I picked up an old hamburger press at the secondhand store the other day.I had trouble with the patties sticking so I cut squares of plastic from a plastic shopping bag , and sandwiched the ball of meat between that and then pressed it-viola' it worked beautifully- the patty just peeled off the plastic sheet cleanly - no more buying boxes of hamburger patties for this guy! Now I make a batch of patties and freeze them for future use. I just love spending $2 on some old tool that works-makes me feel good.I saw an old crank drill there too- , the kind you brace against your chest-I suggested they advertise it as the original ''cordless drill''
My parents picked up a small old meat grinder at a yard sale a about 20 years ago for $1 and we use the thing all the time! It is especially useful for dressings and grinding fruit and vegetables for casseroles. It takes only minutes more than using a cuisinart and you can suck out the juice and keep it for other recipes. Quite possibly the best investment ever made!
I love old stuff too, especially tools. The quality these things were made with in the old days - you just can't compare them to what is a Lowes / Home Depot. Flea markets are my best hunting grounds. You can find tons of stuff there - some pretty beat up, but other times - gold, pure gold. I purchased an old brace a couple of months ago for $10, the auger bits ranging from 1/8" to 1" for a buck a piece ( !). Two week ends ago, found the brace you described, the one with center support. Sweet. The reasons why they up for sale - everybody wants power everything. A plain ol' screwdriver isn't good enough - you have to plug it in - who has the time to actually turn a screw in? Their loss - my gain. I really dig old tools. I just keep a five gallon bucket with all of the old stuff together. I've got an old buck saw, auger, brace(s), froe and a bunch of other stuff. Pretty heavy.
I LOVE this stuff!! I buy old kitchen stuff all the time... I have a vintage mixing bowl that when I'm mixing up cookies, I think about how many batches of cookies the thing has made... Same thing with my wooden bread bowl... and my wooden spoons... I LOVE fleamarkets...goodwill is a cose 2nd
yeah, I like that bit about thinking of the people who used them long ago.I picked up an old cast iron wafle iron-the kind which sits in a ring, and you turn it over to do both sides.That waffle iron was making breakfast for people long before I was born and will be making waffles for people yet unborn- long after I will depart this scene.
