| Blog series by Lee Barker | updated 511 days ago | 2 parts | 1301 reads | 9 comments total |
Part 1: Runup to the decision, assessing the situation, planning the resurrection
Since I got this tragic-looking tool at a giveaway (a junk store was moving, and the last day was free) and it had a bit of a name—James Swan tools are present and selling on the ‘bay—I decided the maximum benefit was to sell it. At the same time I put up a 2” Greenlee which I had. It wasn’t much, I thought. Well the Greenlee got all the attention, and indeed sold, but the Swan, all inch and three quarters of it, after two weeks, languished still. I considere...
Part 2: Rebuilding the handle and adding on--varnish dip and it's a hone run!
I considered turning a new handle, and while that has a certain appeal I couldn’t get excited about it. I wanted to save the old one. Easy enough to say, but once I made that decision I began to feel it was just too small for the width and weight of the steel. I used high quality epoxy, mixed with sawdust, to fill the cracks. At this point I am thinking the wood, which may be ash but I’m not certain, will be a lovely natural tone and the epoxy stripes won’t be too unsi...
