Above 1200 Sq/FT Restored 1930's Auto Shop

[BB767]

hey thomas did you ever get around to restoring that old reed vise?

Here is where I am with that vise.

It's been soaked in a little WD-40, cleaned up a little and looks to be in excellent working condition. It appears to have some original black paint on it still so that's the color it will be powder coated. It's going to still be used as a welding vise so I'm just going to clean it up some more. As such, calling it reconditioned might be more accurate. Thanks for the inquiry.

(BTW in looking back on several posts I misspelled vise/vice umm....... several times. Mea culpa) I can fly pretty big airplanes but I never claimed to be a wordsmith. I've been told if you do this long enough and you're bound to step on your............Johnson sometime.

Thomas

 

[BB767]

Chris

Thanks for the welcome! I grew up in Dwight Illinois, and in one of the posts (I forgot which one and didn't write it down) some one mentioned "buzz the gut in Dwight", well I was performing that ritual long before it was an organized activity.

And during my first dual cross country flight (Dwight International to Bloomington, Peoria, Champaign and home) I landed on the long runway on the numbers, an excellent landing. After thinking I did a great job, the tower asked me to "fly the plane down to the first turn off, because a DC-9 was behind me on final".

On the OWWM.Org site I think you will find several folks with the same attention to detail on machine restorations, that Thomas has.

Mike

Might I add my welcome as well, pilot to pilot as it were. Both the OMWM and OWWM sites are excellent. Some real talent on display over there for sure. One of their kind members sent me the drive screw/rivets I need for the Walker floor jack data plate and several other members gave some great advice for removing the old ones. A nice resource to be sure.

I was unaware of the old restored Texaco station in Dwight. Very, very cool indeed and a source of community pride too, no doubt. Chris and I will have to give it a first hand look this summer. When I was growing up Philo had both a Phillips 66 and a Sinclair gas station and in the late 60's a Sunoco station. They all still exist but have been so heavily altered it would be an enormous undertaking to bring them back. Back then all the fast cars hung out at Johnson's though. That was the center of performance in town "back in the day" and they had the tire marks out on the road in front to prove it.

Thomas

 

[BB767]

Thomas, Chris, This is only my second post on the GF. It has taken me several day to read, view and enjoy the incredible journey you layed before my eyes. I can relate to many of the smaller events that you have taken on with great results. I plan to redo my small two car garage, one half is home to my '67 Vette I have owned for 37 years, and 210K miles.
I am looking forward to all of the documented events coming in the future. If I can fit it in in the future, I'll drive/tour in your area and visit too see your working shop. I actually had a tear in my eye when I looked at the faux champagne celebration on the Rotary Lift. My hats off too you two! Dennis

Hello Dennis and many thanks for making this thread the second one you've replied to after all the years you've been here at the Journal. Your '67 Vette should have a nice place to call home and I'm sure you'll do it proud.

The idea to do the 1 year anniversary post just came to me one night. I wanted some way to acknowledge all the wonderful folks, yourself included, who have shared their time reading and commenting on the thread. You will be most welcome to visit/tour the shop and get a picture of your Vette out front.

Thomas

 

[BB767]

brings a tear to my eye as the bay looks very similar to a place my grandpa would take me as a child when he was getting his truck fixed, he'd buy me a pop out of a machine very similar to that one and he'd ******** with the mechanic, the only one in town

Mr. Merk, when you think of that old shop can you close your eyes and hear the distinctive sound of the hydraulic lift pump in action or the sound of the bottles clinking in the pop machine when you pull one out? Every time I raise my lift I think back to my younger days out there in the shop and still can't believe I now own it. Thank you for sharing the memory.

Thomas

 

[BB767]

Yup, cool station too! Was there on my way to the Route 66 Mother Road Festival at Springfield, Il last year!

Nice picture, thanks for posting it.

Chris and I try to make that Springfield event evey year we can. We've been going since the very early days. We might see you there this year, Sept 23/24.

Thomas

 

[onemore]

wow that's some build, congrats. Love the father and son project.

 

[BB767]

To follow up on a project I started last April, to equip the shop with a snow blower for snow removal. As you recall I purchased a larger tractor that had a front PTO (power take off) which could power a front mounted snow blower. See page 57, post #1130. The lane back to the barn is somewhat long, and covered with gravel. My idea was to use a snowblower and keep it above the gravel so I wasn't slinging gravel onto the yard.



The bottom rear of the snowblower is supported by a pair of these skids that are height adjustable. If they are positioned too low they let the blower settle into the gravel and I would be nicely dispersing gravel all over the lawn. Note how thin these have worn on the bottom right (the front of the skid) as compared to the thickness of the metal at the rear.



