Canadium
Ian
A few days ago I came home with a couple of new to me treasures from yet another auction. One lot was a couple of broach sets, one imperial and one metric. They are both in wooden boxes but covered in such a thick layer of oily dirt you could hardly tell there was any wood underneath and thats to say nothing about seeing any labels on the boxes. The pieces inside were packed with chips. Don't machine shops ever clean their tools??? Anyway on bringing them home and inspecting them a couple of questions came to mind. I'd be very interested in others opinions.
1/ I now have several wood boxes housing old used tools and I'm wondering how to properly restore or lets say at least refresh these boxes. Inevitably they are covered with oily dirt and felt liners are very worn or outright destroyed. I cleaned out all the chips as best as I could and cleaned up the steel parts. This time I got out some Princess Auto pressure washer degreaser and used it with a cloth to scrub the oily dirt off the boxes. It worked to some extent but some dirt remained in the grain of the wood where it could not be removed by cleaners and scrubbing. Also numerous scratches and dents also harbored some dirt. So I decided a light sanding was in order followed by some new varnish and paint. Trouble is sanding the top of the black box would remove the Manufacturers name and logo which I would prefer to keep. Is there a better way to refresh such things? What would you guys do?
2/ On inspection I discovered that a few important pieces were missing. A couple of guide bushings and the 1/4 inch broach were missing. I realize that once I have my mill running guide bushings and backers could be made in the shop. The broach itself however is a different matter. I would rather buy one. The most obvious source would be China. But are these Chinese broaches of reasonable quality? What do you guys think?
1/ I now have several wood boxes housing old used tools and I'm wondering how to properly restore or lets say at least refresh these boxes. Inevitably they are covered with oily dirt and felt liners are very worn or outright destroyed. I cleaned out all the chips as best as I could and cleaned up the steel parts. This time I got out some Princess Auto pressure washer degreaser and used it with a cloth to scrub the oily dirt off the boxes. It worked to some extent but some dirt remained in the grain of the wood where it could not be removed by cleaners and scrubbing. Also numerous scratches and dents also harbored some dirt. So I decided a light sanding was in order followed by some new varnish and paint. Trouble is sanding the top of the black box would remove the Manufacturers name and logo which I would prefer to keep. Is there a better way to refresh such things? What would you guys do?
2/ On inspection I discovered that a few important pieces were missing. A couple of guide bushings and the 1/4 inch broach were missing. I realize that once I have my mill running guide bushings and backers could be made in the shop. The broach itself however is a different matter. I would rather buy one. The most obvious source would be China. But are these Chinese broaches of reasonable quality? What do you guys think?
