Show us your weird and unusual stuff.

[1mach1]

275 pound blacksmith swage block. Picked this up for a deal a while back in Michigan. Extremely useful for old school blacksmithing. Beautiful as well. Sometimes I just gaze at it. [emoji14]

 

[esteban68]

I used to use one of these when I was first apprenticed in engineering....man's stuff!

 

[dh66]

I'd just gaze at it too, because I sure as **** wouldn't want to move it. [emoji14]

Cool stuff, Harv! Hope you put it to use occasionally.

 

[1mach1]

I'd just gaze at it too, because I sure as **** wouldn't want to move it. [emoji14]

Cool stuff, Harv! Hope you put it to use occasionally.

lol I have a dolly to move it around when needed. I don't use it much, but often enough.

 

[dh66]

Added this guy to the curio cabinet today.

 

[1mach1]

Wow, Dale! What a find! Got any history to go along with the piece?

 

[Zombie_61]

Added this guy to the curio cabinet today.

I have one around here somewhere. Mine is clearly made from some sort of animal hide, and the skin isn't too dissimilar to the "rawhide" they use to make dogs' chew toys.

 

[dh66]

Wow, Dale! What a find! Got any history to go along with the piece?

Made by Jivaro Indians in Ecuador. They make 'em out of goat skin instead of each other these days, and sell 'em to tourists. Picked it up from the same shop where I nabbed the two headed bird. Traded a painting for it.

I have one around here somewhere. Mine is clearly made from some sort of animal hide, and the skin isn't too dissimilar to the "rawhide" they use to make dogs' chew toys.

Glad to know there's someone besides me. Why am I not surprised it's you.
[emoji14] [emoji3]

Post a pic!

 

[Zombie_61]

...Glad to know there's someone besides me. Why am I not surprised it's you.

Great minds think alike?

Post a pic!

I would if I knew where it was; I think it's buried in a cardboard box somewhere in the garage. I haven't seen it since we moved in 1999. [huh]

 

[Bugguy]

Made by Jivaro Indians in Ecuador. They make 'em out of goat skin instead of each other these days, and sell 'em to tourists. Picked it up from the same shop where I nabbed the two headed bird. Traded a painting for it.


Glad to know there's someone besides me. Why am I not surprised it's you.
[emoji14] [emoji3]

Post a pic!

dh66 - I think I got a small (6') boa skin from that same tribe years ago. Name sure sounds familiar. They had an anaconda skin that could'a gone 8-10' with scales larger than my thumb. I couldn't afford it at the time. They also just brought in a fresh bushmaster - poison spear kill. Head was larger than both my hands side-by-side. I bet it had a quart of venom, at least. Some scary stuff down there.

 

[Bugguy]

Not vintage - but maybe weird:
HeartMate II Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD). I use it for school and community education. While not a full artificial heart, there are plenty of these out there chugging along. The HeartMate III is a different style and now half the size. Simple design means its less likely to break down... not a good ending. Fully implantable, air is pumped as a pulse in and out one side of the diaphragm and blood pumped on the other. The inside metal is textured and treated to prevent clots from building up.

One time use only @ $75,000 cost to hospital.

The good news is the previous owner received the real deal - a heart transplant - and is back playing the links. BTW-1 Let TSA know before you step through the metal detector. BTW-2 Technically obsolete = vintage?

 

[Renault]

My wife is a Heartmate recipient! Her's is the newer horse shoe shaped one with impeller in the middle.

 

[Bugguy]

My wife is a Heartmate recipient! Her's is the newer horse shoe shaped one with impeller in the middle.

Different approach to perfusion - continuous rather than pulsatile. Smaller, lighter, better for destination therapy. I'm amazed by the rapid advances. Wasn't long ago we were chasing baboon hearts.

 

[Renault]

She's had hers since Sept 2012.

Lots of different stuff going on in her situation. Medical and otherwise. But we have been less than satisfied with performance.

Anyway, nothing we can do about it now.

Thanks for posting the older ones. The new stuff (especially in Europe) is pretty astounding. Wont go into all gory details here. Just not the place!!

 

[dannyk]

Hey guys this is my very first post on TFL. I’ve been a very long time lurker. Mostly into leather jackets and boots but this thread has finally brought me out of the shadows so to speak. I figured I had something too good to pass up. I won’t bore everyone with every last detail but several years ago I was diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and had to have six in-depth surgeries done at a very famous Northeastern US hospital. As part of these surgeries I had to have both my right and left first ribs removed. They are small ribs located just below and behind your clavicle. Several hours later I awoke to my doctor asking me if I wanted to keep them. Now I am probably the only person on earth who can say they have their own ribs in a jar.

 

[AmateisGal]

Hey guys this is my very first post on TFL. I’ve been a very long time lurker. Mostly into leather jackets and boots but this thread has finally brought me out of the shadows so to speak. I figured I had something too good to pass up. I won’t bore everyone with every last detail but several years ago I was diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and had to have six in-depth surgeries done at a very famous Northeastern US hospital. As part of these surgeries I had to have both my right and left first ribs removed. They are small ribs located just below and behind your clavicle. Several hours later I awoke to my doctor asking me if I wanted to keep them. Now I am probably the only person on earth who can say they have their own ribs in a jar. View attachment 96659

Whoa. Okay, that is slightly creepy, but still cool!

 

[dannyk]

Whoa. Okay, that is slightly creepy, but still cool!

Oh it’s creepy.haha I own nothing of the sort at all other than this. I just couldn’t say no for the simple fact who else could say such a thing? I have no plans to further this collection. I just never even thought it was an option or that a doctor would ask that, so when he did I felt like I almost had to say yes.

 

[AmateisGal]

Oh it’s creepy.haha I own nothing of the sort at all other than this. I just couldn’t say no for the simple fact who else could say such a thing? I have no plans to further this collection. I just never even thought it was an option or that a doctor would ask that, so when he did I felt like I almost had to say yes.

For sure! It's a great conversation started, right? I don't remember if the doctor asked me if I wanted to keep my tonsils when I got them out back in 1998, but I have a feeling they would have been pretty gross by now if I had.

 

[Zombie_61]

Oh it’s creepy.haha I own nothing of the sort at all other than this. I just couldn’t say no for the simple fact who else could say such a thing? I have no plans to further this collection. I just never even thought it was an option or that a doctor would ask that, so when he did I felt like I almost had to say yes.

"Why, yes Doctor, I would like to keep them. After all, they're my ribs."

Nowhere near the same, but back in the 1980s my wife's sister and her husband had a dog that swallowed a rock that he'd dug up in their back yard. The rock effectively blocked any ingested food from leaving the dog's stomach, so they paid $250 for a "gastric rockectomy" (the surgical procedure to remove the rock). When the Vet asked if they wanted to keep the rock, they said, "We paid $250 for it, yes we want to keep it." So they took it home, had it mounted on a little pedestal, and it adorned their mantle for several years along with a framed copy of the receipt from the Vet.

 

[dannyk]

For sure! It's a great conversation started, right? I don't remember if the doctor asked me if I wanted to keep my tonsils when I got them out back in 1998, but I have a feeling they would have been pretty gross by now if I had.

Yeaaahhh definitely not something youd keep Not that I would ever want to actually physically touch my ribs, but I couldn’t if I wanted to. The doctor informed they put all sorts of chemicals on them to preserve them. So the jars will remain closed and in a box except for those nights after a couple of drinks and I tell the story and someone says no way prove it?