The Lugzsonian - A Virtual Tour

Private Lugnutz · Dec 24, 2020

I posted an image of a fanciful "H" (for Hoarder) patch on Beemer's thread, as a joke, after he showed his midget socket set collection. Earlier in the thread, he wrote...

bmwrd0 said:
I inherited the packrat gene from my father along with many tools.

The Curator is also a packrat. He, too, gets it from his father, who didn't like to throw anything away. But he sees distinctions between packrats, hoarders, and collectors. Collectors acquire things with a sophisticated sense of purpose, as a hobby. Stamps or coins, for example. Or monkey wrenches. Hoarders tend to keep everything or fixate on one or more objects that typically have no intrinsic use or collectible value. See the lady in Iowa with 10,000 coffee cans. Or that guy with the tennis balls. Packrats are different, thinks the Curator. Packrats don’t like to throw things away, because they think, “This might be useful later." Things they may not know exactly why they're saving when they're saving them. The Curator is also a bit of a hick, which exacerbates the packrat tendencies. For example, the Watchdog, 13 years old, is starting to not want to take stairs. He started noticing it a few months ago, and the rest of the family started noticing it this week with dread and some alarm now that everyone but their oldest is home for Christmas. What does the Hickish Packrat do? Run off to PetSmart and plop down $139.99 on a ramp like a normal person? No! He tacks an old rug to an old door with some old wood scraps. “Looks like we live out in the sticks,” Mrs. Curator says. (But, but, but, … I was born and raised in The Sticks!, thinks the Curator to himself helplessly.)

RubiconJK · Dec 24, 2020

Private Lugnutz said:
I posted an image of a fanciful "H" (for Hoarder) patch on Beemer's thread, as a joke, after he showed his midget socket set collection. Earlier in the thread, he wrote...

The Curator is also a packrat. He, too, gets it from his father, who didn't like to throw anything away. But he sees distinctions between packrats, hoarders, and collectors. Collectors acquire things with a sophisticated sense of purpose, as a hobby. Stamps or coins, for example. Or monkey wrenches. Hoarders tend to keep everything or fixate on one or more objects that typically have no intrinsic use or collectible value. See the lady in Iowa with 10,000 coffee cans. Or that guy with the tennis balls. Packrats are different, thinks the Curator. Packrats don’t like to throw things away, because they think, “This might be useful later." Things they may not know exactly why they're saving when they're saving them. The Curator is also a bit of a hick, which exacerbates the packrat tendencies. For example, the Watchdog, 13 years old, is starting to not want to take stairs. He started noticing it a few months ago, and the rest of the family started noticing it this week with dread and some alarm now that everyone but their oldest is home for Christmas. What does the Hickish Packrat do? Run off to PetSmart and plop down $139.99 on a ramp like a normal person? No! He tacks an old rug to an old door with some old wood scraps. “Looks like we live out in the sticks,” Mrs. Curator says. (But, but, but, … I was born and raised in The Sticks!, thinks the Curator to himself helplessly.)

Hey, I think you should get extra points for creativity and artistic content!

misterbill · Dec 24, 2020

Private Lugnutz said:
...
What does the Hickish Packrat do? Run off to PetSmart and plop down $139.99 on a ramp like a normal person? No! He tacks an old rug to an old door with some old wood scraps. “Looks like we live out in the sticks,” Mrs. Curator says. (But, but, but, … I was born and raised in The Sticks!, thinks the Curator to himself helplessly.)

As a fellow Pennsyltuckian (albeit raised on the LHS) I applaud your resourcefulness and creativity! :thumbup:

d42jeep · Dec 24, 2020

Great minds. Max is 15 and really likes his new ramp. Others like his old ramp as well.
-Don

y'sguy · Dec 24, 2020

Lugz, Merry Christmas to you and yours! I love reading, looking and taking the tour. A good experience for many of us. I feel very grateful that my Dad understood that I liked to use my hands and mind and encouraged me to do so. I only wish that I would have been able to pass that on to my son. As much as I tried he did not have a natural inclination for it. Fortunately he's intelligent in other ways, so all is good.

Private Lugnutz · Dec 24, 2020

RubiconJK said:
Hey, I think you should get extra points for creativity and artistic content!

misterbill said:
As a fellow Pennsyltuckian (albeit raised on the LHS) I applaud your resourcefulness and creativity!

The Curator thanks you, Fellas! He thinks it was a pretty good idea, and looks pretty good, too. Much to the dismay and chagrin of his offspring, who all lost a bet with the Curator (and the Curator always collects his bets!), swearing that the Watchdog would never use it, they were wrong. After a little coaxing, she is going up and down like a champ.

d42jeep said:
Great minds. Max is 15 and really likes his new ramp. Others like his old ramp as well.

