L.O. Beard the tail of 3 hones.

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Ned Ludd's bro
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As I was reading through Mal’s rebuild of his BMW R69 and got to where he had to hone the lifter bores it reminded me that when I went to use my hones they were all dead. The stones had just self ejected. My two engine cyl hones and my assorted wheel cyl hones. When I found a small new one at the auto parts I barely got one use out of it and it was gone. WTH? But I‘d moved on and forgotten but felt it was a warning. So off to eBay and it was all new junk until I spied a set of 3 adjustable hones made by LO Beard. 3/4”, 7/8” and 1”.

I knew the name because I picked up an almost complete(missing one) of 32 reamers off CL. They had decommissioned some ships and I guess these were part of the machine shop. Most of the big reamers up the 1.5” were still in their original wrappers from the 40’s. It is a really high quality set that I’ve used several times. I picked it up for $125.

The hones looked to be in wonderful shape and even had some spare abrasive, along with some other spare stuff like I think are swedges to set a bushing before you hone to size. But I balked, ive searched the net for LO Beard and there is no info anywhere. It’s like they disappeared after WWII. They use a proprietary abrasive that seems like emory paper held tightly to the metal form with a thin metal back. I thought I don’t want to buy the set and not be able to find refills anywhere. A couple of days later I’m doing my usual run of CL and right there is Beard hone refills! I compare the eBay pics and the CL pic and the ancient little box the refills are in says “fits all Beard hones”. Figured it was another sign and got them both. The local woman with the refills met me and as she was handing me the box she says” not until you tell me what they are!”. It was like trying to explain the sky to a blind man. Nice woman but had no clue. Said it was her dads and she had gotten rid of everything else and found these in a drawer. Crazy.

Do any of you Pennsylvanians know anything about the L.O. Beard company in Lancaster PA?
 

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Looks like you had some divine intervention on that one. The odds of finding the refills have got to be lottery-caliber. That reamer set looks very nice...
 
I was floored, lottery caliber indeed. When I told my SO she just shook her head. Find some crazy stuff around here, but I think this is right up there.
 
man lots of these companys making stuff near me I have an old magazine from a lathe company about 20 minutes from me cant find pictures of there lathes online lots of companys near me that went under quick :(
 
man lots of these companys making stuff near me I have an old magazine from a lathe company about 20 minutes from me cant find pictures of there lathes online lots of companys near me that went under quick :(
I was hoping you’d chime in and maybe one of the old timers around where you live would know something about Beard. Another purchase was looking for a quality tap and die set as both my die sets are technically the thread chaser type. One set on eBay stuck out as looking like a quality set like a Greenfield was this set made by Keystone. The eBayer was a junk dealer and didn’t know anything but the set was only $20+shipping. Just like the Greenfield,and Beard it’s quality stuff. I’ve used the different dies and they cut the best and cut the nicest thread. I really like the nice steel case too.
 

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Makes, or made? Like is no more? Never heard of them.
 
Interesting I’d never heard of them but heard of Hemly. Both Keystone and Beard made automotive tools too.
 
I have an old hone set with L. O. Beard stamp on it. Among many vintage tools around here.
 

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