Wow Lenny, that would have been truly interesting. Here in Kansas City, there's currently an antique tool exhibition in place, but I doubt anybody's actually operating the tools. We also have what's called the Arabia Steamboat Museum, which has lots of tools, hardware and other supplies that were headed up the Missouri River in like 1859. The boat hit a snag and sunk, but the course of the River changed right after that happened, so that in the 1980s it was mined and most of the items preserved. The thing about the tools is that they are truly massive. I guess that's because they didn't have the kind of alloys we have available today.
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Lenny McHugh Sent: Saturday, July 04, 2009 08:01 To: handyman-blind Subject: [BlindHandyMan] real old tools Yesterday, I was at the Kutztown Art and Folk Festival. This primarily is a German theme with crafts and some great food. One exhibiter was from Michigan who had some very old tools that he was using for some wood crafts. I was first checking out his drill press. It was very old cast iron and had a crank and large gear on the side, it was like an old egg beater drill. The table was about a six inch round piece of hickory wood. To operate it you used the crank and your foot. While cranking you pushed down a pedal that raised the table into the bit. He made some modifications so he could use other things in the chuck. It originally used the square tapered bits like in an old bit and brace. I asked him what the ratio was between the crank and the bit and he never was asked that question before. He was using a small drum sander in it so with my finger on the bottom of the drum, I slowly turned the crank. It was a three to one ratio. I told him that I would much rather use my Grizzly 12 speed drill press. The next tool that he had was a scroll saw. This one was powered like a very old treadle sewing machine. His sander was similarly operated. He did some fantastic work with these tools. He told me that he does not like power tools I joked a little and told Karen, that I know that I need some exorcise but not to get any ideas. --- Please visit my home page; it is motivational, inspirational and humorous with many resources for the blind. http://www.lennymchugh.com Lenny ------------------------------------ Send any questions regarding list management to: [email protected] To listen to the show archives go to link http://www.acbradio.org/pweb/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_p age&PAGE_id=33&MMN_position=47:29 Or ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various List Members At The Following address: http://www.jaws-users.com/JAWS/handyman/ Visit the archives page at the following address http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ If you would like to join the JAWS Users List, then visit the following address for more information: http://www.jaws-users.com/ For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man list just send a blank message to: [email protected]! Groups Links