The blower weighs 450 - 500 lbs (204 - 227 kg) and these narrow skids didn't have enough surface area to keep the blower from sinking into the gravel.



So I purchased new pair of skids and fabricated more material on either side of them to spread out the weight on the blower.



Here you can see how much wider they are now. The center 1/3 area was the original width. The extra weld is just to provide more material on the bottom before they wear to the original metal.





With the skids installed they now easily support the blower without it wanting to sink into the gravel lane. I've had numerous chances to use them this winter and it works great. Rarely does the blower get down to the gravel.



Next the support frame for the blower itself was originally painted. BTW, in this picture you can see how well color coordinated the yellow blower cart is at the bottom?



And over time the frame was starting to rust in spots. Not to my liking.



So I removed all the black framing, mounting pieces........





... and had them powder coated.



I shouldn't really have a problem with rust again on that. Next year I'll do the yellow parts of the blower and replace as much hardware as I can with stainless steel.



You can see where sides of the blower will need attention as well as the tractor rims. For now I've painted them with rust converter to stop the rust.



The side of the cab support will need attention next year also.



I've already replaced all hardware that contacts the canvas sides with stainless and will finish the rest when I powder coat the cab.



It really makes easy work now clearing the lane and driveways and keeping the gravel where it belongs. Mr. Johnson never had it so good, but then he had 5 sons!

Thomas

 

[walt111]

Snow blower skids.
If you get the bottom of the skids welded with hard coat rod they will still be good for a long time. Heavy equipment owners use hard coating on all there digging buckets, and bulldozer blades. The cost to weld hard coating to the equipment is negligible compared to the cost of repairing or breplacing
wrench

 

[BB767]

wow that's some build, congrats. Love the father and son project.

There's nothing quite like a father and son project to bring the two of you together, provide "teaching moments" and create some lasting memories.



You get to teach forestry chainsaw skills....



and teach lawn care skills....



and teach equipment operation skills and what the bill on a hat is for....



and teach how NOT to panic at Dad's crazy idea skills....



and teach painting skills....



and teach balancing skills....

and teach math skills....



and teach concrete skills....



and teach fabrication skills....



and teach carpentry skills....



and teach wiring skills....



and teach MORE organizational skills....

and teach the importance of proper drainage skills....

and teach how to sweat the details....



and teach how to overcome seemingly impossible obstacles....

and teach the importance of keen observation and sharing with others....

and then teach the thrill of success....



and teach the self-satisfaction of doing it yourself....




and teach the joy of giving to others....

These are but a few of the priceless things this particular project has given us. But most of all, it gave me the chance to teach my son how very proud of him I am.

Thomas

 

[Nuts]

Dude, yer gonna bring a tear to my eye, and I'm just an uncle.


Nuts

 

[gasgas17]

I can't wait to see what you "teach" the grand kids some day! LOL It's great spending time with the kids. My daughter and I have been racing dirt bikes together for about 8-9 years now. It gives us lots of time together and we have lots of memories that are irreplaceable.

 

[Brian R]

Thomas,
Regarding snowblower skids - genius as usual. Regarding pictures with son - priceless.

Nice work and cheers.

 

[BB767]

Snow blower skids.
If you get the bottom of the skids welded with hard coat rod they will still be good for a long time. Heavy equipment owners use hard coating on all there digging buckets, and bulldozer blades. The cost to weld hard coating to the equipment is negligible compared to the cost of repairing or breplacing
wrench

Did I happen to mention that harden rod was used to add the extra material to the bottom of the blower skids? You are quite correct that coating surfaces with it really adds to it's longevity so that's why I used it. Thanks for pointing that out.

Thomas

 

[BB767]

Dude, yer gonna bring a tear to my eye, and I'm just an uncle.


Nuts

I know you're family since we have always referred to you as Uncle Nuts.

Thomas

 

[Nuts]

Since they're not mine, I call them little bastards.



Nuts

 

[Jim Sullivan]

Wow so much work, looks great!!

 

[BB767]

Walker update 2.01...

A peeve of mine is using improperly fitting tools that damage hardware. Screw drivers are notorious for chewing up screw heads when they don't fit the slots correctly or the driver slips out of the slots. Here I've filed the heads and straightened up the slots.

Same for the nuts. They get rounded corners so I file as little as possible so as to not change the size of the nut but still removed excess metal from the flats.

On the sides of the nuts the metal got pushed up where it contacted the lock washer. I would have left it if it had only been on one side but over the years the nuts got flipped over so they exhibited the lock washer indentation on both sides so I cleaned up only the side the will face out.

I really don't want to replace the original hardware with modern day material, it doesn't have the right profile.

Just as with the lift...

...modern hardware would take away from the period look.

Once they were sandblasted they looked completely undamaged.

