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My neighbor gave me a present today.
Came walking up the drive gingerly holding a rotting cloth bag.
In the bag….
A small makita circular saw. Model 4200N.
Totaly encrusted with wet muck, corrosion like you wouldn’t believe, (Don’t tell me aluminum doesn’t ‘rust’.), repulsive filth, and a very thick layer of rust.
Through the muck on the body of the thing you could barely see a name written.
My name.
This is the saw that my boss ‘stole’ from me many years ago when I broke my back. As I was being carted away from the jobsite, (which happened to be the boss’ own house), they were taking all my tools into the boss’ garage. When I tried to get them back later, I got a bunch of hemming and hawing for a couple weeks, then they said they simply couldn’t find them.
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My neighbor found it when he was cleaning up the property of some old guy who recently died. (Outside Gold Bar.) I have no idea how it got all the way up here to snohomish county, in the back of a pickup filled with crap that had obviously been headed for the dump. Had also obviously been sitting there for at least 6 years, because that's how long the truck had sat where it was. And the saw had been at the bottom of the pile of trash. Also, this neighbor is one of the very few people in this entire county who actualy know my name. For this guy in particular to have found the saw is as incredible as the fact that the saw was where it was in the first place.
When I pulled it out of the sack, (or more precisely, tore the rotted sack remains from it), and turned it around, water poured out of it.
I brought it in the house, roughly cleaned it off, and it has been sitting in front of the heater most of the day. Seems fairly dry now.
I sat it in the sink, and used a flat screwdriver to scrape it off pretty good. My name, both scratched and in magic marker, is still all over the thing. it still spins, though it feels a bit loose side to side. (Maybe the bearings are shot.) I pulled the trigger, and though it was fairly smooth, it stuck in the on position. The blade guard works like a charm. The foot is flat as it ever was, and works to adjust depth. I haven't tried angle yet, because that is really badly rusted. I want to take it apart and clean the rust off of it before I try to make it work that way again.
I have started to take it apart. I will have to completely disassemble it, right down to every single individual piece. I will clean all of it, check the bearings and brushes, clean the armature, file the copper part the brushes ride against, grease it, check all the electric components, sand off all the corrosion, and all the rust, possibly paint some parts, and then put it all back together.
It is like the prodigal son. I will do all this to try to get this thing running again, because it was always my most favorite saw. It is truly like getting an old friend back again. The blade is only what 4, or 4 and a half inches ? But this baby always cut through sheet stock like it was a hot knife cutting warm butter.
Wish me luck in getting it running again.
*Merry Christmas!
*Good luck Luka, I hope you are able to fix/repair the saw. I have an old cast aluminum bodied Skil belt sander that I'm getting ready to rebuild. It belonged to my Dad. My brother took when my Dad died and badly mistreated it. I only got it away from him after it quit running and he left it out in his yard in the weather for a couple of years.Merry Christmas!
*Luka,Since this is the end of the year it seems like the next year is already starting out great for ya. just think outta the blue something that you thought was lost and probably on the back of your mind from time to time has appeared. its like a small miricle. i hope that rest of the year 02 is like that for ya. congrats pal...
*Wow, what a great present, Luka. I'm glad the saw found it's way back to you. :-)
*Gee, it's kinda like "It's a Wonderful Life" for power tools. Or was that "A Christmas Story" and the Red Ryder BB gun? Or "Incredible Journey?" It's still neat!
*God works in mysterious ways and for mysterious reasons. I love his surprises! Merry Christmas!
*Merry Christmas, Luka.....
*Definitely good, Luka!
*That is one incredible story.
*I bet the saw is even happier than you are. Congratulations!
*..was it still able to wag it's tail?....nothing better than a faithful saw.
*It came upon a midnight clearThat glorious saw of oldFrom neighbors digging in the earthOutside the Bar of Gold...Wait! I can do better!"Hark!" the herald angels sing,"Nuthin' better'n woodworking!"'Course, it's easier with your sawFirmly nestled in your paw...OK, that wasn't it...Joy to the world, and save your rains...The earth is still soa-king!Let every screwCome off without stripping.And Luka and saw will sing!And Luka and saw will sing!And Luka, and Luka, and saw will sing!!!
