One of the fascinating things for me Kuco is that the garage was full of things some ordinary and some rather less than ordinary but there is something almost anyone can relate to. That watch is an object of great interest just because of when and why it was made but a simple wooden screwdriver that can remind someone of their dad or granddad is just as important an object. And the watch is really no different to fadda's mum's watch in that it's true value is the person it reminds you of.
When we were clearing my grandads garage out (under his supervision aged 98) we found some cool stuff including a dictaphone type arrangement.
None of the shitty wee tapes or digital stuff. This badboy cut vinyl disks.
Put it aside and never saw it again.
Late to this thread but absolutely loving it. I vividly remember the awe and wonder of my Dad's garage as a kid. The strange objects, wonderful smells and a whiff of danger from sharp blades, toxic chemicals and lethal looking power tools. I particularly remember his home made table saw with no guards or safety features whatsoever!
My dad is still with us, but in a newer house with a smaller garage. He is now in his late 80s and still enjoys a potter. At 56 I still turn into a wide eyed kid when I visit and have a rummage through his accumulated stuff and tap into his wisdom for advice on some DIY conundrum. In my teens and twenties I used to take the piss out of his hoarded jam jars full of odd screws, pipe cleaners and widgets. Now I do the same "just in case". I think of my Dad every time I go into my own far less impressive man cave.
Lovely thread, thank you.
This money box is from the 1930's and still has sixpences and old pennies in it. it must have been his when he was a child.
I looked for a key but a bit of googling tells me the keys were kept at the bank, you took your money box in and they opened it and put the money in your account, locked it and sent you off without the temptation of spending any of your pocket money.
It seems there is a branch of HSBC still in the old Midland bank building in Streatham Hill which would have been his local branch so maybe I should go in and ask them to open it 😊
Just wanted to add my voice that this thread is brilliant, and makes me think very fondly of my old man. Cheers and Happy Easter
Amazing thread. Like you say, something there for most people to relate to.
Keep up the good work.
Great thread, this👍
To this day, my Dad’s garage has a particular smell (a mixture of solder, sawdust and grass cuttings I think) that instantly transports me back to the 80s.
Love the old soldering irons, got my grandfathers for sweating patches on small engine fuel tanks.
I cannot possibly envisage any scenario where I might need either hydraulic shock absorber fluid or valve grinding compound but I just love the tins so I'll just have to find room for them!
Great thread avdave2.
Sounds like Steve lived a life!
One or two things bring back memories for me too.
I have some of those soldering irons, and Amal carbs, and have used grinding paste on old British motorbike valves.
Never heard of Swedish plate money.
Fascinating stuff.👍
I kept seeing this thread but never dipped in. I never knew what I was missing. Fascinating stuff and brings back a lot of memories.... thanks avdave2
Late to the party and not read all the posts yet, will do later.
Just also wanted to say well done OP great thread. 👍
This really does just keep on giving - I've now recalled a lost memory of grinding valves from my very first car (a Viva HA) with my dad showing me how to do it. I was about 18 or 19, so that was over 35 years ago and I've not remembered that in years!
After a bit more googling this morning I've realised that the stick I've kept because well it's a stick isn't it and it's got suckers at either end and of course one day I'll need exactly that for something I or anyone questioning me can't possibly foresee is in fact the valve grinding stick that goes with the compound.
Yay! Go grind some vavles!
You can still get valve grinding paste and sticks. Bought these a few years ago when I was restoring a BSA A65. I've no real use for them now, but can't throw them out!
These were in box which I think from other things in it must have belonged to his father in law who served with the 47th London Division in France. We also have his medals and a couple of postcards of him taken in France.
The Australian Commonwealth Military Forces badge might have been his own fathers. At some point he abandoned his family and went to Australia. From the little that Steve told us we believe he served in the Royal Australian Navy.