This jack was a tool made, best guess, in the late '30's to '40's and some areas of it are pretty rough. This casting for example. That's they way they did it and I have no intention of changing that.

Once the nose piece was cleaned up it revealed...

... these notches at the ends of the ribs. Looking at the back side of them...

... makes me wonder if they were done at the factory and not the result of pushing the nose into an object and denting it. They are just too uniform to be a random dent I think. These nose pieces are just so rare I don't have anything to compare it to. The other jack has a cast steel nose so it's completely different. They are staying in, if nothing else a hard won war wound. I'm certain Elroy would approve.

The nuts and ends of the screws done. No evidence of damage.

Don, my poor powder coater on this project tried mightily to get the lettering and ribs powder coated white to his and my satisfaction and in the end after redoing this cover plate numerous times decided to let a sign painter have a crack at it.

To be continued...

Thomas

 

[BB767]

Wow so much work, looks great!!

A labor of love Jim to be sure. Does that qualify it as work? Thank you for the kind words and if you aren't too burned out, check back here later from time to time.

Thomas

 

[BB767]

Thomas,
Regarding snowblower skids - genius as usual. Regarding pictures with son - priceless.

Nice work and cheers.

Genius, really? Hey thanks Brain, you're my new best friend!



Oh Chris, about those new house plans.... I have it on good authority that a genius is at work with them and you never want to question a genius now would you so about those changes you wanted........

Thomas

 

[BB767]

I can't wait to see what you "teach" the grand kids some day! LOL It's great spending time with the kids. My daughter and I have been racing dirt bikes together for about 8-9 years now. It gives us lots of time together and we have lots of memories that are irreplaceable.

"time together", "memories that are irreplaceable" key words. Keep up the good work with your family.

Thomas

 

[Bigfoot864]

Wow what a transformation, sure makes me enthusiastic about my own garage! I built my pole barn garage last fall and have been working on insulating walls ceiling, building cabinets, I'm a woodworker at heart. Mainly that's why I built it, for a wood shop. Right now I'm in the process of installing a Mr. Heater on the ceiling.
Anyway great job on that 1930's garage Your the man BB767!!
Bigfoot

 

[rlwhitetr3b]

Thomas, these nuts are not lined up

 

[4StarCstms]

Thomas, these nuts are not lined up

And I thought I had OCD ... LoL

 

[BB767]

The story about quarters on top of the toilet tank....



Look closely and you'll faintly see....



....some quarters on top of the toilet tank?



As you may remember the shop never had bathroom facilities since the family home was right next door. I determined the shop should have a toilet and a sink, well, just because it should. We didn't get this up and running until about 7 months after the restoration process had commenced. All winter long that first year, we guys just used natures finest as the bushes provided wonderful privacy and for guys it's just not too much of a problem. After the toilet was installed, tested for leaks, and signed off as good to go (so to speak ) my friend who was helping us declared that he should be the first to use the facility. Told absolutely he could use it no problem, help yourself.............. but it'll cost you a quarter. His reply was it'll be well worth it, done deal and proceeded. I noticed a little later that day he had indeed left a quarter on top of the tank afterward. Well of course I was only kidding and told him I can't take any money for that and come get your quarter. He said, oh no, it was worth it. Well I told him it's still there and anytime he comes back it'll be there waiting....in the same spot. Now through the years it seems to be multiplying as other quarters have mysteriously appeared, especially after I've given a tour of the shop. Nothing has ever been said, they just appear. One of those mysteries of science I guess.

BTW Bill, if you're reading this, your quarter is STILL there and I still can't take any money for that.

Thomas

 

[R1chy]

The story about quarters on top of the toilet tank.... Now though the years it seems to be multiplying as other quarters have mysteriously appeared, especially after I've given a tour of the shop. Nothing has ever been said, they just appear. One of those mysteries of science I guess.

Thomas

Appears his original investment is paying dividends.

 

[Nuts]

Great story on the quarters, now you just need a box of stick matches and the bathroom will be complete.

Nuts

 

[rlwhitetr3b]

Thomas, these nuts are not lined up

I had to give Thomas a poke. If you check any of the pictures in this group that have screws in them, the slots ARE lined up.

 

[ZRX61]

Told absolutely he could use it no problem, help yourself.............. but it'll cost you a quarter. His reply was it'll be well worth it, done deal and proceeded. I noticed a little later that day he had indeed left a quarter on top of the tank afterward. Well of course I was only kidding and told him I can't take any money for that and come get your quarter. He said, oh no, it was worth it. Well I told him it's still there and anytime he comes back it'll be there waiting....in the same spot. Now through the years it seems to be multiplying as other quarters have mysteriously appeared, especially after I've given a tour of the shop. Thomas

Years ago at one of the local bars it was usual for patrons of the piss trough to throw change in it. However, we noticed that it would disappear at some point in the evening so we started to pay attention to how much was in there.

