McCormick Sickle Sharpener Refurb

[Stanton]

Bought an old McCormick Sickle Sharpener (aka, Mower-Knife and Tool Grinder) at the Iowa sale in November. Brought it home and thought it would be a fun, little project to refurbish. One of the gears was stuck to the post, so the handle didn't turn more than a 1/2" either direction.

Here are some pics of how it came home:

Disassembly was fairly straight forward. I took lots of reference pics along the way. Very helpful when reassembling later. Thanks to Scrivet for the advice on removing the stone; came off just like he said:

After totally disassembling all parts, they were wire wheeled to remove all rust, corrosion and dirt. Have been enjoying how the warmer weather is going deeper into Fall. On December 4th it was +55 F, I wiped everything down with denatured alcohol, primed and painted. I want to thank Scrivet again for the suggested paint color. He had recommended VanSickle Oliver Green, but I ran across Westlake's Rust-Stop International Green and couldn't resist. Glad I did. Really like the color and quality of the paint:

Six days after painting, I started reassembling using my photos for reference. I think it turned out great. Handle actually rotates 360 degrees now!

[Bill Hudson]

Looks great, Stanton. I've got one in the Cubhouse that needs to look like that. Can I send it to you?

Bill

[tmays]

Nice. Debating whether to do mine now.

[Bob McCarty]

I think most of those were meant to clamp onto a steel wheel. I don't have a picture, but a friend cut a piece of wheel, welded on some stock to slide it into the front, square implement tube and displays his at shows that way. Nice job Stanton.

Bob

[Stanton]

I think most of those were meant to clamp onto a steel wheel. I don't have a picture, but a friend cut a piece of wheel, welded on some stock to slide it into the front, square implement tube and displays his at shows that way. Nice job Stanton.

bob

Thanks. I had similar thoughts...

[tmays]

Thought I had a pic of mine mounted on tractor, but can't find it. Here's a pic I took of Mr Russ' demo cub with his mounted

[dgrapes59]

Nice job Stanton!

Thanks for sharing,

[randallc]

Again Stanton, great work on a job well done. You sure you don't want to move to Witcherville. Empty house just up the way and many a project to keep you interested.

[Scrivet]

Yours turned out great! Glad to have helped in a small way.

Now we just need to find you the correct P131 Oscillating Connection

As far as I can tell this is the most common missing item from a grinder. It is made to be unhooked from the offset crank and latched on that stupid little nub to hold the grinder rigid. It easily slips out of the eye bolt when unhooked. It has a spring wire clip that holds it on. That's the wire you see in the hole, it springs out of the way when you push up on the tail. You can also see the wire on the left of the hole running along the top. Then it makes a 90 and goes through the center of the arm. It's a small diameter cast metal piece with holes through it, no wonder this thing gets lost or broken so easy.


You also need a P130 1/2 Oscillating Hand Lever 9 x 3/8" to be complete. The oscillating hand lever would be easy to make. It's a 3/8" rod 9" long and is threaded 1" on one end. The other end is chamfered/rounded over a bit to ease the sharp corner. Approximately half of the inner diameter of the rod is left flat on the end.

I think you said you have a manual but for those that don't the foot powered grinder manual in Rudi's Manuals is the same grinder with a few foot powered parts added and has all the parts breakdown on page 4. (From Rudi's Manuals) http://www.cleancomputes.com/Cub/McCormick-Deering%20Implement%20and%20Attachment%20Manuals/McCormick-Deering%20Hand%20and%20Foot%20Powered%20Mower-Knife%20and%20Tool%20Grinder%20Manual/Page%2004.jpg