The Lugzsonian - A Virtual Tour

Private Lugnutz · Dec 7, 2020

Moving on in the tour to the left of the Leiman Bro's jeweler's desk is the "Mossberg corner."

Those Tee-Handles should probably be hanging instead of sitting on top of the early No. 14 socket set, but I may save that final placement for when I do something more attractive than that quick-fix lintel I installed in that archway behind the Mossberg No. 200 Salesman's Board. I keep Mossberg orphans along with some other brands from the same era in that cabinet, which is a Lyon, not a Mossberg, but the L-handle socket wrench serving as a handle is!

Even though the tools in the early socket set and the later (1929) No. 82 Professional Set are tucked away in their respective boxes, it's much easier to get at them now, and they're all together.

The motorcycle tire irons in the leatherette case are probably one of my favorite things.

Private Lugnutz · Dec 7, 2020

The Mossberg hardware store board and this antique "stack" - a set of two barristers on top of an old tools chest - form a barrier in that opening between the Lugzsonian and another part of the basement where I store a bunch of stuff, such as old storm windows and seasonal decorations for the holiday rotations. Closing that off made the Lugzsonian feel smaller but fuller and more like its own "room."

The tool chest, a long distance CL purchase, came out of Wright Field in Ohio. I recognize that it's not everyone's cuppa tea, but it was love at first sight for me, and I drove a little more than halfway across the state of Pennsylvania just to get it from friend and GJ member User name already in use, who got my Cornwell collection for his trouble. It's hard to see in certain light, and certain angles, but the drawers are stenciled. I didn't attempt to stay true to the labels ("SOLDERING OUTFIT", "TAPS AND DIES") but what I am using it for is not that far off in all cases ("HAND TOOLS"), either. Even though these aren't on display, they are a simple pull away from being on display. Here are my Braunsdorf-Mueller tools, my farm implements and Wakefield tools, and my meager collection of Indian motorcycle wrenches for example.

Private Lugnutz · Dec 7, 2020

The barristers are Globe-Wernicke and I am using them for my "Paraphernalia" and for my complete wrench sets. When I've been saying that I could use a couple more barristers, now you can see why! Haha. I overstuffed these and I still have more bric-a-brac and wrench sets tucked away in cabinets, including the locker in the next corner, which is where I will stop for the night.

JoCoSawdust · Dec 7, 2020

Great use of the barrister cases Lugz. The only thing I'm finding surprising during our tour is that you can ever bring yourself to leave that room!

Private Lugnutz · Dec 7, 2020

Trust me - I have thought of a well-placed cot. Better than the doghouse! :lol:

When I was a boy until a young teen my brother and I worked part-time for an oldtimer who maintained Memorial Park in our home town. There was a large swimming pool, a snack stand, changing rooms, the pool machinery itself, a skating rink with a pump shack in a creek, a picnic area pavilion, and a cool little shop for his tools and the mowers and things with cabinets and workbenches and a big potbelly stove. He got a very modest salary and a small house located near the entrance to the park, everything, the house and all the structures looking like they came out of a Burl & Ives postcard from the 1920's. He was a pipe smoker and a kooky guy. He would do things like scrawl "Get a haircut" on his calendar, and then, instead of scratching it off after that day passed, write "I did" right next to it. My brother and I still laugh and tell stories about him. Anyway, he had a cot in that shop that he would use for naps while we did all the hard work. But sometimes we'd find him there early in the morning and we knew he slept there overnight. Jobs like that, men like that and places like that just stay with you.

It all got ruined when we let a friend in our deal as we were getting older, cutting into our pay, and he got caught siphoning gas for his VW Bug and we all got let go. Let me just end the reverie by saying it was the kind of era when we did not get off with a stern talking to by our dad, even though it wasn't out fault.

