What’s on *YOUR* workbench?

I brought this bench shear home from our Blacksmith shop over the weekend. We have a few of these around and none of them are operational (we had a fire about three years ago which destroyed the building and everything in it, though we rebuilt it this year) so I figured that I'd take this one home to restore for the shop. I've been interested in trying my hand at restoring old tools and this seemed like a good introduction to that.

I have some rust remover coming and will disassemble it this week to get going - should be a fun little project.

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I brought this bench shear home from our Blacksmith shop over the weekend. We have a few of these around and none of them are operational (we had a fire about three years ago which destroyed the building and everything in it, though we rebuilt it this year) so I figured that I'd take this one home to restore for the shop. I've been interested in trying my hand at restoring old tools and this seemed like a good introduction to that.

I have some rust remover coming and will disassemble it this week to get going - should be a fun little project.

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That's cool. I used to restore a lot of old vises, lanterns, axes, and hand planes. You can't beat those old tools.
 
That's cool. I used to restore a lot of old vises, lanterns, axes, and hand planes. You can't beat those old tools.

That's awesome - did you stop for any reason or did you just move on to other things?

One of the old guys at the forge left this beautiful old Rock Island vise up for grabs a few months ago. I'll probably estore this one, too, but it's for my own home shop and doesn't have a home yet so it'll be a while before I get to it.

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That's awesome - did you stop for any reason or did you just move on to other things?

One of the old guys at the forge left this beautiful old Rock Island vise up for grabs a few months ago. I'll probably estore this one, too, but it's for my own home shop and doesn't have a home yet so it'll be a while before I get to it.

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Well, I still do, but I used to too. Just not as much as I did. I have dozens of Dietz and RR lanterns and several vises- that’s a nice one. I tend to go through my hobbies in phases- in and out. Ask my wife, she’ll tell you I have way too many! I have about 100 cast iron skillets that need restoring too whenever I get in the mood for that again!
 
Well, I still do, but I used to too. Just not as much as I did. I have dozens of Dietz and RR lanterns and several vises- that’s a nice one. I tend to go through my hobbies in phases- in and out. Ask my wife, she’ll tell you I have way too many! I have about 100 cast iron skillets that need restoring too whenever I get in the mood for that again!

That's awesome - I figured it was ongoing but thought I'd ask.

You're probably sitting on a gold mine with those vintage cast iron skillets once they're all restored and seasoned!
 
That's awesome - I figured it was ongoing but thought I'd ask.

You're probably sitting on a gold mine with those vintage cast iron skillets once they're all restored and seasoned!
Definitely! A long time ago I gave myself a $10 limit on buying them because I had so many. This way I’m more picky in what I buy and how many I acquire. I have a couple of full large logo Griswold sets from #4-#10 or 12 that I could probably buy a super nice vintage guitar with. Just need to put the time in. I usually give them away to my friends and family because they’re so versatile and fun to cook with. And don’t get me started with the cutting boards and wood shop lol.
 
Today in Weird Wild World of Harry Klippton, some garden markers made with old can lids and some metal stamps. They don't fade, and can lids from the waste stream. They last a long long time over seasons. The ground is almost completely frozen and I gotta get my garlic planted. I tossed my old markers and needed some new ones. Ok back to guitar related stuff
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