Affinity for old things

[MR2MAN]

I was wondering how many people share an affinity to old traditions, styles, and things of the past. Although I don't "collect" things of this nature I have a great respect for the ways of old. I shave with a DE razor, own (but don't use very often) a straight razor, and always use a shaving brush w/shaving soap. I love old cars, farming implements, tools, military items, and other things that link us to the past. I own and wear fedoras, suits, ties, and other fashion items that seem to have gone by the way side. Don't get me wrong, I love video games, internet, mobile phones, and the like. I just think that if kids would spend more time playing outside building forts, ramping bikes, camping, fishing, etc. like we did when I grew up they would grow up to be better people. I feel like a 50-60 something year old trapped in a 30 year old body. While new technology can make things more convenient, I think that "newer" doesn't always mean "better". There is definitely meaning behind "they don't make 'em like they used to".

 

[D.Oliver]

I share your affinity. Especially for old tools and farm related items. For me its always been more about the people that once used those tools than the actual tools themselves. Folks that built the railroads, laying each tie by hand and the driving every single spike, or the crews that built skyscrapers when every rivot was put in by hand, or the farmer that walked 40 acres behind that single bottom plow, or the rancher who put 10 miles of fence with every post hole hand dug and tamped. I'd like to think that the spirit and work ethic of these folks from yesteryear is somehow captured in those tools that they used.

 

[OldGrumpy]

Love old things. Have old portable typewriter from the 60s, radio in worikng condition form the 70s, my grandpas carpenter tool box from the 20s and myself from the 40s. If kids would play outside more they would less problem with adolescent diabetes and obesity.

 

[Culprit]

I agree wholeheartedly. I guess that's why my lathe is a 1955 Shopsmith and it shares my half of the garage with a 1924 hit and miss engine and a 1976 kickstart Ironhead. When I need another wrench, I much prefer looking for one older than my father in a local pawn shop than buying a shiny new one. When I need a tape measure, I reach first for my grandfather's old folding Stanley.

 

[Tom T]

For really old cool stuff. From 1870 to about 1965. It was amazing.
My wife and I visited The pioneer village. In minden Nebraska it was great. They had every old farm tool, tractors, plow you name it. All in perfect condition. i would say over 500 hundred. some steam powered tractors and cars. Over 300 old cars, from prior to the model T to a 67 MGB. Old washing machines, wind mills, carousel.
It was an unbelievable assortment of every thing. Even a train station complete with train. Thousands and thousands of everything you can think of.
The place is old and worn out. But a must see before it goes a way forever.
They have an old camp ground and an old motel.
We stayed at the camp ground in our 5th wheel.
The place was just west of Lincoln, Nebraska.

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

Yep, love older things, own a 1951 Pick up, 1965 Chevelle, house built in the 50's, greatess wife in the world built in 1940 .

 

[woodwzrd]

I am right with you guys. I have a thing for vintage tools, motorcycles, and cars. Most of my shop equipment is pre 1960 vintage iron to include Rockwell table saw and jointer, Sprunger bandsaw, Shopsmith 10er, and two 1930's F.E. Wells and Sons wood lathes. The shopsmith and the F.E. Wells and Sons lathes have taken a back seat recently to two new Rikon minis but there is no way you will ever see me part with my old iron.

 

[panamag8or]

I, too, shave with a DE and brush. I also like the atomic era, whether it's houses, or whatever goes in them. Things were just built better back then.

 

[plantman]

I think, since OKLAHOMAN brought it up, this is the code for a womens age as far as I can figure it out.
16-20--- I'm 21
21-29--- I'm whatever age they realy are.
30-39--- I'm 29
40-49--- I'm 39
50-59--- I'm just past 50
60-69--- I'm looking forward to retireing soon
70-79--- I'm whatever age I am , and proud of it
80-and beyond--- I'm looking for a younger man because my husband can't keep up with me any more !!
I have a 1947 model, and proud of her!!!
I collect old tools from the 1700s up, and like to work with them. No plugs, no noise, no dust, and a feeling that you have lived a little in the past when you are done using them.
Jim S

 

[PenPal]

Just yesterday SWMBO and I received the Chief Ministers Gold Certificate for 50 years and over residents of Canberra when we all celebrated our Capital cities 100 yrs. I came here in 1941 as a 7 yr old 71 yrs ago and was born in South Australia where my Mum and Dad were going back some generations when Australia had 5000 residents on both sides of the family.

