2018 dollars!
I picked this up locally about a year ago with plans to restore it once I had the space. In this video, I take everything apart and inspect all bearing surfaces. The babbitt bearings are in fantastic condition and must have been re-poured at some point recently in its life. The other moving parts of the hammer are not in good condition. Many parts have been poorly welded back together and every single hole is worn out. In this video, all pieces are repaired and bronze bushings are added to all the holes, so this machine is safe to use again. Even the die blocks needed replacing as I cannot trust the welds to hold.
You can actually still buy new parts for these hammers since they are so similar to Littie Giant hammers, but the parts are quite expensive.
The hammer worked well after the rebuild and it will be up to the new owner to make the final adjustments and motor mount. The safety shield is not original so I did not bother restoring it as the new owner may not want to use it anyways.
If you are interested in purchasing this power hammer, let me know!
Id like to thank Evapo-Rust for sponsoring this video.
Wrenches are now for sale at www.handtoolrescue.com
Help secure more tools for future videos (if you want):
https://www.patreon.com/handtoolrescue
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/handtoolrescue
Facebook Group - Share your restorations
https://www.facebook.com/groups/handtoolrescue
Reddit - Share your restorations
https://www.reddit.com/r/HandToolRescue/")
![1890s Most Unnecessarily Complicated Apple Peeler [Restoration]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xrZiY3_HC5k/mqdefault.jpg "1890s Most Unnecessarily Complicated Apple Peeler [Restoration]
Some say, its necessarily complicated. Some, not me, but some. This restoration was on an 1891 patented apple peeler. These were made by the Goodell Co. in Antrim, New Hampshire beginning in the 1890s. I do not know when they halted production of this apple parer, so a more exact age of this specific peeler is unknown. Later models even had a spiral slicer attachment. Personally, I love tools with tons of moving parts that all work synchronistically.
You can see the patent document here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US449050A
You can see a 1918 advertisement here: https://i.imgur.com/EfGZlJZ.jpg
This specific tool was previously repainted and so I decided to leave the metal parts completely bare after paint removal. I really do like the raw steel look for a type of restoration where you still want the tool to look old.
I ended up only replacing the brass bushings on this unit and the rest of the restoration focused on making sure the peeler looked great and was safe to use.
It would be fun to remake the parts that touch the apple out of stainless steel, so that you didnt have to oil everything again after you cleaned the metal parts.
Finding more complicated apple peelers is definitely moving up on my list!
I would like to thank Evapo-Rust for sponsoring this video.
Wrenches are now for sale at www.handtoolrescue.com
Help secure more tools for future videos (if you want):
https://www.patreon.com/handtoolrescue
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/handtoolrescue
Facebook Group - Share your restorations
https://www.facebook.com/groups/handtoolrescue
Reddit - Share your restorations
https://www.reddit.com/r/HandToolRescue/")
![Vise Drill Anvil [Restoration]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/yZQQhkFjVLM/mqdefault.jpg "Vise Drill Anvil [Restoration]
In this restoration I restore a vise drill anvil combination tool. This odd tool was manufactured by Rock Island Mfg. Co. from 1915-1930s when the company went out of business. You can see the original patent here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US1111103
This tool was sent to me by a viewer in hopes of getting everything back in order. The only part missing was the hardy tool for the anvil, but those can be easily made. I would not recommend using cast iron as an anvil material though as it will most likely shatter. The entire concept of this combination tool is something that is not synergistic and is actually just a poor anvil, drill, and vise. Nevertheless, these are somewhat common and must have been popular with at least some number of customers.
I replaced all the old japanning with new coats of japanning. I tried to slap on more layers of japanning as an experiment to see if I could get a smoother finish. The anvil portion had some cracks that needed to be brazed and the vise jaws were machined off and completely replaced with soft metal ones. I personally use soft jaws more often.
To use the drill you have to turn one handle to advance the bit and another to spin the drill. Its a very odd experience, but neat nonetheless.
Since this tool was sent to me, I would love to pass it along one day, so if you are interested, let me know!
I would like to thank Evapo-Rust for sponsoring this video.
Wrenches are now for sale at www.handtoolrescue.com
Help secure more tools for future videos (if you want):
https://www.patreon.com/handtoolrescue
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/handtoolrescue
Facebook Group - Share your restorations
https://www.facebook.com/groups/handtoolrescue
https://www.facebook.com/handtoolrescue/
Reddit - Share your restorations
https://www.reddit.com/r/HandToolRescue/
Podcast (with Jimmy DiResta and Andrew Alexander) - https://anchor.fm/fitzall")
