They don't make junk like they used to!
Sadder fact - a lot of yesterday's "junk" was better-made than some of the "better stuff" we have today.
...want a good garden hoe? Get an eye hoe head from a junk store,....
Yeah, you can, but the price starts around $60.00 last I looked. That's for a good one. You can get the Chinese ones on Ebay for under 15, but we're back to junk again.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.
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.Bret
I read somewhere that those belts (the old round ones...like on my Mom's machine) were made out of Elephant hide.
Can't even tell you how many times "this" little kid got his fingers pinched, playing chicken with the moving treadle when Mom was sewing!
Jim,Here is a Classic From Shorpy.com
where's Waldo!You can blow it up pretty big
February 1940. "Secondhand store. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma." Medium format acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration.
View attachment 26222
That is neat. But I can see how it'd be a pain to transport to shows/events.Here is my repurposed treadle sewing machine. This is the second one I have done, I wore out the brew rings on the first one.
I used it to spin the wheels so I could sharpen stuff for folks.
View attachment 26801
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