I never heard of International Forge Company but this little ratchet looks very similar to an older model Craftsman. I thought that’s what it was when I saw it at the bottom of a yard sale milk crate full of junk . It had obviously spent some time outdoors or in a flooded basement.

Some white vinegar and a steel wool pad fixed that . When I say steel wool I mean SOS or Brillo not #4. The object isn’t to make the ratchet look like it just rolled off the assembly line, it’s to make it not look like it just traveled through Gamera’s digestive tract. This makeover took about 4 hours and 3 1/2 of them were sitting in the vinegar. Not bad.

Inside however things weren’t so good. Someone hadn’t felt like using a breaker bar and tore the gear. They did so a few times as there were several teeth missing.

To some a tool is just an ends to a means and this ratchet epitomized why I have a box full of import expendables in case some Cro-Mag needs to borrow something.

In my spare parts cache, there were two gears that were very close in size.

Some ratchets are beyond my ability to save so I strip them for parts. The donor gear was from an old Herbrand.

I set my outside divider calipers to the new old gear….

and filed it down to fit. To do this I used a file with a safe edge, an edge with no teeth. That way the file cuts what I want and doesnt bother anything else

Filed a bit then checked with the calipers. When they fit over the new gear I knew that part of the gear is the same size as the corresponding part of the old gear. There were three other parts of the gear that required the same treatment.

When I finished

, what was once junk is now a working ratchet.