Restored Shear

[mike newall]

Used to say to guys at work who were about to retire..

What are you going to do then ?

If they came back with golf and gardening, I gave them a stern talking to and told them to think again.

I retired with the demise of our airline in 2019 at 61. I am busier now than when working. Now flying a PC-12, building my 5th RV - a 10, still coordinating containers - when we can find them and a myriad of other things.

And I have just done business with Dan to get firewall insulation for our 10....

Way to go all us gray guys !

[DanH]

Originally Posted by scsmith

Ooh! a 10-ft brake? Can I send you some jobs?

I'll do anything I can for you, but here I was wrong. Owned it 20 years and never measured it, until I began dismantling it today. It's a 8 foot. Looked bigger against the back wall of the hangar.
-

[Nick Leonard]

I have a four foot shear that needs to have the blade sharpened. Any ideas on how or who does this sort of thing?

[rocketbob]

Originally Posted by Nick Leonard

I have a four foot shear that needs to have the blade sharpened. Any ideas on how or who does this sort of thing?

Any machine shop with a large enough surface grinder could do it in short order.

[DanH]

Yes, and there are quite a few advertisers for the service on the web.

[fixnflyguy]

Not retired yet, but I have an old Pexto 3' roller, a WW2 era pneumatic planishing hammer that still works great for making curved parts for cowlings, ect., and a 1935 South bend lathe my grandfather bought new. All my stuff works, but like me, its shows it's age a bit. I want to make them all look like Dan's stuff! I've used the Wysong brakes like Dan's for years...didn't know they are made in GSO, which happens to be where I work. We have a 16 foot Farnham power roller (WW2 vintage) at my day job we use to roll airliner belly skins. I love old stuff!

[DanH]

Originally Posted by fixnflyguy

I have an old Pexto 3' roller,

Project #3 here, after the brake.

a WW2 era pneumatic planishing hammer that still works great for making curved parts for cowlings

A CP? There was a big one in the fly market at S&F some years back. I should have bought it. By the time I made up my mind it was gone.

John Neal (RIP) had two body shop planishers mounted on stands at Georgia Metal Crafters. They were handheld to work dents out of fenders back when cars were made with thick steel. Build a stand, add a foot pedal. John said they could be found lost under a bench at old family-run body shops, but I've never spotted one. This is a modern copy:

https://www.trick-tools.com/ProLine-...g-Hammer-11537

For those who never met John, he and his crew built the tail booms and tail for Glacier Girl.

Folks collect stamps and baseball cards. We like tools.

[xavierm]

I like the style the old tools have. I have my eye on a camelback drill press.

[DanH]

Before and after. Whole lot of heavy lifting between those photos...
.

[TShort]

Very cool.

I would be interested in some of the how you did it details…