JoCoSawdust · Dec 7, 2020

Ha! Gotta love old codgers like that. I knew a few of them in my youth as well. There used to be three old men that'd sit on a bench outside the filling station when I was a kid. They'd sit there all day smoking cigarettes or chewing Beachnut and just shoot the bull with each other. Two of them would talk to me from time to time, one of them never said as much as boo to me. The first time I came home on leave from the Army, I stopped at the station to pick up my buddy. Sure enough, the three amigos were sitting there on the bench as usual. I was in khakis and jump boots and that guy that never talked to me lit up like a Christmas tree. Still not talking, he fumbled around in the front pocket of his overalls, finally pulling out one of those oval rubber change purses that the old dudes used to carry. Still not saying squat, he peeled that thing open and pulled out an old, tarnished set of jump wings with 3 combat stars on them. I sputtered out something that I'm sure was respectful yet corny. He smiled, nodded then flipped me off and shoo'd me away. Never said a word. They don't make em like that anymore.

harley jim · Dec 7, 2020

Great thread, I'm enjoying the tour of your beautiful museum [emoji106]

Sent from my SM-A102U using The Garage Journal mobile app

captain14 · Dec 8, 2020

Great thread but curious about the Bilco door arrangement. Is there another door someplace at the bottom of the steps into the museum? Or do they lead into the house from a small addition to the original house. The Bilco door outside seems to be part of a “bump out”? My grandmothers house had doors in the summer kitchen leading downstairs but do not remember if there was another door in the foundation wall.

Lots of neat tools and treasures.

Any outside water ever wind up inside?

leg17 · Dec 8, 2020

Currier & Ives ??

Although, I can picture Burl Ives settled in there.

Private Lugnutz · Dec 8, 2020

leg17 said:
Currier & Ives ??

Although, I can picture Burl Ives settled in there.

Haha! Cannot believe I did that. Weird mind twist right there. But someone is reading closely. Thanks!

captain14 said:
Great thread but curious about the Bilco door arrangement.

The Bilco doors lead directly into the basement. The open door (pantry closet) leading to another open door (basement) inside the house (post #2, pic 6) was a toilet off the kitchen. I removed the toilet and made that a pantry when I put the addition (family room off kitchen and 2nd full bathroom and wrap-around back porch) on. The old pencil sharpener you see at eye level in the open basement door is mounted under the stairs going up to the original maid's quarters. Those basement stairs are parallel to the Bilco stairs. See post #2 pic 7. If you look at pic 1 in post #12 you can see the bottom of the stairs from the house. The Bilco opening is just to the left of that out of view in that photo. The window above the Bilco doors is the dining room. The only bathroom is above that in the second floor. The bathroom had an entrance for the family and to the maid's quarters. The kitchen and maid's quarters were not the same width as the house. She could go from her quarters down to the kitchen without entering the main house, with access to the bathroom on the 2nd floor through her own door. I can clear all that up in just a few photos later.

Edit. Funny local history story. The builder who built my house built two others all in a row on the same street and lived in each one as his family grew, selling the others behind him. Mine is 4BR. The one to the left of me is 5BR. And the one to the left of that is 6BR. All have very similar bones.

Leviton · Dec 8, 2020

Ambiance. Love the displays, and the way most everything surrounding the tools is aged wood or army green.

I feel like if I pulled up a chair in the middle, that my heart rate and blood pressure would instantly slow down while gazing around at all the cool tools. The endorphins would flow.

captain14 · Dec 8, 2020

I’m surprised about the Bilko doors. I know at my mothers house they are not weathertight and a good brisk rain or wind can push inside. Hence at the bottom of the stairs is a service door. Some of the neighbors have replaced theirs with a storm door so in nice days you can get some air. Hers faces south so on a winter day it could be quite bright.

Shiftless · Dec 8, 2020

More than a few of us are following along with this fascinating thread. :thumbup:

I check it every day for updates.