Private Lugnutz · Dec 24, 2020

y'sguy said:
Lugz, Merry Christmas to you and yours! I love reading, looking and taking the tour. A good experience for many of us. I feel very grateful that my Dad understood that I liked to use my hands and mind and encouraged me to do so. I only wish that I would have been able to pass that on to my son. As much as I tried he did not have a natural inclination for it. Fortunately he's intelligent in other ways, so all is good.

True dat, Y'sguy, true dat. They're all different. Interestingly, though, one of the chapters in The Hand is devoted to the idea that not even the Digital Revolution can separate humankind from its manual origins. Try as we may (e.g., voice control, still emergent 'thought control', etc), keyboards, touchpads, and styluses still connect our brains to the modern world through our hands.

Private Lugnutz · Dec 24, 2020

With that, it's time for the Curator to shut down the Lugzsonian for a few days, but not before he wishes everyone a Merry Christmas with this...
Star of Bethlehem Spark Plug Company!

JoCoSawdust · Dec 24, 2020

Perfect display of Bethlehem products! Merry Christmas to all.

Oldtuleguy · Dec 24, 2020

Very appropriate!

Shelbylex · Dec 24, 2020

Merry Christmas!

harley jim · Dec 24, 2020

Merry Christmas Lugs, I hope you and your family have a wonderful 2021

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

Provincial · Dec 25, 2020

Merry Christmas to All!

Garagefffreak · Dec 25, 2020

Merry Christmas to you and the Lugzsonian!!

Farmer J. · Dec 25, 2020

Garagefffreak said:
Merry Christmas to you and the Lugzsonian!!

Yes, Merry Christmas to all. It's been a lovely cold but sunny day here, so I was in the grain barn early refrigerating seed barley!, then had the old classic Land Rover out in the sunshine. Turkey just came out of the barbecue, looks and smells goood. :rocker:

ChefRex · Dec 25, 2020

Merry Christmas Lugs and all that follow!

Private Lugnutz · Dec 29, 2020

As a "Merry Christmas to Me" gift, the Lugzsonian has acquired a rare c. 1920 toolbox to hold some rare tools that have been toolboxless for quite some time. Upon inspection, the Curator immediately noticed that the removable tray for the box had three evenly-spaced holes in it (see photo at the bottom of the attached Pic), looking suspiciously like screw holes. Research revealed that the purpose of the implicit screws through said holes is very likely to secure a wooden socket holder, shown in period ads in various trade magazines (see excerpt at the top of the attached Pic).

It looks like The Curator has a new project for the new year.

Since The Curator hates half-assed presentations, all will be revealed when the reproduction wooden socket holder insert is made and installed.

Lookin4'67Galaxieconv · Dec 29, 2020

Very interesting thread. Love the tools and really love the house. I have one built in 1900, considered a ranch. Your steps to nowhere remind me of my old chimney that was disconnected to the roof but is still around in the attic.

Private Lugnutz · Dec 29, 2020

Thanks. The "steps to nowhere" actually go from the kitchen to a landing on the second floor with a door to the original maid's quarters, which we use as the master bedroom.

Private Lugnutz · Dec 31, 2020

It's Experiment Time!

Recently, the Curator was surprised to see a valued GJ member report that he had experienced a negative reaction between Evaporust and a cadmium-plated tool. Per the GJ member, the Evaporust removed the cadmium-plating, causing a foamy yellow residue on the tool and the Evaporust solution itself.

The Curator was shocked for several reasons.

- As a wartime aficionado, he collects a lot of WWII tools, and many of them have cadmium-plating.

- Secondly, he favors Evaporust (and a similar product called Metal Rescue) for rust removal, prizing them for their incredible effectiveness and their environmental safety (non-toxic, non-acid, water-soluble, Ph-neutral) and easy clean up.

- Thirdly, he has placed plenty of cadmium-plated tools in both solutions and never noticed the solutions have any effect whatsoever on the cadmium-plating.

- Lastly, he was under the impression, seemingly backing up his empirical experience, that the reason cadmium plating was resistant to Evaporust and Metal Rescue breaking it down, was because it was anodic, or not an oxide.

Doing some research, he discovered that he was wrong.

Typical cadmium plating contains:

- Cadmium oxide, 24 g
- Sodium cyanide, 75 g
- Sodium hydroxide, 15 g
- Triethoanolamine, 20 ml
- Nickel oxide, 0.2 g

Learning this, perhaps he just hasn't left any cadmium-plated tools in the solution long enough for it to be broken down.

Hence, the experiment.

