My work stool

[Lucky Strike]

Like many, well OK all of you, I to cannot resist the allure of some broken down thing that needs fixing. In fact, I will step right over some perfectly good new thing to buy a busted item that I can fix up.

Case in point, my work stool. I've been looking for a good old American made steel stool with casters, height adjustable, and with an adjustable back that I can sit on at my work bench.

Got one for FREE, when I spotted my beauty in a pile of trash on heavy trash day.... or as I like to think of it "free stuff day."

Here she is, A 1940-50 Royal Metal Corporation beauty:

Rust scarred legs, dinged up back, and some sort of brown crud all over her. Dreamy...

First I disassembled the parts:

Then I went over everything with lacquer thinner. Or, what I like to call, 50-years-of-**** remover.

Here is a shot of the rubber capped knobs before and after clean up:

Then I masked and sprayed all metal parts with silver hammerite:

Finally, I got $20 worth of vinyl and foam, and recovered the seat and back. Now she looks right purdy again:

Final step was to customize to suit my tastes:

Now she is ready to hold my *** for another 50 years.

What some people throw away astounds me. With twice a century rebuilds like this my stool should still be around when J.C. gets back.

 

[Lucky Strike]

looks really nice!Like the h.a.m.b tags to.

Thanks man. The HAMB tags and such were just on there temporary like for the glamor shot. They really belong on my Apache.

 

[chammyman]

stick it on ebay now and I bet you'll get a good bit for it

 

[GarageStyle]

Dude, that's AWESOME!! It's true, finding good old junk is often SOOO much more rewarding than buying something new...somehow, sometimes, I do think they built 'em better back then.

Good Job!!

 

[locoman]

Heavy Metal!

 

[Stuart in MN]

I like it! I have the same workstool in my garage, although mine's unrestored.

 

[shocksystems]

Nice job. Thanks for sharing.

 

[bgarrett]

Those chairs were used by long distance operators at the telephone company.
Lots of guys used to beg me to steal one for them

 

[e-tek]

I liked the original Patina.....

 

[mikester]

I work at a DOE lab. I cant tell you how many of those we threw out in the last few years. With and without wheels. It seems that somewhere in the US government sombody fell and broke their *** because their chair had only 4 casters. So every chair ordered now has to have 5 casters so the dumb asses that dont know how to sit can stay safe. Pretty soon we will have classes on how to wipe our butts. We had a carpenter cut his finger with a sheetrock knife. The next day every knife was taken away until the powers that be could come up with a safer way to cut drywall and boxes. The solution was a plastic safety knife that you had to use your thumb to hold the blade out. If it hit anything the blade would retract. Great but it was causing problems for the guys that were using them. They were going to the clinic with nerve problems in their hands from the constant pressure on their thumbs. Safety people, gotta love em !!

 

[rsanter]

so in todays world of 'green' and 'earth friendly'
that is some good recycling

if that went to junk it would have been burried (what a waste) or mented down and would have become a KIA trunk lid.

when are people going to figure out that a little fix up on that good old item is far more earth friendly that throwing stuff away just to buy another one from china

good job on saving an old quality item

bob

 

[rsanter]

I work at a DOE lab. I cant tell you how many of those we threw out in the last few years. With and without wheels. It seems that somewhere in the US government sombody fell and broke their *** because their chair had only 4 casters. So every chair ordered now has to have 5 casters so the dumb asses that dont know how to sit can stay safe. Pretty soon we will have classes on how to wipe our butts. We had a carpenter cut his finger with a sheetrock knife. The next day every knife was taken away until the powers that be could come up with a safer way to cut drywall and boxes. The solution was a plastic safety knife that you had to use your thumb to hold the blade out. If it hit anything the blade would retract. Great but it was causing problems for the guys that were using them. They were going to the clinic with nerve problems in their hands from the constant pressure on their thumbs. Safety people, gotta love em !!

where I work we had to have 'ladder training' to be authorized to get on a ladder

nice...

bob

 

[pmiranda]

I spent many hours on stools just like that in vocational classes in high school and lab work in college. Good stuff!

 

[Printer Mike]

Nice save!

 

[Bevis]

where I work we had to have 'ladder training' to be authorized to get on a ladder

nice...

bob

they tried that here at work...I didn't show up, and throw it in there face on how unqulaified I am to climb a ladder (so I guess I can't change out that strobe light on the ambulance)

 

[Lucky Strike]

Dude, that's AWESOME!! It's true, finding good old junk is often SOOO much more rewarding than buying something new...somehow, sometimes, I do think they built 'em better back then.

Good Job!!

If you have not checked one of these old beauties out it is difficult for me to describe the difference in quality to you, between my Royal and, well, anything you can buy new today anywhere for any realistic price. Including the Sears stools.

Seriously, this baby is made from heavy gauge steel tube, nice welds and high quality chrome plated steel casters with ball bearings. Just totally top quality, and heavy. Also, its simple, but well thought out design, allows for adjustments in: height, swivel of seat, distance of back from seat, height of back, and the back has a spring incorporated in it that pushes the back toward your back for perfect fit.

