Sunday, September 16, 2018

Cool Maker Embossed Antique Drill Bit Indexer From Ebay

Cool Maker Embossed Antique Drill Bit Indexer From Ebay

Finding vintage and cool unique tools is something for which I am forever on the hunt for. One of my favorite hunting sites is called Collectors Weekly. What they post within articles, ebay feeds and as a general search is mind boggingly great. Forget the notion of wasting time, instead think about time well spent on an amazing site. Get over there daily and find your particular rabbit hole to slide down into.

Original ebay post

Maker embossed to the 'New Process Twist Drill C-Taunton, Mass'. Substantial size at 6 x 1 inch. Some smallish casting voids around the bottom outside - cosmetic - see photos. The smallest hole does have the remains of a bit, so would have to be drilled out if bits are to be added. If no bits, then fine for display. Overall excellent plus collector condition. Buyer will be very pleased with this rare old drill index...

The best damn drill bit holder we have ever seen

Bottom side of cast metal drill bit holder

Find your drill bit sizing instantly and also have a great tool to do it with
 

New Display Build From An Old Piece Of Store Furniture from Rusty Knuckles

Rusty Knuckles new mobile store display shelving

Not sure how most folks approach their days, but on this end of things, every day seems like a race to make something happen. It is not in the sense of rushing to get things done, but more along the lines of the sand running out of the hourglass. The drive to create new ideas and build items to help promote our work through better advertising and displays rattles my brain, day in and day out. Often I think it could be a curse or a disease as relaxing is just a far off notion, that I think will be achieved one day, but it won't. This is not a bad thing though. Hard work and determination pay off in many forms, but true relaxation is just not part of the equation, nor would I even understand how to do that. Hell, when at the beach, I have to swim until I am tired. When on a vacation, I have to go explore every nook and cranny of the location to be sure that I fully saw what was there. High five to all the workaholics out there, as we just have to keep that fire lit.

Let's talk turkey though about what it's like to be on the hunt for something. We all have our hunting grounds. Maybe yours is a soybean field for whitetail deer, a vintage swap meet for that one year motorcycle part which fits just right or maybe a wall or sitting train car for attacking with spray cans. Our favorite hunting grounds tend to be places that fit within our way to promote new products, albums, or builds for our show booth which keeps us at upwards of fifteen festivals per year. So guess what, second hand stores, flea markets and Habitat For Humanity are amazing spots to find unique items for builds.

Within our festival season, which runs from roughly late April to Early October, we push to be at about 10 to 15 varying festivals per year. That may sound like quite a few and it is. Biggest part to know and comprehend is that every festival is different and has a unique approach akin to the crowd in attendance. From our end, making things simple and easy, is always the best approach. Simply and easy, generally only comes at the end, when one of these products is completely finished, but hey, gotta have steadfast goals to get there. 

One day while perusing my favorite hunting grounds, I ran across this old store display for $35. It had a good framework and structure and I knew that it could be made into something really unique. So I scooped it up and sat on the idea for about four months. Not sure exactly with what I wanted to do exactly, rough plans were draw up and then after a lot of sanding and prep work a new mobile store display was a in place. Yep, it was much more difficult than it sounds with fabricating and welding up a metal chassis on pneumatic tires, sanding and scuffing the entire piece. Cutting up new wooden planks to build shelving and then the multiple coats of ebony wood stain, more sanding, adding in hand painted lettering and then to finish it up, three coats of polyurethane. 

Making items look simple and effective is damn hard, but ease of use and a clear approach for the customers is what matters the most. Weeks of deliberation on build ideas to final construction is all that matters in the end. Don't settle for what you don't want and believe in the bigger ideas to help fuel your approach. This is the only way to keep an unrelenting mind at ease.

Old store display for sale at Habitat For Humanity in Raleigh, NC

Fabricated and welded up a new steel chassis for the mobile store cart for ease of use

The inside of our new mobile store display cabinet after multiple coats of polyurethane

Make Something Unique, Check Out Our Vintage Coin Guitar Picks

Custom Coin Guitar Pick made by Rusty Knuckles from a Half Dollar
Following the paths least traveled is always a mantra that we do our best to adhere against. Finding a unique spin on an idea or seeking out an idea that maybe goes against the grain just a bit more than something else is always where inspiration comes knocking. When creating all that exists within this whole "Rusty Knuckles" approach, it's easy to say "we" as there are folks who work within the music label and help out on varying projects, but day in and day out, it's primarily yours truly that is working up all the designs and getting things done to keep refining our approach. Many days are simply a labor of love and other days are just purely spent grinding through orders to get done to keep the lights on. Would I trade it for anything? Nope, not in the least. Do I get pissy about certain things when they just don't seem to work, but of course. But, first and foremost in our custom shop, failure is just one more step towards creating something that will stand the test of time.

In one of those long days of thinking about new concepts and ways to push our approach, a few coins were on the work desk and led to pulling out a guitar and trying to play a few good riffs. With no plastic pics readily available a quarter was put to the strings and inspiration struck. We know this is not a new concept by any means, but in our wheelhouse of custom music gear, these neat little picks are perfectly at home on our island of misfit toys. 

Through some trial and error and burning many finger tips, to correctly grind and polish these beauties, we started to find a great rhythmic approach to making them in bulk and now will be offering them in the Rusty Knuckles Etsy Store. 

Wanting a specific coin, just email us or get in touch as we are a full custom shop with a wanton approach to trying new ideas and wanting to create something new every day.

Custom Coin Guitar Pick made by Rusty Knuckles from a French 50 Franc coin

Custom Coin Guitar Pick made by Rusty Knuckles from a French 50 Franc coin

Custom Coin Guitar Pick made by Rusty Knuckles from a Half Dollar

Custom Coin Guitar Pick made by Rusty Knuckles from British Hong Kong coin

Custom Coin Guitar Pick made by Rusty Knuckles from a Saudi Arabian Ghirsh coin

Custom Coin Guitar Pick made by Rusty Knuckles

Rusty Knuckles Custom Motorcycle Seat For A Softail

Custom Motorcycle Seat from Rusty Knuckles
As of late we have been primarily focusing much of our efforts towards Instagram for our posting and to connect with everyone. The only issue with that format is the lack of depth and overall, we have more to say and our projects tend to have many layers of content to them, which that service just lacks in promotions for and is forgotten within hours. It is officially time to get back to our blog news feed and create more updates for all of our work and the great bands we are able to work with. Hopefully the time away will help to reinvigorate our site and add some fresh content.

So lets start rolling out some new projects. Here is a recent custom leather motorcycle seat that shipped out to a client in Tennessee. They happened to run across an old seat we made as a portfolio piece that we keep for shows and to promote our work and asked if we could do it in light tones and primarily in black. Sure we can. After some long hours of tooling and stamping, one cool new seat is riding all around Tennessee now.

For much of our custom work, hop over to the Rusty Knuckles Etsy Store

Customer bike with past seat

Customers bike with our new custom seat for their Softail

Customers bike with our new custom seat for their Softail

Customers bike with our new custom seat for their Softail