Not much to report of late - I've picked up the "this-and-that" but nothing that I would consider cool. Sometime in early February I did find this item at Goodwill - what caught my eye was the intense color and grain. Picking them up was an experience as they are about twice as heavy as I would have expected. Upon closer examination I realized that the tiles are cocobolo - if you're not familiar with the wood, it's in the rosewood family and quite prized - it's also very expensive. The whole stack was wrapped in celo so I couldn't really tell what it was, but I figured at minimum the tiles could be reused in my woodworking.
Unfolding the stack revealed two flexible mats with the tiles joined by mono-filament:
My apologies for the blurry photos - I didn't realize how bad they were until I posted - however you can get the gist and there's enough detail so you can see how beautiful they are. Each mat has at least one tile "loose" where the mono-filament has broken - easy to repair. I think they may be Danish in origin but really don't know as I haven't seen them before.
I'm thinking about stitching the two together into a single centerpiece - thoughts on that? They may have originally been together for just that, or they may be place mats (one is a tile row wider than the other). No markings that I could find. If you have any info or if you've seen them before, please let me know - I'd like to identify them.
I'm finally getting around to December and January finds - fairly "slim-pickings" from those two months or perhaps I'm just getting too choosy. In any case, I found these 8 coasters at Goodwill - they had the two rubber bands around them as shown, wrapped in plastic with a $1.92 price on them.
They looked great and even better once I got them home. I don't believe they were ever used - so these are keepers.
Dansk would normally market these in sets of 4 so I'm presuming that these 8 are actually two sets. Also, Dansk would normally mark the edge of at least one coaster with a small "Dansk" imprint - I've looked these over and couldn't find one so these are potentially knock-offs. However they are so nice it doesn't matter to me, plus they are extremely functional.
I'm particularly fond of the butcher-block end-grain cut of similar cutting boards. I find the grain patterning entrancing. Sorry about the glare on these - they aren't high-polish but due to the wood's hardness and silica content, they tend to reflect light.
I managed to do some light sanding on the Dansk Teak End-Grain Cutting Board/Tray that I posted previously.
This tray was mostly just a bit dirty but it did have a few imperfections - luckily they all sanded out. I always start these retorations by wiping everything down with mineral spirits. It tends to get off any goo and the sanding tends to work out any residue. After a bit of sanding at 220 I wiped well and followed with two coats of Watco Danish Oil. I love the honey-colored hues of Teak. This one will be a keeper.
Not much to be found lately at the thrift stores - at least not much worth buying. Seems most of the modernist items that I like have been snagged up by others. On Friday I found this nice teak tray - it's nothing special but well made, measing 22.5 inches long by 11.5 inches wide. It's also fairly unblemished (a couple of small edge scratches):
I like the bevelling of the edges:
It has a light "Denmark" stamp in the center of the bottom oh and the price was right a $1.91:
This second item I found a few weeks ago - it just sort of caught my eye as most teak items do. I believe it to be a trivet - this one made by Dansk with the usual markings and also the right price at 99 cents:
It's about 6.5 inches in diameter...
As always, thanks for reading and good luck in the hunt!
My latest find almost wasn't - last weekend I stopped in a Goodwill and basically walked through the whole store without finding anything. Fortunately I walked back through right when a staff member was putting out a few pieces in the "wooden things" aisle - that's when I spotted this tray.
I call these "teak surfboard trays" for lack of a better name - the tapered ends curve up into the handles. This is the first I've owned, however I've always greatly admired the style and design. My friend John Stephens tells me that this is the second-from largest size, measuring in at about 28 inches or so in length (eyeball measure).
This example has great, intact laminations (boards are cut and laminated side-by-side to make up the width). Notice the darker smudges - that's candle wax. I've wiped down the tray with a bit of mineral spirits and have removed all but a hint of the circles. I then applied some Danish Oil. I haven't decided whether to wipe it down again or apply another layer and call it done (no pics of the finished item yet - this is definitely a keeper).