Honestly, I don't know where I could go here in Houston and buy a stool of this quality today. Rebuilding a classic is the only way I know I could have gotten one.

And, strangely, the rest of the world seems to value such items at $0.0

 

[Kevin54]

where I work we had to have 'ladder training' to be authorized to get on a ladder

]

At my place there is only a handful of qualified "ladder people". The rest are dumbasses that only get to watch someone climb up two rungs. And all of the ladders are under lockdown so only qualified personnel have a key. We are so bad that incase of a fire, only certain people are permitted to handle a fire extinguisher. We have to call the other plant to report a fire even though the extinguisher is hanging right there. Unauthorized and grab that extinguisher and it is grounds for dismissal.

 

[Worsedog]

I work at a DOE lab. I cant tell you how many of those we threw out in the last few years. With and without wheels. It seems that somewhere in the US government sombody fell and broke their *** because their chair had only 4 casters. So every chair ordered now has to have 5 casters so the dumb asses that dont know how to sit can stay safe. Pretty soon we will have classes on how to wipe our butts. We had a carpenter cut his finger with a sheetrock knife. The next day every knife was taken away until the powers that be could come up with a safer way to cut drywall and boxes. The solution was a plastic safety knife that you had to use your thumb to hold the blade out. If it hit anything the blade would retract. Great but it was causing problems for the guys that were using them. They were going to the clinic with nerve problems in their hands from the constant pressure on their thumbs. Safety people, gotta love em !!

]

At my place there is only a handful of qualified "ladder people". The rest are dumbasses that only get to watch someone climb up two rungs. And all of the ladders are under lockdown so only qualified personnel have a key. We are so bad that incase of a fire, only certain people are permitted to handle a fire extinguisher. We have to call the other plant to report a fire even though the extinguisher is hanging right there. Unauthorized and grab that extinguisher and it is grounds for dismissal.

We can thank the ambulance chasing, idiot saving assholes..........oops I mean you can thank our fine legal system for trying to protect us from ourselves.


Think about it 35 years you never saw people getting huge settlements from being stupid. There was still enough chlorine in the gene pool then. I think it is time for a new pool guy.


By the way awesome job of some genuinely effective recycling

 

[mikester]

We have classes for just about everything where I work. If you are working above 6' you have to have a railing around the area or a safety harness on. I looked at our training site. Here are some of the courses that we have to take depending on your job.
Back injury prevention- recommended for people that already have bad backs
Hearing conservation- for people that work in high noise areas, a pretty new class. I guess all of us that have hearing loss should have asked for this 30 years ago.
Heat stress prevention- my building only had AC in the office, it would be close to 100 in the high bay area where we worked the most
Lyme and tick borne disease prevention- maybe if we didnt have a huge amount of deer and tall uncut grass that would help a little
Fall protection
Ladder safety
Ergonomics in the workplace- another BS class to cover the asses of management.
and my favorite class of all Video display safety- for people who look at a computer monitor for more than 20 hours a week
We have to waste so much time going to classes. And the sad part is its not a one time deal. Alot of these have to be taken every year. I drive a forklift every day. My training is good up to 7 tons. But I still have to go to a forklift safety class and I have to pass a driving test every 2 years. Its so stupid. It just keeps a bunch of nitwits employed. We actually have to be trained on how to turn off circuit breakers. It seems there was an incident at another site where a worker was burned really bad from arc flash while turning off a breaker. So now at our site only a few trained people are allowed to do this. You have to wear 100% cotton clothes, wear a full face shield, and special gloves. Some of the older buildings have all the lights hooked to breakers with no switches so the lights stay on 24-7.

 

[russlaferrera]

Great Job!!! If you ever sell it, put a 8 inch bolt through the seat as a locator stud and add a seat belt. This will make it OHSA compliant

 

[Jononon]

Honestly, I don't know where I could go here in Houston and buy a stool of this quality today. Rebuilding a classic is the only way I know I could have gotten one.

Looks great, too I presume you have some period hotrods to 'match', given your HAMB tags ?

And, strangely, the rest of the world seems to value such items at $0.0

Don't complain. If the rest of the world ever learns to 'make do and mend' these things will no longer be there for the taking !

With regard to the evils of elf'n'safety, my g/f was told that she's no longer permitted to carry a pocket knife at work. The company supplied enclosed blade box cutter snapped in half, causing her to cut an 8" gash, requiring hospital treatment, in her forearm

 

[JimsWife]

It's OSHA, not OHSA. Occupational Safety & Health Association! Sorry for being so picky. I did a lot of consulting work for them over the years! : )

 

[Lloydthumper]

I have fell out of one just like it at work due to failing wheels and not having the time to fix it when I was in maintenance LOL.

 

[johnnyhomeowner]

whoever tossed it out would want it back now

 

[Bib Overalls]

Looks exactly like the chair that disappeared from my Government office 30 years ago. I've notified the FBI.