It will literally be an oily shop project - probably always remembered as "The Oily Shop Project" for me.

BACKGROUND

My grandfather was a well respected man and best known in this area for his lifetime of service in the oil fields.  He owned a oil field services company and was instrumental in keeping most oil wells around this area serviced and running.  Avoiding some of the ugly details, he shut down his business (his choice) about 20 years ago, and literally "closed up shop".

The shop (40x80) was "car sealed", if you will, with everything left as it was when he was in business - and was left that way for the remainder of his life.  Upon my grandfather's death (1998), the property was left to my uncle.  My uncle has, on occasion, made some limited use of the shop but it has for the most part sat unused and occupied only by those things left some 24+ years ago (with some limited exceptions). 

THE SHOP

The shop is actually an old oil field pump house....meaning it's a building originally erected in the mid 20s to serve as protection over a pumping unit.  If you've ever seen some of the early pumping units (with a shiv and multiple belts driving several wells) you'd understand why such a large building.  My father took the pumping unit structure down when he was young and erected it at my grandfather's as his "new shop".  It has two bays, a secure "tool room", and a bathroom.  I will not cover up the ugly truth of this shop being a huge mess, OILY OILY OILY, completely unorganized, nearly impossible to walk in - much less find anything or to even know what's there.  For nearly a year my uncle and I have held discussions about the idea of trying to do something with the shop. 

THE PROJECT

The decided goals of the project are 1) make the space where it is usable for us (the family) - we're all into things mechanical and geesh it sure would be nice to have that huge workspace, and 2) find the tools, inventory them, clean them up, and organize them.  For me, personally, side goals are understanding what tools my gpa chose to make use of, and to "cherry pick" those I'd like to keep for myself and pass on.

Today I decided it was time to stop procrastinating about the project and drive over and take a look at it.  My goal today was to decide if this was a project I could take on right now and complete in a timely fashion.  I spent nearly 5 hours looking at the surface level.  I plan to officially start this project on Saturday.  I'm very excited to learn more about my grandfather's tool stash and wanted to share the story, as it unfolds, here.

I didn't have my camera with me today.  I'll try to get a few pictures on Saturday before I start.

Sounds very cool. Deffinitly a project that ime sure any of us would enjoy. Hopefully you can keep us update with pictures. A mess dont bother me thats for sure, my shops been getting worse and worse lately. I should be cleaning it in stead of on the net lol.

I cant rember who told me but a while back when I was talking about my grandpas tools someone said "the best tools are your grandpas tools"

That will be a super project! I bet it takes you longer than you think, but it will be well worth it.

Remember, it doesn't happen if there are no pictures!!!

cant wait for pics!

OK OK :)

I'll cough up the cell phone picture - as much as I don't like their poor quality

A crap view of the corner as an example of the mess.  EVERYWHERE you look it is a tool.

A little jewel I've already eyed

A couple of homemade wrenches - the longest about 24"

Whatzit?  I already know- I've heard stories of its use.

Boy do I envy you, saddly I will prob. never again have the opportunity you are looking at. Maybe when I was a younger man growing up in CT but here in FL it would be a tough find.
BTW I would be surprised if those wrenches were home made

Quote from: 1930 on March 14, 2012, 06:49:03 AM
BTW I would be surprised if those wrenches were home made

Why would that surprise you?  I've personally been witness to a many of wrench either hand made or significantly altered in that shop.  He had 4 sons each went through machinist trade schooling - I remember some very nice metal working projects coming home from trade school when I was younger (my youngest uncle is only 5 years older than me).  I would not be surprised at all to learn in the end either my dad or one of his brother's had made them.  Just this last fall I learned of a pecan cracker an uncle hand made as machine shop project you'd swear came from a top-tier manufacturing facility - I've still not found one at any price I'd consider comparable in function, quality, or style.

We went through basically the same type of thing with the stuff my father left behind in his barn when we bought it from my mother. (You could literaly walk from one end to the other without touching the floor) There was a lot of total junk mixed with tools and equipment spread through the whole building! My wife and I sorted and carried stuff for two weeks. The stuff brought back a lot of memories and quite a few comments about why in the world did he keep this? The building sure looked good all cleaned up when we were through! Until we got all the repairs done to the building and started carrying our own junk in!

Bill D.

Oily, I am soooo jealous! In 1979, my wife and I bought a 7 acre mini farm with a big barn and several out buildings. I paid the old guy (he was only five years older than I am now) $3500 for all of his farm machinery and a promise not to clean the sheds. It took me a couple of years and a bunch of trips to the scrap yard to clean it all out. Many prize goodies.  I hope you have as much fun as I did working your ass off.

Great project I look forward to progress reports on this one

 I envy you,looks like a fun project.
P.S. your Thorsen stuff will be in mail this AM