The best episodes of hand tool rescue are the ones when Mr Hand Tool has some totally bizarre old tool that no only looks weird, but is virtually impossible to visualize actually working. That’s the case with this episode that features the saving, restoration, and hardcore effort that goes in to making a 1900s door Mortising tool breathe new life. We have never seen one of these before and will likely never see another, to be honest that would be OK. The work into this one is a monster.
These projects are never just about cleaning, painting, and reassembly. In this one we see replacement parts getting cast in bronze and machined. We see our hero machining gear teeth by hand to replace missing parts on the tool he is restoring, and a load of other intricate and skill requiring tasks.
The payoff, as it always is, comes in the form of watching the tool operate at the end of the video. In this case I could not see it until it actually began to do its thing. Once that happened I figured out how brilliant this little hand powered machine really is. We’re guessing these were expensive and pretty rare back in the day. But when you watch it work it’ll make you smile!