The test subject is a wartime Walden-Worcester socket. He chose this socket because it is in rather classic condition, showing the worn, unmistakable cadmium-plating, but also revealing the natural steal underneath. Also, it is not afflicted with rust, which would quickly obscure the solution in the jar with reddish-brownish oxide molecules. It has some very light corrosion on the inside.

These Day 0 photos were taken immediately after the socket was dropped in the jaw of the solution at approx. 6:30PM EST.

Plombob · Dec 31, 2020

Great museum Lugnutz! I love the wall of vises! Thanks for sharing your collection.

Rileysan · Dec 31, 2020

Private Lugnutz said:
Thanks, Otg. Stick around. Much more to see coming up.

(And my not so secret hope is that others start their own threads! I know Beemer, for one, has talked about it before. HINT HINT)

I LOVE what you've done with your basement! Well done!!

However, if I were to jump on the bandwagon and create my own thread, I would be forced to call it "Riley's Rat's Nest". Not too appealing, I think ...

This is the "organized" half, where stuff is mostly clean, displayed or stored away. It reminds of a favorite bumper sticker of mine that says "My other car is a *************!" :lol_hitti

Brian

Rileysan · Dec 31, 2020

Private Lugnutz said:
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.

This made my day - I actually got to contribute to the Lugzsonian by trading a 41-w-xxxx Harley Davidson shaft-drive motorcycle s-wrench!

Interesting side-note ... a short time after sending that wrench to Jersey Shore ("Where's the beach!"), I came across another one just like it - in Mr. X's collection. IIRC, there were only a couple hundred of those motorcycles made for the US Government, so I take it there were an equal amount of tool kits made for the same? If so, I may very well be the only person in the world to hold two of those wrenches in my hand!

My apologies for the tangent ...

Brian

Private Lugnutz · Dec 31, 2020

Plombob said:
I love the wall of vises!

Thanks, Bob, but, like reading some books, I suspect you were skipping the boring parts and zeroing in on the exciting parts, because that wall of vises is in Shiftless'es house on the other side of the country!

But that's okay - I love it, too!

Rileysan said:
I would be forced to call it "Riley's Rat's Nest".

Hey, I think it looks pretty clean. Cramped, but clean!

And I am jealous of the anvil. :thumbup:

When I need a backup for some pounding, I usually use the humongous railroad wedge you may have seen in some shots.

Rileysan said:
I actually got to contribute to the Lugzsonian by trading a 41-w-xxxx Harley Davidson shaft-drive motorcycle s-wrench!...[ ]...I may very well be the only person in the world to hold two of those wrenches in my hand!

Yessir! I would bet on that.

Rileysan · Dec 31, 2020

Private Lugnutz said:
Hey, I think it looks pretty clean. Cramped, but clean! And I am jealous of the anvil. When I need a backup for some pounding, I usually use the humongous railroad wedge you may have seen in some shots.

Very cramped, indeed! Due to circumstances out of my control, I had to relocate a couple of years ago to a much smaller (and more humble) location. Fortunately for me, the house I'm renting has a viable basement with enough space to set up shop and work out of. All things considered, I'm delighted to be able to work on my hobby!

Brian

Private Lugnutz · Dec 31, 2020

Rileysan said:
Very cramped, indeed! Due to circumstances out of my control, I had to relocate a couple of years ago to a much smaller (and more humble) location. Fortunately for me, the house I'm renting has a viable basement with enough space to set up shop and work out of. All things considered, I'm delighted to be able to work on my hobby!

I remember. And hey, 'Home is where the Craftsman stacks are.' And the carry boxes. And the vise. And the toolboards. And...

bmwrd0 · Jan 1, 2021

Rileysan might be too tall for my shop, but I have to watch my feet when I am walking around in "the Rats Nest!"

And yes, you need to show it off.

Private Lugnutz · Jan 1, 2021

bmwrd0 said:
And yes, you need to show it off.

Private Lugnutz · Jan 1, 2021

The Acquisitions Department left some things from the flea market on the "New Arrivals" table for the Curator to sort out this morning. See Pic 1.

The shop puttees will probably end up as motorcycle leggings. The Walden-Worcester deep well sockets and the plumb-bob, destined for the orphan sockets chest, and TBD, respectively, went right into the Evaporust bin. That antique bicycle wrench is a Lowentraut, a small, obscure mfgr in Newark, NJ, most famous for a brace bit contraption and it just the kind of find that gives the Curator fits. While there are a few other Lowentraut tools in the Lugzsonian, not enough for their own display space by brand. While there are other bicycle wrenches in the Lugzsonian, they are Mossberg, Wakefield, and Billings. So it will likely end up in the adjustable wrench drawer of the 4-C-15 cabinet.

The Curator was hoping that the wooden box full of Allen hex keys had at least one of the sizes missing from the Allen display rack (7/32" and 3/16"). See Pic 2. No such luck, but the nice assortment of various types and sizes of set screws is a welcome bonus. See Pic 3.