My cousin’s 2 story all brick house in rural Iowa built in the 1880’s still has those doors to the basement.
The last time I visited her and her husband, I found a broken old Craftsman clamp on vise. With brazing performed by KMScott and paint by me, it’s now in the hands of my cousin’s grandson who is staring to get into the woodworking hobby.

Those old houses have a personality never to be matched by new construction.

Private Lugnutz · Dec 8, 2020

Leviton said:
I feel like if I pulled up a chair in the middle, that my heart rate and blood pressure would instantly slow down while gazing around at all the cool tools.

It is a quite, peaceful space (I don't use any power tools) and definitely a place of strategic retreat for me.

Private Lugnutz · Dec 8, 2020

captain14 said:
Hence at the bottom of the stairs is a service door.

I've seen them, but this house wasn't outfitted that way.

Here are some pics.

In Pic 1, you can see the roofline of the original house, which gets smaller, twice, from the front of the house to the back. There were three sections.

That window you see far right is at the top of the landing of the stairs from the first to the second floor. The first corner is in the bathroom, where a toilet was originally, in a stall, on the other side of the hallway wall. There's a shower there now. The second corner is the back corner of the bathroom, which sits directly above the DR on the first floor. Those two windows on the 2nd floor are in the bathroom. The two windows below it are in the DR. There's a closet in the DR directly under the landing at the top of the stairs.

So that right angle you see there is all stairway, landing and closet in the first section of the original house. The second section was the DR and bathroom.

The third section is the maid's quarters on the second floor, the kitchen on the first floor, and the maid's stairway. That section is not over a basement. Just a crawlspace.

There are three bedrooms off the hallway upstairs on the other side of the house in the first and second sections, with a door to the bathroom.

In Pic 2, you can see the rest of that last section. That second floor window is at the top of the landing on the other side of a door outside the maid's quarters. As I said, she had her own door to the bathroom directly opposite the family door. The former maid's quarters is our bedroom and our 5 children (3 boys, 2 girls) were in the other 3 BR's in various configurations as they aged.

The one story section with the shed roof behind that is an addition I put on, blowing out the back wall to the kitchen into a family area with a fireplace, a full bath (that small first floor window), a small mudroom and laundry area, and a wrap-around porch to match the wrap-around in the front.

In Pic 3 & 4, you can see the bottom of those maid's quarters stairs. There was a door there originally.

In Pic 5, you can see the Bilco opening and steps and the steps leading up to the kitchen pantry.

EDIT: I get some water on the floor there in really bad storms, but not too bad. It's facing south and fairly well tucked in there between the house and the addition.

Oregon rock crusher · Dec 8, 2020

I just got caught up on the tour of your basement museum/retreat Lugz. What a great setting for your collection. Accumulating things is one thing but displaying them so they can be fully enjoyed and appreciated is quite the accomplishment. I really like all the period cabinetry, boxes, and tool boards. Basements can make excellent work spaces and yours just has that awesome period correct look making it the perfect place to study and share what you know about great old tools. A very neat place you have. Ed.

Private Lugnutz · Dec 8, 2020

Catfishdan said:
How bout a few pictures of the house, specifically the trim work. It’s a professional interest of mine.

Here are some trim shots for you, Dan. The replacement windows were inserts, so we were able to save the casements for the original double-hung windows. For many years we painted right over the wallpapered plaster. About seven years ago we skimcoated and drywalled right over the old plaster in every room in the house, redoing the wainscotting to match the trim on the windows and doors. We tried to keep as many original features as we could, such as the exposed beams, and the odd little closet under the stairs. The two stained glass windows on the first floor landing and in the main interior front door are original.

Private Lugnutz · Dec 8, 2020

You've probably seen pocket doors before. They slide into the walls on each end. And here are those two fireplaces I was talking about that share the same chimney and flue. (Excuse the un-decorated tree, which we're just putting up.)

sk farmer · Dec 8, 2020

this is a great thread lugz. the way you redo, reuse and restore is admirable, all while keeping it authentic. whether it be the tools, your display cabinets, your storage or your home. i predict this becomes a classic thread!

