Thread: My 1930s Farm Shop (2)

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My original 1930's farm shop thread has had most of the pictures deleted so I figured I'd go ahead and start a new one.

Basically to recap for the folks who might not remember the original thread; I grew up on a family farm in Illinois that had been in the family since around 1893. My Dad was the last Patterson to farm the place and he quite farming around 1968 and moved off the farm around 1974. The majority of the items I have were those that Dad saved when he moved and put in a shed where they were forgotten until I started retrieving them.

Turning the office area of my shop into a representation of a 1930s farm shop all started several years ago when I restored my Granddads forge and anvil. They had been used to shoe horses on the family farm until around 1936 when the farm transitioned from horses to tractors. This was also one of the first projects that Cade and I did together.


cade 3 by M Patterson, on Flickr


forge restored by M Patterson, on Flickr


anvil by M Patterson, on Flickr



I started bringing the old rusty tools that had been my Granddad and Great Granddads Pattersons' back to Arizona with me when I made my trips back home to Illinois to see family. In the condition they were in, no one but me had any interest in them.

z rust 1 by M Patterson, on Flickr


Over time I got the tools de-rusted, painted and displayed. Seeing them cleaned and displayed and knowing these are the tools my Granddads had actually used always brings a smile to my face

workbench3 by M Patterson, on Flickr



workbench1 by M Patterson, on Flickr



wall tools by M Patterson, on Flickr



lube section by M Patterson, on Flickr



wilburs tool box by M Patterson, on Flickr





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Part 2


I also brought some bigger items back that had been on the Family Farm in Illinois.

One was the Dinner/Emergency Bell that used to hang from a 15 tower in the back yard. The bell came from a steam locomotive build in 1880 that had been scrapped around 1920. It was pretty tarnished when I got it and needed a carriage built to make it ring but I think it came out pretty good.


Bell 1 by M Patterson, on Flickr


And it has a very nice (and loud) sound to it........just ask my youngest Grandson Austin.


Z Austin Bell Cropped by M Patterson, on Flickr


For a desk I moved in and am using the roll top desk my Grandfather (maternal side) used for his barber supply company in the 1930s-40s.



desk by M Patterson, on Flickr



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Part 3


One of the favorite things I brought back was the 1923 Waterloo Boy 2hp Hit and Miss engine my dad had picked up and restored in the 1960s. Sitting in the old shed for the last 30 or so years had not been kind to it.

waterlooboy 1 by M Patterson, on Flickr


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I tore it completely down and re-restored it and got it running again.

waterloo boy restored by M Patterson, on Flickr


Of course it didn't take too long to decide the engine actually needed something to DO so I built a line shaft to so the engine could run tools that had come from the farm (or in a couple cases just like the ones that had been on the Farm in the 1930s).




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6JxFYy7-0A



Ok the can crusher is not 1930s, but it is amusing to watch




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Part 4

When I went back to Illinois last October, Mom asked if I wanted to bring the family bookcase back with me.......I'm pretty sure she knew what the answer would be. I was also lucky enough to bring back several of the old books including some that had the signatures of Great Great Grandparents.


bookcase by M Patterson, on Flickr


That pretty much brings it up to the present. I went back to Illinois for a few weeks in July. Mom had to be moved from the home she and dad had lived in for the last 40+ years and into an extended care facility. The house is up for sale and things had to be moved out. Moms wishes were that the things go to the people that would have eventually inherited them anyway rather than being moved into storage somewhere. My trip back there this time will be the last one I bring anything back to Arizona from there.



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I brought some beautiful pieces of furniture that had belonged for my Great grandfather, and some that had been made by my Grandfather while he was in high school around 1910. I will probably add pictures of those pieces when I get a chance.

I did bring a few things back that ended up out in the shop to go with the other things from the farm.

The first couple of things are corn huskers/shuckers, These were worn on the hand and used to strip the corn husks off the ears of corn as they were hand picked and thrown in the wagon (my dad used to tell of picking corn by hand under a full moon when he was a kid in the 1930's-40's).



