Some old Photos for your enjoyment
- Thread starter JWFilips
- Start date
There has to be some kind of international socio-economic, poetic, philosophical or literary award for such a brilliant perspective and the perfect articulation thereof!
Folks pine for the "good ol' days," when "things were made right" and quality was a given.
Sad fact - we've made as much or more "junk" here than anyone we point a finger at today. We made/make junk because people will buy it. We just can't make junk as cheaply as the Chinese, so right now, we look like the saints. All the evidence of the monumental,... no COLOSSAL amount of "junk" we've produced in the past is rotted or rusted away, so it's hard to grasp the fact that we've made a lot of junk.
Sadder fact - a lot of yesterday's "junk" was better-made than some of the "better stuff" we have today.
Ian
Notorious member
Yep, my point exactly. If I want "good stuff" I shop antique malls and flea markets for things made 50 or 100 years ago. For example, do you want a good garden hoe? Get an eye hoe head from a junk store, grind a fresh edge on it, and pick up an ash handle at Ace hardware. I don't think you can even buy an eye hoe anymore. Same thing with axe heads, draw knives, and so on.
Bret4207
At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Huh! Don't know if they were. I know you used to be able to get them made out of leather. Of course now they're made from some sort of belting.
JWFilips
Well-Known Member
Another interesting one from shorpy.com
December 1941. "Threshing machine. Canyon County, Idaho. Black Canyon reclamation project in a dry land area, administered by U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Reclamation." Photo by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration.
December 1941. "Threshing machine. Canyon County, Idaho. Black Canyon reclamation project in a dry land area, administered by U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Reclamation." Photo by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration.
Bret4207
At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Note the tracto has the "road wheel" on to prevent the steel lugs from tearing up the road and shaking the tractor and driver apart to boot! Can't make out the name of the tractor, but the thrasher looks like the McCormick-Deering thrasher I used to own, only mine was on steel!
Rally
NC Minnesota
Jim,
You have my wife drooling over this picture! She can match better than half of what is pictured there!
RicinYakima
High Steppes of Eastern Washington
You like steam tractors? Eaton, OH, as an extremely large steam tractor show and pull every May/June. Even in the 1950's they were heavily used by the tobacco farmers for sterilizing beds, so you would see them going down the roads every spring.
StrawHat
Well-Known Member
Here is my repurposed treadle sewing machine. This is the second one I have done, I wore out the bearings on the first one.
I used it to spin the wheels so I could sharpen stuff for folks.
As for belts, the originals were made from leather, possibly buffalo as there were quite a few available at the time. Eventually the leather of choice was bull hide. The round belt was cut to length and held together with a metal staple. This would not work for me as I take the wheels off the treadle to transport the set up. There is a rubber tube, about 1/4” diameter that works. Cut to length, it is held together with a doubled ended barb. It worked well. About a year ago, I switched back to flat bench stones and that has made transportation and set up a bit easier.
Kevin
I used it to spin the wheels so I could sharpen stuff for folks.
As for belts, the originals were made from leather, possibly buffalo as there were quite a few available at the time. Eventually the leather of choice was bull hide. The round belt was cut to length and held together with a metal staple. This would not work for me as I take the wheels off the treadle to transport the set up. There is a rubber tube, about 1/4” diameter that works. Cut to length, it is held together with a doubled ended barb. It worked well. About a year ago, I switched back to flat bench stones and that has made transportation and set up a bit easier.
Kevin
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JonB
Halcyon member
That is neat. But I can see how it'd be a pain to transport to shows/events.
Missionary
Well-Known Member
Good use for a fine old machine.
I made a leather jacket in Germany in 73 (Army) on a treadle machine set up for leather sewing. Craft sop where I developed black / white photos had it in a corner.
I made a leather jacket in Germany in 73 (Army) on a treadle machine set up for leather sewing. Craft sop where I developed black / white photos had it in a corner.
