PAST Tool Meet with Guest Speaker James Wright

My local tool collectors group, PAST, got together on April 18th.  As always, it was great fun talking to the folks and checking out the tools.  I wasn't planning to purchase anything this time (though I did bring extra cash just in case ...).  But I saw these two auger bits that were in pristine - I mean, absolutely shiny and sharp - condition for $3 each.  And when I talked to the seller about them, he said "I'll give you both for $3".  Mind you, I don't really need more auger bits.  But I have a partial set that goes from 1/4" to 5/8" and these two were 11/16" and 3/4" - perfect!  I flipped him a 10-spot and said keep the change.

In the original cardboard tubes

The labels on the tubes read:

ONE

ACRABORE

ELECTRICIANS' BIT

SIZE 11/16 (other one says 12/16)

TAYLOR-GJEDE CO., INC

WEBSTER, MASS., U.S.A.

I have another bit that is from the same company, but I always thought it said Taylor-Guede (stamped on a worn shank).  It's good to get it right, but I wonder how I'm supposed to pronounce Gjede.

These bits are the type with a single cutting spur.  I generally prefer bits with two spurs, but these spurs are plenty long to score the entire perimeter of the hole before the cutting lips engage.  I didn't have to touch them up at all - they're nice and sharp and the hole they cut has an incredibly smooth wall.

Here's the two bits next to the holes they just bored

The tool show had a guest speaker this time - James Wright of the "Wood By Wright" YouTube channel.  James flew out here on his own dime to speak about scrapers.  He brought along a bunch of different types of scrapers - card scrapers, cabinet scrapers, scraper planes, paint scrapers, etc.  And he gave a nice presentation, answering lots of questions from our members.

James with a table full of different scrapers

James is involved with the Midwest Tool Collectors Association (MWTCA) - I think he has something to do with their membership, but he certainly is doing a lot for outreach.  We can't thank him enough for coming out to our meeting.

In alignment with James' presentation and as part of our tool show, one of our members displayed his extensive collection of scrapers.  This was unbelievable!  I'm really trying not to be a collector, but I can see I'd never match up to some of our members.  I usually only ever see the stuff they bring to the tool meets to try to sell.  I'm realizing now that some of these guys (and gals) have much more extensive collections than I ever realized.

Here is the display of his scrapers.  It's four pictures!  One picture would not have been sufficient.

Scraper planes and shaves of many types - some with patent info

Spokeshave-type scrapers

More spokeshave-type scrapers

Paint and/or floor scrapers

These scrapers ran the gamut from user-made to manufactured, but all were interesting.  What a collection!

For me, going to these (roughly quarterly) tool shows is a highlight of my year.  Our membership is aging, so I hope we can recruit and keep some younger people.  There were several new people this time, so that's a great sign.

Another Tea Box

Lately I've been working on some old tools that I've found at garage or estate sales.  I found myself in need of building something - anything!  So I though I'd make another tea box, similar to one I made a couple years ago.

This one is made from red alder, which can be a really beautiful wood.  Some boards that I've seen have white streaks, and I'm not a fan of that, but the wood for this project was very nice.  The back and left side even have some figure to them.

The sides have a 3/16" deep rabbet that will hide grooves at top and bottom

First corner dovetailed and fitted

All four corners dovetailed

After leveling the top and bottom rims, 3/16" x 3/16" grooves are run

The top and bottom are identical.  All four edges get a 3/8" deep x 3/16" wide groove.  I was unable to do the end grain edges with the plough plane, so I used a saw and chisels.  Something was not quite right with the plough.  I suspect the iron and wedge were not properly fitted - the iron was not forced against the steel skate and that resulted in poor performance.  I need to look into this some more later.  After the grooves were cut, the inside face was cut down about 3/16" on all edges.

Fitting the bottom into the grooves in the main box

The short divider is housed in 1/8" deep dadoes.
The long divider is half-lapped with the short one and its length
is fitted to the assembled box interior length.

I didn't show it, but the box sides are curved using an approximate 10 3/4" radius.  This makes the top and bottom edges of each piece about 3/16" to 1/4" thinner than the middle.

