So my granddad recently gave me all of his tools as he decided he no longer had a need for them and I decided I would refurbish all of the tools I could and continue using them as long as possible – at the end of the day most hand tools are pretty simple and quite easily serviced given basic equipment and enough time and effort. The last two sadly being things which are in rather short supply at the moment so some of these will take rather longer than they probably should!
The first item I found in my granddads workshop which I really wanted to clean up and give a new lease of life was a cobblers last, these were quite common in antiques/vintage shops and auctions in recent years but I’m told are starting to get a little hard to find and while it is unlikely to ever be used to repair shoes again they can be used as a good doorstop.
It had been stored in an outbuilding for some considerable number of years and so had suffered as a result. It was covered in lots of rusty scale which would all need removing before I could do much else. Thankfully I recently got an offer I couldn’t refuse on a pillar drill so with the aid of a wire brush that job became much easier!
So following heavy use of the wire brush I was left with an altogether cleaner looking last with no loose rust at all.
So the next phase is to mask of any areas you don’t want painted – in this case I wanted to keep the original working faces clean so I masked them out prior to painting. In terms of paint in theory any metal paint could be used but I have found the best thing to use where a tough finish is required is an enamel type paint. In this case I used Hammerite smooth in a spray can. I’ve had some bad experiences using hammerite with it not curing properly but the key is thin layers, lots of thin layers. Turns out reading the instructions is actually a good idea! It does still take a long time to fully dry though…
Leave the whole thing in a dry place for a couple of days to dry fully and it’s ready for the finishing touches. Unfortunately because cobblers lasts are made of cast iron this finishing touch is definitely easier with power tools – I used an angle grinder with a flap disk but I’m sure there are other options and this was quick and easy! I carefully cleaned the working surfaces until they shined, I didn’t want the last to look completely new – that would detract from the point of the whole project – but I wanted it to look like it was still in use.
So here’s the end result ready to go back into use as a door stop or house ornament.
Thankyou, that was good to read. I had a similar cast iron last brought to the home by my father at some point, and when we were children he would repair our shoes. I still had the last up to moving house twenty years ago in Wetherby when I was 60 but have never seen it since. I wish I hadn’t lost it. I never thought of using it as a doorstop or an ornament. That would have been a very good idea.