Homeward Bound

From The Manitoba Readers.  Fourth Reader. (Thomas Nelson & Sons.  Clark Bros. & Co., Ltd, Winnipeg, undated.)

This school reader was probably published in the 1880's, and so this picture would simply have been an example of the current form of sea travel.  

Thomas Jacques Somerscales (1842-1927) was British-born and taught himself to paint while serving as a naval schoolmaster on H.M.S. Cumberland.

Sailing Ship Recognition

John Bohannan.  Your Guide to Boating Power or Sail.  Barnes & Noble, 1965, 1969.

For sailfans looking for their ketch of the day.

Honda for 1962

Italian tank in disguise

Hämmerli air guns, 1961

Continental Holiday.  The American Travel Guide to Europe.  New York, 1961.

Founded in 1863, in 2006 Hämmerli joined Walther as part of the German Umarex Group.

Some day, this awl will be yours!

An assortment of awls in my woodshop.  Includes a Millers Falls No. 365, a Stanley Hurwood No. 7, and one made by W. Marples & Sons of Sheffield.

I love the look and feel of wooden handles on these tools.  The variety of turned shapes is fascinating. When I first find them, the brass ferrules are often missing (the result of wood shrinkage) but they're easy to turn up on the metal lathe in order to put the tool back to work.

Long Island Ferry Hempstead

 Built in 1906, the ferry Hempstead continued in service between Brooklyn and Manhattan until 1925 even though tunnels under the East River allowed the Long Island RR to run trains directly to Penn Station starting in 1910. 
That's an awful lot of woodwork in evidence in the pre-plastic interior and you'd think they would have at least swept the floor before taking the ships portrait. 

Ron Zeil, The Long Island Railroad in Early Photographs, Dover Publications, 1990

Vanished Snowmobile Dealer

Hughson Sales and Service. I never bought a snowmobile from them but during school in spare periods we would go and admire the T'NTs, wishing my miniscule allowance could somehow stretch to even $595 for an Elan.
 Oh well, I could still carve replicas of the desired machines out of pine.

Road hazards, 1930's

Tales of Speed.  London & Glasgow: Collins' Clear-Type Press.  c 1930.

2 Kings 9:20 (in one translation) states, "The driving is like that of Jehu, son of Nimshi, he drives like a maniac."

We used to make things in this country. #184: White Mop Wringer Company of Canada, Paris, Ontario

In a previous post, I featured a dustpan that was well-made, but had no markings other than "White."  At that time, I didn't have any idea who the manufacture might have been.  Turns out, the answer was in my shop.

I happened to be emptying an old heavy galvanized steel mop bucket I use for holding scraps from my table saw when I noticed the "White" name by the handle. Turns out, it still had its original decal:

The White Mop Wringer Company was founded in Fultonville, New York in 1893, producing wooden mop wringers.  By the late 1920's, they had turned to steel for the manufacture of these devices. Apparently, a Canadian subsidiary was established in Paris.  For decades, the mop wringer business was good and, in 1963, it attracted the attention of Electrolux, which bought the company and made it into a division.  At some point, the company moved its offices to Florida. In 2003, the company was acquired by Impact Products of Toledo, Ohio.   At that time, Impact was looking to outsource the White products from overseas.  I don't believe the White name was continued after its acquisition.

Below, ad from one of their competitors back in the day: