Colonnades!

 The WINTER THAT WILL NOT DIE is passing at last! Time to do more work on the house!

There were colonnades between the two front rooms sometime in the past, but they have been gone as long as anyone alive could recall, because the floor settled and the doors wouldn't stay closed.I had a set lined up about the time I bought the place but some SOB did me out of them, so the search has been on ever since. Through an interesting set of circumstances I wound up with colonnades for the front rooms. Although dirty, the price was right and the finish is reasonably decent, and is a close enough match to what's in the front rooms they will look pretty sharp.

 The columns are AWOL; they have been for a while, too-the stain on top is as dark as the sides, with only the barest footprint to be seen in bright light.

There are some broken pieces in the doors, which are “leaded” with zinc instead of lead came. Zinc has the advantage of being lighter and stiffer than lead, so the doors won't need re-enforcing straps across them like lead might at that size.The glass is pretty wavy and has lots of character, and has a sort of interesting variation on the usual diamond and vertical bar theme. When the time comes I will probably have the Glass Shop in Emmetsburg repair them-Lee is a very good stained glass artist.

There was a broken hinge on one of the doors, which will be addressed in today's post. The hinges are half-surface mounted little butt hinges with a two tone copper Geneva finish. The bottom one on one side was missing half that went on the jamb. If they were hinges I could lay hold of easily, or full morticed so replacements wouldn't be so glaring I would have replaced them all, but plan B was to find a hinge to take apart and supply the missing half.
Thanks to N D Millwork in Paullina, the missing hinge and lots of the pieces of trim-work cease to be problematic.

The hinge in question has only three knuckles, which is easier far to match than a five knuckle one, and the half missing has the long centre knuckle, so I took the donor hinge and filed enough material from the pin to allow it to be driven out. The centre knuckle of the donor hinge is slightly shorter than that of the original, so I will file down a bronze clock bushing to take up the slack. I am going to hold off fixing the glass doors until they are fixed in where I want them. Hopefully the next project is getting the damned kitchen level so I can start in there!

There it is, in all of its half-fixed glory!

Landfill bait?

Some people collect cats and dogs, and some get odder items sent their way.





This was headed to the landfill, so like the fool I am I told him to load it up and I'd take care of it.

It is an old Fischer, from sometime in the mid twenties.

It still has the ivory keys, and the action is decent.

The wood case has some neat detail but it is dry and sunburnt.

The pin block has some loose pins, and therein lies the reason he didn't want to dink with it.

Look at the legs!

And the matching stool!

Interesting lines.....

Brass furniture.

I have an oak Cable Euphona player piano ahead of this one in line, so it'll lay for a while before I get to it. More projects! Yippie.

It all balances out.

The folks over at The Octagon House had a post recently about an old scale they found in their attic, which very well could have belonged to the granddaddy of all the P. O.'s. Being the nosy creature that I am, I spent a couple hours sort of giving it (and the player piano) the go-over. It's sure a neat feeling, to have a tangible link to the past like that! I've always had a weakness for old mechanical odds and ends, and thought I'd take a moment to share this.

The proper term for such an animal is actually a balance, because it has no provision for directly measuring, without the use of a set of weights. I used to use it to weigh gold and diamonds and so forth when I had the shop, and hated to sell it off when I closed up shop, although a few people wanted it.

It was made by the William Ainsworth Company, who began making balance during the gold rush days and continued until well into the 20th century. William Ainsworth was a watchmaker, who was often called upon to repair the delicate assay balances of the day, and eventually began manufacturing his own. They were an interesting parallel to watches of that era, in that they were also mass-produced and yet still maintained a degree of quality unrivaled since then. The metal cabinet and and lack of fancy finishing technique is indicative of the period between the world wars. Nothing is added to the balance that does not serve a purpose, and the thing still looks elegant. There are a lot of "little touches" like the counter weights that hold the front door up, like an old double hung window; and the feet that all screw in and out to level the base.

Because it is mass produced and not in the wooden cabinet and so forth, it is nowhere near as valuable as some of the other balances on the market today, and also sold for less new. Still, at $186 in 1942, the thing would cost almost $2,500 to buy today!

The weights are all packed in their own little places in a hard case. There are two sets with this one-the old set and the newer. Both sets are gold plated brass whole weights, and inert metal fractional weights (the silver looking ones.) Both are quality sets, and are pretty accurate for most work.




