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Show us your Thrift and/or yard sale finds

Foofoogal

Banned
Messages
4,884
Location
Vintage Land
Nice setup. Now if I may. A bit of steel wool will polish up the strap nicely. (unless of course you are going for the original look) Great find.
 

Shangas

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,116
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Hi.

I have already used some fine-grain sandpaper to polish up the metal tangs at the end and they do look very nice. I DO have some very very very fine steel wool SOMEWHERE around the house, and I would use it to make it look a bit neater, but I can't find the wool at the moment. When I do, I'll apply it to the metal to give it that extra sheen.

One end of the strop, after a careful (if not entirely thorough) application of fine sandpaper:

stroppolish1.jpg


...compared with the other end of the strop, which I haven't sanded yet...

stroppolish2.jpg


Doing the area around the rings and the edges is proving tricky.
 
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Foofoogal

Banned
Messages
4,884
Location
Vintage Land
steel wool will work better and/or teeny tiny bit of navel jelly (keep it off the leather) . slowly, use an object like a pen to wrap the steel wool around to get into the tight spaces around the grommets?
 

HarpPlayerGene

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,682
Location
North Central Florida
Yep, I've got some 0000 steel wool I use on stuff like that. Even works on the frets and fingerboards of my guitars (with lemon oil). When I get around to properly cleaning that old office chair, I'll get the fine steel wool out. For something like the hardware on that strop I'd combine some Mother's chrome polish with the steel wool, then wipe/buff with an old T-shirt. Makes QUICK work of cleaning and brightening old tarnished metal.

There's also a product named "Boeshield T-9". Was developed by Boeing for use on aircraft parts. I use it on my tools mostly but sometimes when restoring old hardware. Eats/neutralizes rust. Two-part process. Google it and get the kit if you think you'll need to do this sort of thing often.
 
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Talbot

One Too Many
Messages
1,855
Location
Melbourne Australia
Shangas, If you are a bit flush with funds, and are likely to do more in the future, consider a dremel tool with a small brass wire wheel.

Great for removing rust. You can get in close on small spots and avoid pinching cramps in your hands down track.

I have used Exit Rust with good results. It sprays on and neutralises the rust leaving behind a black deposit that is easily removed. Having said that, I'd avoid getting chemicals anywhere near the leather.

Gene, Thanks for the tip on the Boeshield - I'll look out for it.

T
 
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Shangas

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,116
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Once I find the steel wool (and I know we have a huge chunk of really fine steel wool somewhere in the house), I'll do the finishing toches to the strop. I've tackled all the major areas...

stroppolish3.jpg


...but there's still a bit more that has to be done, especially around the roller-contraption-thingy at the top. Compare that with this...

strophanging5.jpg
 

Shangas

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,116
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Thanks, Gene. Once I find the steel wool, I'll be able to do a much better job in removing the rest of the tarnish/patina and cleaning up the rest of the strop. I already have some metal-paste which I can use to polish it up.
 
Messages
10,933
Location
My mother's basement
Some months ago, I longed for a '50s magazine rack just like this one, but it went for crazy money on Ebay. Yesterday, at a yard sale, I got one for $3.00!

Every now and then I have to remind myself that patience is generally a virtue. Stories such as this only reinforce the lesson.

Just the day before yesterday I commented to a friend that there's very little by way of material goods that I really need. Oh sure, there's lots I want, but I figure that if I keep my eyes and ears open I'll find much of that for very little dough. And Lord only knows what sort of other groovy stuff I'll turn up while I'm looking.

Nice piece, by the way. Take five bucks for it?:D
 
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Foofoogal

Banned
Messages
4,884
Location
Vintage Land
Fine job Shangas. I love working on things vintage to restore them. Something so satisfying about this.

Dinerman.Great book find.

Congratulations HarpPlayerGene. Is it teak? Nice find.
 

Shangas

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,116
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Hey f/gal,

Thanks. I'm still working on it. I've found the steel wool but it's only made a marginal improvement to the strop's metal pieces. I think I've pretty much done all I can with it, short of total disassemblage and cleaning (which I don't have the skills or the tools to do).
 

TackCollector

Familiar Face
Messages
72
Location
NW PA / NW OH
Today's finds:

1. A pink Brother / Atlas sewing machine, straight stitch. Very Art Deco. $20 in a case, with attachments, but the attachments are all by Singer and are originally for a Singer 15.91.

actual pink Brother that I bought -- says Brother on the arm, and that seems to be more rare than the Atlas badge.
IMG_00132.jpg
IMG_00162.jpg
 

PoohBang

Suspended
Messages
781
Location
backside of many
thanks... I couldn't believe I saw it sitting there... apparently it got covered in clothes and stuff... that's why I never saw it. The handles are actually tough to find as what's out there are all 4 3/4 center and mine are 5". Plus, mine have that pointed decorative edge..

Now the killer part... you'll have to be sitting down for this. It was marked $60.00 and they discounted it down (since it was sitting for so long) to $29.00!

It as all I could do to keep in my excitement when I heard that....
 

HarpPlayerGene

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,682
Location
North Central Florida
That's a TREMENDOUS score, PoohBang. I love it when one of us gets a cool old item like that.

--------------

I've seen my share of these valets in op' shops, but they're usually very rickety and priced around $25ish. I bought this one today for $4 and it's stable.

DSCN4749.jpg
 

HarpPlayerGene

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,682
Location
North Central Florida
I got this very old (teak?) deck chair yesterday for $15! Grey'd out by weather but all there and totally solid. The brass hardware is so heavy-duty. 'Been looking for one like this for a while.

DSCN4724.jpg

DSCN4725.jpg



While I'm at it, here are a couple yard sale scores that are arranged around the fire pit:
DSCN4727.jpg

DSCN4728.jpg


And the glider was someone's throwaway that I picked up from the roadside. Nothing wrong with it functionally. I just need to get around to applying some oil stain to some of this stuff...
DSCN4730.jpg
 

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