So as a resident here when the population was 10000 in 1941 now 400000 have a healthy respect for family and a great knowledge of all things difficult and engaging, built a house in 1954-5 using a shake of the hand for contracts at the age of twenty, witnessed the combined effects of the Boer War, World War 1,Korean Conflict, Vietnam together with so many other conflicts.

My Dad was born in 1906, G father in 1879. In common with Americans some of my ancestors pioneered the United States and Australia the 42nd signer of the Declaration of Independance is a cousin many others pioneers in several states including Utah.

Dug the foundations of my first house removed twelve large Gum trees Eucalyptus by hand grubbed the stumps, fenced and we lived in a shed 10 ft by 11 ft for a yr of construction, wired the house signed for the Electricity as a new qualified tradesman. All hand tools very few electrical tools, yes I have an infinity for all good things old and older, love the conveniences labour on my part has produced and with my child bride of 57 yrs celebrate each day in the company of family now immediate approaching 70 of us and ours directly and indirectly.

Yes a healthy respect for old and now most things new, everything becomes old in time.

Kind regards for my short version of the good old days when it was amazing the harder you worked the luckier you became, also the older one gets the better one was.

Peter.

 

[TellicoTurning]

I share your affinity. Especially for old tools and farm related items. For me its always been more about the people that once used those tools than the actual tools themselves. Folks that built the railroads, laying each tie by hand and the driving every single spike, or the crews that built skyscrapers when every rivot was put in by hand, or the farmer that walked 40 acres behind that single bottom plow, or the rancher who put 10 miles of fence with every post hole hand dug and tamped. I'd like to think that the spirit and work ethic of these folks from yesteryear is somehow captured in those tools that they used.

My father was one of those farmers, railroad workers and such in his time... he was born in 1914, grew up on a farm, one of 10 kids... they plowed the fields with a team of mules, I don't think he ever drove a tractor until the late 1950-s.... as a young family man, he "borrowed" mules from the neighbors and broke them to work for their use... each year for a few he always had a team of "green" mules to teach them how to pull a load.... when he worked on the railroad, he graded the right of way with a Fresno behind a team of mules. I've seen him put in a corner post on a fence 3 feet deep, digging with post hole diggers, getting down on his knees the last foot so he could get more leverage to drive the diggers down.... hand tamped with the back end of the shovel and when he finished, solid and no wiggle in the post...
When we went to West Texas in the 1948/49 where he worked a farm as a share cropper, he pull cotton with a 6 yard sack on his back, walking on his knees because the cotton didn't get high enough for him to stand...he was 6'3" and bending all day was a killer... the rows were over a mile long... and I've seen him pull a bale of cotton a day by himself... a bale weighs anywhere from 600-1000 lbs when ginned.
He also used to cut cord wood in the summer with a double axe... split it by hand and stacked for sale or use in the house.... when he and mom married they were still using a wood cook stove, but later switched to a kerosene.
I like the old things, but it's so much more convenient to have the newer work tools... I enjoy my lawn tractor, my lathe, electric saws, and such...
I'm into the internet, but carry a cell phone only because I need to, don't have and don't want an IPad or Ipod, or even a lap top... don't need to be connected to the world that much.

 

[Russianwolf]

Had a 70' Jeep Gladiator (still mad I got rid of it), drive a brand spankin' new 84' Suburban (well, I did put a new Jasper engine in her), and have a 57' wife (always tell her that my dream car growing up was a 57' Belair convertible, she's a classic).

Have some old Stanley planes, and few other things.

Take care of the old ones and they last forever. The new one, they break after a couple years regardless. toss them and get another.

 

[D.Oliver]

I share your affinity. Especially for old tools and farm related items. For me its always been more about the people that once used those tools than the actual tools themselves. Folks that built the railroads, laying each tie by hand and the driving every single spike, or the crews that built skyscrapers when every rivot was put in by hand, or the farmer that walked 40 acres behind that single bottom plow, or the rancher who put 10 miles of fence with every post hole hand dug and tamped. I'd like to think that the spirit and work ethic of these folks from yesteryear is somehow captured in those tools that they used.