Here's a test fit without the lid

I pre-finished the inside surfaces of the box with 4-5 coats of
shellac followed by 0000 steel wool buffing and then wax

The box is glued up without the long divider installed

After the glue dried and the joints cleaned up,
the lid is cut from the bottom

I used old plastic cards as spacers to fill the kerfs when clamping in the vise

Then clean up the saw cuts on bottom and top, and correct any twist

Adding hinges

I mortised in a small piece of wood for a handle

Outside was finished like the inside: 4-5 coats of shellac, then wax

The completed box

I added green felt to the bottom

The box is intended to hold tea bag packets - four compartments for four types of tea.  This one took a while - I went kind of slow on it.  But it felt good to make something again.

A Fray Brace with Different Style Chuck

When I found this brace a few weeks ago, I grabbed it because I didn't have a 6" brace.  And because it's a Fray.

John S. Fray 6" brace

John S. Fray was in business from the late1850's to 1909 or 1920 (accounts differ), when they were bought by Stanley.  But Stanley continued to use Fray-marked components after the purchase, so it's not clear when this brace was made.  There's some evidence below that it's post-1932.  I'm sure there are some people out there that could nail it down, but I'm not one of them.

THE JOHN S. FRAY CO.

BRIDGEPORT, CONN U.S.A.

The only other marking is this "7" on the ratcheting area, but it's a 6" swing!

I'm not certain, but the handles might be rosewood - I saw examples on the web that had rosewood and some with walnut.  Either way, they're in great shape and I did nothing to clean them up.

The part of this brace that I want to point out is the chuck, or bit-holder.

Jaws opened

Jaws closed

I found a website by George Langford that had a list of patents related to Fray braces.  One of them, applied for in 1928 and granted in 1930 or 1932, shows a bit holder very similar, if not exactly like this one.  That's several years after Stanley had bought Fray.  Apparently it took a long time to use up the Fray parts that they had purchased.

The chuck jaws were like none other I'd seen before.  It is a two-jaw chuck and after wrestling with them for a while, I got them removed from the housing.

Pointing to what I think is an oil port.
Loosening the screw to the right allows the jaws to come free.

The jaws removed and cleaned up

Looking down into the chuck where the jaws go.
The bright spot is part of a threaded section on the inside wall of the knurled outer shaft.

In the picture of the jaws above, you can see a threaded section on the jaws, just next to the leaf springs on the right end.  These engage with inside threads deep inside the chuck.  When the knurled section of the chuck is turned, the chuck pulls the jaws inside and they clamp on the shank of an auger bit and grab it tight.  That little screw on the knurled part of the chuck's housing somehow keeps the jaws in place.  I can't quite see what's going on in there, but the screw does it's job.

Here's another picture looking down inside the chuck while the jaws are in place.  Down in the bottom, there is a recess shaped to accommodate the square tapered shank of an auger bit.

Tough to get a good picture of the recess where an auger bit sits

After a bit is set in that recess, the knurled shaft is turned and the jaws grip tightly on the auger bit.  And I mean it REALLY grabs tight!

Here's a bit tightened in the jaws

If it helps to understand the mechanism, here is a picture from the original patent (thanks to DATAMP and Google Patents).

I hope this pic comes out OK.  It downloaded as a
PNG file rather than JPG

Here's a link to the Patent picture, if the above doesn't show up well in the blog.

The tough thing about this brace is that I can't remove the chuck to clean the innards.  I cleaned what I could with dental tools and small brushes (and I pulled out a lot of crap), then oiled it generously.  It worked as found, but it works more smoothly now.

To clean up the brace, I wire-brushed most of the metal parts fairly lightly just to clean off the grunge.  And I left the wood parts alone - they were already in pretty good shape.

And there she is

It's always nice to see different mechanisms like this.  I don't necessarily get all there is to understand about it.  For example, what are the leaf springs on the ends of the jaws for?  And why is that little screw in the knurled section needed?  Well, it's good to learn about these things anyway.