Bread Box to Storage Box RESTO

I found this handmade bread box kicked to the curb and decided to customize it and turn into a storage box. I chopped the slanted top off and leveled it out and then I took some wood from a desk drawer I found and cut it to fit in the bottom of the box for an antique look. Nice job! :)

Early 80s Bicycle Trailer Resto

I found this early 80s bicycle trailer for carrying two children and I am going to restore and use. I have already started working on it....I am repainting the sun bleached hull glossy black and then I will remove the rust from the wheels and replace any broken components. Overall in nice shape...the tires even aired up! I found this old bicycle trailer chunked in a huge dumpster in the back part of my neighborhood and saved it! I will also be adding some safety items as well such as a flag and a LED rear reflector. Very cool find and neat resto project! More to come!

Update: I restored the trailer....I repainted in glossy black and added a water bottle holder, push horn, auto ID tag as well as a safety flag! :) Nice find!

Workforce 26 In. Wide Workforce Base Cabinet Resto

I found this workforce base cabinet kicked to the curb last weekend and saved it from the trash truck. All the shelves were missing but the cabinet itself was in excellent shape! I brought it home and today I fabricated shelves out of 1x2 and pieces of particle board. I used the 1x2 as shelf mounts and have them bolted into the cabinet...works very nice! Really nice shelf and I am glad I decided to pick this one up as it really cleans up my garage. I am using it to house all of my car guy stuff! Thumbs up!

Antique Dresser Resto Project

I found this old antique dresser kicked to the curb in my neighborhood and brought it home to restore. I am going to sand it down and repaint in antique white. I will reuse the original knobs. Nice little dresser project. More pictures to come.

Update: Sold the dresser! The dresser was in really bad shape so I decided to sell it on Craigslist for $5...I kept the handles for a future project!

Vintage Bottle Openers and French Keychain Ring

Not sure why but these vintage bottle openers appeal to me...:) This is a picture after I got through going over them with steel wool! Look much better! I still need to clean the French keychain ring. I like the ring it has a reeded edge like a coin and nice weight to it. More pictures soon!

Vintage Belt Driven McLane Edger Resto

Found this heavy duty McLane edger kicked to the curb and saved it from the trash truck! When I got it home I cleaned the carb out and tightened the spark plug wire! Fired right up! I am going to clean this up and restore it!

Sold this project on Craigslist. I cleaned it up and repainted the air cleaner...looked really good when sold! I needed the space!

Black and Decker Leaf Blower Resto

I attempted a resto on this Black and Decker Electric Leaf Blower and found that this tool had a major motor melt down. I took it all apart and found that part of the motor had fragmented..check the pictures. The fuse was still intact so it did not do its job to prevent the melt down. I wonder if others are having problems with their Black and Decker blowers as well??? I found this one kicked to the curb so it is no big deal to me. If you need parts off of this just let me know...minus the motor of course...:)

Update: This electric leaf blower was cooked and no interest in the parts so I threw back into trash to make space.

Personal Video Viewer Player RESTO

I found this little personal viewer/player kicked to the curb and I saved it from the trash truck! It didnt work when I got it but I took it all apart and cleaned it out and now it works like a charm! Nice little dvd player! This will be nice for road trips with the little ones...:)

Box of Junk / Wind Chime

I won this box of junk off of Ebay for little of nothing and I am going to use the keys to make a massive wind chime. I am not sure if this will work out but I am going to give it a whirl so to speak. More pictures soon!

Large lot of pliers won on Ebay for 5.99

I won these vintage pliers off of Ebay for $5.99. Not pretty to look at but who cares??? :) I will never have to worry about pliers again..:)


Row 1

1. No identification - 7 inch with kind of a duck bill shape. One handle has a screwdriver bit end. Wire cutter jaws.Diamond pattern handles with large diamond in the middle.

2. Buhl Sons Co - Back side needs to be cleaned up also. One handle with a screwdriver and the other is a pick.

3. MB in a circle - One handle is a flat blade screwdriver.

4. Cee Tee Co - Cross hatch handles - non plated pliers.

5. Weber Germany - Nice quaility cutter/pliers. Diamond handles - 5 inch

Row 2

1. JR Danielson Co. Inc.Jamestown, NY - these are plated but have lost a fair amount. They have hash-mark handles with a cross in the center. The letters AA and ORD are stamped on the back side.

2. Indestro MFG Co. - Reverse side has same branding. These are a fairly thick stamped steel plier.

3. Kraeuter: 6&1/4 inches long. Nice diamond grip handles and wire cutting jaws. Very well made (thick) pliers in good condition. At some point someone welded the nut on the bolt that holds the halves together

4. W & C Wynn, Warranted - The number 2 is in the circular branding. Very unique curved jaw pliers with a hammer built in. The handles were possibly shaped into other tools but it looks like they ended up being pry bars as they both have pieces broken off the ends.

5. Merit - These were early economy pliers that were sold by Sears prior to the Dunlap brand (from what I have been able to find on the web). Diamond handles.

Wrought Iron Bench RESTO

I found this nice wrought iron bench kicked to the curb and I saved it from the trash truck! One of the 2x1 boards is broken so I am replacing it. I am also going to repaint the wood red and leave the wrought iron black! This will look nice in front of the house. Nice project! More pictures soon!

