Time waster

[Phil Yearout]

Have you ever spent more time and effort on something than it could ever possibly be worth? We were getting my mother-in-law's house ready to sell and I was out by the shed; looked down and saw the outline of a knife in the mud. Of course I dug it out; it had definitely been there a while! Full of mud and rust but I brought it home anyway. Soaked it in a bowl of WD-40 for a couple weeks, then went after it with a wire wheel on my Dremel. The metal's pretty pitted up as you might imagine. I made it for a Camillus as it looks almost exactly like an old two-blade I have, and sure enough. I was never sure if the scales on mine were real bone or plastic, but on this one the one down in the mud looks original while the one that's been exposed to the weather is bleached nearly white. No idea who lost it or when, but I'm betting it was my brother-in-law who just passed; wish he was here to share the story - he'd get a kick out of it...

https://i.imgur.com/e6eDPF8m.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/WHumfK7m.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/w0xvKY7m.jpg

[Mills Morrison]

You should see the bulldozer Mills and I are working on. We have not made much progress either. Also, the growing collection of abused LOM cases I have been cleaning up.

[Phil Yearout]

You should see the bulldozer Mills and I are working on. We have not made much progress either. Also, the growing collection of abused LOM cases I have been cleaning up.


I hope you didn't have to dig that bulldozer out of the mud :eek:!

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Nice save Phil! Not a waste of time-but the internet, well???

[charlie cleveland]

good find and a good storey....love old knives....charlie

[Jack Cronkhite]

Here’s one. Belonged to my father in law for sure and maybe his father. Got it maybe 40 or 50 years ago. Pandemic time saw me running out of projects so decided to revitalize this hammer. I could see it had at one time been painted red. Checked the big time waster Google and found one like it on eBay with still a good amount of red on the handle. Wire wheel then buffing wheel then gun blue took care of the metal. Some sanding and some filler and a couple sprays of red paint took care of the wood. I purposefully left the chip at the bottom of the handle unfilled. Will pass it along to a great grandson or maybe great-great grandson of the first owner when I’m done with it. It has always been a go to hammer for me so maybe it wasn’t a waste of time after all:)

[Mills Morrison]

My Dad and brother have put a new handle on an ax blade some of our archeology friends found. You know, the kind you see in museums that are brittle with rust.

[Austin J Hawthorne Jr.]

I've kept my old Boy Scout knife in a salt water tackle box that I had forgotten about for the past 60+ years. When I removed it from the sheath it was gross. Fish guts and scales have a way of corroding metal. I cleaned it up a little, ground away the rust, and put a new edge on it so now it is ready to use again. Sadly...the sheath didn't fare as well.

[Dean Romig]

I wish I still had the hatchet I took on my trapline for many years but I lost it through the ice in a muskrat swamp around ‘62 or ‘63.
It was a shingler’s hatchet with half the handle painted red. There was a nail-pulling notch in the bottom edge of the blade that was perfect for bending and twisting wire.






.

[Andrew Sacco]

I've driven an hour and a half to a lake, set up decoys at 4am, put finishing touches on the blind, got the dog all settled in only to find out I forgot my gun. Does that qualify as a time waster?

[Jack Cronkhite]

I've driven an hour and a half to a lake, set up decoys at 4am, put finishing touches on the blind, got the dog all settled in only to find out I forgot my gun. Does that qualify as a time waster?

I think that qualifies. You are not alone. Made me chuckle to remember getting all ready to see if there could be an elk in the foothills of the Rockies. Had my Dads Eddystone 30.06 standing next to the door. You remember way back, when nobody cared that a guy had a rifle standing at the door. Like you I was an hour away when it struck me that the rifle was still standing at the door and not in the ‘58 Ford trunk. Screwed up timing for the day. Had a nice hike in the forest and never saw or heard an elk. It was another ten years before I got a chance to take one. Did not forget the rifle then. Now this was back as a young guy when we aren’t supposed to be quite so forgetful. It’s to the point now I’ve already forgotten stuff that I’ll never remember why it was important in the first place. But one thing I remember every year is October 1 the opener for pheasants. Now where is the safe spot I squirrelled away the RST.

[charlie cleveland]

I have never forgot my gun or shells but I ve dreamed of doing it...bad feeling....charlie

[Stan Hillis]

Have you ever spent more time and effort on something than it could ever possibly be worth?

Often, but it will take me a bit of time to decide which was the most egregious. I'll get back to you. :banghead:

[Mills Morrison]

John Lennon said time you enjoy wasting is not time wasted.

[bob lyons]

This brings back a funny memory.
Three of us where duck hunting on merrymeeting bay. We had 2 scull boats, motors, decoys, grass rigs and all the miscellaneous items.
After a 3 hour drive we launched the boats in darkness.
We headed out to our first set up and laid out the decoys.
After everything was set up I took my boat out with my dad as a shooter to jump shoot some ducks and get them moving so that they would move into the decoys.
After pushing up quite a few birds and having them land in the decoys we where surprised that our partner had not fired a shot.
We got a few birds and headed back to the set up.
When asked why he was not shooting he held up his model 23 heavy duck with a brand new trigger lock attached. Trigger lock keys where at nome 3 hours away.
It was just to funny, he never lived that one down.

[Andrew Sacco]

My buddy did that Bob, and in some ways it's as bad as forgetting the gun in the first place

[Stan Hillis]

That's what trigger locks are good for, IMHO.

[Stan Hillis]

Often, but it will take me a bit of time to decide which was the most egregious. I'll get back to you. :banghead:

Okay, it came to me. Growing 60 cent dryland cotton .............. :crying:

[Phil Yearout]

Here’s one. Belonged to my father in law for sure and maybe his father. Got it maybe 40 or 50 years ago. Pandemic time saw me running out of projects so decided to revitalize this hammer. I could see it had at one time been painted red. Checked the big time waster Google and found one like it on eBay with still a good amount of red on the handle. Wire wheel then buffing wheel then gun blue took care of the metal. Some sanding and some filler and a couple sprays of red paint took care of the wood. I purposefully left the chip at the bottom of the handle unfilled. Will pass it along to a great grandson or maybe great-great grandson of the first owner when I’m done with it. It has always been a go to hammer for me so maybe it wasn’t a waste of time after all:)

Remember the old woodman's story: "I've put a new handle and a new head on her, but she's still a damned good axe!"