Wednesday 11th Feb 2026 a nice morning where the rain held off and the temperature was up a bit.

                                                

With the line side oil lamp hut in position it now needs related objects in and around it as one may have been back in the day so we dug out the blade sharpening stone that requires major repair.

With bthe one casting broken and the trough rotten a bit of heat was required to loosen nut which had rusted on over many decades

                                                       

Once the top saddles were removed we were surprised to find the stone shaft sitting on rollers not just a bush.

Stripping continued after the shaft and mechanism were removed, the leaves and rubbish in the trough has not helped survival

The one side had a plate bolted over it and a load of liquid nails to seal it this was ground off to leave the screws rusted into the holes.

After fully stripping the one side casting was found to have  broken into 5 parts so extensive cleaning grinding the edges for welding up and then using the trusty Parkside gas less welder that would be required to join it back together ensuring not to get much heat into the cast iron.

The broken leg assy was bolted to the good one to ensure alignment when welding.

However the broken side plate would not sit correctly so this was aligned in the vice and slowly tack welded to avoid the cast cracking with the heat..

After the initial tacks it was taken outside so the fumes and light were more beneficial to the task.

The saddles and caps were shot blasted and the cleaned on the wire wheel for primer painting.

The treddle linkage was derusted and primed ready for the top coats, the trough is beyond repair so we need some 2mm steel sheet and and english wheel to do a proper repair so next week is down to the engine workshops for a chat.