Private Lugnutz · Dec 8, 2020

Oregon rock crusher said:
I just got caught up on the tour of your basement museum/retreat Lugz...[ ]...A very neat place you have.

Thanks, Ed. I hope to continue the tour soon.

Private Lugnutz · Dec 8, 2020

harley jim said:
I'm enjoying the tour of your beautiful museum

Thank you, sir.

sk farmer said:
the way you redo, reuse and restore is admirable, all while keeping it authentic. whether it be the tools, your display cabinets, your storage or your home.

Thanks. Next spring I am going to build a privacy screen around a small simple patio we have out back that incorporates the stained glass windows I saved. We used to have them hanging like suncatchers inside right in front of the replacement window, until we went with the shutters instead. I solicited and got some great ideas for how to hang or suspend them on a thread up on the Free Parking board. Attached is a very crude drawing and what they look like.

y'sguy · Dec 8, 2020

Wow, at first I thought I have never seen this before after all these years and then I realized it's new!
Great that you have shared such a perfect place with all of us.
Very good feeling I get from it all, I can see a lot of comfort there. Much respect, Lugs!

Private Lugnutz · Dec 8, 2020

Thanks, y'sguy. (One of the cleverest phonetic usernames on GJ!

)

Private Lugnutz · Dec 8, 2020

Enough of the Curator's Quarters, back to the Basement!

Turning the corner at the tall white locker style cabinet (see Pic 1) brings us to the west side of the house. Under all the stuff and the old Army blanket is a plank workbench just like the main workbench that faces south. I had a little hand grinder on it and a vise but it hardly ever got used, and just piled up with stuff, so I decided to use it for display. It has the only window in the Lugzsonian, and I get some afternoon and evening light through it, but I've got a long fluorescent lamp above it, too.

So now it's the 'Services Wing' for my Bell System (Pic 2), Air Corps (Pic 3), Army Ordnance Dept (Pic 4), and Navy (Pic 5) stuff - and for now, until I get it on the road, the B.S.A. WDM20 toolkit (also Pic 5). As I've said before, my dad was a quartermaster and a Petty Officer Third Class during WWII, and I used to keep his stuff (ID card, photos, manuals, etc) in a cigar box in a cabinet, but I kind of like it out with the things I have found.

I've got a bunch of stuff stored under the workbench 'behind the curtain' so to speak, too.

Private Lugnutz · Dec 8, 2020

And for the survivalists in the audience, some of the things could come in handy some day.

Hack Fabrication · Dec 9, 2020

Private Lugnutz said:
And for the survivalists in the audience, some of the things could come in handy some day.

Is that booklet's title: How To Use Spit? :spit:

Private Lugnutz · Dec 9, 2020

Hack Fabrication said:
How To Use Spit:

1. Contests*
2. Envelopes
3. Postage stamps
4. Shoe polish
5. Wood screws
6. Sports ball bladder needles
7. Cuts and abrasions**
8. Cowlicks
9. This is a "G" rated thread, so I'll stop there...

* Other than the more typical who can spit the farthest, my brothers and friends and I had some fun crossing an iron footbridge to and from school when we were in kindergarten. The bridge spanned a number of railroad tracks that ran between two zinc company plants on either side of town delivering various substances (coal, slag, etc) between the plants. The footbridge had high side railings to prevent people from falling off, but the entire bridge, including the tread, was crosshatched slatwork. So we would lay down on our stomachs side by side and look through the slatwork and press our lips against the tread and spit through the cracks to see who could land one directly on a rail. I'm sure anyone my age with similar experiences will understand when I say that it was the highlight of our walk there and home and we would run to the bridge just to commence with the spittin'. Haha. Sadly, I don't know if kids today have the freedom or the inclination to even be in situations where they can be that carefreely and ridiculously inventive!

