Dream Shop - Old Shop Demolition finished. Demo photos added.

I got the plate rails up around the clean shop and put up out Royal Copenhagen Jule ( Christmas) plates. They start at 1903 and go to 1990. The early plates skip around from 1903 to 1910 and then there are a few in the mid years until 1960 where we have a complete set to 1990. There are also some B&G Jule Aften (Christmas Eve) plates for several years. About 50-55 plates all total. About 20-30 years ago they were worth a small fortune, but with collectable prices dropping drastically most are worth $10-20, with a few worth a couple hundred. The 1903 plate alone used to fetch $1000 in good condition. Today, the whole collection is not aIMG_20200726_143152.jpg IMG_20200726_143157.jpg IMG_20200726_143213.jpg IMG_20200726_143013.jpg IMG_20200726_143037.jpg IMG_20200726_143108.jpg IMG_20200726_143135.jpg lot more than that.
 
Lastly, I put some of my early phone collection in the antique phone booth. I installed glass shelves in it and switched the lighting to LED.

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That phone booth display is just awesome! Can we get a shot away from it to show whole display?
 
Great Phones !
I really enjoy seeing non-Western Electric stuff from the Bakelite timeframe.
Infact, several my knives over the years incorporate bakelite from broken phones into their handles or scabbards.
 
I'll take a good shot of the display tomorrow. I will also shoot photos of the phones in the house, too. I have a big collection of antique phones and regularly do talks/presentations on the history of the telephone. Last one was at Tidewater Community College. My grandfather invented the selective station dial phone (allowing me to call you without an operator).
 
I had a comms shop. Sold them, plus I owned the only private carrier UHF interconnected system in Memphis. Did paging & two way, too.
 
OK, I'll post some shots of the hot shop and the upstairs storage. The one end of the upstairs is all in wood handle material.
The hot shop is just getting organized and none of the big equipment is in place. The floor drill press and band saw are sitting over to one side. There is a bench drill press I am converting to VFD sitting on the bench. I have put a lot of the small stuff in the cabinets. I am trying to get it all together so I don't have to search for stuff anymore. The steel bin ( old farm milk can) is packed full of bars and the sheets are leaning against it. I have a lot more high end steel in the house to come out when the hot shop is ready.


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As anyone of you who has been to my home knows, the house is full of neat things everywhere you look. There are swords hiding in corners, curios behind things, and unique stuff just sitting there to be picked up. You might see an elephant tusk or huge whales tooth, or a rare geology specimen, or a 100 year old radio, etc. The house is like a very comfy museum. I have old phones that are special in the house. I have made replicas of Bell's first five phones from his patents, drawings, and phots. Ones of which I am especially proud are the 1876 Centennial Exhibition Phone (long megaphone looking device), the gallows phone ( the name describes it well), and the "Watson, come here! I need you." phone we all saw in our school books. Feel free to ask about any of the others or things in the background.
My pride and joy are the two Elliott phones on the ends of the display case. The best one is a rare "Mom and Pop" phone with two earpieces and a movable microphone.
Oh, that bottle of beer is from Princess Diana and Prince Charles wedding in 1981.


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This Elliott phone is a three box phone - battery box, receiver box, microphone box - and had been modified to have a gas light on top of it. I didn't mount the battery box in the display because it is just a plain looking oak box. The speaker box could be swapped out for the handheld microphone with the "push to talk" lever on the side.
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Here are the last photos of the clean shop after getting all the boxes out. There is still a bunch of stuff to go on the shelves and in the display cabinets.

The shot of the Centennial Phone wouldn't fit the last post.
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Demolition of old workshop went well. That old friend didn't want to go easily. When I built the shop 20 plus years ago I used screws on every board, and put double studs at the corners of each wall. The base plate was screwed to the platform/floor with 4" construction screws every 12". Even after cutting through all four corners at the bottom, and slicing all the walls from top to bottom every 4 feet, we couldn't pull the end wall off. We finally had to tear the building down one half a wall at a time. Even after removing two walls the building was standing firmly on the remaining two walls with the full roof barely even sagging. I'll post photos later today.

I have a bunch of extra tools and stuff that is up for grabs to anyone in the area. Also two big workbenches.counters.

A 30 yard dumpster is being delivered Wednesday and I'll start putting the debris in. Anyone who wants to help on a Wednesday, Saturday, or Sunday is welcome. Email me for time and location info. There will be lots of other free bladesmithing/shop tools, supplies, and equipment later on for those who helped with this project.
 
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