Some more of his motorbike manuals and parts lists. He had a Triumph 650 and sidecar in the 50's, I've got the receipt for the sidecar ans a few of the bits he bought for the bike. I can't recall him mentioning the Norton, I'll have to ask my dad about that as he might know something about it.
I had one of those Midland Bank money boxes. In the 60s I spent many hours trying to hold the spring flap back a press a coin down onto it so that I could then slide it out. Never achieved anything other than waste a few hours.
@wingnuts I'll have to take it to a locksmith, I don't think there is a fortune in there but it would be nice to see coins that haven't seen the light of day for 80 or 90 years.
Looking through all the old tools I wonder if anyone in the years to come will have the same love for the tools we are using now.
That watch was obvious army issue, the crows foot is the giveaway. Interesting theory on the back story, I'm sure there are those out there who could shed more light on it.
I used lapping compound only a decade or so ago at sea when overhauling cylinder heads on the generators. A nice switch off and relax job if ever there was one.
@squirrelking the watch after a few days running is now keeping better time, it was losing 10 minutes a day when I wound it up for the first time now it seems to have gained 1-2 minutes in the last 24 hours or so.
There are quite a few things I've found with the arrow or crow's foot marking. It's possible I have a few items of my own so marked from my time in the MOD 😊
@squirrelking the watch after a few days running is now keeping better time, it was losing 10 minutes a day when I wound it up for the first time now it seems to have gained 1-2 minutes in the last 24 hours or so.
Maybe whatever lubricant remains in there getting redistributed a bit? You should have it serviced, running it without sufficient oil in is somewhat like doing the same thing with an engine. It only cost me £90 or so when I had it done to my grandfather's WWII-issue Cyma wris****ch.
+1 for a photo of the whole garage please.
Noted finbar, I'll not wind it up again until I've had it serviced.
Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the whole garage. It would have been misleading anyway because the whole central part where his car used to be was piled up with my stuff. When I moved out of my house 3 years ago following a divorce Steve let me use his garage for storage as he could no longer get down to use it. Just after he died I bought my house back from my ex-wife so now I'm in the process of moving my stuff and Steve's stuff back across the road. The only issue I have is my garage is knackered and needs re-roofing and a new rear door and window so everything is going in my storage area under the floor. There are a lot of boxes down there! Can't wait till I can get my garage fixed and can get all mine and Steve's stuff back out to use.
Just to give you an idea of how much sorting out there has been to do there was one knackered old Workmate in the garage and another 2 in the conservatory, he never got rid of anything!
my garage is knackered
In that case, don't just move the contents of the garage, move it as well, Hey Presto, new garage!
"following a divorce....my storage area under the floor..."
Feel like you missed a trick there!
@FB-ATB it's a great idea, might be tricky with there being a house built on top of it but I could always try. Or I could just tunnel from my underfloor storage to his garage, give me something to given there is no prospect of being back at work until June.
With all the talk of rationing when all the panic buying started her's a reminder of last time we had it.
Just why Steve kept a petrol receipt from 1946 I've no idea, but all of this was in a box of old papers and books. The mice had been at it but fortunately the most interesting stuff had survived, I'll post some of that later.
Seem to remember my dad having an old driving licence like that - sadly long gone now (both the licence and my dad!)
I think the old style log book for my Dad's Honda 50 moped is still at home (unless my Sis continued her ruthless clearout after he died).
I'm enjoying this more than FGF!
I know you mentioned donating some stuff to a museum- do you have a "living museum" locally, the type of place where they recreate homes/workplaces? Some of this stuff would be ideal.
We have one locally where they have relocated buildings that would have otherwise been demolished (my inspiration for the garage!). They're set with day to day items and it looks like the owners have just popped out.
11/6 for 6 gallons of petrol! That's 57&1/2p!
