Brown & Sharpe No 36. This one isn’t in my 1905 catalog and the last patent date on it is Nov 6 1894 so its pretty old, possibly 19th century. Pitting was pretty deep but the rust was easy to remove. I find that most micrometers clean up well and I’ve got a good success ratio [...]

Everyone knows about Wilton ‘bullet’ style vises. Known for great strength and the fact that the screw is completely enclosed in the slide. If you look up the patent though (d131498 ) it’s for the ornamental design of the vise and doesn’t mention the mechanics of it. Here’s the inside of one. The guy who [...]

Here’s a nice old ratchet made by New Britain Machine Company.  The “pat. pend” stamp refers to patent number .. 2,206,943. So this ratchet was made sometime between Dec 4, 1937 and July 9, 1940. It’s also stamped “None Better” so you can be sure it was the absolute best ratchet ever made up to [...]