Dispatching FIL's shed

[BobL]

Over the last two weekends a few family members have finally "dispatched" FILs shed. FIL passed away about 12 years ago and did not use his shed much in the few years before that, and even then the main thing he was doing in the shed was as quiet place to have a couple of fags free from being told off by MIL.

A few months after FIL passed away SWMBO and I tried to get into the (~8 x 4m) shed and just to get into it we cleared out and took a couple of van loads of stuff (glass, tin cans and cardboard) to the recycling centre. There was still an awful lot of junk in there but at least we could shuffle down a sort of centre aisle. SWMBO was looking for his military memorabilia which was not in the house and she found these in a small wooden box in the shed. I was looking for the better tools which I brought back to our place and gave them a basic anti-rust treatment. I knew it was either going to take years for the shed to be tackled or for MIL to pass away and the house be sold before anyone else would tackle the shed and as the shed is just across the road from the beach, stuff was already starting to rust beyond use. The tools are of more sentimental than practical value but there was some 100+ year old stuff that needed protection.

MIL passed away a few months back and as the rest of the family want to sell the house so the shed had to be tackled so two weekends ago we started sorting the stuff. FIL loved his shed and it was such a shame to see how run down it had become. AS you can imagine there was a lot of dust but as the rear window had broken, rain, and needles from the now enormous Norfolk Island Pine next to the shed had blown in and was covering everything. Every open container had at least 50 mm of needles laying on the top, some containers had 150+mm of needles. It was lucky no fire had started in there.

Sorting through all the stuff was like reviewing FIL's life. As well as the tools and unrestored projects, multiple boxes of old fishing gear and dozens of damaged or old tennis rackets. FIL was a keen gardener so there was all that stuff plus an extensive array of poisons, bibs and bobs from his boat, beach toys, and for some reason multiple sets of unused but very rusty BBQ tools. The rusty but still running 60+ year old Alroh mower was taken by my nephew which I was very pleased about.

As I thought would happen, the few remaining tools were mostly rusted beyond use but there was heaps of memorabilia like an array of about a dozen kero lamps, a few rusted beyond use camping style ones but also half a dozen 100+ year old squat enamel ones with tall glass bulb flame screens - still in fair condition - we score one and fortunately the grandies took the rest. There were also 3 actylene miners lamps (complete with Calcium carbide fuel) which look like they be restorable at least to curio status. The Kero lamps and miners lamps are almost certainly from MILs dad who was a lone goldminer 70km out of Marble Bar in the 1920-30's. Amongst the the gardening implements were a couple short picks and a geologists pick which almost certainly belonged to him. We also found a beaut brass telegraph key which apparently was used up north in some capacity and then FIL had wired it up complete with a buzzer to teach his kids morse code.

One problem was curbing SWMBO's tendency to want to keep everything like the 4 X 60+ year old wooden ladders - we can keep pot plants on these!!!! I convinced her to keep 2 and sold the others on GT. SWMBO has been concentrating mainly on stuff in the house. So far the two most interesting things she has found is a 1945 diary kept by her mum and a sailors cap with "VP-day 15 AUG 1945" and the names of MIL's school mates written on it.

It took us a fair bit of time to work out what was what in the shed as a many of the labels on the containers were faded out missing.
Stuff was sorted into containers, Poisons and paints for toxic waste disposal, metal, glass and E-waste for recycling, tools, furniture, curios and tools.
Yesterday I did trips in my van to dispose of most of this stuff so all that remains is rubbish so we will get a skip in to dispose of the rest.

I have all the tools now at my place and will be running some sort of lottery for interested family members. It's terrific to hear that FIL's great grandson is showing some interest in these tools. SWMBO has investigated the military memorabilia and mounted the most interesting stuff in a a deep set frame and given it to her brother as a birthday present.

[Old_Tom]

Hi Bob. Good to hear that you and others have rescued most of the recoverable or restorable items. It is amazing how much just gets sent to the refuse centres because there is either too much to go through or relatives just can't be bothered.
I'm not saying anyone is to blame, but it happens. I know when my grandmother and grandfather passed away a LOT of good furniture and other items were just sent to the tip. What a waste! I was away in the Navy at the time and couldn't get home. I was so upset when I returned home and found out what had happened.

Anyway I'm 65 this year and the wife and I have discussed with the kids (adults) where what will go when we turn our toes up. They have indicated and agreed on what they want and we have their wants all documented.

Good job mate and I hope you get your chance to restore some of it! More projects for you and SWMBO now!

Cheers, Tom

[BobL]

Thanks OT.

