What point is it in owning a fancy weapon if no one sees it?
So it has been mounted!
Skull-cleaving capability available to use against home-invaders, provided I don’t get shot first.
–Simon
Vikings Interior Decorate too…
Hold Fast
A long-deprioritized project, Liz wanted old people handlebars in the tub out of concern that my father would kill himself in a failed bathing endeavor. Apparently dad’s mortality was insufficient motivation as I hadn’t gotten around to the project for years (plural). But the recent bone-shattering event, coupled with me trying to clear off the workbench, was. Plus I got a new drill, ironically from my father, and it was a chance to try it out. Time to project!
Initially concerned with mounting procedures, as it’s impossible to drill through glazed tile, I was able to align the brackets with the grout in such a way that each end received two screws. And since the provided mounting hardware is always pitiful, I traded the plastic mounts out for heavy-duty expanding metal versions that reached through 1/4″ of tile and 3/4″ cement board.
Safety protocol!
Bonus: the kid’s embarrassed we have old people handlebars in the bathroom.
Don’t fall.
–Simon
Fa La La La La 2024
And Gawd blefs us, evey wone!
–Simon
Vise Vise Baby
I like old tools. They’re my primary focus when antiquing. They have an individual history with their prior owners, which I don’t know about but enjoy imagining, and I feel a sense of purpose when I buy one and add to its legacy. Plus they’re usually made better than their contemporary counterparts, have already proven their durability, and cost less.
And so it was that with the Veterans Day holiday, I went antiquing with Liz and acquired this bench vise:
I wanted to replace the cheap clamp-on that I had been using, which would never stay in place no matter how hard I cranked down its grips. Now I have a bench-mounted beast. 3 5/8, 2″ bolts say that it’s not going anywhere! I even added lock washers.
And for the second best part: researching the crap out of it! Starting with the cast printing, which reads “THE DESMOND STEPHAN MFG. CO.”
The Desmond-Stephan Manufacturing Company was founded sometime over 100 years ago1. It’s odd that I can’t find an exact date of incorporation, even on their own website2. I’m guessing that they don’t use it as their established date because they were probably a family business when they started operations and tax codes back then were somewhat different and they didn’t get an EIN until much later – ergo they don’t view that as their start date and want to proudly claim their lengthier history.
The vise design and manufacturing actually predated them anyway, having been the property of Simplex Tool Company, later Simplex Corporation, and was sold to Desmond-Stephan in 1931, who continued to make the vises until 1964, when they in turn sold the rights to Ridge Tool Company3. I’m assuming then that my particular vise was made by Desmond-Stephan during this 1931-1964 time period.
My vise, with a single-swivel base and a 3.75″ jaw width, is also conveniently listed in a company catalog from 19414. It has a listed price of $15. Adjusted for inflation using CPI, that’s around $320 today5. I got guud dearl!
Additionally, just for more historical nerding out; The Desmond-Stephan Manufacturing Company; which is in Urbana, OH; was just today at the time of me writing this post coincidentally featured in the local news’ callout that Ohio Magazine named the city as one of Ohio’s 5 best hometowns6. So we get a little bit of local Americana as part of the story too.
So there we have it: a chance find on an antique tool for a good price and made by a local company that’s apparently in one of Ohio’s best little towns to grow up in. I will feel honored the next time I have to cut a board or sharpen a lawnmower blade.
(Or dispatch of a murderous sentient doll.)
–Simon
1https://www.cepohio.com/key-industries.html
2http://www.desmond-stephan.com/
3http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=11518
4https://archive.org/details/desmondstephanmfgco1941/page/n3/mode/1up
Lights Out
I heard a joke once about why hurricanes are given women’s names. I won’t repeat it here, as it’s too lowbrow for even my blog, but I’m chuckling to myself nonetheless. Fortunately, she only took my silver maple when she left, and cut the power for 4 days.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Helene
I’m no stranger to these weather events, but Ohio is not prepared for hurricanes. Tornadoes, we all collectively know it’s a gamble and if you get hit directly it’s game over, but hurricanes always seem to sneak in and do more damage than expected.
I am not a Prepper, but I am a Something Will Go Wrong-er, so I had some contingencies in place. Still, it’s interesting how quickly things go downhill without power. So, following the cataclysm, I took the opportunity to document a timeline of failure events for future reference. Here’s what I can expect for the next event that cuts off our electricity:
After…
- 2 hours, the UPS will fail and the network equipment will go offline (the internet was out anyway since the cable had been severed).
- 6 hours, the upright refrigerator/freezer will exceed 40 and 32 degrees, respectively.
- 20 hours, the emergency hall lights will fail.
- 48 hours, the cooler (if packed with ice), will exceed 40 degrees.
- 48 hours, the emergency basement light will dim to the point of being unusable.
- 72 hours, the chest freezer will almost reach 32 degrees.
More condensed, these are the priorities:
- Day 1: wired communications will fail and short-term food storage will reach unsafe temperatures. Backup lights will begin to fail.
- Day 2: More backup lights will continue to fail and the cooler will need to be restocked with ice if being used for backup food storage.
- Day 3: Long-term frozen food storage will begin to thaw.
Overall, we made it out with minimal losses, but the area that needs addressing is a backup power supply for the chest freezer. Provided we can source ice, refrigerator food can remain safe in the cooler, but substantial losses would have occurred had we not borrowed a generator. Lesson learned.
I also bought a chain saw.
–Simon