Family Heirlooms

[Bill]

My uncle Harvey came to visit last night as he was on his way to Idaho for a visit. He's 84 years old and almost as energetic as me. He is the one who gave me the family barber chair that is on another thread (http://www.theshaveden.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2804).

Anyway, this time he brought me a bunch of stuff that belonged to my grandfather, my great grandfather, my great great grandfather and my triple-great grandfather. How cool is that?

These two things are the oldest. They belonged to GGG grandfather who was a shipbuilder in Norway. He immigrated to the U.S., legally I might add, around the turn of the century. They are a long block plane used for the planking of the ships, and a caulking mallet used to keep the ship from taking on water.
859


These are the razors that belonged to my grandfather (mom's side) who started the very first barber college in SLC, Utah. Yes... Mormons. 4 out of the 15 are still in good shape. The others aren't so great. My uncle said these were the group of razors my grandfather took to the veteran's hospital to give free shaves to the boys who were there.
863


This was a strop that was presented to my grandfather from one of his graduating classes in 1963. I cleaned it up and it will work just fine. I also got two other strops that were much older. One of them could very well have been a strop that was used in that first barber shop
854
855



These belonged to my GGreat grandfather, who was mostly a cabinet maker. There is a spokeshave he used to repair wagons, a carpenter's square, and a Stanley block plane.
858
862

This is cool. It was an electric hot curling iron my grandfather used as a licensed beautician and barber. Ready for one of these, Joanna?
861



For other pics, go to my gallery.

[moviemaniac]

Splendid, Bill - you have a very wide-spread family history ::

[Baloosh]

Wow -- that's the coolest of cool. You must be very proud to own such intricate parts of your heritage. Congratulations!!!

Do you plan on using any of the better-preserved straights, or will the entire set remain unused, as an heirloom?

[johnniegold]

Wow Bill. Fantastic.

[IsaacRN]

Very cool stuff Bill.

Glad you were able to get it

[Bronco]

Very nice indeed and exciting to hold history in your hands. I see an addition to the shed for a museum coming. :D

[SSLSTudio...]

very impressive background, what I do see is there is a red line in your family herritage. they were all men that could take care of stuff with their hands.
and the barber culture was also something I see happening.

very very scary you ended up inbetween of what they used to do.

Very crafty and skilled line im not surrpised at all now the things you can do with your hands its in your DNA.

[seamus402]

Any time we can preserve some of our family history, we should do all we can do to preserve it. I so often see kids and grandkids sell everything off and that part of their life disappears forever. My grandfather died 2 years ago, and I got all of his tools. I had many tools before, and his we older, and duplicated many of mine, but I chose to sell many of mine and keep his. I opened one 4 drawer tool box and found about 5000$ worth of precision tools from the 40's, 50's and 60's. It was absolutely amazing. Bill, I know that you will cherish these as I cherish my grandfathers. Every time I use one, or look at them, I see my Papa in his garage working on something. It is comforting knowing that I am keeping him alive in my mind and heart.

[Queen of Blades]

Cool stuffs, Bill!

And no, I'm not ready for the curling iron. Not much of a muss-n-fuss kinda gal. :p

[PalmettoB]

Nice!!! It looks like those tools were well loved and cared for.

[hyperwarp]

Nice buncha guy stuff. Your uncle did good saving that cache back for the
future.

Dang it, all I got is :roflThe Family Name:rofl

[peacefrog]

Cool! I love old woodworking tools like those planes and that square.

[Hawkeye5]

I have a few items that go back three generations. It is great to have some of the tools your grandfathers made their living with.
As an aside, my wife's adopted father was full blooded Norwegian, first generation born in America. My wife's grandparents on her mother's side were immigrants from Sweden (him) and Denmark (her). I'm covered up with Scandinavians.

[jbcohen]

I wish my family had shaving heirlooms. Pop seems to think the more blades the better.