It didn't take long to work out that some people are willing to reach into a piss filled trough for about $1.50 in change...We never did work out who the hell it was...

I hope I'm never that desperate/poor...

 

[Warg]

Years ago at one of the local bars it was usual for patrons of the piss trough to throw change in it. However, we noticed that it would disappear at some point in the evening so we started to pay attention to how much was in there.

It didn't take long to work out that some people are willing to reach into a piss filled trough for about $1.50 in change...We never did work out who the hell it was...

I hope I'm never that desperate/poor...

It probably ended up in the cash register and was handed out as change to those not tipping...

-Paul

 

[BB767]

Here's something handy I bet many of you use also....

The is the master unit for measureing both temperature and humidity inside and outside the shop. There is another sensor mounted outside that transmits to this unit. I keep the humidity in the shop and barn below 45% and if the outside humidity is above that I try to limit how long the overhead doors are open if possible.

Here the outside temp is 30 F with 62% humidity and inside the shop it's 50 F and 20% humidity. Whenever I'm not in the shop or barn I keep the temp at least 50 F. That way nothing is cold soaked and I can bring the temp up to the low 60's pretty fast in the winter which I find to be a comfortable working temp. It doesn't cost all that much in heat to keep them at a minimum of 50 F if the buildings are reasonably insulated.

Thomas

 

[BB767]

Years ago at one of the local bars it was usual for patrons of the piss trough to throw change in it. However, we noticed that it would disappear at some point in the evening so we started to pay attention to how much was in there.

It didn't take long to work out that some people are willing to reach into a piss filled trough for about $1.50 in change...We never did work out who the hell it was...

I hope I'm never that desperate/poor...

Ya know Rick, there are cultured women who read this, and, well.... piss trough.... did ya have to call it a piss trough? I mean to you and me and all us guys that's what it is, it's a piss trough but to call it a piss trough here maybe wasn't the best use of the English language even though piss trough is highly descriptive and frankly pretty accurate.

Perhaps a public metal urine conveyance device or PMUCD might be in better taste..........

Juuussst thinkin' out loud here.......

Thomas

 

[ZRX61]

This one was a PPUCD, it was porcelain, not metal

 

[BB767]

This one was a PPUCD, it was porcelain, not metal

Ah, a high end establishment..... living the dream I see.



Thomas

 

[BB767]

I had to give Thomas a poke. If you check any of the pictures in this group that have screws in them, the slots ARE lined up.

Not to worry, somebody has to bust my chops every so often to keep me well grounded as it were.

Thomas

 

[BB767]

It probably ended up in the cash register and was handed out as change to those not tipping...

-Paul

Thomas

 

[kbuhagiar]

Walker update 2.01...

Don, my poor powder coater on this project tried mightily to get the lettering and ribs powder coated white to his and my satisfaction and in the end after redoing this cover plate numerous times decided to let a sign painter have a crack at it.

To be continued...

Thomas

Walker jack on Ebay SOLD $150.00

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130483911422&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

 

[BB767]

Walker jack on Ebay SOLD $150.00

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130483911422&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Excellent, that's good news. Hope the buyer realizes what a great piece of equipment they now own.

Thanks for passing the word on.

Thomas

 

[richla]

Hi Thomas:
Just a quick note to say I have been on board with this thread, since summer time and think this has got be THE best thread on the 'net, and that I continue to enjoy it very much, as clearly, everyone else does, too!
So thanks to you, I am finally kicking off "post #1", to thank you for the enjoment, history, and inspiration you continue to provide.

Actually, this entire forum is pretty darn cool.
Best wishes,
Rich (from MA)

 

[3bay]

Wow...even the toilet has a story!

 

[BB767]

Hi Thomas:
Just a quick note to say I have been on board with this thread, since summer time and think this has got be THE best thread on the 'net, and that I continue to enjoy it very much, as clearly, everyone else does, too!
So thanks to you, I am finally kicking off "post #1", to thank you for the enjoment, history, and inspiration you continue to provide.

Actually, this entire forum is pretty darn cool.
Best wishes,
Rich (from MA)

Hello there Rich. THE best thread on the 'net covers an awful lot of ground, but since you say so, I'll take you at your word. It is gratifying to know you and others enjoy spending a little time here on occasion. I too think the entire Garage Journal forum is pretty special with a tremendous group here. We're very fortunate to have this as a resource don't you think?

Standby, I've got something pretty cool in the works coming here. It's being put together and is taking some time but that has never stopped me before. As you probably know by now, you never know what's going to show up here.

Thank you for the kind words of encouragement and welcome to our world.

Thomas