A place where members can introduce themselves, tell us a little bit about themselves and their passions. Please feel free to link your personal website, blog or tell us about any service you offer.
Good Day All,
I have been a member of the forum for a while but have never taken the time to introduce myself properly. I was born in Warwick RI but grew up in Spokane WA. I retired from the US Army in 1998 and now work for the Department of Corrections. I plan on retiring from this line of work in about four years. I have written in my posts that I love collecting antiques as well as restoring them. I enjoy collecting everything old from firearms to boat motors. My favorite thing to do is take an antique that is usable but ugly and make it nice again. I have found that many people will overlook these type of things so I buy them cheap. Too often I see things heading for the junk pile when they are still usable. One of the things my wife gets a kick out of is when I start doing my research on a particular piece. I want to know the history of each piece and any other info I can find. This way I can speak with some knowledge when people ask me questions. I thought I would share some photos of some of the items I have restored. The Brown Bess musket shown in the photos show a musket that was found in an abandoned palace in Kathmandu Nepal. I actually shoot this musket on a regular basis even though it is over 220 years old. The bait casting reel came out nice after I removed the nickle plating. The rest of the photos are self explanatory. I just recently started collecting Hardy reels so we will see where it goes from here.
Last edited by Monkey Paws on 02/08/20 12:22, edited 1 time in total.
That's quite the salvage job on the musket. It's quite the interesting gun and sounds like there must be some history behind it. I lived in Spokane from 1988-1994, it's still probably one of my favorite places that I have lived. Spent a lot of time chasing steelhead in Eastern Washington, trout in the lakes around NE Washington, and spent a fair amount of time fishing trout in the Idaho panhandle. Great times and memories.
Jim
Then as it was, then again it will be. Though the course may change sometimes, rivers always reach the sea. - Led Zeppelin, 10 Years Gone
Thanks for sharing, I love the rescues of the old classic stuff. I'm curious if you've ventured into refinishing poor condition bamboo rods, it would seem to be a natural extension of your passion. And please consider driving over and joining us when we have our annual bamboo rod gathering/casting day at a local park near Bellevue, its usually late spring. Watch the WA Fly Fishing site for info when the day gets planned. Ron
Nice work on refurbishing those old items too. The musket is very impressive and the old band saw too. Those old cast wood working machines were likely the peak of manufacturing. no frills or electronic circuit boards just engineering and cast iron and meant to last and work as designed for a long time. It must be a good feeling to be able to fire that musket and remember what you started with,well done.Now you got the Reel bug and agree with Para you would likely enjoy working on old bamboo rods. Daryl
dder wrote:Nice work on refurbishing those old items too. The musket is very impressive and the old band saw too. Those old cast wood working machines were likely the peak of manufacturing. no frills or electronic circuit boards just engineering and cast iron and meant to last and work as designed for a long time. It must be a good feeling to be able to fire that musket and remember what you started with,well done.Now you got the Reel bug and agree with Para you would likely enjoy working on old bamboo rods. Daryl
Yessir, In fact I do like to restore the inexpensive bamboo rods. My first restoration was in 2018 and I did it for my wife. My wife is Scottish so I did the wraps in her tartan colors. The rod was in pretty poor shape when I got it but it was straight and now it fishes well.
Take care!