Don’s Den of Dandy Delights

[d42jeep]

Good idea. Here is where I got the idea for mine. These belong to a colleague in TN.
Purely coincidentally, I found my last three for the rack which just happened to fill up all the holes I had drilled.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

^ you're going to need a bigger wall.

 

[mritchie77]

^ you're going to need a bigger wall.

I think you mean second basement.

 

[four.cycle]

indeed... after I clicked "post" it occurred to me that "bigger basement" would have been more in line with my propensity for alliterative prose, but I was running low on edits that day....

 

[d42jeep]

There is a second half of the basement but no tools are allowed there by the management. Over the years I’ve learned that resistance is futile.
-Don

 

[bmwrd0]

There is a second half of the basement but no tools are allowed there by the management. Over the years I’ve learned that resistance is futile.
-Don

Sounds just like my basement.

 

[Smokeshow69]

Sounds just like my basement.

I was totally thinking of your basement reading his post

 

[d42jeep]

I found a cool oiler at an estate sale this morning. I cleaned it up a bit and added it to the Oiler display in a position of honor.
-Don

 

[bonneyman]

There is a second half of the basement but no tools are allowed there by the management. Over the years I’ve learned that resistance is futile.
-Don

At least you don't call your wife "The War Department". It's a phrase I've seen on another forum and I think it's a bit harsh.

 

[d42jeep]

I wanted to add some of my hacksaws to the basement display but I had to find some spots to put them. Here is what I came up with.
Union on the left and Winchester on the right

ATCO and Crescent
Top to bottom,
Parker Line, Atkins, Forsberg and Union
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

A couple of weeks ago we found a partial Danielson Auto Kit set at an estate sale. I cleaned them up in the evaporust and added a smaller one I had on hand. I found the next smaller one on eBay and it got the evaporust treatment as well.
I put them all together today then added them to the Barcalo and Select Steel sets in the basement.
-Don

 

[mritchie77]

Don, after evapo-rust do you treat your tools with anything? I would imagine a basement would be a little more humid than a normal environment. I've had a couple pieces of mine that were in lower-to-the-ground boxes end up forming surface rust after an evapo-rust bath.

 

[d42jeep]

Evaporust treated tools will rust right up since they are pretty unprotected at the end of the process. I’m quite liberal with wiping them down with Fluid Film. It seems to do a good job of keeping the rust away.
-Don
edit….. I forgot to mention the large dehumidifier that has been running all winter!

 

[S-K Tool Fanatic!]

I also coat my stuff with fluid film, seems to work well and holds up to use pretty well.
-Tommy

 

[mritchie77]

Where do y'all get your FF? Looks like I need to invest in some.

 

[S-K Tool Fanatic!]

Most auto parts or hardware stores, I got lucky and got a whole bunch of it for cheap from a mower shop that was closing down. A can is roughly $10 but a can lasts a long time, i've done about 50 tools and coated 2-3 tool boxes.
-Tommy

 

[d42jeep]

I’ve added a few things to the basement lately. I placed a recent estate sale Kraeuter set next to the completed one.
I added a new 12” Trimo metal handled monkey wrench to my large one and wood handled one.
I recently found a Golden Rod oiler plus I added a Craftsman Heritage oiler that was hiding in my Heritage box.
-Don

 

[don long]

Looks good Don! You are catching up to me with those oil cans

 

[d42jeep]

Thanks, Don. It’s not likely that I’ll ever approach your fantastic collection but I did add a couple of Saturday’s estate sale finds yesterday. I cleaned up the little oiler and added it to the others. It’s on the far left.
At the same sale, I found this nice set in its original box. It is now in the top of the Gerstner box.

 

[pooterguy]

Don, I think I know a travel agent who would be willing to arrange and manage round trip tours of your museum. Can you accommodate, say 250 tool junkies for 50% of the gross tour package pricing?

 

[d42jeep]

One of the messiest jobs I’ve run across is doing restoration work on a vintage grease gun. Nevertheless, I decided that today was the day to clean up my recent USN marked estate sale find. I wanted to replace the deteriorating handle with one from a donor gun that I had on hand. After going through most of a roll of paper towels, I had removed 99% of the old grease. I picked the best handle from my spare guns and cleaned it up. The completed gun is now residing in the USN box in the basement.
-Don

 

[don long]

I'm with you Don on cleaning grease guns. I had to clean up a couple when restoring the Alemite grease cart It's a messy process but rewarding when finished

 

[misterbill]

One of the messiest jobs I’ve run across is doing restoration work on a vintage grease gun. ...

You needed what I found in my garage today - a jumbo can of old school carb and choke cleaner. You remember, the kind that assaulted your lungs and eyes but cleaned like nothing else! You done good without it, though. Looks good!

 

[Odd Job]

One of the messiest jobs I’ve run across is doing restoration work on a vintage grease gun. Nevertheless, I decided that today was the day to clean up my recent USN marked estate sale find. I wanted to replace the deteriorating handle with one from a donor gun that I had on hand. After going through most of a roll of paper towels, I had removed 99% of the old grease. I picked the best handle from my spare guns and cleaned it up. The completed gun is now residing in the USN box in the basement.
-Don

I don't think there's such thing as a clean grease gun. Not one that I've ever had anyway.

