Photos of everything retro and vintage

[Michelle420]

 

[Bob Blaylock]

I've posted these in another thread, having forgotten completely about this thread.

I initially thought that this dated to some time in the 1970s, but apparently, this model was made form 1972 until 2001, and the one that I have appears, based on my tentative interpretation of information given to me by a Milwaukee representative, to have been manufactured in May of 1989. So, not quite the antique that I thought it was, but still old enough to qualify as “vintage”.

 

[rightwinger]

Vintage Sawzall

 

[Desperado]

Cowboy outfits and toy guns

 

[Michelle420]

 

[Wyld Kard]

Various vintage tins.

 

[Wyld Kard]

 

[Michelle420]

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Vintage Sawzall

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I actually have one that was my Mothers Dad's.
She has or had a pic of him and his brother using it in Canada way back when.

 

[Michelle420]

 

[Michelle420]

 

[Michelle420]

 

[Michelle420]

 

[Bob Blaylock]

A nifty thing about working in a thrift store is the interesting antiques that sometimes pass through my hands.

Last week, three antique handsaws mysteriously appeared in the tool room.

Doing some research, I was able to reliably date two of them to the 1840s or 1850s. The other one, much lower quality, is from period 1955 to 1990.

I learned some interesting things in the course of this research. All three of these saws were made by a company called Disston, which was once one of the greatest manufacturers of saws. The two older ones do not actually bear the Disston name, but are instead labeled as “Warranted Superior”. It turns out that there was a convention, at the time, that companies that had a reputation for making high-quality products would sometimes also manufacture cheaper, lower-quality products, and not wanting to put their name on those lower-quality products, would instead label them as “Warranted Superior”. The two “Warranted Superior” saws do, however, bear a logo that, at the time, was Disston's, and it is that logo that also allows me to date them to the 1840s-1850s. Around 1860, they changed the logo in a rather distinctive way, in around 1970, they changed it again to something totally different.

In 1955, the family that owned Disston sold it to another company, at which point the quality of the products bearing that name apparently went downhill very rapidly. That company continued to make and sell saws under the Disston name until 1990. The third saw in this picture is from that period, much newer than the other two, and noticeably much lower in quality.

Yesterday, two more antique saws turned up.

The lower one in this second picture is another Disston, this one dating from 1896 to 1917.

The upper one is a Craftsman; I haven't been able to find any useful information about it, but my guess would be that it's mid-20th-century. It appears to be of slightly better quality than the 1955+ Disston in the previous find, but not nearly comparable to the other, much older saws.

 

[Bob Blaylock]

Admiral 5K32 radio, c. 1955. This came through the thrift store where I've been working, last week. I tested it, and it works beautifully, other than a minor mechanical issue with its tuner. Last I saw, it was sitting on our sales floor priced at $69.99. I'd love to buy it myself, but I cannot really afford to spend that much for something I don't need much more than I need this radio.

 

[Bob Blaylock]

A W48 German telephone, some time between 1948 and 1961. Opening it up and looking at the guts, I was amazed at the quality and workmanship, far beyond what you expect of something as mundane as a telephone. The ancient rotary dial mechanism works with a smoothness and precision that is truly inspiring. Last I saw it, it was also put on the sales floor, bearing a $19.99 price. I'm tempted to buy it. I don't want it nearly as much as I'd like that radio, but it's much closer to being something I might decide to fit in my budget. I wonder if I can make it work on a modern, American phone system.

 

[miketx]

 

[xyz]

A W48 German telephone, some time between 1948 and 1961. Opening it up and looking at the guts, I was amazed at the quality and workmanship, far beyond what you expect of something as mundane as a telephone. The ancient rotary dial mechanism works with a smoothness and precision that is truly inspiring. Last I saw it, it was also put on the sales floor, bearing a $19.99 price. I'm tempted to buy it. I don't want it nearly as much as I'd like that radio, but it's much closer to being something I might decide to fit in my budget. I wonder if I can make it work on a modern, American phone system.

View attachment 422790

View attachment 422814

View attachment 422815

I'm thinking you could use it to answer the phone, not sure you could still dial numbers.

 

[BS Filter]

 

[Bob Blaylock]

A W48 German telephone, some time between 1948 and 1961.

I'm thinking you could use it to answer the phone, not sure you could still dial numbers.

Alas, someone else beat me to it, once it got out on the sales floor.

It did prompt me to do a little bit of research into the concept of making an antique telephone work with a modern phone line. The two main issues seem to be that modern phone companies have dropped support for pulse-dialing, and that most modern phone lines don't reliably put put a strong enough ring signal to activate the old ringers. There is equipment that you can get, to put between an old phone and a modern phone line, at least to implement pulse-dial support on your end, intercepting the pulse dials from the phone and passing them on to the phone system as touch tones. There's even a Blutetooth-based device to pair an ancient phone with your cell phone, and make it work that way.

One thing for which I didn't find an answer is whether the European version of “Plain Old Telephone Service” (POTS), for which this phone was made, is compatible with the American version.