In the interest of restoring something unusual, I present a circa 1919 Kilmer
"Little Giant" wire bender. It is, for practical purposes, similar to a small
Hossfeld, but specialized for wire-- think up to 3 or 4 mm
diameter.Unfortunately, no dies, but they are pretty easy to make. I have found
a few references to this tool in ads, but no real documentation. Does anyone
know anything about it, or the company?


It came to me a while back-- maybe a year-- as a "just take it" with several
other things, primarily a flammables storage cabinet, and has been sitting,
waiting for me to have time and incentive.


I present photos of it as I begin cleaning (maybe 2 or 3 hours of wire brush so
far, to get the worst of the rust bloom off)

The business end:

https://postimg.cc/hzxQQXHQ
https://postimg.cc/sQnqS27y
https://postimg.cc/hfKQhPMh

And the manufacturer ID

https://postimg.cc/zHFLp9DJ
https://postimg.cc/Z08yTy81


Y'all can see that there is a good bit more cleaning to do. 


It will be repainted, and, though the original color was black, I am considering
something a little brighter. Any ideas?


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> On Mar 24, 2020, at 2:34 PM, Erik Levin via OldTools  wrote:
> 
> It will be repainted, and, though the original color was black, I am
considering something a little brighter. Any ideas?

John Deere green with yellow is alway startling.

Also, the vacuum cleaner hoses make it look like it’s hydraulic

Ed Minch

Erik,
Looks like it ought to be an interesting project.
Bruce Z.
Des Moines, IA

On Tue, Mar 24, 2020 at 1:37 PM Erik Levin via OldTools <
oldtools@s...> wrote:

Erik,

Glossy black with the raised lettering “picked out” in gold.  The incised
lettering infilled with white, or gold.

The gold can be either metallic or a bright golden yellow formerly called
“DuPont Dulux Gold.”

Raised lettering is easy to do with a triangular “cosmetic wedge sponge” dipped
in a shallow puddle of paint.

John Ruth



Sent from my iPhone

Well, the cleaning and paint are done, and the unit is reassembled. I know that
there are things missing, but I am not sure what (aside from mandrels, which I
can make)

I went with JD green. I have a can on the shelf. It looks more like a forest
green in the photos. Pink polyiso for a backdrop shifted the color. the sunken
marks are black-- they look better in person. I have no appropriate paint for
the raised lettering right now except red, but will likely go with yellow,
continuing the JD theme.


Reassembled:

https://postimg.cc/yk9dJKqL
https://postimg.cc/LYw9XCxd

Makers marks:

https://postimg.cc/6T8TXRMJ
https://postimg.cc/MXgHKTLc

Working end:

https://postimg.cc/bG6NXNbw
https://postimg.cc/GBz9cj0r


Yes, the stop ring is not centered. I think there may originally have been a
bracket that lowered and offset it, but, then again, the only photos I can find
on line show the same uncenteredness. I really should finish removing the chrome
from the center, and maybe rechrome it, but for the moment, it will stay as-is.
I want to try it out.


I would like to find pictures showing details like the original angle stops and
the wire stop, but I have found nothing. Oh well. This is pretty much the last
generation of true production hand tool. These were meant to turn out 5000 to
10000 parts a day. Literally, "a boy can form from six to ten thousand eyes per
day" was in the ad.




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Quick tip On painting raised lettering:
I have tried to use brushes and careful application, but my best results
are from making  a rag ’dauber’ (got the idea from those bingo marker
thingies).

I tightly wrapped  a small square soft cotton tee shirt rag into a small
ball, lightly dampened it with naphtha, and then padded the enamel paint
against some clean cardboard to even the paint load, then daubed the firm
ball on the raised letters.
  This tends to give a tight even edge line and look very neat, much easier
than brushing.  It’s easy to build up thin coats to get bolder color.  A
fairly dry dauber is good, so that you learn to avoid filling the centers
of e’s, o’s, p’s, d’s etc (a q-tip clean up is sometimes needed to clean
these up at first).
Make sure keep the ball tight, and to tap/pad the ball on some cardboard
first before touching the raised letters to prevent paint runs/letter
“fills” from an overloaded  dauber.
 Getting the right amount of paint on the dauber is fairly easy to learn so
that you don’t get too much or too little paint exactly where you want it.
Getting the right movement so that you don’t wipe the paint off unevenly is
a bit trickier, but you’ll get it soon enough. The next coat tends to stick
well to the previous partially dry tacky one without going over the edge.
 Takes longer to describe it than to do it.

Cheers from Waterloo,
Claudio

On Fri, Mar 27, 2020 at 7:59 PM Erik said:
‘ I have no appropriate paint for the raised lettering right now except
red, but will likely go with yellow, continuing the JD theme.’

Interesting. Not a technique I have tried. When I was young, and could see, and
had steady hands, I fine lined raised lettering, pinstripes, and the rest, using
a quill brush. I am past that point, I fear, and will try your technique when I
get paint in.



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On Saturday, March 28, 2020, 9:32:56 AM EDT, Claudio DeLorenzi 
wrote:





Quick tip On painting raised lettering:
I have tried to use brushes and careful application, but my best results are
from making  a rag ’dauber’ (got the idea from those bingo marker thingies).

I tightly wrapped  a small square soft cotton tee shirt rag into a small ball,
lightly dampened it with naphtha, and then padded the enamel paint against some
clean cardboard to even the paint load, then daubed the firm ball on the raised
letters.
  This tends to give a tight even edge line and look very neat, much easier than
brushing.  It’s easy to build up thin coats to get bolder color.  A fairly dry
dauber is good, so that you learn to avoid filling the centers of e’s, o’s, p’s,
d’s etc (a q-tip clean up is sometimes needed to clean these up at first).
Make sure keep the ball tight, and to tap/pad the ball on some cardboard first
before touching the raised letters to prevent paint runs/letter “fills” from an
overloaded  dauber.
 Getting the right amount of paint on the dauber is fairly easy to learn so that
you don’t get too much or too little paint exactly where you want it.  Getting
the right movement so that you don’t wipe the paint off unevenly is a bit
trickier, but you’ll get it soon enough. The next coat tends to stick well to
the previous partially dry tacky one without going over the edge.
 Takes longer to describe it than to do it.

Cheers from Waterloo,
Claudio

On Fri, Mar 27, 2020 at 7:59 PM Erik said:
‘ I have no appropriate paint for the raised lettering right now except red, but
will likely go with yellow, continuing the JD theme.’