Funny things happen when clean out your basement

loco_engr

found a tub that I used to take eggfests, AND a stamp collection from my grandmother of mint plate blocks stamps she started in 1949, year of my birth. That was a HUGE relief!

Ike

1949 was a very good year!

thetrim

OTD, July 13, in 1949, the very talented Czech shot putter Helena Fibingerova was born

http://throwshub.com/athlete/helena-fibingerova

RRP

1949? Youngster!

BTW I too have 2 BIG Tupperware containers of equipment & supplies that I took to 14 Eggfests, but never put any food in them. Also a custom wooden box to carry and protect a plate setter and two metal grates and even an attaché style case for carrying my pizza steel! And then another 2 containers when I taught BGE cooking classes for 9 years before my BGE dealer sold out and the new owner didn’t understand the BGE cult, much less Eggfests, nor cooking classes and not even why anyone would buy a BGE when gas grills were so easier to use.....

nolaegghead

What is a "basement"?

northGAcock

nolaegghead said:

What is a "basement"?

The bottom of the ment.

RRP

nolaegghead said:

What is a "basement"?

That is that space under your N.O. home that is full of water and can't be drained, where up North ours sometimes get water in them and then have to be drained! Guess that's the best way to describe that space that can cause both of us fits at times!.

loco_engr

nolaegghead said:

What is a "basement"?

Here in the heartland, is where some people store their "stuff", aka junk. 
also the basement come in handy for tornados!

RRP

loco_engr said:

store their "stuff" What a cool way of saying their "sh*t" that they just HAVE TO SAVE until their executors come in and pay someone to haul it away!  

Gulfcoastguy

My Dad refuses to throw away a 2 foot piece of 2 by 4 or a bent nail. He built a large shed, then he bought one of the portable classrooms from a school, then whe he bought a house to rent out it had it’s own large shed. All 3 are full of cr@p. One day in the future I will have to have a giant bonfire. 

nolaegghead

I have a 600 and 5000 square foot above ground crap storage units, so I get it...

fishlessman

havent been in my basement in years, seems i only go there to change out the water heater. its also a good place to store old water heaters

Kayak

My then girlfriend lived in an old farmhouse turned into apartments (not one of those nice ones - a firetrap). The basement was full of every appliance that had ever been replaced in the five units of the building. One day we were poking around in it and I found a shoebox with handgun and police badge. Could've been handy, I suppose, but we turned it in to the locals who recognized the name and had a laugh...

Mark_B_Good

Just make sure there aren't any old baseball cards or comics worth $10000 in any of those crap storage areas ... before you burn them down.

JRWhitee

nolaegghead said:

I have a 600 and 5000 square foot above ground crap storage units, so I get it...

We call that a garage!

RRP

Gulfcoastguy said:

My Dad refuses to throw away a 2 foot piece of 2 by 4 or a bent nail. He built a large shed, then he bought one of the portable classrooms from a school, then whe he bought a house to rent out it had it’s own large shed. All 3 are full of cr@p. One day in the future I will have to have a giant bonfire.

My late Father even after retirement and selling his blacksmithing biz still had one side of their double car garage full of METAL pieces and metal parts and lengths and...you get the drift! I did find a guy to haul it away for whatever he received at a metal salvage yard. He brought me a sturdy 12 foot long 4 wheel trailer and before I got it filled all 4 tires were bulging. He later told me he had a blow out on the 30 mile trip to the salvage yard.

My Dad had also renewed his interest as a wood carver and had a large number of wood chunks and pieces that he had collected from several states over the years. I brought a bunch of them home here in IL from MO, but now wish I would have saved more...my advice is don't just think everything your Dad saved was ALL junk - you may actually wish you would be more selective years after he is gone!

Oooops - I should have added a thought...anybody want a 10" cube of tool grade steel that weighs at least 80 pounds?

Hans61

JRWhitee said:

nolaegghead said:

I have a 600 and 5000 square foot above ground crap storage units, so I get it...

We call that a garage!

The Man Cave!

Botch

RRP said:
...I brought a bunch of them home here in IL from MO, but now wish I would have saved more...my advice is don't just think everything your Dad saved was ALL junk - you may actually wish you would be more selective years after he is gone!

