Re-purposing a Box—Part 4, Hardware
Some of the oldest boxes extant are held together with only wood, or perhaps with a few nails. By the 19th century, however, few of them were produced without decorative brass hardware. By the early…
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Re-purposing a Box—Part 3, Exterior Finish
After our initial assessment and de-construction, the next step in our process is to look after the exterior finish. In the case of this box, the finish is in quite good condition, so our efforts…
Re-purposing a Box—Part 2, Deconstruction
The first step in working on a piece—like this rather forlorn, century-old box—is a good assessment. Sometimes this requires nothing more than our five senses and experience. 1. Assessment In this case, we know right…
We’re Moving…
We are migrating our website to new servers, in an attempt to avoid irritating creeping slowness. So, if things look a bit strange, or completely inside out, over the next week or so, we apologize…
Breakdown of a 1946 Yard-o-Led Pencil
We recently had a batch of vintage Yard-o-led propelling pencils sent to us for repair and restoration. One in particular was such an excellent example of what makes these pencils so outstanding that we thought…
Esterbrook Nibs Advertisment
From the mid-1940s to the 60s, Esterbrook produced a huge number of their iconic “J” series of fountain pens. While Parker and Scheaffer fought for supremacy in the high-end pen world, Esterbrook made one of…