Shoe Shine Kit, Inherited

Some of you may recall that our 98 1/2 year old grandfather passed away earlier this year. He was the only grandfather I knew and gave most of my brothers & sisters tons of happy childhood memories (grandma too of course).

 

Each of the grandkids had the chance to pick out one or two things before the house and its contents were sold. I picked a few things out and luckily remembered a shoe shine kit in the basement before it was too late (thanks, Sis!)

 

This is the finished project

I can't definitively tell if my grandpa made it from scratch, from a kit, or bought it new. I think I new my grandpa well enough to know he wouldn't buy something he could make...and the craftsmanship on this item (and others) reminds me of his basement workshop (solid, but not so perfect a machine made it). So, I like to think he made it with his own hands.

 

I drove it home in the way-back of my car. Once home, I realized the dampness of the basement it lived in for many years, plus a very hot & humid car-ride to MN made the glue fail. It was falling apart when I got it back to MN.

 

So, I decided to make it an improvement project and refurbish it. I took it completely apart, sanded down all the mating surfaces, dug out chunks of dried glue, cleaned all pieces thoroughly with Murhpy's spray cleaner (much easier to use than the liquid soap), and re-glued everything back together with Gorilla Glue for wood.

 

It was a good feeling to give something my grandpa made new life. I think it turned out pretty well.