BC Posted December 8, 2012 Author Share Posted December 8, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Posted December 9, 2012 Author Share Posted December 9, 2012 I have just about given away all of my uncles possessions to the Magpie Charity Warehouse at Inverurie and also the Aberdeenshire refuse tip. I have decided I cannot keep of of the stuff so I think there will be a trailer load of stuff to Taylor's auction house in Montrose with the the table and "bandy", the two clocks and the record player and boxes of 78's. My own loft is getting quite full so I have decided to sell off my Triang Hornby railway stuff as well since I will never set that up again. Again I will put some of the smaller stuff to auction since I simply cannot hold on to everything. The old marbles but I will keep the tin Think I will keep the fuses etc and they will find a home in my tractor shed mini museum when I get around to completing it...I have had the racking bought for well over a year now I keep this ...metal dust caps for period tractors Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Posted December 9, 2012 Author Share Posted December 9, 2012 Old razor blades won't take up much room to keep...now where can I find a razor which will use them I won't be keeping these bands to hold up long sleeved shirts. Or these collar studs Tim identified. Or these three things which are all different sizes....cuff links or what Or these cuff links Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leakeyvale Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 The trio are also collar studs, Bill, I have one of the other studs (mother of pearl/ivory) among my great-grandfather's bits and pieces... ..and these... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Posted December 9, 2012 Author Share Posted December 9, 2012 Thanks for clarifying Sue....uncle did not have glasses until fairly late on in life so no old specs as the ones you have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leakeyvale Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 I have two pairs of his specs. The ones in the picture are fine wire - possibly "best" and the others have heavier frames. My great-grandfather was born in 1847 and spent 40 years in the Royal Navy. I have no pictures of him wearing the glasses but I suspect they pre-date his retirement date of Oct 1892! Surprisingly I once put his specs on and I could actually read with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Posted December 9, 2012 Author Share Posted December 9, 2012 I don't feel like such a hoarder after all then Sue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leakeyvale Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 (edited) The items that belonged to Great-grandfather George are not hoarded but preserved. I inherited them and they are going on to my young cousin. this is family history not collecting. Other items of interest A pipe made from seashells - probably acquired when George went to Fiji as a young sailor. (it still has a dottle) The other specs and an interesting souvenir from Scotland! Portable Inkwell - this folds flat and is about 2.1/2 inches long and I think it is pewter. The Tunbridgeware chest of drawers that belonged to my Great-grandmother, Helen Eliza Apart from these I have an orange that is approx 150 year old - the Orange from the sultan's garden - and there is a story to go with it. Also another souvenir of Scotland - a brooch that is a miniature Black Watch sporran and made of silk. No picture because I cannot find it but I know it is in a box somewhere. As a child it used to fasten the flap of my kilts (fashionable then) instead of a kilt pin (and I have one ot those too) Edited December 9, 2012 by Leakeyvale 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Posted December 10, 2012 Author Share Posted December 10, 2012 I have decided to keep my uncles steelyard. My plan is to dismanle it and get it shot blasted and paint in the nearest shade of green I can find and have it as a garden ornament. Traces of wood worm but I'll sand down the wood and treat before applying teak or linseed oil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 I have a set of those barn platform weights Bill. Given to my Father back in the early 1960's by one of my Mothers farmer cousins. We used them to weigh up the barley in the hessian sacks from the combine at harvest, bringing in the sacks on the trailer from the field and weighing them up to make sure each had 1 cwt of grain in them so that we could accurately determine the yield and also to weigh up if we sold any sacks of barley. You can use these to weigh anything in a sack using the eqivalent weight on the opposite side to the platform and when the top boards were perfectly level then you had the correct weight in the sack. There are several around me who still use them who sell bags of spuds, turnips and swedes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Posted December 10, 2012 Author Share Posted December 10, 2012 It says on the side they can weigh up to 3 cwt Tim. I was talikng to one chap and he said corn bags used to way 1 and 1/2 cwt....no HSE etc back then. I always have the full set of weights which have many other uses...ploughing, door stops and weighing thinks done when glueing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 I can just remember the last of our old 'West of England' 2cwt hessian sacks Bill! Speaking of weights, here's one I found several years ago out in one of my fields that fell out the hedge. It's lost a little of its stated weight, but who wouldn't after 300 years! I've tried to get it more accurately dated but the 'duty' or 'weights and measures' 'test' stamp markings on the brass stud riveted in the ring can't be identified by those in the know, they say that by the nature of the iron and the style of the 2 and 8 that it dates from the mid 1600's. I'ts made of very poor 'pig' iron, having a lot of 'bubble' holes in the iron, some which seem to have been filled with lead, there's also quite a large plug of lead in the bottom, this is normal in these type of weights as lead would have been poured into the pre-cast hole to ajust the weight to whatever weight it was supposed