The Electric Carpenter #Restoration

Here's a shot of the bandsaw attachment for The Electric Carpenter. I love the styling on this piece and everything turns free and smooth!! A good cleaning and a coat of paint and we're back in business!!

Basket Case RC10B2 Restoration

Evenin' Folks,

  All my life I've been a tinkerer.  Like so many young boys, I loved taking mechanical things apart just to see how they worked on the inside.  When I was a teenager I was introduced to radio controlled cars and really thought I had found my niche.  I couldn't afford to buy or build a full size car and I was kind of getting tired of fiddling with lawn mower engines (even they took up too much room!), so r/c cars were perfect.  Fast forward about 20 years, and I'm in a similar situation.  I went from having pretty physical jobs where I worked with my hands all day to sitting at a computer staring at a screen all day.  So, I've been screaming for a project to tinker with and, once again, I have no room (or money) for an old car, antique tractor or vintage machinery of any kind.  I Googled r/c cars, just to see what has changed over the years and, to my surprise, restoring vintage cars has become a pretty popular thing!  

  I started out searching for replacement and upgrade parts for my first r/c car, a Team Associated RC10GT.  I've been putting off digging through my storage shed to find the truck, tools and parts, but I started scouring eBay for anything I could find.  In trying to get some used parts for my existing cars, I ended up getting a basket case of a Team Associated RC10B2 buggy.  I guess I've found my first r/c restoration project!  

  I'm going to document the restoration process here on The Angler's Workshop.  I'll use photo, video and commentary to show every step of the way and every process I use to get this junk buggy up and running and then upgraded and tuned up into a vintage racing buggy to be proud of!  Oh, and if you know of anybody looking to get rid of a bunch of RC10B2 parts (preferably free!) please let me know!!!

  I hope you enjoy following along!

     -Nick

Another Update!

Hey Folks,
  I finished the Disston D-23 crosscut saw that I had been working on!  I'm really happy, and proud of the results.  I'm working on a full write up on it and I'll try to post it really soon.  I've already started the next saw, so I'll get some pictures put up of that as soon as I take some.  I've also completed my first set of knife scales.  I made these out of reclaimed mahogany from an old entry door.  This was a really fun, simple project and I'm already looking for my next knife!  And the last picture here today is my next project.  I don't want to give away what it is just yet, but I will tell you that it is fly fishing related, and it's to replace an item that I've always wanted, but always hated that they're made out of Chinese plastic!  Mine is going to be solid walnut!  I'm making it entirely with vintage handtools, no power equipment will be used at all!
  I hope you're all doing well.  Keep the sawdust flying!
     -Nick

My Disston D-23 Skewback Crosscut saw.  Ready for to be sharpened and put back to work.  I'm extremely happy with the way it turned out!

My first stab at making knife scales! Sorry, couldn't resist the pun!  This is a Sarge knife kit.  I had a lot of fun with it and can't wait to do another!

My next project in the works!  That's a number 16 Russel Jennings auger going into some solid walnut.  It really needs a good sharpening!

A Quick Update!

Just a quick update! With school, work and The Suburban Angler blog keeping me busy, I haven't had much time for my saws. I'm still working on them, plus I've gotten a few more and a few more projects. I'm going to try to post here more regularly, so stay tuned! Finished saw pics coming soon!

$5 ebay Saw

Hi Guys!

  It's been a while since I've posted anything, this page of the blog is probably going to get a bit busier here in the near future.  I haven't done many projects because I'm still gathering the tools required for the items I want to build.  Well, with my tight budget and the number of tools I need, I decided to go "old-school".  I've been purchasing old and antique hand tools from the area junk stores and ebay and plan on refurbishing each back to usable condition.  I've always loved antiques and and hand-tools in general, so this is a "best of both worlds" and a "work with what you can" scenario.  That being said, the next few posts are going to be chronicling the steps I take to rehab the beautiful old tools and make them live again.  I am of firm belief that if it was made in the U.S.A before World War II, then it is probably of a higher quality than anything out of China today, and I think they still have a lot of use left in them.  I've never restored much of anything before, so I've been doing a lot of research on the subject.  I'm going to show all of the trial and error that I go through to get these tools back to usable condition, I'm not looking for museum pieces, just usable.

  I'll start off with some "before" pictures of an old Disston D-8 Skewback cross cut saw that I bought off of ebay.  It was advertised as being manufactured in the 1940s.  I really like the shape of the handle (or tote, I believe is the correct term) on this saw, the curves really make it eye catching.  There are some chips and nicks in the tote, but nothing that should keep it from being used, I don't think.  The plan is to disassemble the saw, sand the tote back down to raw wood and reseal it, clean the rust off the blade and polish the screws.  Like I said, it won't be "like-new" or fit for any museum, but it'll be a damn fine looking saw that'll still cut wood after 70 years!  I think that's saying something!

  Enjoy the pictures and check back soon for more!

     Thanks,

         -Nick

Here's my $5 ebay saw as delivered.  The tip of the blade was hanging out of the cardboard when it arrived!

         

Here's a good shot of the Distton Phila Medallion.