It is perhaps in the spirit of our anxious, rickety age that antique tool, machinery, and toy restoration videos are becoming increasingly popular. There is something oddly comforting and therapeutic about seeing the old, the forgotten, the previously reliable (now seized with rust and neglect) being lovingly restored to life.
These videos are simple, quiet (usually with no spoken narrative), and most of the restoration process is carefully shown, from disassembly to cleaning, sanding, repainting to re-assembly and testing. This is a world in which time, Evapo-Rust, a wire wheel, and some rattle-cans of enamel paint can repair the past to near show room luster.
I can't get enough. And for makers, there are lots of great repair and restoration tips embedded in these videos. Here are a few of my favorite channels.
Olmsted County, Minnesota’s History Center are sharing portraits of the creepiest dolls in their antiques collection. Folks can vote online for their favorite and the winner will be on display next week for Halloween. From MPR News: “The doll I disdain handling is the one with human hair,” said curator Dan Nowakowski as he holds […]
This video was far more interesting than I thought it was going to be. It’s not only the story of the restoration of a cool barn find, a circa 1890 candy-making machine, but it details how Greg Cohen of Lofty Pursuits in Tallahassee, Florida used it to make strawberry “drops” (hard candies). Cohen is a […]
Preservationists restoring an 18th century statue of Jesus that was hanging in Burgos, Spain’s church of St. Águeda found a two handwritten letters tucked into the figure’s buttocks. Dated 1777, the notes were written by chaplin Joaquín Mínguez from the Burgo de Osma cathedral. The letters will be archived by the office of the Archibishop […]
In the early days of the web, everyone wanted a .com domain for their site. As a result, all the good ones got snapped up. But .com no longer has the cachet it once did. In fact, many new businesses and individuals are opting for other top-level domain extensions. One of the most memorable is […]
Most streaming fanatics have access to perhaps one or two go-to platforms that they use to binge-watch their favorite shows every night. But there’s always that elusive streaming platform that we secretly crave but never sign up for—leading to bitter nights filled with missed content. So why not enter to win not only a 1-year […]
Thanks to a series of progressive movements throughout the United States, more and more states are allowing people to smoke in the great outdoors with absolute freedom. Unfortunately, most pipe-makers have been slow to catch up with this new reality, which leads to avid smokers stuffing a cumbersome glass pipe in their pocket every time […]
