Power shear question

Hello all-

Now, I know a *real* blacksmith would never use one, but luckily, I don't have too many pretentions in that regard.

Here's the question, and I suspect it's simple enough- I've got an old electric Stanley Unishear, and the gear box is dry. So, I need to put some oil in it, but don't have a manual for it.

Any thoughts on what I can fill this up with? My inclination would be to use some regular 5w-30 motor oil, but there may be something I'm not aware of that would be better- or there may be a problem with using it. Never hurts to get a second opinion or two, and a half a pint of just about any kind of oil ought to fit into my budget, so it may as well be the correct stuff.

Thanks!

Reply to
Prometheus
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Traditionally "regular" oil was a straight 30w, I'd suggest that over a 5w oil.

The multi-viscosity stuff is really only applicable to automobiles and devices that are used in a wide range of temperatures, standing machines are almost always use a straight weight oil.

5w oil is like sewing machine oil very thin, 30w is like automobile oil, 80w is like differential oil, 120w+ is like grease
Reply to
John Hines

A "real" blacksmith would use whatever tools he had, because it's work, not art, and a guy has to eat!

Grab a can or bottle of gear oil at the auto supply place of choice. The hypoid gear oils (for differentials) usually contain some graphite or moly to help reduce friction a bit. Something made for transmissions (manual ones) or differentials should be better than the lighter engine oils.

If there is any chance of it leaking or being vented into the shop, use the transmission oils as the hypoid gear oils tend to smell awful.

Cheers Trevor Jones

Reply to
Trevor Jones

A "real" blacksmith... there ain't no such animal anymore (imo).

Forge welding a sword from crappy metal (and making it good), on a small block of iron, with a charcoal forge, now that's a blacksmith.

Reading up on historical needle making... definitely a hard life.

Me? I consider myself a cheat, I drill holes, and use propane ;-)

Regards Charles

Reply to
Chilla

Chill bud - there are blacksmiths. Full time ones. And some are owners/ users/etc are part time types.

Blacksmiths don't have to be coal black in form and looks while pounding steel with a home made hammer.

Many a rancher has a full time blacksmith on line or employed. Martin

Mart> Trevor J>

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

Well it was just an opinion, and a romantic one at that.

With layered metal technology, a modern blacksmith (as will a lot of other fabrication industries) will become a distant memory.

Regards Charles

Mart> Chill bud - there are blacksmiths. Full time ones.

Reply to
Chilla

I know, it was tongue-in-cheek. Kind of like the perpetual woodworker's debate about whether or not the *old masters* would have used plywood if it was cheap and availible. Myself, I'll use any tool or material that will get the job done, provided I can afford it and it will fit in my shop- I can't see too much value in making the job harder on myself without a good reason. That little shear does a nice job cutting sheet goods, and I'm not going to miss the big blisters I always get when using a big tin snip to cut sheet goods at home.

So, manual transmission oil? Sounds good to me, and makes sense, now that I think about it. Thanks!

Probably a fairly good chance of that- Bosch got back to me with the bona-fides for the tool, and it is 60 years old. Odds are there's at least one leaky gasket in there somewhere after all this time.

Reply to
Prometheus

What's the box smell like? Stinky (sulfer) gear oil? :) Not stinky gear oil... just stinky -old- oil? :)

A later post you mentioned getting a hold of Bosch? What did you learn? :)

Betting on... 5 to 10 weight light (pale) machine oil.

BTW, the longer (weeks) I smelled gear oil the sweeter it got until (no kidding) it smelled good to me. :)

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It's got some sort of sulfer-containing chemical in it, right?

Alvin in AZ

Reply to
alvinj

Doesn't smell like anything in particular- I suspect that it has not been oiled or used in a loooong time. Seems to work perfectly, though- I tried a few test cuts, and it does just fine. The oil cap is just a little flip lid about the size of a pencil barrel, so it might be as simple as a squirt of 3-in-1 oil, now that I just looked at it again. The gear box looks like it'd hold about a half-pint of whatever if there was nothing in it, so it's probably only got a capacity of an ounce or two.

Just that it is a model 16 worm-gear Unishear, and the manufacture date was 1947.

Boy, I wish that were the case with cutting oil. Actually, come to think of it, it doesn't smell that bad to me, but I'm a holdout who still smokes cigarettes, and even a tiny drop of that stuff left on your fingers when smoking is a noxious experience, to say the least.

Might have, at some point- but not any more. Perhaps it should be made clear (as your pictures seem to be from big machines) that this thing is just a little hand-held tool, not a stationary shear. Come to think of it, I should probably just look up a manual for a more recent one, as there are still versions of the tool on the market.

Reply to
Prometheus

Charles! Check out Albion swords on the web. Those guys are blooming their own iron and refining it on an anvil! As for myself I take the if they had it they woulda used it position.

Reply to
trahern

That's waaaaay cool, and I will be doing some traditional construction methods soon too, although I'll be forging needles, I already have some pure iron ;-) The replicas will be of fine iron dark age needles. I will document the process with a DVD. Oh and the needles wont be cheap ;-)

I have a friend that does similar to what I do, and he recently quoted a customer $25,000 for a sword made accurately. He's going to mine all the raw elements, and use no modern power tools, everything made by hand on replica dark age blacksmith equipment. I also think it would be wise for him to document the process on a DVD.

Some customers want items made in a certain way, and will pay for the privilege ;-)

I'm 100% sure if a dark age blacksmith had access to a power hammer he would have utilised it. Tools make the job easy is all ;-)

Regards Charles

Reply to
Chilla

It's the smith who makes the tools, not the tools which make the smith.:)

Reply to
John Husvar

Nice quote John, I'll remember that when I'm doing a mirror polish by hand ;-)

Regards Charles

Reply to
Chilla

"They just don't understand the way the hammer shapes the hand" - Jackson brown (lately)

GA

Reply to
Kyle J.

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