A ring, a chessboard, and a safety razor

A few weeks ago, while making yet another attempt to get my workarea/garage/office sorted, I came across a few things that my grandfather had given me before he died. Anyone who’s spent any time with me has heard at least a little about the old man, and the things that I have that were his are some of my most prized treasures:

- A stainless steel ring he made by working a machine hex nut with hand files (I wear this pretty much every day).

- A set if simple silver cuff links. (These were broken when he gave them to me. Molly had them repaired last year. She’s an excellent person)

- An old hardhat with built-in ear muffs from Ladish (He worked there until he retired)

- His 30-year pin from Ladish (I’ve worn this a few times… special occasions only)

- A toy car he built just before he died.

- A dribble glass.

- A briefcase full of polka music and stand up comedy (think Hal Roach, Abbot and Costello)

- A couple of battered old hand tools, tie clips, keys without locks, and a broken folding rule (which I use often).

- A simple hemlock and maple chessboard he and I built together right around the time Molly and I started dating. This is finished with tung oil and has not only a set of chessmen (shipped from Mexico by way of a friend in Texas), but a set of homemade checkers in its drawer. Joe Ziminski preferred checkers (The plan had been to carve and turn a set of pieces, but that was a little beyond my skills at that point. Plus, the oak dowel I bought was the perfect size for checkers).

- A pair of safety razors… the kind that only requires a new blade, not a whole new plastic and metal assembly. There is one that takes a single edged disposable blade, and one that takes a double:

The double edged

While I was cleaning (read: walking around overwhelmed by the distinct lack of places to put things) I came across these two wonderful little tools and decided that they deserved some love. A quick soak in some wd40 and the application of a nylon brush had them looking pretty good. That night, after everyone was in bed, I loaded the razor pictured above with a fresh blade and shaved.

It is an interesting experience to shave with this kind of device. It would be very easy to cut yourself pretty severely. They were called safety razors, sure, but keep in mind that this was relative to the standard shaving device of the day, the straight razor (interesting note: my younger brother shaves with a straight razor every day). It’s not like the 3 and 4 bladed contraptions we normally use… it’s next to impossible to cut your face with those. I took it very slowly and came away without any serious damage, but with an exceptionally close shave.

I love using my grandfather’s old stuff… even his old jokes:

[While turning out the lights in the shop and heading to the bar for a shot and a beer] Like the shepherd said to his partner at the end of the day, let’s get the flock out of here.