Grampa's Hammer

[LongRanger]

All my life --- I've kept stuff . . . like someone who could be called a 'collector'

Even when I was really young . . . I felt a need to keep. My toys, my books, clothes, furnishings --- strange things, sometimes . . .

And not because they were valuable or even useful. I kept them . . . 'because'


'Keeping' 's never left me. Space --- and money . . . and sanity, may have all forestalled some of it . . .


. . . but I still 'keep' stuff --- like? . . .



. . . my Grampa's hammer



It's an odd little thing, pretty --- a Carpenter's finishing hammer? . . . holding it, seems too fragile to use. Handle has a ridiculous amount of contouring done to it --- I mean . . . it's a hammer fercryinoutloud

Used it to put up some stuff today


Don't remember how I got it




..................

[Orange71S]

I am with you on this need to hold onto 'things'.
I also have my Grandfather's hammer and it's a 2 pound ball-peen type that has been used so much the face looks like it has melted.
You have to wonder what Grampa beat with that thing.....
Good hammer thread!
Jay

[trdking]

Awesome hammer. I too have my grandfathers claw hammer. FYI this is not a finish hammer. It is either a Rock hammer or a smithing hammer Not sure which but definitely not a finish hammer.

Cheers all

[tomh]

It a great thread with many odd things of generations gone in my possession. It is a tinning or tinners hammer, I have been a tinner for over 40 years and own numerous sizes of these along other old tinning tools.
THANKS for starting it

[Trenton]

Here's a small size one handed down to me:
IMG_5179.jpg

[LongRanger]

Hm

My Grampa's trade was Painter & Decorator

He liked working with his hands --- did a lot of carpentry and wood-working, too . . . for fun

No idea where/when/how he got this . . .



. . . but I think of him --- every time I see it . . . hold . . . or swing it . . .





. . . which is every chance I get



...............

[LongRanger]

. . . sorta


I didn't learn to ride a bike 'till I was in my teens. When I was in grammar school, I used to get soooooooooooo embarrassed every year when they'd make all the kids take this bike-test, to get tags on their bikes . . . and I'd have to tell 'em --- I didn't know how to ride

But --- once I learned . . . I made up for it

Rode a bike to college

Rode a bike to work

Rode a bike to --- ride a bike . . . >200 mi/wk, at one point



This is a souvenir --- from my 3rd bike . . . the 1st one I actually paid for w/ My Very Own Hard-earned (Still have that one, too. Italian)

That was a 'nice' bike --- wasn't exactly the very 'best,' but it cost me plenty to buy (most money I'd ever spent in my life, 'till then --- before I got my 1st car) . . . so/anyway I figured I may-as-well get some bike 'stuff' to ride it with. So I got some bike shoes, a bike jersey, some wool-and-deerskin bike shorts (Itchy. As. Hell). . . and to top it all off? ---- this . . .


Super-light. Otta-be --- it's leather-wrapped cotton. Rode around with this thing for years, a big/bold display of my respect for safety . . .

. . . 'till this one time that I turned-up for a 'fun' time-trial out in Trabuco Canyon


'We'll letcha pass --- this time. Just don't ever come here wearing that thing, ever-again --- K? . . . ya nut-ball'


I was crushed

Hung it up on my bedroom wall . . .



. . . haven't worn it since





...............

[LongRanger]

One of the 2nd things that I did --- after I got my 1st Porsche . . . was to try to get all the stuff that my car didn't have . . .

. . . like a tool kit

Even Back Then --- WAY before the 'net . . . Real Deal 356 Stuff was stuuuupid-expensive

Sooooooo --- I got a repro tool kit . . . ~$400? . . . from Bill Perrone. I was in a hurry and driving my car a lot, and didn't like running around w/o any tools for it. Plus? ---- since it was 'just a repro kit' . . . I didn't mind bumpin'/scratchin'/dingin'/usin' it every chance I got

The only other repro piece that I ever put on that car was a spare tire strap that I got from Brad Ripley when he was running NLA. And it wasn't something that I needed. My spare always fit pretty snug in the well

I just liked the look/feel of that strap, whenever I opened the hood to gas-up


When I sold that car, I sent everything with it --- both gas tanks (the OG one plus a GT-mit-sender), two sets o' wheels (including five 4 X 15 GT wheels) . . . even a Yuma AZ Porsche Dealer frame


Only bits that I kept? . . .



. . . were a kluged-together/weirdo wood steering wheel . . .


. . . and that spare tire strap




Held my spare tire Back Then . . .




. . . holds my pants up NOW



.........

[LongRanger]

From my 356 days . . .

. . . another souvenir


Craig Stevenson had a LOT of really cool 356 stuff --- things that he's collected over the years . . .

. . . special things . . .

. . . little treasures that he would take time to show/tell me about


One of them was what he called the Rarest Wheel There Was --- the deep-dish VDM. Showed me his once

Pretty unassuming little bit . . .

. . . grayish-brown wood, dull, satin finished spokes, thin-rimmed, only a top + a bottom piece, with a thin black stripe at the join? --- simple, not jig-sawed together . . . like the Everybody's Got (to have) One 'Carrera 2 Wheel' . . . and instead of tulip wood sculpture, or an engine-turned Derrington or Leston, or a glossy/gaudy Nardi . . . this wheel would just about be invisible --- unless you looked for it, knew what it was

I LUSTED after that wheel. Bugged Craig incessantly to sell it t' me. Told him how my Ratster was the puuuuuuuuuurfect place to show-case a treasure like that . . . = 'no one would ever suspect/know'

He liked the idea, I guess . . . but no matter how many times/hard I asked, he'd just smile, give a little giggle, shake his head . . . . . . . . nuh


So. I'm down in Coronado this one time --- some kinda Porsche swap-meet thing going on . . . over by the hotel. And there's this Old Timer . . . with a little TV-dinner table . . . with some interesting stuff on it. And I see this wheel

OK-OK --- the wood finish is wrong --- too bright/glossy

The spokes = ditto

And the hub is all wonky --- fasteners look a little bodged

But the splines are clean . . .

. . . and it's stamped 'VDM' . . .



. . . and --- drum-roll, please . . . he only wants $250


!


Could it be?


So --- I grab it + pay the Man, who smiles, says to me . . .


. . . neat little wheel, huh?




I never showed it to Craig, although he musta seen it on my car. I guess I knew it wasn't what I wanted it to be. And when I sold the car, Bob Campbell said as much . . . '

. . . keep the wheel'



I would have anyway. 'My' wheel




...

[LongRanger]

. . . 'junior pilot'

Got this from My Uncle Fred

He worked for Western Airlines, then Delta, for, like, 50 years and-then-some. Just retired last year

Anyway, I remember thinking it was kinda kitschy when I first got it . . . when I was maybe 10?


But I held on to it





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