[AT] The old putty knife does it again

[Mike Sloane]

I keep an old 5 gallon pail with all of the old scrapers, putty knives, 
wire brushes, etc. that I have accumulated. This is my "tool box" that 
is brought out when I am tearing down an engine or other old equipment. 
As Dean discovered, putty knives are excellent for scraping gaskets, and 
they also come in handy for removing thick layers of oil soaked dirt. 
For really stubborn gaskets, various woodworking scrapers come to the 
rescue. I combine that with some old stainless steel pans, the porcelain 
coated metal "vegetable" drawers from discarded refrigerators, and 
various fryer baskets to soak pieces in kerosene (paraffin in the UK). 
Any fasteners that can't be loosely attached to their respective pieces 
go in plastic (not glass) peanut butter and mayonnaise jars and other 
suitable containers (often rescued from the kitchen garbage pail), along 
with a slip of paper or Post-It saying exactly where they came from. I 
found out years ago that this last process saves a LOT of time later on, 
especially when weeks or months separate disassembly from assembly.

Mike

Dean Vinson wrote:
> One day about seven years ago I was on my way somewhere and saw a putty
> knife lying in the road.  I drove past it and then thought better of it,
> turned around and got out and waited for traffic to clear then picked it up.
> It's a non-descript little thing, black handle, no markings, blade would
> have been about an inch and a half wide except one corner of it is broken
> off.  I didn't think much of it at the time, but it's been a great little
> tool.  I find myself reaching for it for all sorts of things that I wouldn't
> do with my "good" tools.  Today it was just the right thing to slowly peel
> up and scrape off the old gasket on the rear of the transmission case of my
> Farmall M, as I prepared to put the PTO housing back on.  Right width, right
> degree of flexibility, right feel as I worked that old stuff off of there.
> Made me glad, again, that I turned around for it.
> 
> Dean Vinson
> Dayton, Ohio
> www.vinsonfarm.net
> 
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
> 
>