It was only after I'd posted yesterday that I noticed that the directors of the garage were all Barnwell's,so must have been relatives of his father. I checked on Companies House, it seems the company was incorporated in January 1937 and finally dissolved in 2018. I think any family involvement ended years ago, the information on Companies House only goes back to the 80's
In an old wardrobe in the garage in a box under the box of manuals was a box of old maps and road atlases. These are just a few of them, I love the old 1 inch maps so I've kept them.
Cracking thread. Thanks. Already a contender for thread of the year.
In an old wardrobe in the garage in a box under the box of manuals was a box of old maps and road atlases. These are just a few of them, I love the old 1 inch maps so I’ve kept them.
I suspect you may already have more than you can shake a stick at, but if you want any more 6th or 7th series 1" to the mile maps, drop me a PM. My dad died last year, leaving around 100 in a box, and I've found it hard work trying to shift them (basically for peanuts) on the 'bay. Yours for postage, if they're any use to you.
@thelawman thank you for the offer and if I had the warehouse I'd love to have then I'd have them. Sadly I seem to have filled my house already! They are such nice things it's hard to get rid of them, hopefully you will find a home for them.
No bother; I agree on them being nice things, particularly the ones that are mounted on cloth. Obviously the offer's available to anyone else if they're wanted, although it must be said that I'll probably have to wait until things are back to normal-ish, if only to get hold of packaging and the like. So they'll just have to live in our loft in a box for the foreseeable.
Thread of the year!
My Dad didn't have a garage but his shed was absolutely full of stuff - much of which was '....just in case'.
He's long dead but this is bringing back so many memories.
I'm surprised there have been no axes so far.
Especially for you this morning @frankconway
While anyone else might just have an axe Steve also had a sword and a machete as well
I'd wondered why he had a machete when I came across it but again google has come up with the most likely answer. It's a Collins & Co Legitimus model 1250 from 1943. They were made in the US for the Canadian armed forces. 46 Commando were used in Normandy at Rots to support the Canadian forces going in ahead of the Canadian troops and supported themselves by the Canadian Fort Gary Horse's tanks. I assume it must have come from there.
The sword looks almost homemade and the end looks as though it's broken off although if it has it's then been refinished. There are no markings on it and the scabbard fits it as though it's always been this length. It might be an old blade that's been repurposed. It had a pennant flag from the Tirol attached but I've no idea if that's where it came from. Like every knife in house and garage it's still bloody sharp. I think Steve had at least 4 sharpening stones in the garage and 3 steels in the kitchen along with 2 other knife sharpeners!
Thelawman.
Any of scotland?
@joshvegas
Cant remember all of them off the top of my head, they're in the loft at the moment. I'll try and have a look later. Mostly south and west Eng & Wales, I think.
@thelawman - if you have one covering North dartmoor, I'll very happily pay something, or make a donation, maybe to the STW coffers, in exchange (and cover the postage for you, obvs)
Edit: I'm specifically wanting to see Chagford, and I'd be interested in one that covers Usk in South Wales too... (sorry to hijack the thread...)
Edit: I’m specifically wanting to see Chagford, and I’d be interested in one that covers Usk in South Wales too… (sorry to hijack the thread…)
If you interested in looking at old maps, this is a great website. I have waste many hours on it. Fascinating. Goes back to the 1800's.
is there a peg to hold the handle on the short sword?
@thelawman if any of Scottish borders specifically hawick teviotdale I'll happily make a donation to a charity of your choosing and pay p&p
I'm going to start a new thread later today for the maps I have, rather than clutter up the Steve's Garage thread any further.
But it does look like @fadda may be in luck, we may still have the Okehampton one at any rate (according to one of the photos I took for eBay listings. It may have been sold in the meantime.) I'll drag them out and list what's left in some detail.
Not sure about the others at this point.
@tagnut69, there is no pin or if there is it's under the outer handle which appears to be wrapped around and soldered.
@thelawman I look forward to seeing those, funny to think you think you could have cluttered Steve's garage anymore than it was! 😊
New (not very good) thread for the maps that have been referred to above:-
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/1-to-the-mile-maps-available/