** I read an interesting article about art conservationists using human saliva on paintings because the same enzymes that provide the antibacterial properties animals are applying when they "lick their wounds" are strong enough to break down dirt and grime but weak enough so they won't have deleterious effects on the painting.

Private Lugnutz · Dec 9, 2020

But no, it's a little WWII survival kit for downed airmen. I don't actually have the spit. That was in a separate longer can. This can, found at a flea market, had the gaff (which included the spearpoint) and instructions for both the spit and the gaff as a whole kit. Rifle cleaning rods make great spits, though.

RubiconJK · Dec 9, 2020

Dang it Lugz! Just as I had trimmed down the number of threads and amount of time I was spending here on GJ, you go and add what is now a thread that I will be watching closely and greatly anticipating your next post like the next episode of Oak Island! What a wonderful home and work space. Thanks for sharing something so personal with us all.

Hack Fabrication · Dec 9, 2020

Private Lugnutz said:
But no, it's a little WWII survival kit for downed airmen. I don't actually have the spit. That was in a separate longer can. This can, found at a flea market, had the gaff (which included the spearpoint) and instructions for both the spit and the gaff as a whole kit. Rifle cleaning rods make great spits, though.

Ahh...

The total title revealed! I was wondering what that collection of weaponry was for! :dunno:

Now I know!

Private Lugnutz · Dec 9, 2020

RubiconJK said:
Thanks for sharing something so personal with us all.

You're welcome, Roob. Taking cues from Twertsy ("The Rental Shop") and don long ("The Party Garage") and others who have shared glimpses of their collection spaces, I've been threatening to do this for a long time, as far back as some early shots in one of Drivesitfar's cabinets threads, but didn't have the time or the 'furnishings' to make the Lugzsonian live up to the name that mrbill gave it awhile back. I hope more of these threads pop up.

Hack Fabrication said:
Ahh... The total title revealed! I was wondering what that collection of weaponry was for!

Yeah, sorry about that. And thanks for noticing. It gave me a reason to elaborate, which I will do one more step.

While I enjoy 'goals-based collections' (you all know the feeling, find one wrench or three and it becomes a quest to find all seven in the set...), I think I enjoy 'happenstance collections' even more. It brings out the curator in me. Which in all seriousness, I would have loved as a profession. Mine sort of picked me, but if I had a chance to do it all over again, I think that curating a museum would've really been a natural calling.

For example, here is that gaff kit can with two other things I found several years apart. I wasn't looking for them, and neither acquisition had anything to do with the others. A solar desalination kit and a lifeboat radio manual. But, now that I have them, the simple fact that they are all obviously related, thematically, is what makes them more special in a 'sum is greater than its parts' kind of way for me. The recognition that they would look good on a shelf together with a little tag that reads, "Vintage Survival Gear", and the magic or instinct or synchronicity or just good dumb luck that made them available to me walking around a flea market with a bunch of other people who enjoy old stuff is why I do this. Not just the things themselves.

Shiftless · Dec 9, 2020

I’m sure others noticed the label on that can of oil.
Can’t use spit for that.

ChefRex · Dec 9, 2020

Great space Lugz! I worked in Long Branch for 25+years and crossed the Oceanic into your little slice of heaven many times, I would be surprised if I haven't driven by you once or twice.
Looking forward to the rest of the tour.

Private Lugnutz · Dec 9, 2020

ChefRex said:
I worked in Long Branch for 25+years and crossed the Oceanic into your little slice of heaven many times,

Hey ChefRex, small world. If you know the area that well, I should explain that I don't drive a Range Rover G Wagon, I don't take the ferry to Manhattan, and I am well below the median income! :lol:

