This “Chicago” pencil sharpener was made by the Automatic Pencil Sharpener Co. (“ASPCO”) Division of the Spengler-Loomis Mfg. Co in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Twenty-one years of patents are shown on the shaving canister, ranging from 1900-1921. The "Chicago" design in particular was most popular in the 1910's and 1920's. The “Chicago” brand was just one of many pencil sharpeners produced by APSCO. Others included the “Dexter”, “Dandy”, “Junior”, “Giant”, and “Wizard”. While all the sharpeners were manual crank-style, they were marketed as “automatic” because the blades would stop cutting automatically when the pencil reached a perfect point.
Special thanks to the Made in Chicago Museum for their detailed history page and several excellent pieces in their APSCO pencil sharpener collection: [ Ссылка ]
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Timestamps:
0:00-0:47 Overview
0:48-5:16 Disassembly
5:17-10:29 Rust removal and wire wheeling
10:30-11:55 Fixing the shaft
11:56-12:41 Sanding
12:42-13:37 Nickel plating and polish
13:38-14:26 Handle sanding and painting
14:27-14:49 Priming and painting stand
14:50-17:24 Reassembly
17:25-17:50 Before/After
17:51-18:33 Testing
18:34-18:44 Thanks for watching and please subscribe!
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Restoration details and tips for restoring your own ASPCO pencil sharpener:
During the disassembly, take extra care with the transparent celluloid part of the shavings receptacle. 100-year old celluloid is extremely fragile due to oxidation and UV degradation. The disassembly is mostly straight-forward, with the most difficult part being the shavings container. As shown in the video, there are small tabs holding the two halves of the shavings container together that need to be carefully pried up. The tabs are very thin so take it slow. After disassembly, clean everything metal in your favorite rust remover and clean them with a wire wheel or brush to get them down to fresh, bare metal. If you plan on nickel plating, make sure to sand to at least 1200 grit to get a mirror finish. Clean the celluloid only with warm soap and water – do not use acetone or other alcohols or they will cloud the plastic and ruin it. It is not advised to use any UV or hydrogen peroxide combination to un-yellow the plastic (“retrobrite”) as it will not only further embrittle the celluloid, but because you can only remove the yellow on the immediate surface. The yellowing on the plastic “inside” cannot be undone, and since it is transparent you will still see yellow. For priming and painting, I used Rustoleum’s filler primer which helps smooth out the rough cast surfaces. After waiting at least a few days, I then painted them with Rustoluem’s Stops Rust in Laurel Green gloss. This color is nearly identical to the original green these were painted.
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Some of the tools and equipment I used in this video:
Camera: [ Ссылка ]
4" Bench Vise: [ Ссылка ]
Sanding pads for Dremel: [ Ссылка ]
Dremel: [ Ссылка ]
Nickel plating kit: [ Ссылка ]
Bench grinder: [ Ссылка ]
Disclaimer: Catalyst Restorations may earn an affiliate commission when you buy through the links here.
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