*Luka's neighbour pulled it out,from a trash-pile hidden.Luka took it, gave a shout"Its my saw and I diddenthink I'd ever see this saw,'till we'd both passed over.If I can fix it up again,then I'll be in clo-o-ver"
*Poets extraordinaire! Bravo! Well done!
*ROFLOLYou guys have got to invest in microphones.These ditties of yours just arent the same without the tune behind them.
*i These ditties of yours just arent the same without the tune behind them.I thought my tunes were pretty clear---AND seasonal---but Ian's seems to cry out for "Yankee Doodle Dandy"...whaaaa?!?!?
*Good King Wenceseseslasses(sp) it was -- very traditional old Christmas carol -- not suitable for dyslexics
*Alright smartyboots --- to the tune of "Silent Night"anna one, anna two, anna one, two, three.....Every night,working by light,first on the left,then on the right,banging and chipping and breaking the crust,scraping and sanding and moving the rust,so Luka's saw can be see-een,so Luka's saw can be clean.
*ROFLOLYouse guys are making me wish that I had some film for the camera so that you could see what a huge mess it was when I got it.I have never seen corrosion that thick on aluminum before. I literaly had to scrape away over an 1/8 of an inch of white crusty, powdery corrosion just from the aluminum.I'll have to start looking for a good fine toothed carbide blade for it. What is on it is a rough blade, and it is just a standard old blade at that.
*Luka, as i said many times I used to work as a mariine machinery mechanic repairing naval ships. i worked at longbeach naval shipyard until 1980. About 3 or 4 years ago when they were closing it and friend of mine called me and told me he found my old hard hat. He asked me if i wanted it. Well i look at it everytime i enter my shop now. Its a nice thing.
*Yeah, Isn't it ?I said it was like finding an old friend. It's actualy more than that. It is like finding a part of myself. A part of me that was lost, taken away. A part of myself that I thought I would never see again. I really do wish that I could have taken pictures when it was at it's worst. It's too late now, because it is mostly disassembled, and at least roughly cleaned up already. But it sure would have been nice to have record of what it was like to compare to what it will be like again.I'll probably simply paint all the metal parts with white primer. Steel and aluminum alike. I'm still a little 'ishy' on the bearings, but so far everything else looks like it will be ok after a cleanup, lube and reassembly.
*"moving the rust"--nice, i'll give ya that one. And when he's finished with it:Oh, Holy Cow!The saw is brightly shining!It is the sight Of a tool's slow rebirth!Long lay it twirled In slime and garbage fallen!Then it appearedRisen out of the earth!(Such would break a Skil or lowly PC,Barely worth their AC or their DC.)Fall on your knees!Thank your stars it found you!O saw of mine,O saw, we're two of a kind!O saw divine!O saw, o saw of mine!
*I'll give you best -- I'm still better with a spinner than you are though!!
*Kerf crying out loud! Too good poetry for this site, NOT to have a separate column!
*Yea Luka, I know what you mean about a lost past. Im caught up in the white collar office thing. Its actually more stressful and full of BS than anything I ever had when I used to twist wrenches for a living, all the petty crap politics ect. But when I walk into my shop and see the hard hat. It reminds me of when I was one of the best steam turbine/generator mechanics in the yard. I took a lot of pride watching them babies steam outta port on my engines. When I see them on tv like during desert storm, I fill with pride knowing what I did with my own hands and I kind a get centered and forget the office crap.
*Congratualtions, Luka! That is amazing!Merry Christmas!Rich Beckman
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My neighbor gave me a present today.
Came walking up the drive gingerly holding a rotting cloth bag.
In the bag....
A small makita circular saw. Model 4200N.
Totaly encrusted with wet muck, corrosion like you wouldn't believe, (Don't tell me aluminum doesn't 'rust'.), repulsive filth, and a very thick layer of rust.
Through the muck on the body of the thing you could barely see a name written.
My name.
This is the saw that my boss 'stole' from me many years ago when I broke my back. As I was being carted away from the jobsite, (which happened to be the boss' own house), they were taking all my tools into the boss' garage. When I tried to get them back later, I got a bunch of hemming and hawing for a couple weeks, then they said they simply couldn't find them.