WWA Info Exchange

I don't know what this one is but it is my next restoration.
It has a grinding stone so it obviously sharpens something.
The stone moves back and forth when you turn the handle. At least it used to.

My job is to make it all work again.
Anyone know what it is for?

I got it all cleaned today and will try to put it back together tomorrow if I can figure it out.

I have two of these.
I am restoring the one on the right. The one on the left is missing parts and will not come apart
easily.
Zulu

I'm not at all sure but, I'll bet it has something to do with sharpening some blade on a farm implement. Seeing the "McCormick-Deering" label on it tells me that it is farm related. McCormick-Deering company was the parent of "John Deer" along time ago.
I would think that the folks at John Deer might be interested in seeing a picture or two when you get it back together and maybe could even tell you what it was used for.
There is a museum up in Minden, Nebraska called "Pioneer Village" that has thousands of old pieces of farm equipment and just all sorts old early things. I'll bet they might be interested in it too. (as well as some of the other things you have and don't have a need for)
I have been to Pioneer Village several years ago and believe me, it takes two days to see most of it. I would love to go back again and I just may do that this summer! If you are interested, I'll try to get an address to contact them for you.
I have a bunch of old (1930's) Mac tools that I collected when I was in the mobile tool business that I will take with me to see if they (Pioneer Village) are interested in preserving if I donate them.

Rog

_________________
Dont badmouth no strangers, they just friends you aint met yet.

An ounce of responsibility is worth a pound of State and Federal laws.

I spent most of my money on woodworking
tools and beer, the rest I just wasted.

That's one I used as a kid.
It is a sharpener for the horse drawn mowing machine blade.
the angle on the grinder matched the angle of the blades of the cutter bar. When the blades wore down they were riveted on and could be changed to new sharp ones.
That one is more complicated than ours, more gears, it would be interesting to see what the extra gears are for.

I just realized the left one is probably just missing the grinder and the part that moved the grinder up and down, as I remember the cutter blade sat on an angle up and the grinder swept up and down.

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Uncle Fixit

Hey Zulu,
I think that it's a sharpener for a sickle mower.
Cheers,
Tom

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"There is no path to peace, peace is the path."
Mohandas K. Ghandi

Rog,
Thanks for the offer but I'll probably end up putting all this stuff on my website.

Frank,
Is the one you used like the one in Tom's video?

Tom,
That is exactly what I have!
You win the usual prize!

I'll try to put it back together today.
Zulu

Zulu, That's it, but in New Hampshire we didn't call it a sickle, A sickle was a hand cutter for cutting down things like corn stalks.

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Uncle Fixit

Check this out on Ebay.
It is identical to mine.
$499

I didn't get finished with it today.
Maybe tomorrow.
Zulu

http://www.ebay.com/itm/OLD-Hand-grinde ... 519b1b26c9

I got it finished and it turned out pretty cool!

This was the hardest thing I have cleaned yet. There are a lot of nooks and crannys that the wire brush couldn't reach that had to be scraped by hand.

I mounted it on a piece of white oak 4" X 4" that fellow WWA member NormT brought me from Minnesota. And that is mounted to another piece of rough cut white oak that I have been saving for about 15 years for something just like this. I did a light sanding and coated with linseed oil.
I also turned new handles out of red oak from a tree I cut down years ago.

The gears are so clean that it only whispers when I turn the handle.
I tried to clean the stone with mineral spirits but could get it no cleaner than that. I don't want it to look freshly ground so I might have to live with it.
Enjoy the pics.
Zulu

Hey Zulu,

Looking good! You might try a grindstone dressing wheel.

Tom

_________________
"There is no path to peace, peace is the path."
Mohandas K. Ghandi

You Da Man, ZULU!! That is great.....what you're doing with these restorations is to be commended. I think it is so important for us to respect the industrial revolution and what it did for us as a country and as a civilization. Thank you sooo much for sharing with us. I've been restoring old hand tools and getting immense gratification bringing them back to life.....but it pales in comparison to your work.

Don

Zulu , all you need now is a sickle bad to clamp in it and then you could demonstrate to kids.

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Uncle Fixit

Tom,
I really don't want to put a dressing wheel on it. I don't want it to look new. Just clean.
I also think it would be really hard because when you turn the handle the wheel goes up and down.

Don,
Thanks for the compliment. It's really not all that hard to clean the rust off. Just a dirty job.
I have to take a lot of "before" pictures so I can look at them and get all those parts back together properly.

Frank,
I actually have a 4' section of sickle blade hanging on the fence.
It has a rib lengthwise on one side. That is what the securing bolt tightens down on. The beveled side of the blades should be on the opposite side of the rib to sharpen properly.

It's not.
It looks like some one replaced all the teeth and rivited them on backwards.
It will fit in the grinder properly but it wants to sharpen the flat side of the tooth.
Zulu