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I've been looking for a decent Oil Can that will serve my elderly Myford ML7 for some time. New quality pump oilers are not cheap, have unsuitable nozzles, or too big. Much sought after, old quality ones like Braimes or some Westcos would do, but I stumbled over a little gem a few days ago and saved it from the bin. I like to delve into history of items that I find and to my surprise, I find loads of it, so I'll include some here in case some may also be interested. This is the Joseph Lucas Ltd No 40. 1/4 pint Oiler- The pics are after I had to fully clean it out to a dry state due to joint damage/leaks around the Plunger - Body collar and the base of the spout. Joints were cleaned out and re soldered. This Oiler version is shown in a 1924 Advertisement that describes it's purpose as tool for use on small Cars and Cyclecars and sold for 7 shillings and 6 pence (37.1/2 new pence today). There was also a bracket which you could purchase at the cost of 1 shilling (5 pence) to fit on the under bonnet (hood) bulkhead, or in the toolbox of the car to stow the Oiler safely. Noted that some examples sold at Auto Auctioneers were claimed to be part of the Toolkit for Bentley, Rolls Royce etc!, but I suspect they would have been nickel plated if supplied to them. The makers name is that of the Automotive Electrical suppliers of dynamos, lights, relays etc of recent years. With the joint repairs done and cleaned up, I gave it just a light clean over the rest of it and had no intention of attempting to remove, clean the age scarring or dents. The only real damage was the broken off threaded tip of the spout where, according to Lucas' info, it had a little cap screwed on the tip for whe not in use. The tip being broken was not usable like this, so I managed to identify the thread form from the 2 remaining full threads and established it to be 1/8" Whitworth (40 threads per inch). Spookily, Whitworth is the basis of the creation of the 'Model Engineer Series' thread form in 1909 and I have a set of those Taps and Dies, so sorted that issue. Took some measurements and some hard Brass and made the parts as close to the original as poss, but not fussed with accuracy- Soldered the tip in place- So there it is. Even the original leather washers are still fine. I'm always impressed with things that were made then, for example this can has the number 428 stamped on the handle as a production number and the base has a 'G' stamped in representing the individual who checked it for quality over 90 years ago. Regards

Whilst Ian and Joseph were making the journey down South for RPT, we were heading up to Norfolk for the Starting Handle Club Summer show We also visited some other friends in Norfolk on the Sunday before heading home, so a good weekend The Starting Handle Club show is a great and friendly event with all classes well supported, here's some photos, including some of the items in the auction...

More photos...

Today I collected a 1966 Bolens 850 after a 20yr rest . The engine is free body and frame are not in bad shape but the square tyres will all need to be replaced . It’s certainly very different to my wheel horse I’m looking forward to putting life back into it .

Hello Iain Yes its a show that we are looking at entering next year, as with you I was not sure if you were at RPT or not... we are back up your way next month so perhaps we could meet up then? Paul

Great pictures Paul, it sounds like this is a show and club we need to explore. It's a pity we did not know you were heading in the opposite direction otherwise we would have looked out for you and/or we could have arranged to meet for a coffee and chat somewhere on the way. Iain

Here are some photos from the rally at Biggar sunday 12th of August 2018 we all had a good day Had a wonder round the rally field I was displaying the Mayfield Croft mk 25. Also displaying the green Vivian Lloyd. The sun came out as the rally was finishing.

I did at Newby hall. He doesn't say much though. Couldn't get a word out of him.

The good looking guy in the awning is a newbie on the rally scene please say hello to Ken .

Came home the other week with a free box full of bits to sort out and to keep any of them I felt would be handy. Lot of work cleaning years of storage dirt and some rust to reveal many items never used and mostly very good serviceable condition. Top row- 4inch dia tin full of assorted sized steel round head rivets. Stainless precision ground reference Angle Plate. Bronze/Copper Gauze and below that is a superb 0-3/8" Jacobs Chuck with a strong detent wheel for up to 30 degree indexing at the other end in a precision ground steel body. The PS Stubbs files, Machine Reamers (H6/7 grade) are mostly unused. The Slocombe Bits (Centre Drills) are the retained good ones, I junked a lot of them. As for the 2 Tins in the centre they were completely blackened with age. I resisted opening them until I had carefully cleaned them to find the printed images underneath. The Meggezones one dates from the 1930s and contained finely ground HSS Lathe tools and Tool Blanks. The other tin has shakeproof, Single Coil, Double Coil Spring Washers and 1/8" Roll pins- Final challenge was to try and rescue a Plunger type Dial Indicator from around early 1950s made by British indicators Ltd. It's had a hard life and is quite heavy (plated Brass) It was a mess and took a long time to carefully clean and polish the Clear bezel lense as it was so badly scratched and opaque, I could not see the Dial. All very loose parts and a flickering needle. dismantled and adjusted as much as poss and reassembled to find it working smoothly, although the small hand needle is still out of sync with the Dial markings, but is irrelevant to my use as it counts the 4 main needle rotation limit (0.040"). It measures in 1/10,000 ths of an inch and I've since checked it against my Lathe dials, Digital readout on the Mill and the Victor Lever type D.I. , so it's as good as I'll ever need, real pleased as I needed one. Dial is 1 5/8" (41.3-ish mm) - Got to make a soft storage box for it now and reduce the slack in the Bezel rotation. Only too glad to give these bits a good home after knowing they once belonged to someone with similar interests.

Dial Indicator now lives in it's padded box-

He just had to go one better than me I've had a murex 160 since the early 80s brilliant welder so never let me down , Why has he gone one better than me =cos his knob goes to 8 mine only goes to 6

Good choice Ian, quite powerful, and a very smooth arc.

A bit of an update on this.. My new Mig welder arrived today (thanks to all the people involved in transporting it to me) and you might say I'm a happy bunny.. Ok, it's not "new" but it is very well made and should outlast me A Murex Tradesmig 165...