Gben's vintage kitchen stuff

[gben]

 

[the-accumulator]

What do you know of its history? Have you owned it for long? Does it hold an edge? It's a pretty piece. T-A

 

[the-accumulator]

Here's another from a file but not as pretty as yours:

 

[gben]

It was very common for old hand files to be used as the high-carbon steel for hand tools of all sorts, and it makes perfect sense to get two uses or lives out of the purchase of one hand-file. I have done it myself, which is why I have never thrown out any old file no matter how broken or rusty it is. The nice thing is these days used hand files can be had for little or nothing, whereas back in the day most hand tools were scarce and hard for the workingman to afford at all.

 

[the-accumulator]

It was very common for old hand files to be used as the high-carbon steel for hand tools

I knew I had more. I sorted through another box and found these two, one from a file and one from a farrier's rasp.




Use what you got and waste nothing! T-A

 

[gben]

Nice work in those tools. It backs up what I said about how common it was to use old hand-files as stock for making into other tools.

I changed the title of the thread because I thought as time wears on I will have other items from the kitchen I can take photos of. Here is another food chopper which I thought had a lot of work going into the handle:

And here are a pair of large kitchen fireplace cranes that used to belong to the parents of an acquaintance of mine, now all deceased and their house was bulldozed flat by the city, I saved what I could out of it before it was destroyed:

 

[the-accumulator]

Beautiful iron work, especially the top crane in the photo. Nice save on your part. I have one crane mounted on the outside wall of my machine shed to hold flowerpots. I'll post a photo when I get a chance. Thanks for sharing your treasures. T-A

 

[gben]

Charles F. Bush was a resident of my home-town Erie, PA who patented this knife-saw for use by butchers in 1889. He is listed in our old city directories as having been a sales manager for a local manufacturer, he passed away in 1937. This knife/saw used to belong to an acquaintance of mine who's family had it for many decades.

 

[gben]

A colonial bread toaster that is hand-forged. Slices of bread can be put in it, and it's holder can be rotated so the bread is evenly done on all sides.

 

[gben]

I took the handle off this little Richardson kitchen saw because it was not in line with the frame and blade. I tweaked the frame a bit and then put the handle back on, but first I snapped photos of the very nice nuts and bolts used to hold the saw together. Google came up with the text and patent drawing for the nuts, and they are quite historical. The patent was by a Mr. F. Washbourne, and the nuts and bolts are revolutionary because instead of being cast the nuts and heads of the bolts are cut from sheet stock and then shaped and impressed in dies like those that might be used to make coins. The shaft of the bolts are formed from wire and then brazed to the head. This makes stronger parts than if they were cast, and they are also supposed to be cheaper to manufacture. This could mean that this little kitchen saw was made between 1867 and 1887 when the patent might have run out and no longer needed to be stamped on saw parts anymore...

 

[gben]

And here we have a Disston brand knife-saw. Listed in their catalogs around 1900 give or take. It is the length of a large carving knife. Just a handy tool to have in the kitchen if you are cutting an animal into pieces for a meal, if a bone stops you just turn it over and saw on through.

 

[gben]

I love this old 15-inch, 38-centimeter, Henckel's Chef's knife. Forged masterfully from one-piece of wonderful steel. A nice finger-guard/stop is forged into the middle, then the steel is tapered to the end of the handle, and to a paper-thinness to the tip of the blade. I can bend the tip of the blade ninety-degrees to either side and it just springs right back to straight. I am guessing this is a pre-WWI knife, because Henckel had other awards later than 1904 which are not listed on the blade. So not only is it a tool for the artist in the kitchen to use, it is a tool made by artists!

 

[Spideyjg]

No pics show up. I want to see some of that.

 

[gben]

No pics show up. I want to see some of that.

That is odd, because I can see them without even logging in and with a windows XP computer with an outdated browser. Maybe you have some sort of security settings that are not working right.

 

[the-accumulator]

That is odd, because I can see them

I'm quite sure I'm seeing them all on my Android phone, I just haven't had a chance to respond appropriately. What an interesting collection! T-A

 

[the-accumulator]

I changed the title of the thread because I thought as time wears on I will have other items

Here are some other items I found that do or might belong in the kitchen:





A hand-forged turning fork, hand-forged skimmer or slotted spoon, a large knife made from a file (not sure if it was intended for the kitchen or not?), and a smith-made potato peeler. If they could only talk... If they could talk, I'd ask 'em to tell me about your primitive toaster! T-A

 

[gben]

Your nice artifacts reminded me I have these hanging in the garage:

 

[gben]

I think this is a broom for a hearth. Given to me by an 88 year-old friend of mine who I used to work with when he was younger than I am now. The other thing is to set a pan or pot on in the coals of an open-hearth kitchen or just a campfire maybe.

And some old bread knives that were in the barn:

 

[the-accumulator]

I changed the title of the thread because I thought as time wears on I will have other items

Here are two more items for use at the hearth:




My fireplace crane, now serving as a potted plant holder over the dog's house. Not fancy but very stout. Appears to be blacksmith made.





Trammel hooks, the fanciest and longest set I own. Highly adjustable and sporting a ram's horn motif. Condition is good, collectable. It would take quite a tall hearth to utilize the full length of this device! T-A

 

[gben]

A colonial griddle: