DirtDawg
Gold Member
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2022
- Messages
- 803
Thanks. Lots of them I bought used. It took a long time to accumulate them. It is interesting to be able to compare them.
DirtDawg If you want a small hatchet I can send you one but it needs a handle.
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Thank You eveled for sending this 14A skeleton my way.
By what I can make out of the forge date on the tang, coupled with the nail notch similarities, as well as the rounded tang lugs, it looks as if this unit was manufactured in 1967. I may end up annealing those lugs before re-peening however. It seems one is much harder than the other. I actually needed to break out the Dremel and a grinding wheel to remove the end cap. Note! I was able to save the end cap, and it cleaned up quite well too, so far.
It turned out that most of the grinding marks were superficial, so some time and elbow grease spent with 80 grit paper and scotch-brite pads got the head and shank looking pretty good before hitting the vinegar bath. This is the before shot, and it seems I neglected to get an after shot and before submersion.
My intention at this point is to pair this up with my 24A skeleton from 1967 and try to finish them up together, so I vinegar-soaked it for about 36 hours to get the finish matched up as best I could to start with. Note to those who poo-poo the vinegar treatment: It doesn't seem to really pit or harm the existing structure. It does however clean out any and all rust pits that pre-exist, and leaves a rather handsome gray finish. I do have some tentative plans to enhance said finish in the end - standby for more on that.
My intention is not to try to get these looking like new, nor to keep any original patinas that may have been rusted or ground away anyhow. My intention is to make a set of useable working tools out of a couple of otherwise unuseable skeletons, and to make them look half-way decent in the end. Fingers crossed...
Be safe everyone! Be well! Enjoy your days!
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