The old set is metric, and still has the traceable certification yet. This meant that they had been compared with a known set of weights directly traceable to the the master standard, and the difference noted so that it could be taken into account when the weights were used. This set was initially the second to the top of the line set that Ainsworth sold.



The newer set has metric, but also has a pharmaceutical set, with grains, pennyweights, and scruples. Let it never be said I have no scruples! The little forceps are there because you aren't supposed to touch the weights with your bare hands because the oil from them will cause tarnish or corrosion, which alters the weight.

This balance is one of two I own, and sets on top of the safe at the boss' store. The other is the next model cheaper than this one, and stays at home.


Anyway, there's anther oddball item, which I seem to have no trouble coming up with (I wonder why?)

Cheers!

Clocks and Desks and Cats in hats!

Long time no post! Lots of things are going on, but most of it has been pretty boring. The north half of the roof is scheduled to be installed. The junk outside has been cleaned up, and a few other little things. There may be a decrease in the mouse population-Kent & Tina's Mama cat hatched a litter of five babbies. This picture is when they were about ten hours old. If they don't find another home for it, I told them I'd take the Bengal striped one or the white one. I figure I can spend a few bucks getting it fixed and licensed, and it'll keep the mouse and rabbit numbers down a little around this place.

My Grannie moved to an assisted living, and it was time to clean up the house. My dad and I went down to help, and I got a few little things to remember the place by. I really didn't want much, and I got everything I wanted. The big thing I wanted was an old drop-front desk that was in the garage since I was a kid. It was my great-grandmother's, and it came from the old farm. It is sort of rough, but nothing that can't be fixed. My dad and I dropped it off at a place in Spencer that has done work for me in the past, and he can fix the big issues for a very reasonable rate. I need a couple of knobs, and some trim pieces and veneer work on the top. Most of the finish is not too far gone-a little Kotton Klenser and some wax and it'll look like a million. I also got a set of kitchen cupboard doors that match mine, a bunch of washers and screws, a pretty nice metal mailbox (which I happen to need) and the old sign with our name that came off the front porch.

A year ago, a clockmaker friend of mine left me an old master clock that came from the old High School in Estherville. It was missing a lot of parts (sort of a life-long project) but had good bones and a hell of a nice oak case. When I mentioned it to a friend in Emmetsburg (whom I was visiting on account of his 101st birthday he got really interested. He told me to hold on and got his car out, and we went to his "other house" where he keeps all of his goodies. He had a piece of slate with almost all of the missing program mechanism. It still needs wired and a pile of contacts, but the hard work is done. It's going in the dining room, so it can correct the clocks in the other rooms and ring bells in the bedrooms and the back yard.

Loss of a friend.

Our good friend Paul Harvey died today.

One of my very earliest memories was sitting next to my Grandpa in his old truck one Christmas eve. I was just the right height to have the heat from the registers blow right in my face, and had my hands on the gearshift feeling the motor as it ran. He was going slow, trying to see the road, because it was snowing, and still dark, or got dark already, and we were on some county road in the middle of nowhere. It could have been scary, but I was with Grandpa. When he got quiet and concentrated on the road, I listened to the radio, and when Paul Harvey came on with his daily program, and for some reason it was soothing. From that time hearing him on the radio always made me think of my grandpa and his old truck. Twenty-eight plus years later and I can still smell the cab of the truck and remember the way the snow looked like stars flying past, the dash lights reflected off of grandpa's glasses, and the gearshift felt under my hands.

And that's one more tiny piece of the rest of the story.

My Christmas present to myself.

I know, I know...I'm greedy, I want it all! I want heat. Inside. Inside the house, no less! Turns out the electric furnace I got from my dad fires up and heats, so it's the logical option, now that the propane company hasn't gotten around to putting in a bottle. I was over there today, and got some pop from the fridge so it wouldn't freeze, and did notice that the house was keeping the heat coming in from the south windows. Speaking of my dad, here he is! He came across a pretty nice Ward's snowblower, and let us take it. This when he could've sold in a second anywhere in town. How's that for nice?

The stove fires up and holds temperature, so I need to pick up a few small cylinders for it, and a new regulator. It's sort of neat to think that the stove has been there since 1934 (there's a receipt in the kitchen drawer for it) and still looks good and works, but then Miss Andrea was immaculate in her housekeeping, so it stands to reason.


