Restoring More Tin Snips

This time Crescent and Lakeside 

Back in April I posted about the Red Devil tin snips I restored.  April...and it's now getting kinda late in June - time flies.  I think I did a decent job with those Red Devils, but I wanted more practice so I picked up a pair of Crescent snips, and enjoyed restoring them enough to get a final (maybe) pair of snips - this time a pair of Lakeside duckbills.  This ought to round out the collection!

The Crescents Came First

One day I found myself  at The Tool Box yet again.  I wasn't looking for anything in particular, just a simple tool to work on in spare moments.  Well, I found a few little pieces:  the tubular steel hammer that I posted about a couple weeks ago; a stubby screwdriver to be mentioned in an upcoming post; and a pair of tin snips.  Hey - take a glimpse of the price - $2.50!  I love The Tool Box!

And just for fun, here's a look at what some people pay for these vintage tools when shopping online:  

Of course not everyone has The Tool Box, so I suppose I should just count myself blessed and move on!

Crescent Tools!

 I've always known of Crescent tools.  From the earliest time I remember dad mentioning his crescent wrench, which back then I thought was just the name of an adjustable wrench. But it turns out the Crescent Tool Company was founded in Jamestown, New York by Karl Peterson in 1907 after merging with the J.P. Danielson Company.  This newly minted company came to be one of the famous tool makers in America.  As it turns out, I had no idea these were Crescents until after I ran them through the wire wheel.

Tin Woodman or Emperor Nicholas III of the House of Chopper, is an anecdotal character concocted by L Frank Baum, creator and maker of the Oz heritage. He is first presented as a fundamental character in Baum’s first Oz book titled The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, distributed in 1900. - Alex Parale at Comic Book and Beyond

Duckbill Snips

I picked up these snips at The Tool Box at the same time I got my Channellock 420s, which I posted about a couple weeks ago.  As amazed as I was that my Channellocks were only a buck fifty, these snips cost only a solitary Washington (it's not always about the Benjamins)!  And, as you can see, they were in less-than-perfect condition - just my speed!

Wire Wheel Discovery

After taking the duckbills apart, I ran them through the wire wheel and had a fun discovery!

That's right!  These are Lakesides!  No, Lakeside isn't one of those super well-known tool companies today, but in decades past, Lakeside was a household name and a direct competitor with Craftsman!

Some of my favorite tool restoration YouTubers!
NOTE:  I have no affiliation with these folks, they're just talented
∙ Scoutcrafter:  super knowledgeable, down-home personality
∙ 357magdad:  makes complex projects seem simple
∙ Ben Mall: So talented - and humble
∙ Hand Tool Rescue:  Amazing restorations of complex things!
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
Some tool restorations here at 173!

Montgomery Ward & Lakeside Tools

If you're old enough to remember the halcyon days of the great department stores and their catalogs, you probably remember Montgomery Ward.  Much like Sears with the Craftsman line, Montgomery Ward had a line of tools called Lakeside Tools.  Lakeside Saw & Tool Co. was started in January, 1908, was a subsidiary of Montgomery Ward & Co. Other subsidiaries in 1911 were Lakeside Foundry Co. and Lakeside Implement & Vehicle Co.  It seems both Sears and Montgomery Ward were into everything!  This is the old Montgomery Ward building in Albany, NY:

Company Colors

I know tool companies have their signature colors.  Black and Decker has orange and black, and Red Devil's signature color was, you guessed it - red.  Channellock has Channellock Blue, which is a kind aqua-ish color that they trademarked in 1988.  Crescent seems to be all over the map with their colors, and my Crescent snips were simply blue at one time.  Ryobi has migrated to this annoying lime green in recent years, while DeWalt is all about the yellow.  And, well, my Lakesides were red once upon a time, although I do think Lakeside's "color" may have been orange, like in this picture:

That picture, coupled with an old, used Montgomery Ward lawnmower that was the first here at 173, was the same color orange as those snips.  Or maybe it's just coincidence - who knows?  Either way, red or orange, like the Red Devils and the Crescents before them, the Lakesides were destined to be red.  

My Signature Color

Yeah, that's not true.  I've used Krylon's Cherry Red on a few projects now (some of which you haven't seen - yet) but that's mostly because I already had the can, and the can actually worked.  Also - it's a nice color and red seems to be something of an accent color here at 173.  That said,  after all the sanding and polishing was done on both snips, they were primed with good ol' Rustoleum, then on went the Cherry Red.  Here's my attempt at an "artsy" picture - perhaps I should stick to normal shots!

The Finished Snips

Now it's finally time to show the finished snips, but first I want to start with the Red Devil shears I did a few weeks ago.  Here's a before and after:

They were a decent first shot at restoring shears and snips.  I've learned a few things since then, but I still think they turned out okay.  Next up was the Crescent snips...

After learning even more, the Lakesides came along:

And, of course, the before and after:

And here they all are in their natural habitat:

Here's a funny thing - it wasn't until I took this picture that I realized how close the Cherry Red is to the color of the tool box.  Just a happy coincidence.

This message will self destruct in 10 seconds,