After my Mom passed in May, my sister and BIL had quite a few things to sort through, both of Mom's and Dad's (he's been gone 30 years now).  
There was a file box that Mom left for me, all of Dad's things, and I still haven't gone through it...  

fishlessman

it amazes me what people think is junk, for 400 dollars i bought a 55 inch swing vertical lathe (1927), a 4 inch horizontal boring mill with a 48 inch rotating table(1940's) and a vertical cintamatic mill with a 27x48 inch table and tape drive that was easy to hook up to an early computer. i started a machine shop for 400 dollars.  seems it comes natural to me, even an old belt driven lathe can be converted into a weld lathe.  i have a late 1800's iron worker that used to form the heads on the steam locomotives that is set ep now to swedge american pipe down to those stupid metric sizes to fit those light weight flanges to convert european boilers to north american piping systems.

does anybody here have a press brake from a battleship, mines from the uss illinois

RRP

fishlessman said:

it amazes me what people think is junk, for 400 dollars i bought a 55 inch swing vertical lathe (1927), a 4 inch horizontal boring mill with a 48 inch rotating table(1940's) and a vertical cintamatic mill with a 27x48 inch table and tape drive that was easy to hook up to an early computer. i started a machine shop for 400 dollars.  seems it comes natural to me, even an old belt driven lathe can be converted into a weld lathe.  i have a late 1800's iron worker that used to form the heads on the steam locomotives that is set ep now to swedge american pipe down to those stupid metric sizes to fit those light weight flanges to convert european boilers to north american piping systems.

does anybody here have a press brake from a battleship, mines from the uss illinois

Now for $400 you could buy the whole bankrupt state of Illinois instead of just a part from the old Illinois battle ship!

loco_engr

fishlessman said:

it amazes me what people think is junk, for 400 dollars i bought a 55 inch swing vertical lathe (1927), a 4 inch horizontal boring mill with a 48 inch rotating table(1940's) and a vertical cintamatic mill with a 27x48 inch table and tape drive that was easy to hook up to an early computer. i started a machine shop for 400 dollars.  seems it comes natural to me, even an old belt driven lathe can be converted into a weld lathe.  i have a late 1800's iron worker that used to form the heads on the steam locomotives that is set ep now to swedge american pipe down to those stupid metric sizes to fit those light weight flanges to convert european boilers to north american piping systems.

does anybody here have a press brake from a battleship, mines from the uss illinois

Would love to see a pic of all your "toys" you mentioned in your post!  

fishlessman

loco_engr said:

fishlessman said:

it amazes me what people think is junk, for 400 dollars i bought a 55 inch swing vertical lathe (1927), a 4 inch horizontal boring mill with a 48 inch rotating table(1940's) and a vertical cintamatic mill with a 27x48 inch table and tape drive that was easy to hook up to an early computer. i started a machine shop for 400 dollars.  seems it comes natural to me, even an old belt driven lathe can be converted into a weld lathe.  i have a late 1800's iron worker that used to form the heads on the steam locomotives that is set ep now to swedge american pipe down to those stupid metric sizes to fit those light weight flanges to convert european boilers to north american piping systems.

does anybody here have a press brake from a battleship, mines from the uss illinois

Would love to see a pic of all your "toys" you mentioned in your post!  

heres the press from the illinois, was originally belt driven from an overhead shaft that ran multiple machines

late 1800's press that dished heads for locamotives, had set it up as a shear years ago, but now its used for swedging pipe

swedged pipe with welding done on an old overhead belt drawn lathe we modified

1907 plate rolls

1927 buffalo iron worker, first year of production

some lathes modified for welding

tig welding done on the second lathe

seems i have a museum

YukonRon

Living in a house over 120 years old, you do not have the storage space you need to be able to live with all the gadgets from the late 20th century through current. 

They had no mixers, blenders processors, vacuum storage machines, vacuum cleaners, fans, window AC units, lawn mowers, blowers, edgers, trimmers, exercise equipment, personal fridges, etc,. 

Homes like ours has a basement full, garage full, and attic full of stuff.

Like others who have posted about the strife of cleaning out and preparing for a move, we have a few years left to go before moving with retirement, but, we have dumped so much stuff, given away so much stuff, and donated so much stuff.....it is amazing how much more we have to go.

We are getting there. Eventually.