Quickly dismissing a golf club joke, the Curator interprets the look and function of the holder (see Pic 4) and its marking on the back ("HOLD FAST IRON REST") (see Pic 5) to be for a soldering iron (see Pic 6), but the gears are turning in the 'repurposing' hemisphere picturing any number of cool and unusual wrenches.

Rileysan · Jan 1, 2021

Private Lugnutz said:
Continuing the tour....!

... The wartime Art Steel Co machinists' chest on top of that is full of machinists' stuff. Starrett, Brown & Sharpe, and Lufkin each have their own drawer.

I have one of these as well, though I haven't put it to any kind of use. I saw it at a swap meet a couple years ago and couldn't walk away from it. Some day in the future ...

Your tour is proving to be equal parts entertainment and education. Well done!

Brian

Rileysan · Jan 1, 2021

bmwrd0 said:
Rileysan might be too tall for my shop, but I have to watch my feet when I am walking around in "the Rats Nest!"

And yes, you need to show it off.

Perhaps I should call it The Snake Den for a more dramatic effect? "Watch your step - they bite!"

At least there's room for two people to sit comfortably in my vintage chairs!

Farmer J. · Jan 1, 2021

I do wonder if the HOLD FAST IRON REST is in fact intended for a domestic iron used for flattening creases out of clothes, shirt collars and that sort of stuff. We do have a very similar modern version of it for an electric iron so as it can hang on the wall.

Private Lugnutz · Jan 1, 2021

Farmer J. said:
I do wonder if the HOLD FAST IRON REST is in fact intended for a domestic iron used for flattening creases out of clothes, shirt collars and that sort of stuff. We do have a very similar modern version of it for an electric iron so as it can hang on the wall.

DOH!

Maybe the Curator spends too much time in the basement and not enough time upstairs in the Curator's Quarters! It even happens to be in the shape of clothing iron!

:lol_hitti

(He still plans to repurpose it.)

d42jeep · Jan 1, 2021

How goes the great cadmium experiment?
-Don

Private Lugnutz · Jan 1, 2021

Haha. I checked on it this morning and there was a little cloudiness happening, but none of the cadmium plating appeared to be deteriorated. I am going to take and post a 24-hour mark or Day 2 photo at 6:30PM EST.

Private Lugnutz · Jan 1, 2021

Day 1 (24-Hours Later): Cadmium-Evaporust Test

Farmer J. · Jan 2, 2021

Private Lugnutz said:
Day 2 (24-Hours): Cadmium-Evaporust Test

I dunno about the Evaporust, but a vintage baby food jar like that is for sale for £7.50 !!
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/887...7864644engb_171192678&utm_custom2=11297985040

(Sorry, still playing the game of checking pics on GJ for things other than the proper subject!)

Private Lugnutz · Jan 2, 2021

Haha. Well-spotted, J.!

The Curator had no idea vintage Gerber jars were considered collectibles! Maybe the Curator should hide them from the Acquisitions Dept, who will probably try to convince the Treasurer that they are more valuable for fund-raising than for holding nuts, bolts, screws, washers, sawdust, used WD-40, and Evaporust experiments!

Private Lugnutz · Jan 2, 2021

The Curator and the Treasurer were both very pleased with the flea market trip that the Acquisitions Dept took this morning.

Private Lugnutz · Jan 2, 2021

For now, the Curator is putting that c. 1918 "Stix-On" self-adjusting wrench on the adjustables shelf (see Pic 1), but it's getting awfully crowded, you can see more of it and read more about it on the "Oddfellows" thread here, and all the "Oddfellows" in the Lugzsonian will probably end up as their own display on the spotlighted pegboard L-Island in the middle of the room at some point this year, replacing either the Champion DeArment or BERNARD displays.

Those all-steel speeder spinners (7/16" and 3/8" hex openings) have already been put away with all the other home-made tools in the Lugzsonian collection. Have you ever seen the first Toy Story movie? If it had been called Tool Story instead, and if Sid the evil genius pre-teen neighbor with the Dr. Frankenstein lab in his bedroom had been brutalizing and cannibalizing tools instead of toys, the Curator suspects that this is what his back yard might look like. You can see more of the speeder spinners on the "Chopped!" thread, linked here.

The Curator is not a Craftsman junkie, per se, and the Treasurer is already whispering in his ear about the fund-raising prospects of moving that 1940's screwdriver with the interchangeable bits kept inside the handle (Model Number 9C4117 and marketed as the "Add-A-Bit") onto someone else's museum. You can see and read much more about it on the Long C thread, linked here.

The Lugzsonian - A Virtual Tour

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