This antique wallpaper trimmer tool restoration was surprisingly complex. This trimmer was made by A. Allen & Co. MFRS. in the early 1900s and is the Eclipse model. I believe there were 2 other models called Keystone and Climax, each with single- or double-cutter options. There is very little information on this tool and the company that made it, but instructions and a parts list can be found here:

https://mcleodhistory.pastperfectonli...

This is the first viewer-submitted tool that I have made. Thank you very much to the donor! I hope to do more in the future. Contact me if you would like to donate a tool.

Almost every single part was extremely dirty or rusty and needed to be cleaned, stripped, and repainted. I tried to match the colours as close as possible based on what I found while cleaning each part. I chose to braze the broken part that was going to be under the most stress and used steel-reinforced epoxy for parts that would be under less stress. Ideally, brazing would be used for everything, but I thought exploring some other options would be helpful. There was no need to grind a groove out for the brazing to stick to as the gap was already large enough. There are much faster and cleaner ways of brazing, but I wanted to show that you can do it with limited/inexpensive tools.

I really could have used a metal lathe for this project. If I had one, I would have replaced all the rods and turned and taped each one. Maybe one day...

I am not sure what the wood used is, as it's soft and lightweight, but does not seem to look like most softwoods.

I am excited to see the paint fade and dull a bit as it should help make the tool look closer to its age.

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