The Army moved me to Fort Monmouth where I worked until it closed, and I was fortunate to sneak in to a fixer-upper in this zip code. Still a good size townie/volunteer firemen type culture here, too. As for the Oceanic, you know they're studying it, right? They were going to replace it last year until a well-organized protest group forced them to do a study first. It could still get replaced, which will be a nightmare. I already lived through the Hubbard bridge (now Senator Kyrillos Memorial Bridge) replacement. When we moved in here there was one light in town, and it was a blinker, and I could get to the Parkway in 5 minutes. Now there are four and it takes me 20 minutes. Crazy the amount of traffic.

paulsomlo · Dec 9, 2020

My father used to go surf fishing in Long Branch, I was maybe 8, 10, 12 years old. I remember going over a bridge, turning on to a road that paralleled the beach (Ocean Ave?), and there was a food truck, permanently parked, they sold Italian hot dogs - unusual kind of roll, filled with peppers, onions, potatoes, etc.. I always looked forward to that part of the trip. At some point, I think they finally opened up a brick and mortar location nearby.

I interviewed at Ft. Monmouth back in 1985, engineering work, something about electronic fuses, I think, ended up elsewhere.

marine-mp · Dec 9, 2020

Great story, Lugz!!! Your R an R space is truly a jem in today’s fast paced world. Most any youngster today wouldn’t know what to think of all those treasures!! I’m a former yankee (Rhode Island) who decided to get outta dodge whilst I still had some jingle in me pocket!! I relocated to western NC and am in the process of doing zackly what you’ve done. My basement is where I spend most of my retired time turning out gifts an sech for family. I, prolly, like yourself, enjoy going through old boxes I’ve saved and dig them out to find old treasures to “display” in my “area of operations”!!! I truly have enjoyed reading this thread and getting to “almost” know you, through it!! Good on yeh!! Semper-fi & This We’ll Defend, Mike

Private Lugnutz · Dec 9, 2020

paulsomlo said:
My father used to go surf fishing in Long Branch, I was maybe 8, 10, 12 years old. I remember going over a bridge, turning on to a road that paralleled the beach (Ocean Ave?), and there was a food truck, permanently parked, they sold Italian hot dogs - unusual kind of roll, filled with peppers, onions, potatoes, etc.. I always looked forward to that part of the trip. At some point, I think they finally opened up a brick and mortar location nearby.

I interviewed at Ft. Monmouth back in 1985, engineering work, something about electronic fuses, I think, ended up elsewhere.

I don't know what the hot dog stand would be, Paul. Max's has been there since 1921 and the Windmill since the 60's. But my surfcasting spot is just north of Long Branch, across the street from the Lifesaving Museum in Monmouth Beach. As for your electronic fuzes, in 1985, almost certainly R&D for the Shortstop (AN/VLQ-9) program. I need to stay away from work topics, I am still on the job between JB MDL, APG, and Fort Huachuca, but that's probably PAI if you google.

marine-mp said:
Your R an R space is truly a jem in today’s fast paced world...

It keeps me down to earth, that's for sure.

elidas · Dec 9, 2020

No giftshop?

Private Lugnutz · Dec 9, 2020

Prompted by Mike's 'oo-rah' worthy salutations, I am taking a slight delay in the Grand Tour for me to re-inventory my wartime GMTK.

This is the fourth WWII GMTK I am building. I have moved the others along to other collectors - this one I will probably keep. I've been nicknaming this one the "Numbers Racket" kit in my head due to all the Federal Stock Number markings and date codes in it, from the the stenciling on the box itself (see Pic 1), to many of the tools. Some of you may remember my prior thread, "The Take Home Kit", linked here, where I did a full blown Living History Display on one pseudo-fictional soldier's GMTK.

I haven't spreadsheeted this one yet, but I laid the tools out in sub-sets, eyeballed it against the specs, and took some copious notes on what was missing and what might could use an upgrade. See Pics 2 & 3 for my self-inspection.

Private Lugnutz · Dec 9, 2020

elidas said:
No giftshop?

Hey that's a good idea! Flea market funds! :evil:

How ya been, elidas? Back on yer feet? Thanks for checking in.

The Lugzsonian - A Virtual Tour

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