Update: I replaced the board today! Perfect fit if I do say so myself! Easy project! All that is left is the red paint! :) More pictures soon!

Update: I repainted the bench finally! I used Glossy Rustoleum Red! Looks nice! This resto shows that with a little bit of elbow grease that one does not have to go out an buy new stuff all the time....just maintenance what you already have! :) The picture is near Halloween..hence, the scary guy sitting on the bench! :)

5 speed Shift Knob Resto!

I found this 5 speed shifter knob in a box of car guy stuff which was kicked to the curb! Apparently the knob split in two some how. The pieces fit back together perfectly so I used super glue to fix it! PRESTO! You would not be able to tell is was once broken unless you looked closely. No clue what this fits although there was a modern day Pontiac GTO sitting in the driveway.

Old Steel Milk Crate

Snagged this old steel milk crate off of Ebay for $20. I am going to use it in my garage to help organize all of my electrical cords. Yep--I could have gone with a cheap plastic crate which probably would have broken over time. Instead, I decided on an older steel one...will last forever!

Vintage Bowman Dairy Container

I won this dairy container off of Ebay for $12. I am not going to do anything to it other than place it in the garden I am building next to the kitchen window. Interesting piece to look at!

Update! Looks great outside my kitchen window in the garden!

Old Antique Combination Locks 1912

I bought these 4 vintage combination locks off of Ebay for $11. I really just wanted the one barrel combo lock..that one is very old!!!! Also, worth quite a bit of money..$100 plus!!!!! I am going to keep the barrel lock and sell the rest of the combos on Ebay. Nice find! I will update if I guess the combination...:)

Update: The vintage combo lock that I wanted in the lot still had the original code tag on it! How lucky! The code tag was barely legible but my son was able to see it. With a little cleaning with steel wool we had the code and were able to unlock the lock! Terrific find! I recently saw one of these barrel locks sell on Ebay for $150! Not for sale..this one is a keeper! :)

Few cleaning pictures..

1934 Hansen Staple Gun Resto

I snagged this antique staple gun on Eby as a project for $14. I just liked the design of this gun! I am going to work it over and get it fully functional and use as is. Nice vintage piece! 7" long in good condition--- last pat. Oct. 30, 34. --uses Hansco staples no's 46 & 48

Cast iron Crate Handles

Found this great set of cast iron crate handles on Ebay and snagged them for $5.99! I have seen these priced for over $100 before! They dont get any older than this! I am going to use them on a future wood project.

Description: Vintage heavy duty cast iron and wood handles / pulls for your rustic project. 7-1/4"l x 4-3/4"w x 4"h. No damages to the iron, excepting surface rust. Handles have some splitting. Embossed "THIS SIDE OUT". As-is, as-found.

Vintage Nail Tin

Neat little nail tin which I acquired off of Ebay for $5. I am going to put my older nails in it for safe keeping. Neat little box!

Vintage Slaymaker Keychain Screwdriver

Landed this NOS tool off of Ebay for $2.99. Brilliant notion then and Brilliant notion now...how timeless! :) I am going to use this and dump the annoying leatherman tool!!! :)

Vintage Atlas Nail ID Manual

I bought this vintage Atlas nail ID manual off of Ebay to help identify and date nails I have which I think are fairly old. As I get into restoring furniture I am running across some very old nails and would like to know the dates for some of them. Nifty manual to have if you are into wood working. I paid $9.99 for this old manual.

Vintage Atlas galvanized metal bolt box

This is an old, vintage screw box that has a tilt down lid in the front so that it is easy access. It has a pull loop on the front of the lid and there is a label on it that says,"ADAPAK", "CAP SCREWS", "THE ATLAS BOLT AND SCREW CO." This box is galvanized metal of some sort, I don't know if it is tin or what. It is 5 1/8 by 3 1/2 by 2 3/4 inches. It is in very good to excellent condition. Snagged this on Ebay for .99 cents and could not pass it up! :)

Vintage window and door hardware

I landed this vintage door handle and window hardware lot off of Ebay for future use on construction of a wood shop. Snagged these for $6. Nice lot!

Play House REsto

I landed some free bricks off of Craigslist and used some of them to lay a nice brick floor for my children's playhouse! It took a lot of work to level the ground out for an even floor but it looks great!

06/22/09 Update: I used the rest of the free bricks I got off of Craigslist to fix an erosion spot on the side of the house. Water comes off the roof and hits part of the ground where the bricks were placed. I hope that this will prevent future erosion. Look nice as well!

07/11/09 Update: The brick water barrier on the side of the house has helped immensely with the soil erosion and has helped the grass growth! Before and after shots. Looks great!

Vintage Hasp Door Pull Lock

Vintage Hasp Door Pull lock...NOS! This is as old as the come! I am going to use both on storage box projects I am building. Nice find! Paid $5.99 for each lock...I got two of them..:)

NOS EZ Folding Leg Brackets

I found these 1950s EZ folding leg brackets and thought I could eventually use them to build a folding work table. Neat little leg brackets! Snagged these NOS brackets for $14.99.