My father was one of those farmers, railroad workers and such in his time... he was born in 1914, grew up on a farm, one of 10 kids... they plowed the fields with a team of mules, I don't think he ever drove a tractor until the late 1950-s.... as a young family man, he "borrowed" mules from the neighbors and broke them to work for their use... each year for a few he always had a team of "green" mules to teach them how to pull a load.... when he worked on the railroad, he graded the right of way with a Fresno behind a team of mules. I've seen him put in a corner post on a fence 3 feet deep, digging with post hole diggers, getting down on his knees the last foot so he could get more leverage to drive the diggers down.... hand tamped with the back end of the shovel and when he finished, solid and no wiggle in the post...
When we went to West Texas in the 1948/49 where he worked a farm as a share cropper, he pull cotton with a 6 yard sack on his back, walking on his knees because the cotton didn't get high enough for him to stand...he was 6'3" and bending all day was a killer... the rows were over a mile long... and I've seen him pull a bale of cotton a day by himself... a bale weighs anywhere from 600-1000 lbs when ginned.
He also used to cut cord wood in the summer with a double axe... split it by hand and stacked for sale or use in the house.... when he and mom married they were still using a wood cook stove, but later switched to a kerosene.
I like the old things, but it's so much more convenient to have the newer work tools... I enjoy my lawn tractor, my lathe, electric saws, and such...
I'm into the internet, but carry a cell phone only because I need to, don't have and don't want an IPad or Ipod, or even a lap top... don't need to be connected to the world that much.

It's impossible to have anything but admiration for a man like that.

 

[azamiryou]

Count me among those who are not that old but have an appreciation for the past. I wear a fedora and a pocket watch (and now I use fountain pens). I especially love to see pre-industrial and early industrial crafting techniques.

I'd love to someday set up my studio with a big motor on the side driving overhead shafts, and belts from those shafts to operate all my power tools.

I also really like the direct interaction between man, machine, and the physical world: sailing vessels that harness the wind, WWI era aircraft that were essentially kites with lawn mower engines, manual transmission cars, ...

In modern life we have many DWIM (Do What I Mean) systems, like ABS brakes in cars. These are great for most people most of the time, and allows us to associate controls (the brake pedal) with intentions (slow or stop the car). With ABS, pressing the brake harder gets you more braking; without ABS, pressing harder gets you more braking to a point, and then suddenly it gets you a lot LESS braking. Essentially, the brake pedal does not slow down the car, it makes the wheels less free-rolling. Effective use of non-ABS brakes at the extreme limits requires an intimate feel for how you and the machine and the physics are interacting.

Obviously ABS brakes are a tremendous safety improvement. But I do lament the loss of that connection between the operator and what the machine is actually doing.

 

[Rick_G]

For really old cool stuff. From 1870 to about 1965. It was amazing.
My wife and I visited The pioneer village. In minden Nebraska it was great. They had every old farm tool, tractors, plow you name it. All in perfect condition. i would say over 500 hundred. some steam powered tractors and cars. Over 300 old cars, from prior to the model T to a 67 MGB. Old washing machines, wind mills, carousel.
It was an unbelievable assortment of every thing. Even a train station complete with train. Thousands and thousands of everything you can think of.
The place is old and worn out. But a must see before it goes a way forever.
They have an old camp ground and an old motel.
We stayed at the camp ground in our 5th wheel.
The place was just west of Lincoln, Nebraska.

The wife and I visited there about 15 years ago. Well worth the visit. I have a few of my grandfathers old handplanes and other tools. I've reconditioned the planes added a new blade and use them often. Think of him every time I use them.

 

[Boz]

My original career was in photography. I am now involved with a Photography Hall of Fame and Museum. We have cameras that date back to the 1800's and the photographs that they made. It is wonderful holding a glass plate negative taken of Lincoln knowing that what you are holding was in the room with him.
I just got back from a Society of Photo Educators conference last week and there is renewed interest on the part of the current crop of photo students to get back into the darkroom and learn the old processes. The paradigm of grabbing pixels and fixing them on the computer does not have the soul or the excitement of watching a prints come up as it is being agitated in a tray of developer.

