Good stuff from Grandpa's barn

[Tim Hancock]

A couple years ago my grandparents had to move to assisted living. He has told me many times that I was welcome to some of the wood he had stored in his barn, but I felt kind of creepy going into his barn and taking any of it as I have many other cousins and aunts and uncles to consider.

Well my mother called this weekend and said that there had been a family meeting and no one else wanted anything from the barn or any of his tools and that if I wanted any of it, I had better go get it before the property gets sold.

Grandpa was a home builder and a farmer. I have fond memories of visiting his jobsites when I was a little boy, and I worked for him one summer in college. He always used a small 16 oz. leather handled hammer whether framing or finishing. I went into his barn primarily looking for a hammer to have as a keepsake. Well I found two of them along with what my end up being a fortune in lumber

I did not have a trailer with me, so thus far all I brought home was a stack of Walnut (3/4" x 8"-12" wide x 10'-12' long) and some Cherry (3/4" x 6"-10" wide x 8'-10' lg). There still remains two huge stacks (4' wide x 3' tall x 15'-20' lg each stack) of rough sawn ash and oak.

I feel kind of bad taking it, but the rest of the family does not want it.

The hammers prior to cleanup:




The Walnut and Cherry:

[RWebb]

nice!

Don't feel bad - your GrandPa no doubt wanted to see that wood used rathre than sit and decay. He selected you.

I've got that same hammer, BTW -- forget the manf. but it's a good one.

[onlycafe]

looks like an estwing.

[Rikao4]

after all these years you still question your Mom...
would have thought doing those extra chores cured that.
go get the wood and make your Grandpa proud...

Rika

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by onlycafe

looks like an estwing.

The darker handled one is indeed an Estwing and the other IIRC, is a Malco (or something lke that). I am sure both are a dime a dozen, but to me they are priceless as they signify grandpa K.

[VINMAN]

I have that same Ewing from my grandfather!

I have a bunch of his old handtools. Most I played with when I was a little kid. They are some of my most prized possesions.

[Laneco]

It's funny, isn't it - what we treasure that belonged to our grandparents?

I absolutely completely loved Steve's grandma Mary. When she died after a long illness, she had made it a wish that certain items went to certain family members. Steve for instance, got the table and hutch where he used to do his homework when he was a little boy. Then everyone, even the wives of her grandchildren, got to pick a personal item.

I knew what I wanted. I was pretty sure that no one else would think of it and I knew exactly where she kept it... Everyone got their items, I think I was the last one. I can distinctly remember my idiot sister in law bolting from room to room, pawing thru the jewelry... Whatta pig...

When it was my turn, I walked into the back room and picked up the old mechanical type-writer. Grandma Mary had typed every note, every Christmas card and every recipe she ever shared with that device in her life mission of the bearer of kinship. It was her most used tool.

It weighs a ton and I can't type on it. But it's hers and I'll drag it around with pleasure for the rest of my life. Miss ya grandma!

angela

[onewhippedpuppy]

Funny, I had an Estwing just like the one pictured (top) that I used for everything when I did construction.

Great find with the lumber Tim! Best of all, everything you build with it will remind you of your grandfather.

[Seahawk]

Great post Angela...

I've got a trunk or two of my grandfathers tools. He was the type of guy would could make just about anything.

The only tool of his I still use routinely is an old bench grinder to sharpen mower blades, etc. I remember the first time I used it when I was six or seven at his shop in Castro Valley, Ca.

I think of him every time I turn it on. It still works perfectly

[DanielDudley]

You are doing the wood a favor Tim. I know you will find a good use for it.

[Rick V]

Very cool, I have a few of my grandfathers tools and I use them. there is something about holding a tool that my grandfather held, the same way, doing the same thing. When my grandfather, on my mothers side passed, the family did the gimmie-gimmie-gimmie thing, what a bunch of losers. I was lucky enough to find a watch that he wore. Not the dress watch that he wore when he put on a suit, but the one he wore to work, every day. It still keeps great time and, IMO was the one he wanted.
Just like your hammers, they were selected for a reason.
I'll bet it makes you smile to hold those hamers.

[Tim Hancock]

Several years ago I took his old crusty double barrel shotgun that he had not used regularly since the late 50's home and repaired/refinished it for him and he INSISTED that I keep it after he showed it off to some of his old hunting buddies. The hammers are worth just as much to me

He built lots of very nice homes, but he was never one for detail work, so he enjoyed seeing many of my woodworking projects over the years and still tells the nurses at the nursing home about how his first grandson built violins, airplanes, boats and his cherry cane. He is proud of me, but I am more proud of him for how hard he worked all his life and how he instilled strong family values in all of his kids.

Several years ago after he had his first stroke, I took a couple of dusty rough sawed cherry boards from him that had been cut from his woods and made some music stands for my girls and a cane and picture frame for him for christmas. He loved that cane and only used it when he and grandma "went out".

Sometimes I wish I could turn back time to spend some more time riding on the tractor with him or fox hunting with him and his buddies.

I am going to polish one of the hammers up and take it to the nursing home and let him hold it again.... sounds corny, but I think he will appreciate it.

[Aerkuld]

That's great Tim, I'm glad you have something to remember your Grandfather by.
I know how important it is to you and understand what Angela is talking about.

When my Grandma passed my Dad asked my sister and myself if there was anything we wanted. There was one particular thing I wanted and I knew straightaway.

Everytime we used to go to Grandma's to spend the night I used to stay in my Dad's old room and I remember laying in bed trying to get to sleep listening to the slow tick-tock of the grandfather clock in the hall downstairs. That was what I wanted. I later found out that it's been in our family for some time and is fairly valuable but I don't care about that, it's way more important to me and I will never part with it.

That clock has now travelled with me from England to California, then back east across the USA and is now standing proudly in our formal sitting room. I hope my boys can hear it's tick-tock when they're laying in their beds.

[Jim727]

Originally Posted by Tim Hancock

I am going to polish one of the hammers up and take it to the nursing home and let him hold it again.... sounds corny, but I think he will appreciate it.

Nothing corny at all about that. Good on ya, Tim.

My Dad had that same hammer. Wish I knew what happened to it. It's unfortunate that "stuff" lasts longer than the people we care about, but they can certainly trigger memories. When I received my commission in the Air Force, my parents were there to pin my Lieutenant's bars on. My father pinned one of his on one shoulder, and my mother pinned one of hers on the other. I never polished the WWII tarnish from them and I still have them today.

[Hard-Deck]

Damnit Tim, you even got this middle-aged guy a little misty-eyed.

You're the man, keep the spark.