Corn Huskers by M Patterson, on Flickr



To go along with those is the corn dryer. Basically a shaft of metal with prongs on it. When they hand picked the corn, they would hold back the biggest ears of corn and hang them on these dryers. These would be the ears that would be shelled and used as seed the following year. The racks would be hung from the barn rafters on a wire (there used to be rows and rows of these in the old barn on the farm). The racks would not only let the corn dry but would put it in a place the mice couldn't get to it.

Corn Dryer by M Patterson, on Flickr



Then there are the Sleigh Bells. These date to my great Grandfathers time (around 1900). There used to be 2 long strings of these hanging in the old machine shed back on the farm. My dad got one set and my Aunt the other. The leather on the set was falling apart 30 years ago and Dad partially took his set apart about that time. He had me take 15-20 of the bells and re-string them for him (so he could hang them across a couple of boards in the back of the pickup truck and let them ring when he drove thru town). He also let mom make a small string to hang in the house during the Holidays.



Sleigh Bells by M Patterson, on Flickr



My brother got the set I had strung for dad, and I brought back the string mom had made to re-string for my sister. What was left over on the original leather was mine and I made them into 2 strings.


Sleigh Bells by M Patterson, on Flickr



My 2 strings are hanging in the corner of the shop with the rest of the old tools and stuff ....... although I suspect I'll get talked into bringing them in the house come Christmas time.


old tools by M Patterson, on Flickr


I also brought back a winter project. My dad bought this radio/record player just before he and Mom got married in 1949. On the bright side the turntable runs and the bad side is that it doesn't make any noise on the radio or record player (I suspect I'll find a bad tube or 2). I've also got to figure out what to do with the finish on the lid which has seen better days.


Radio 2 by M Patterson, on Flickr



Radio 2 by M Patterson, on Flickr






This will end up living in the house once I get it done. Of course where I plan on putting it will result in having to install a new outlet, so I guess it will turn into more than one project



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Very nice Mike! When I was in high school and in FFA, 10 of us went to western Nebraska for 2 weeks to live and work on a farm that still operated like it was 1900. The first week was in spring and we got the ground ready, then planted. The last week was during harvest and we got to do all that. At that time we had horses so since I was used to being around horses, I got to assist in the hitching/unhitching, and driving the horses. If people had to work like that these days, there would be a lot less population! That was a great experience. It was funny some of the others that went with us that thought they could live like that. After the 2nd day the first week, half of them were ready to go back home. Sadly, that farm is no longer in operation either.

Anyhow, I'm sure your grand children enjoy seeing all that stuff. Those hit and miss engines are too cool. How hard are they to get parts for now?

".......Those hit and miss engines are too cool. How hard are they to get parts for now?......."

Parts for the more common ones (like the Waterloo Boys, Internationals,. Fairbanks Morris John Deeres etc) are not too bad. Some guys are having small runs of the more commonly needed parts cast, and/or you can usually find one being parted out that is not economically repairable.

Like the early days of the automobile there were hundreds of small manufactures (and bigger companies like Waterloo Boy were making "contract engines" to customers specs) meaning low production numbers and virtually impossible to find parts for some engines

I remember when Dad restored the old Waterloo Boy back in the mid 60s .......of course long before the internet or vendors dealing with the old stuff (I was probably 10-12 at the time). He needed a couple of Gaskets and rings for it. He bought a couple of sheets of gasket material which solved one problem. The big issue was rings. As I recall the Waterloo Boy took a 1/4" wide ring, and of course nobody offered one that width in the right diameter. The counterman let dad spend some time with the parts books and dad finally found an 1/8" ring the right diameter. Dad simply used 2 rings in each ring land and cut his own gaskets. He needed valves for it too, but was able to find a couple of stainless small engine valves that would work. I thought he was the smartest guy in the world when he got it running.

On a side note the engine was free (it turned over when I got it), and the rings and valves he put in there back in the 60s are still in it (after a valve grind and cylinder honing). I couldn't save the head gasket dad had made, so I did the same thing he had and cut a new gasket for a sheet of material. The one thing I did a little different than dad was have the tank decals custom made at the local graphics shop......they wern't available then or now.

My Grandson Cade was looking over my shoulder when I went thru the engine pretty much like I had done with Dad (truth be known I suspect Dad was looking down on both of us and smiling). Who knows by the time he has kids or grandkids it may need to be redone again.


