358156 hp
At large, whereabouts unknown.
Like many of you, I purchased one of Pauls moulds, the one I chose was the oddball of the bunch. The blocks appear to have been cut off one of the early 20th Century Ideal moulds (225036 perhaps?) that had the blocks cast integrally with the handles. At some point the blocks were cut off, then milled and drilled for detachable Ideal handles. The screws that hold the handles on are older allen heads that have had screwdriver slots cut in them. The overall workmanship is pretty impressive. Unfortunately, we will never know who did the original modifications, and can only guess at their motives. Whoever did the work was damned good and determined to salvage this mould, and they succeeded.
The handles I chose for them are quite unique too. Almost as unique as the mould blocks that grace them. I bought a mould at auction a few years back that came with these handles. These handles were made by someone with the same skill & determination as the mould guy. The handle parts are from a pair of pliers, needlenose (noddlenese Ian?) pliers by the look of them. The mounting flanges appear to have been faced by hand with a file, some of the shaping appears to have been carefully done with a bench grinder. The welds, all told are pretty damned good as well. Somebody put a lot of work in them, probably because he was outraged at the price of Ideal mould handles.
Together, these two pieces probably wouldn't bring $20.00 at a gun show. Yet, I sit here in amazement over the quality and quantity of the work involved to get them to this point. There are some pics below for you to see what I'm blabbering about. In a way, these two should be in some sort of museum as a tribute of sorts to the lengths some people will go through to achieve their goals, and fill their needs. I would donate them without hesitation if such a museum exists that would look after them. How about you? Lets use this thread to share our favorite moulds and the stories behind them.
The handles I chose for them are quite unique too. Almost as unique as the mould blocks that grace them. I bought a mould at auction a few years back that came with these handles. These handles were made by someone with the same skill & determination as the mould guy. The handle parts are from a pair of pliers, needlenose (noddlenese Ian?) pliers by the look of them. The mounting flanges appear to have been faced by hand with a file, some of the shaping appears to have been carefully done with a bench grinder. The welds, all told are pretty damned good as well. Somebody put a lot of work in them, probably because he was outraged at the price of Ideal mould handles.
Together, these two pieces probably wouldn't bring $20.00 at a gun show. Yet, I sit here in amazement over the quality and quantity of the work involved to get them to this point. There are some pics below for you to see what I'm blabbering about. In a way, these two should be in some sort of museum as a tribute of sorts to the lengths some people will go through to achieve their goals, and fill their needs. I would donate them without hesitation if such a museum exists that would look after them. How about you? Lets use this thread to share our favorite moulds and the stories behind them.
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), had to set up the welder from scratch to do it because I didn't have any other way at the time.
