Spring Clean Up

Most of our local communities have a spring clean-up day. You can leave items that are too big for your garbage container near the curb in front of your house. The Metro Waste Authority will come and take the items away.

Many people place their items on their boulevard's grass the day before the Metro trucks arrive. This gives pickers a chance to take what they want. Honestly, wouldn't you rather have a person take your stuff home and use it, as opposed to seeing your stuff go to the dump?

I hope you feel this way because I became a picker last week.

I have this setup in my garage.

On eBay, it is called a "Vintage Belt Driven Bench Arbor w/ a 1/3 HP Motor." For my purposes, I'm gonna say it's a "grinder" for short. 

I use the wire brush and the stone wheel all the time. I'd really like to use this for polishing metal, too, but it would be a pain to switch back and forth between the brush/stone wheels and the two polishing wheels.

That's not a problem anymore. All my stars aligned last week when Urbandale had a spring clean-up day.

Daphne needed to go Charlotte's building on Tuesday morning, so she took Charlotte to school for the first time in months. I was able to leave for work at the same time, but I drove straight to the high school - a route I don't normally take. While driving along a street dotted with stacks of items for the clean-up, I had the thought that I should look for an old cart that I could put a second grinder on. As I was thinking that, I spotted a grinder standing near the curb waiting for the Metro truck.

No way! I was just thinking about one of those!

Yes, way.

I checked my watch. For the first time in 2018, I had 15 minutes to spare. I turned the car around. There stood a handmade wooden stand with a grinder and a motor attached. The owners had even left some accessories to go along with it. I couldn't believe my luck. Trying hard to not get dirty, I awkwardly "walked" it off the curb and into the back of the RAV.

Here it is in our garage. The stand's small footprint is perfect for the space.

This might look really dirty and greasy to some people, but that layer of gunk does a great job of preserving the surface underneath. I had faith that this would clean up very nicely.

I was trying to decide how deep I wanted to clean this. The fact that someone saved the owners' manual from October 1953 and left it for the next person (me), tipped the scales. I have this idea that the previous owner was someone's grandpa, and he was proud to own this Grinder-Hone. I felt it was my duty to do my best to bring this back to its former glory.

The stand was very wobbly. Luckily, it was constructed with screws that could be tightened.

I use a drill's screwdriver power bit in a small vise-grip to tackle old screws like these. The extra leverage goes a long way. The stand is now stable.



Safety first. This power cord is too cracked to be used.

It's not as thick as the original power cord, but an extension cord from the dollar store will work for now. I keep a few of these cords in the garage for this exact purpose. You cut off the female connector, and you have a new power cord.

I used the original cord's loop connectors. The tape covers how poor my soldering skills are.

The old power cord had this metal clip on it. I suspect the clip was to keep the connectors from being pulled out of the motor case if someone tripped over the cord.

The wires inside the original cord are white and black. My new cord doesn't have that color distinction, but I can still connect the wires to the right location. According to circuitdetective.com, "If the fixture's two non-ground wires are not black and white but one of them is smooth and the other has a "ribbed" texture, the ribbed is to connect to the white of the box and the smooth to the other."

The wires are connected with the ribbed wire on top where the white wire was. The clip is in place.

I like using Mean Green, an old toothbrush, and paper towels when it comes to removing grease. It is a cheap combination that works well.

The model number plate looks much better after one application of the Mean Green.

Except for a new power cord, fresh gear oil, and three wood screws, all of the original components were retained.  I removed the grinder and the motor so I could clean the stand with our pressure washer. I found a few more screws to tighten. They were hiding underneath the grime.

I'll take the history and heft of a 65-year-old tool made in America over a new tool manufactured overseas any day.

The adapter and square head bolts spent the night in my vibration tumbler. 

Here's the grinder in action. It's not an exciting video, and that's a good thing. It should be quiet and boring.

The previous owner also provided a couple of cloth polishing wheels. One was still unused. I hesitate to call it new. Check out the art deco logo for Dico. (Say that five times fast.)

The Divine Dico Manual for Buffing with Cloth Wheels is actually very informative. There's even a math formula to help you determine Surface Feet Per Minute.

Let's talk about buff, Bay-bee.

Check out tip #9. It's interesting to think that there was a time when this was necessary advice.

I removed the top oil stone and put it in storage. I don't want the stone covered in the polishing compound. I'll break it out when I need to sharpen the lawnmower blade.

My next step was to remove the wheel guard on the right side and install a second polishing wheel in place of the grinding stone.

Done.

I kept my word. The grinder is looking better than it has in years, and it is back in service. Grandpa's grinder is getting the respect it deserves, and I'm proud to own it.