 

[TellicoTurning]

I share your affinity. Especially for old tools and farm related items. For me its always been more about the people that once used those tools than the actual tools themselves. Folks that built the railroads, laying each tie by hand and the driving every single spike, or the crews that built skyscrapers when every rivot was put in by hand, or the farmer that walked 40 acres behind that single bottom plow, or the rancher who put 10 miles of fence with every post hole hand dug and tamped. I'd like to think that the spirit and work ethic of these folks from yesteryear is somehow captured in those tools that they used.

My father was one of those farmers, railroad workers and such in his time... he was born in 1914, grew up on a farm, one of 10 kids... they plowed the fields with a team of mules, I don't think he ever drove a tractor until the late 1950-s.... as a young family man, he "borrowed" mules from the neighbors and broke them to work for their use... each year for a few he always had a team of "green" mules to teach them how to pull a load.... when he worked on the railroad, he graded the right of way with a Fresno behind a team of mules. I've seen him put in a corner post on a fence 3 feet deep, digging with post hole diggers, getting down on his knees the last foot so he could get more leverage to drive the diggers down.... hand tamped with the back end of the shovel and when he finished, solid and no wiggle in the post...
When we went to West Texas in the 1948/49 where he worked a farm as a share cropper, he pull cotton with a 6 yard sack on his back, walking on his knees because the cotton didn't get high enough for him to stand...he was 6'3" and bending all day was a killer... the rows were over a mile long... and I've seen him pull a bale of cotton a day by himself... a bale weighs anywhere from 600-1000 lbs when ginned.
He also used to cut cord wood in the summer with a double axe... split it by hand and stacked for sale or use in the house.... when he and mom married they were still using a wood cook stove, but later switched to a kerosene.
I like the old things, but it's so much more convenient to have the newer work tools... I enjoy my lawn tractor, my lathe, electric saws, and such...
I'm into the internet, but carry a cell phone only because I need to, don't have and don't want an IPad or Ipod, or even a lap top... don't need to be connected to the world that much.

It's impossible to have anything but admiration for a man like that.

There were times during my teen years when we butted heads and didn't get along well, but when I needed a role model when I went into the work force, I couldn't find any better.

 

[PeetyInMich]

I like any tool built when all tools were "cordless". The chance to see a tool from an era when craftsmen spent more than a few seconds to cut a board, and actually had to choose a saw for ripping, crosscutting, or scrollwork makes me appreciate what we have lost even more. I have driven around Detroit (during the day of course) and marvelled at the beauty, skill and craftsmenship that went into some of the grand old homes.

 

[JamesB]

Does anyone have an affinity for a 1980s console TV? Can't even give that thing away.

 

[joefyffe]

What a thread to stumble upon! I've spent a good part of tonight gazing at my "OLD" metal lathe and entertaining thoughts of letting go. I bought it a few years back to make mufflers for model airplane engines. A 9" x 4 1/2 ft. bed length lathe to make model airplane mufflers! :befuddled::befuddled::crying::crying: What was I thinking? :redface: I"m just thankful I don't have one of those "I told you so" wives. I looked where (I think) the serial number is supposed to be stamped and found only a plate declaring "this machine conforms to orders of the War Production Board". Can anyone say WWII? Yep, you're right SOUTH BEND!!!! Dang, It doesn't say "made in China" anywhere on it!:beauty: BTW the 4.5 ft. bedlength IS the bedlength, including where the headstock AND the tailstock sit. Probably, (guessing) a 3 ft. spindle lgth. max turn lgth. I have a 3 jaw and a 4 jaw chuck and a few miscellaneous other low dollar tools, that, if I sell her, will be included. I need to make floor space. As far as I know, everything works. Restoration value ?????, I don't know. I'm not looking to "rip" anyone off, and I refuse to "BE" ripped off. Just a fair transaction is all I ask. Must be picked up in the Indpls, IN area. Pictures available upon request. Any ideas on where I should start the bidding????? Unless a potential buyer would require the bench it's sitting on, I'd like to keep that. This arrangement would also make it a lot easier for the buyer to transport! On this, I'm flexible.

Tell me guys, Do some research, and tell me What do you think it's worth? !!!!! Start the bidding?