Greetings and salutations....

On 18 Jan 2004 15:21:08 -0800, (sw) wrote:

I went to an estate sale a couple of months ago looking for tools. I
bought 2 vintage saws. When I went back to pick them up, the owner
volunteered to throw in some misc. other tools. I went home with heavy
crates of various unsorted tools. Just now getting around to looking
them over and sorting them out. Mostly junk machine tool parts. The
guy must have been a machinist. Anyway, the box also contained about
20 taps by CARD and Greenfield, some very large sizes, and about 100
reamers. I don't know what the reamers are used for. I was going to
toss them, but then I did some research on the web and found that they
are quite expensive. They are all either Lavallee & Ide, National or
Putnam. Some are in the boxes, some have some rust on the smooth part
of the shafts, but sharp cutters. The question I have is EXACTLY what
do you do with them. I am not a machinist but have always thought of
buying a milling machine and lathe and learning as a hobby. Are these
reamers something that a hobby machinist would likely use, or should I
get rid of them. What is the quality of these brands.

Steve
Bummer...sounds like a box of junk...tell you what...Pack
it all back up, and, UPS it to me, and I will get it out of your
way...
In a slightly more serious mode...yea...reamers are really
useful. They are the tools that we use to make VERY precise, round
holes in metal. You get the hole "roughly" right with a drill,
then, ream it to size and shape.
Rule #1 - NEVER turn the reamer backwards (it breaks off
the teeth and makes it useless).
Don't know about the brands...but, I suspect that if they
are any good at all...they are liekly QUITE good. The "best"
way to value them is to either search Ebay or simply sell them
on Ebay. That is the new "street price" setter.
Regards
Dave Mundt