My New Year Resolution is to be in there to live by the end of January. Wish me luck...

The ice man cometh

With no real end to the nasty cold expected anytime soon, and the propane barrel in limbo somewhere, I have done more work on furnishings.


My dad found an old oval frame, and it had potential. With some new glass and oil, looks like a million.


Also a neat old tray that I've hauled around for the last few years is finally going to have a home.

More as I can write it.

Dead ringer

Ever see the old-style door bells that made one loud *pong!* and then you had to push the button or pull the cord again? Well, I got one for the Dog House. It has a respectable-sounding ring, and looks like it's been round the horn. It has a pretty simple mechanism inside, and after cleaning and greasing, works like a charm. I need to build or find the outside part to it, but there doesn't look like there'd be much to it.

The insides remind me of door latches from that time period, in that it is simple and beefily made, one of the reasons it is still able to operate after all this time. It has a patent date of 2 July, 1872, as well as one from 18 April, 1873, so perhaps it's a little older than what would have come n a house the vintage of mine. Then again-it's out past the Styx, so maybe he could've had one laying around somewhere to use up.

I also dug out the old clock from my house when I was a kid. It is a New Haven Tambour #56, and used to run to the tick. It's had some hard luck since then, so it'll have to get overhauled. It was overhauled in 1991 the first time, and ran until one of the mainsprings broke. It sort of makes me feel old, when I think that I first overhauled this clock at age 14, and now the bushings I installed then are worn out. You can't see it, but there are four repair numbers of mine in the back, and one of Ron Sires, from whom I bought it for $15.

Next on the agenda is hooking up one of the furnaces and getting the bedroom floor taken up so I can replace the subfloor. That and the heat are the only real things keeping me from living there right now.

I must be living right!

The mother lode for my house!

My cousins (who always treat me better than I deserve) generously donated this old screen door to the cause-it needs some help, but fits the front door like a glove! It was on their house in town (which my great Grandfather built) but it was not original to the house, and so they were kind enough to give it to me.

It has all sorts of fancy saw work and spindles, and looks like the screen doors on all of the old movies, and there's no way in hell I could afford a new one this nice.



The screen has been dogged, likewise the front corner, but that's all easy to fix. That and a little paint will make it an entry to be proud of!

True story: A friend that I cannot name here was at someone else's house and his dog tore the screen door all to hell. When the lady of the house confronted him with the details, he didn't offer a nickel to fix it-but did volunteer this comforting thought: "Yeah....you got off pretty lucky...he done tore the one to home apart lots worse than this!" The wooden bracing has a really nice fluted profile, and it looks like it grew up with the house. I even had six old white-painted screws on the porch that matched the hinges, and an old hook screwed into the jamb matched the eye on the door for height and location.






I also got another piece of good luck, in the form of this table, which is solid quarter-sawed oak, and forty-eight inches across the top. It has a rather ingenious, but simple little latch that holds the halves together, and they slide very easily apart to put the leaves in. One of the things I remember from my Grandmother's old house as a child was the big round oak table in their dining room. I have wanted one for a while, but they all seem to go for a fortune, so when this one was made available to me almost literally for the taking, I jumped on it. (Incidentally, they told me that it was forty-two inches across, which I measured and determined would fit into my car...turns out it is forty-eight inches, which meant some disassemble time required. Such fun. If I had a tail I would wag it, but I can truthfully say it got brought home in an Oldsmobile Cutlass. I am very happy with it though, and I'd do all of it over again to get it. The people from whom I got it thought it was from about 1920. It has modern casters on it, and at first I was going to remove them, but i like being able to move it with two fingers.

Last, but not least, a friend bought a house here in town, and I went to their sale, and got this desk. It is in sort of fixer-upper shape, but for what I paid for it I am not whinging any. It's one of those combination affairs, that have the desk and book case all in one. It is quarter-sawed oak veneer, and I think I may have some pieces to replace the missing. The mirror for the back is around somewhere, but the glass is broken, so I have that to do, and I plan on replacing the back with oak bead board or car siding.

I have been thinking about the heat situation, and remembered I have the one I bought for the farm, which I may use this year-it did all right...just look at how happy the hound was to have it!