BTW none of what I wrote above pays tribute to FILs craftsmanship and care as a restorer.
His motto was, preparation, preparation, preparation, have a fag, and then just a bit more preparation. He had way more patience than I have ever had.
We are also lucky to have a number of family heirloom pieces that came out with the first white settlers to WA in 1829 that FIL restored. We have MIL's nanna's sea chest dating somewhere around 1850 and a few other incidental pieces that we are likely to pick up. Now we have to make room for these at our place. I'm a bit more ruthless when it comes to disposing of stuff but SWWMBO finds it hard, understandable as most of the pieces we have is from her side of the family.

[BobL]

Amongst FILs rusty stuff I found this STANLEY 91 gauge.

It was covered in rust but fortunately as you can se it was only surface and it came off easily with a Scotchbrite wheel.
There are a few small pits but not enough to prevent it being useful
Stanley.JPG
Couple of questions;

Initially I thought the indent/marks at the ends of the rods (circled in red were) vice jaw marks but now I think they are deliberate, owners marks maybe?
Next question is about the screw, the rods have a groove in them presumably to orient them relative to the appropriate sides of the gauge head.
To hold the rod position I assume the locking screws would have a narrow shanked end but this lone screw does not appear to have that which means it's not an original?
If anyone has one of these could they please post a photo of a screw showing the head and the end of the screw thread.

The scratch points look like just short brads, is that correct?

Many Thanks

[Old_Tom]

Amongst FILs rusty stuff I found this STANLEY 91 gauge.


Initially I thought the indent/marks at the ends of the rods (circled in red were) vice jaw marks but now I think they are deliberate, owners marks maybe?

Many Thanks

Hi Bob. Those marks almost look like the Defence Dept. "crows feet" marking that used to be used for identification. I could be wrong of course, but that's how those middle marks first appeared to me.

[woodPixel]

Sounds like a fire would have been the best solution.

The rubbish we keep is incredible.

[BobL]

Hi Bob. Those marks almost look like the Defence Dept. "crows feet" marking that used to be used for identification. I could be wrong of course, but that's how those middle marks first appeared to me.

Thanks OT.

Both FIL and his father were in the Military.
FIL was in the Engineers building bridges and air strips across northern AUS during WW2 - could it be from that era?
In the last year of the war and for a year thereafter he was in bomb disposal and booby trap detection in PNG!

[Chief Tiff]

Agree with Old Tom, that looks like a “Pusser’s Arrow”. The marks on either side of it would have been a date stamp, either month and year or just the year with the arrow in the middle. As the bars are round but the stamps are flat the guy doing the stamping wouldn’t have had much of a chance of getting a good imprint! Have a good close look and see if they could be poorly stamped numbers.

I’m pretty sure I still have one of those in my shed, it just never really “did” it for me. When I get home next weekend I’ll have a look. If I still do then you’re welcome to it.

[Old_Tom]

Thanks OT.

Both FIL and his father were in the Military.
FIL was in the Engineers building bridges and air strips across northern AUS during WW2 - could it be from that era?
In the last year of the war and for a year thereafter he was in bomb disposal and booby trap detection in PNG!

Could have been from the era you suggest. Then again these things find their way into our possessions from anywhere.

[BobL]

I found a couple of screws to fit the thread, BSF, 3/16 32 TPI by the look of it.
The screws come from an old radiographic machine and are blackened with hex sockets, not exactly in character but at least that makes the gauge usable in the short term.

Just asking again about the sharpened tips - they look like couple of short brads?
Anyone know what was/is used.

[Chief Tiff]

The pins in mine are just that, sharpened pins. I can’t remember if the go all the way through the stocks or not but I do remember they were very short, almost too short to resharpen which is why mine ended up rattling around in a drawer somewhere in the shed instead of being used.

I’d be quite surprised if the locking screws were a BSF thread, Stanley UK tended to follow the US threadforms so I’d have expected it to be a Unified thread. But as I said before, I’m not home for another week so if I still have mine I’ll post some pics, measure the thread pitch and identify whether it’s an Unified or BS threadform.

[Chief Tiff]

I forgot all about this...

ok, I have the Stanley 47-091 which is just an updated 91. By “updated”, I mean they stopped nickel plating them...

The screws are 36 tpi 0.185” dia which doesn’t immediately ring any bells for standard thread sizes, 3/16” UN36 may be Stanley still playing silly burgers with thread sizes. The ends of the screws are slightly rounded to lock the bars by those grooves.

Anyhoo Bob, it’s yours if you want it. I haven’t used it in years, nor can I ever see it being used in my shed again so it will free up a tiny amount of tool drawer space.

E8A938BC-6994-4EE6-91B4-686695DA4935.jpg