Old reamer

I need a 30mm reamer, preferable spiral flutes.

OMG the prices. Long story short, I have bought a vintage 1945 hand reamer by James Webb and Sons of Bloxwich from that auction site.

WD marked, never been unwrapped EN-128 whatever that means. Haven't got it yet. Is it likely to be useable or have I wasted 40 quid?

Can you tell? Whaddya think? I need patting on the head but will settle for ridicule if that is all I deserve

The listing says 'new' i.e. new other (see details): A new, unused item with absolutely no signs of wear. so if it isn't usable send it back for a full refund.

'EN' I believe means 'emergency number' a WW2 thing?

Tony

The little lawyer in my head says that wear is unlikely. Rusted to buggery OTOH...

It'll be fine!.....WW2 was a 'results oriented' time in our history.......

However, it depends on what you are going to ream and why........Do I detect from the photo that the last, lower section is for left-hand operation?......ie., the spirals run in opposite directions? Looks like it might be a king-pin reamer for a truck.

I think the gunk on it is what is left of a wax coating and once you clean that off it will be fine . Bog standard r/h hand reamer , i think the reason for the spiral running that way is so it doesnt pull itself into the hole like a thread .

I buy original WW2 Harley parts that come in that gunky Cosmoline and brown paper just like that. Under the crud they are just like new, as XD says. Amazingly there is still quite a bit of this stuff about and it's still quite useable. The military knew what they were about when it came to preserving parts.

Edited By Hopper on 02/08/2018 01:58:09

WW2 Harley parts in the original packing grease? NEAT!

I love shopping.

That dreaded online auction site in the USA. Gotta love it.

Ex M O D tends to be incredibly well protected. (Not sure where it might end up) Also they had a policy of bringing stuff back out of store, unused for strip, refurbishment and reprotection, after a set "storage life".

Not sure that I would rotate it clockwise, though. That would be rubbing the cutting edge the wrong way. It is a left handed spiral.

Howard

When it came to ammunition/other 'bang' stuff, the packing methods for hot, humid climates were woefully inadequate and there were huge numbers of dud rounds as a result. The WD and later MOD response was to effectively create a packaging industry for these environments. Now the boxes are considered part of the weapon system for some of the more sophisticated fire & forget systems in more recent times - and the boxes are surprisingly high tech.

Regards,

Richard.

Do hope it is marked 30mm and not some e-bay seller giving a metric description for a 1 3/16" reamer

About 20 yrs ago we bought in some spare parts for war time Jeeps that had just been dug up in the Phiipines were it had been buried when the Americans left and the Japanese took over. In general it was in as new condition.

Ian S C

Around the 70's, in my former life as an ironmonger, we bought job lots of taps from Drapers, my cousin and I got first pick, so we had a good selection of ex WD taps, by well known UK and US makers. I have a great selection of BSW, BSF and BSP taps , sadly no metric ones! They also sold off a range of single ended metric spanners, still used my workshop.

If it does not work out, you can always buy a new one for $25, shipping included **LINK**

off that other online auction site.

Are you wanting one for a specified job or to keep. If it's only for a short while I can lend you a 30mm for one week.

Brian

My goodness, this is a different world to the one I am used to. In this world I know people with 30mm reamers and there is a possibility of a loaner.

If the Bloxwich reamer hasn't survived it's journey through history I might just take you up on that offer Brian. A week would be plenty, it is 12 holes through 1" of T6 aluminium alloy for my great surface grinder project.

Norman Clegg came to me in a dream and told me to bolt 2 SCS30LUU bearings to either side of a 15mm aluminium plate and call it an XY table. I had my doubts but I don't get many celebrity dreams so I decided to give it a go.

Edited By Robin on 03/08/2018 09:37:37

It's a standard reamer. The flutes are designed to push swarf forwards!

Neil

Not just ammunition, anything that doesn't like getting hot, wet, cold, dehydrated, or full of grit.

TalkingPictures sometimes runs a WW2 training film demonstrating the elaborate packaging of a gear-wheel.

Items have to be protected from stupidity as well as the environment. The film stresses the importance of clearly labelling each and every layer. This is because soldiers like to open unlabelled packages to see what's inside. Well trained regulars understand why not but conscripts don't see any harm in having a look, often rendering the contents useless when needed.

Dave

Failing eyesight, thought that the cutting edges were on the other side.

Have a set of BA sockets, likely to be ex M O D. Metal box and outlasted others from more exotic parts of the world!

Getting the grease off ex M O D stores items takes some time and solvent!

Howard