Nicely done GLBM
You did an excellent job restoring it. Those aren't all that common anymore.
Yes. It is a good tool overall. The compromise here is a larger package for better tensile strenght.
Great work
Nice restoration!I got a cheap one based around the same concept here somewhere, but even with mine being new and unused yours looks a lot better!
I get carried away when I get in "the zone" of restoration. I do it for a living and it drives my boss nuts that I get so crazy about making even cheap stuff look as good as it possibly can. I just told him, "don't bring it to me to work of if you think it isn't worth it." Would love to see the cheap flip-pliers tool! Some of those are pretty darned good.
I think the zone is a general thing. I used to be able to work for days and night on end without much sleep or food when I was in the zone. Everthing just flowed along. Sadly it happens a lot less these days. Maybe I've grown too attached to food and sleep? Either way, great that you enjoy your work. I think it was Raymond Loewy, the famous US designer, that used to say "never leave well enough alone". So you're in good company I feel certain that "good" is not a term that will spring to mind if I find mine and get a picture. I'll try to do some digging in the dark murky drawers around here.
Great job restoring this tool, the dual pliers setup makes this a rather unique piece to collect.
It is good you've slowed down. Being a workaholic is ridiculous, IMO, because it can prematurely insure your demise.
Loewy sounds pretty intense. I guess some jobs could drive a person into the ground if there isn't a pinnacle of what is expected. At least restoration work has a peak of excellence, based on the type of restoration(examples: make it look new or make it look clean/presentable while maintaining the character of age).
Now I'm very curious about the illicit 'good-not-the-word' tool.
That is the nice thing with being in the zone. Go with the flow and it doesn't feel like work. And yes - that is true too - but I wont really complain.
Knowing where to stop is indeed important. I think his point was to go those extra miles to get that extraordinary result. From your pictures here on MT it seems you have it down pretty good!
I've dug, I've found, and I've yet again come to regard this as some kind of happenstance art. The edges are rough, the surfaces scratchy and dirty, the knife is blunter than the edges, and the awl isn't pointy. The plier jaws doesn't line up to each other, and if I ever tried to squeeze it hard I think something would give in and buckle. The wood in the handle has some nice character to them though.The edges of flat pieces on tools often tells a story of quality choices and investments made in tooling. Slightly asymmetrical rounded edges on one side usually means the parts were made with blanking - the inexpensive choice, and good enough for many things. Clean sharp edges means fine blanking were used which takes much more expensive tooling - that is more like extruding pieces straight out from a plate. This tool seem to have been made with blanking using worn down, sloppy and or unsharp tools. Anyway, pictures - it is a collectible for all the wrong reasons after all!
The Sheffield I bought(NN pliers and diagonal cutter head) seem to be the same tool. Probably made in the same factory.
Though the effort of the makers to produce a flip-jaw pliers tool for very low cost is appreciated, I think even $10 would allow for a vastlt nicer tool.
I might be in trouble here... The worst tool around is really bad...There might not even be a tool in there anymore. It is certainly rusted shut. I don't have much hope here, but I'll give it a shot. Maybe I learn something on the way at least.
Now you've got me wanting to get started on a huge antique adjustable wrench I bought a while back.
Maybe sharpen the cutters and give it to someone who doesn't have any pliers? Just tell them they need to actuate the pivot a few hundred times to loosen it.
As far as retaining the patina on the big wrench, I am undecided as to whether I'd like one that looks brand new(kind of gives a feeling of having the tools back when they were new) or if I want to just clean it and leave the darkened metal(for preservation's sake). It isn't pitted, so it has that going for it. Decisions decisions....
The cutters are actually interesting in the sense that they are difficult to sharpen. The geometry of the plier head parts are in the way. It seems like the plier head parts has been made first, and then those cutters have been welded or brazed onto them already sharpened. It guess that helps solve the issue of making a perfect fit at both at the end of the plier and at the cutters. Which actually also happens to be an important challenge with these flipflop designs - those are even more challenging as there are two separate plier head ends and cutters which all needs to hit zero clearing at once. Precision is expensive, so an adapting approach like that might make sense.Maybe I'll wait until someone else make some spicy dinner, then put it discretely on the floor with some sauce spillage on and let someone else find it... The sauce ate the metal! Very spicy indeed! I think I prefer some patina left to show its heritage. That does sound difficult though.