 

[d42jeep]

The only one I’ve seen was a Blue Point gun I found at a sale a few years ago. When I opened it up it had never had any grease inside. I still have it but I won’t use it. I have other user grease guns.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

One of the messiest jobs I’ve run across is doing restoration work on a vintage grease gun. Nevertheless, I decided that today was the day to clean up my recent USN marked estate sale find. I wanted to replace the deteriorating handle with one from a donor gun that I had on hand. After going through most of a roll of paper towels, I had removed 99% of the old grease. I picked the best handle from my spare guns and cleaned it up. The completed gun is now residing in the USN box in the basement.
-Don

This Mossberg extension hand stamped U.S.N. arrived in the mail yesterday and will be added to the basement Navy cantilever box.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

I bought this metric Powr-Kraft set in May. It took quite a while to arrive so my neighbor held onto it for me rather than risking it getting stolen off the porch. It was quite rusty and the price I paid reflected its condition. Here is an eBay photo.

I did quite a bit of cleaning of the box and the tools went into the evaporust. I pulled some other tools out of the Powr-Kraft boxes to fill in the set.
It has now joined the other Powr-Kraft sets in the basement.

 

[d42jeep]

I added the Eaglet oiler to the others.
I added the Nevr-Dull and the K&W Knocker Loose to the appropriate shelf.

-Don

 

[d42jeep]

A few recent additions to the basement. My Pennzoil can made it home from Tahoe.
Added an Xcelite rack to a shelf today hanging above the other nutdrivers.
Added some recent Walden sets
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

^ I think I recognize a couple things there.... !

you know I used to rep K&W, right? loved that product line. "knock-er-loose" is still the best.

 

[d42jeep]

We used to sell a lot of “Block Seal“ at the parts house. You might be surprised to see that the military was buying K&W products during WW2.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

^ K&W Metallic Block Seal was the only product that actually worked.
All the others were just wood pulp fiber (sawdust.)
Problem with the K&W Block Seal was that customers couldn't manage to get ALL the ethylene-glycol-based anti-freeze out of the cooling system and the product wouldn't bond properly.
I would imagine K&W sold a ton of stuff to Uncle Sam - particularly the block sealer.
I still have a "salesman's sample" can of K&W lead base anti-sieze compound if anyone's interested. (NOT FOR USE ON MACHINERY USED IN FOOD PREPARATION.) Nasty lookin' stuff... charcoal black.

 

[d42jeep]

A few recent additions. A copper plated Swingspout found at a recent sale.


A slightly overpriced estate sale find. A Heritage label blowtorch.
i haven’t quite figured out how to best display the early California license plates
An old hand grinder should be fun for the grandkids to spin
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

^ they LOVE spinning stuff. the vise I installed on a short work bench up in Seattle is a great source of fascination for a young boy up there.

 

[d42jeep]

In order to add the Noera oiler I found at a tool sale yesterday, I had to relocate all of the oilers to make them all fit.
-Don
Added to the display
More pictures

 

[four.cycle]

hmmmm wonder if I have any extra oilers laying about here...

 

[d42jeep]

I recently pulled some old license plates out of the garage that I’ve had for years plus some others that I’ve picked up at sales over time.
With the pickup on Saturday of a bankers box of 1934 CA plates I decided to add some as decor to the basement
I started with these.
Then added these
These went in the corner above the screwdrivers
Added these to the void above Grandpa Al’s toolbox
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Looks good, Don. It's been a joy watching your basement go from, well, basement to 'The Quadruple D'.

Seriously. The shots of the tools are great, of course, but with every update I find myself always looking around the canteens tree, beyond the S-K altar, on either side of the Perfect Handle rack, etc. The transformation is astonishing! The 'Before, Later, and Currently' effects of posts #39, 121, and 236 are a great example.

I don't remember seeing much more than a corner of that framed artwork before. (What is a group of Corvairs called? A Cadge? A Covey? A Corral? A Colony? I can't help but look at the Rampside in that picture and not think of @Ayrhead 's.)

But I may be most jealous of the Enduro trophies, which I don't think I noticed before. The only thing I was ever awarded in my amateur racing days has a titanium pin in it that tingles when the dew point gets close to 32*F.

 

[d42jeep]

I discovered some ancient drawings on the floor joists that I had never noticed before. They must have been put there by Grandpa Al. I’ll need to add pipe wrenches to match the drawings.

Enduro days.
Early enduro days!
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I discovered some ancient drawings on the floor joists that I had never noticed before. They must have been put there by Grandpa Al. I’ll need to add pipe wrenches to match the drawings.

Wow! That is too cool, Don. Reminiscent of the actual size outlines in military tool inspection layouts. It's like they're just begging for a few of your pipe wrenches. What a neat connection to Grandpa Al that will be.