Rebuilding My Rake (Sometimes it's the little projects.)

First, yes, I love alliteration. Or, I should say, I adore it.

02Pilot's thread about his jack that won't jack got me thinking: It's cool to save something in today's disposable society. It's almost like a challenge, and I think that most of us accept it. It doesn't have to be a major job, either.

Here's my contribution.

Like two weeks ago, the handle on my rake snapped. Looking back, I guess it would have been (not funny) if the handle had then impaled me.

Instead of tossing the rake, a trusted companion for 20+ years, I bought a new handle for like six bucks. 

There, an easy win.

I retained the original hardware, too, so now it's closer to being concours-correct (preservation class). 

Nice!

Looking forward to when subsequent generations have worn the tines down, replaced them, and can then start asking whether it's really still David's rake...

It is fun, though. My wife and I had a stab at prolonging our old Krups blender after being discouraged by the current options being some combination of crappy, plastic, and/or $ALOT.99. Parts are almost entirely NLA, but we soaked the oilites in some hot oil and it no longer does the honking-bearing thing. It's still not exuberant, and we've only delayed the inevitable, but it did feel good.

I approve of this. I've resurrected a few tools and related things over the years. My favorite ball peen hammer came to me with a fractured handle - a nice new hickory one was installed, the head treated to a bath in Evaporust, and all is well. My latest project has been restoring (using the term loosely) a few tool boxes I've plucked out of the metals bin at the town bulk trash days - great rugged old things, usually with perfectly serviceable old tools in them.

I had a similar break of the handle. I slipped a piece of PVC pipe over the break and duct taped the ends. Win. 

Nice work there David.

fasted58 said:

I had a similar break of the handle. I slipped a piece of PVC pipe over the break and duct taped the ends. Win. 

Nice work there David.

I'm going to steal that idea.