to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 Here's another one, found in another hedge. This one is later, better quality iron and is a 14lb weight. This one I can date more accurately from the duty test stamp on the brass stud but I'll leave you all to have a guess at the date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Posted December 10, 2012 Author Share Posted December 10, 2012 I can just remember the last of our old 'West of England' 2cwt hessian sacks Bill! Speaking of weights, here's one I found several years ago out in one of my fields that fell out the hedge. It's lost a little of its stated weight, but who wouldn't after 300 years! I've tried to get it more accurately dated but the 'duty' or 'weights and measures' 'test' stamp markings on the brass stud riveted in the ring can't be identified by those in the know, they say that by the nature of the iron and the style of the 2 and 8 that it dates from the mid 1600's. I'ts made of very poor 'pig' iron, having a lot of 'bubble' holes in the iron, some which seem to have been filled with lead, there's also quite a large plug of lead in the bottom, this is normal in these type of weights as lead would have been poured into the pre-cast hole to ajust the weight to whatever weight it was supposed to be. That must have been criminal to ask someone to carry 2 cwts Tim.....I find one 56'er in each hand to be heavy enough but its easier carry the 1cwt than than half the amount because at least I'm better balanced Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Posted December 10, 2012 Author Share Posted December 10, 2012 Here's another one, found in another hedge. This one is later, better quality iron and is a 14lb weight. This one I can date more accurately from the duty test stamp on the brass stud but I'll leave you all to have a guess at the date. Good question Tim but too good a one for me to answer other than it is older than both you and me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 I won't divulge anything as yet, give others the chance of a guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catkom3 Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 That must have been criminal to ask someone to carry 2 cwts Tim.....I find one 56'er in each hand to be heavy enough but its easier carry the 1cwt than than half the amount because at least I'm better balanced Just as a wee side note Bill and Tim,when my Dad was a young man,he was born 1923,bags of grain weighed 2 and a quarter hundred weight,or 20 stone,and were all man handled, Regards Joe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 I can remember my Father saying that he could remember 2cwt 1/4 bags but new bags during the War were 2cwt. Perhaps reduced in size because of the shortages of materials, I have vivid memories of sitting in the barn during cold winter days sewing up holes in bags that rats and mice had chewed in them, in later years when the latex glue 'Copydex' came out we would cut out patches from unusable bags and stick over the holes, when the bags were stored empty they would be rolled up and tied around the middle in 25's and tied up under the rafters in the barn roof to stop the mice and rats getting at them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catkom3 Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 I don't remember bags being patched,although they probably were,but I do remember my Mum and the Lady next door washing the hessian potato bags in the stream,( burn in Scotland ),ready for next season's crop, Regards Joe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Posted December 11, 2012 Author Share Posted December 11, 2012 (edited) Just as a wee side note Bill and Tim,when my Dad was a young man,he was born 1923,bags of grain weighed 2 and a quarter hundred weight,or 20 stone,and were all man handled, Regards Joe. No loaders or forklifts in those days Joe...no wonder some of these men of that era suffered with backs in alter life. Edited December 11, 2012 by BC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Posted December 11, 2012 Author Share Posted December 11, 2012 I can remember my Father saying that he could remember 2cwt 1/4 bags but new bags during the War were 2cwt. Perhaps reduced in size because of the shortages of materials, I have vivid memories of sitting in the barn during cold winter days sewing up holes in bags that rats and mice had chewed in them, in later years when the latex glue 'Copydex' came out we would cut out patches from unusable bags and stick over the holes, when the bags were stored empty they would be rolled up and tied around the middle in 25's and tied up under the rafters in the barn roof to stop the mice and rats getting at them. Copydex....I remmeber it ...a very distintic smell Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Posted December 11, 2012 Author Share Posted December 11, 2012 Well it is Christmas 2 weeks today....I think I will hold on to this tin as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leakeyvale Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Copydex....I remmeber it ...a very distintic smell Tim Still available - very useful glue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 You used to be able to get Copydex in a gallon can for the purpose but I don't think you can anymore. I remember when a small child using the 'waste' Copydex to make a ball which had the same bounce as these 'wonderballs', trouble was you could never get it perfectly round and it would bounce off in any direction. Speaking of repairs, I remember a time when your wellington boots started to leak through either a split or holed by a thorn or a nail we would take them to the local garage and they would mend them with an inner tube puncture patch. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Posted December 14, 2012 Author Share Posted December 14, 2012 The other night I decided it was time to take the steelyard inside and let it dry out before dismantling the wooded parts. I see I have managed to break a piece off in transit but hey ho I'm sure it will weld or glue with araldite or something of that nature Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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