Doug DeHaven 1892 H.K. Porter Bolt cutters, they where invented by H.K Porter in 1888 for blacksmiths to cut off stock quickly. These are the OG! all designs based on this compound lever setup. The company is still around, they are now called Crescent! yup the same company who made the adjustable wrench! Love finding history like this. It was in pretty good shape given it is over 132 years old!
Lets start with how they looked when I found them
I can see a lot of hidden detail and embellishments. Time to take it apart and see what I am working with!
Getting those 100+ year old bolts apart was an adventure for sure, but now time to blast, and clean everything!
Now with everything clean, it is time to get a fresh coat of oil on the bare metal parts, and hammer finish paint on the other parts. The original metal was finished with a process called Japanning, worth looking up!
Last step was to paint the lettering on the castings, make them pop!
And now the final restoration photos!
I have the large pair that was pitched at a flee market . The jaws have a couple of chunks taken out , can they be repaired so that I keep the originality of these cutters ? Is it even worth trying , or should I just buy NOS jaws ?
That is a tough question to answer, there is some adjustment in the jaws, if you can adjust them far enough in for the jaws to overlap enough to cover the chunks, than you can have the jaws ground down to fresh metal for a clean edge. But if they are too deep to be adjusted for, sadly you will have to get new jaws! The only other option would involve some more advanced metal work, of welding the edge, grinding a new edge, than doing a new heat treatment to get the hardness back. Good luck with your project! They are great cutters!