I love old machinery and equipment with a story. Things made to last, not made to a penny.
Blacksmithing allows me to do my bit in this story. Everything I make is probably made from twice as strong/thick steel as is specifically necessary. But then it will do its job well and likely be around in 100 years.
Read down my blog and you will see the story of a leg vice I bought from a local reclaim/bric-a-brac shop and then refurbished. I have since been looking for a suitable stand for it. Last week one appeared on ebay and amazingly it was only 5 miles away from us.
It turned out to be a part of a workshop clearance. The workshop owner having recently died at 98, only 2 weeks before having purchased a new buggy to ‘soup-up’. At 78 he was pulling engines out of Jaguars and rebuilding them. My kind of man.
He had owned his workshop for decades, initially setting it up to repair parts for Spitfires and Hurricanes.
So now, this stand, that has such a wonderful history, is supporting my leg vice. Priceless.