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Thanks so much for sharing all this. For years when I would see and old tool I wouldn't think much of it until I really looked at one once and started thinking of all the history and things the person that held that wrench had done. I picture the sleigh bells being put on the horse on Christmas week. Coming home proud as a Peacock with a new record player that he saved money for and cussing because he forgot to drain the water on the hit and miss motor on a winter night and it froze, then telling mom about it as she was reading a book. Maybe a little to Norman Rockwell like but I'm sure you know what I mean. Those are great artifacts and its great that your grand kids have taken an interest in helping too.

I have always admired your talents in developing this shop. Mike. It looks great, and should be an inspiration for your grandkids.

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Except for collecting parts I've kind of been taking a break from cars for a bit and doing some house stuff. One of the projects was finally getting the old radio/record player in the house.

I'd been regularly treating the cabinet on it with wood oil and the finish came back a lot better than I had expected it to. I found a set of replacement knobs and new set of tubes for it. There are still a few issues keeping the radio from working that I'll eventually get to but it's better off in the house than taking up bench space in the shop.

Radio by M Patterson, on Flickr


When I started working on/researching the record player I found out some interesting things I didn't know. For one the record player is for 78 RPM records only as it was built before 33 and 45 RPM records were introduced in 1948. The 78s were generally either 10 or 12 inches and played only about 4 minutes and 6 minutes per side respectively.

Like the majority of people at the time. other than reading the old record player/radio was the sole evening entertainment for mom and Dad until they bought their first TV in 1952. Far different times than today.


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Something tells me you'll end up replacing, most if not all, the wiring and all the other components. Keeping it all original will be a challenge. Have you considered changing the turntable out for one with 3 speeds?

You may be right Ken, although I have had the chassis of it out and it really doesn't look to bad. I also picked up the wiring diagrams that include the voltage/resistance values for the components.

I may end up taking the easy way out and buy a working one for parts and just change out the chassis on it.

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Love the old tools! I've got a forge that came out of my grandfather's shop that looks pretty much identical to the one in your pics. Mine is not in as good a shape as yours. It's on my "to be restored" list. The blower still works , but a couple of the legs have rotted off where it sat on the dirt in the back of his shop for years.

One of these days, I want to find and restore one of the hit and miss farm engines just so I can listen to it run. They are cool old pieces of history. I did find a single cylinder Maytag engine in a trash pile and dragged it home. It's under my workbench waiting to be gone through. It's not seized, so it might be salvageable. They were 2-stroke hit and miss.

I'm subscribing so I can follow along.

Well I thought I could live with the old record player sitting in the Arizona room as a non-working display piece..........you'd think at 66 I know myself a bit better



I picked up the schematics so I got radio out of the cabinet and found I really didn't have the patience and eyesight anymore to do this kind of work. Fortunately my good friend Dave (69Bee) does and was kind enough to work on it for me. He determined that all that was wrong with the original radio was a hand full of resistors and capacitors. After waiting on parts to get in he had the radio back up and running again.



I had spent some time working a bit more on the turntable while Dave was doing the radio so everything was ready to reassemble when Dave got the radio chassis back to me. I got everything back together and while the radio worked the way it should, but when I tried the turntable no sound.


I narrowed that down to being the pickup cartridge in the tone arm. Seems the cartridge used in the record player is a crystal type, and the crystal happens to be a salt crystal . Yeah, who da thought a 70 year old salt crystal would have broken down after sitting in an attic in 120 degree temperatures and 90+ percent humidity in the summer and close to freezing and almost no humidity in the winter.



Astatic L 92 by M Patterson, on Flickr




Long story short there is a guy in Ohio that can actually rebuild these cartridges so off it went. It came back the other day and I got everything back together. The radio has a lot of static, but I suspect that has more to do with outside interference than the radio itself (it didn't have it when Dave was working on it) and I only get 2 AM stations where I live at anyway. The record player could probably also use a new needle and I'm keeping an eye out for one of those.


https://youtu.be/pqZ9VAu0sbc


It will sit around now and probably get plugged in once a year or so while it waits to get passed on to the next generation.


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Make sure the tynes aren't bent on the variable tuning capacitor and you might have to string an outside antenna.