One thing I like in particular is the construction - this image is blurry but you can see the sliding dovetail for the "feet" trimmed with a few passes of a chisel at the end.
I believe this is an earlier example, bearing all the marks: serial number, "ducks" logo, "Dansk Designs Denmark Inc" and copyright symbol.
It's been a while since I've found something worth posting about - this time I found this Heller Two Quart Casserole with Au Gratin Cover Designed by Massimo and Lella Vignelli for Heller - these started production around 1975. I've always admired the one that my friend John Stephens has - first seeing it during a pot-luck at the house where they brought a yummy dish presented in the casserole dish. I was very lucky to find this example for less than $5 at a Goodwill near work. This one is marked Heller, Made in USA and Microwave Safe - no chips in the lid or dish at all. Measures about 9 3/4″ in diameter at widest and 5 1/2″ tall and very heavy - the interesting texture is from grooves moulded into the glass. Very happy to find this during a serendipitous moment...
I found this smaller (about 10" in diameter and 2 1/2" tall) Kobenstyle paella pot (for lack of a better name - I think it was actually sold as something else, maybe as an alternative to a saute pan?) at Goodwill the other day for less than $6. The bottom is marked Dansk Designs France and IHQ. I've always admired these low-slug pans, this one is in exceptional condition, the only problem being the chip on one of the handles. I generally don't buy these if the white enable has chips in the actual cooking area (yep, I actually cook with my set). This one joins the much larger "paella pan" I already own in yellow (the latter was purchased many, many years ago in the old junk shop that used to be on Ponce by Eats for $3).
Felix says "I sure like the red!"
Glad I'm wearing clothes!
Since owning and using these Dansk pots, I've managed to chip the red off of one other handle on a red lid. At some point I'll take some photos of the whole set.
I actually found this radio some time last year at an estate sale, where I picked up several other items. Since pickings have been slow lately and I was recently able to get this guy working, I thought I'd talk about my fix.
Immaculate Wood Finish
So when I got home with the radio I foolishly plugged it in - a huge spark flew and the breaker kicked. Looking carefully at the cord there was a break right where the cord melded into the housing. I took the time to take the cord apart and open up the case, mostly to see how bad the paper cone was deteriorated. Amazingly the interior was very clean and the paper still intact - no brittleness that you usually see in old radios and speakers.
So this is what the cord looks like:
And you can see the culprit here:
I made a few inquiries online with various radio "experts" - one guy I found specializes in restoring old Grundig radios. I related the cord issue and asked if there were any replacements available - his reply was that there weren't. At that point I was resigned into cutting the piece apart, rewiring and epoxying everything back together - so it became a back-burner project.
Fast forward to yesterday - I was at my local Goodwill and looking for an externsion cord to test a piece of outdoor equipment - I came across this old appliance cord and thought "this looks just like the cord on that old Grundig radio!" It came home with me for $1.91
And viola! A perfect fit:
Here's the test - plugged in for the second, hopefully successful time:
I put together this short video as I tested the stations and controls:
Another cool, useful item saved from the landfill!
Slim pickings recently, but I did manage to score this unusual glazed ceramic vasemugfor a dollar at an estate sale. It has the Kona Kai tiki figure molded on the front and "Kona Kai" on the back. It also has a "MOC Japan" sticker on the bottom. I believe this was made sometime in the 60s. I researched Kona Kai and the chain of motels (the most renown were the locations near Disneyland in California and Disneyworld in Florida) seem to have mostly disappeared by the mid to late 70's. There were also Kona Kai Motels in other states. While researching, I only found images of regular figural Tiki-shaped drink glasses, menus and post cards. I didn't find anything like this vase (I'm calling it a vase as there's a lip around the top and it's just not finished like your typical drink glass, but I could be mistaken). turns out this is a "Fogcutter" mug (see below). Something unusual to add to the tiki collection. This is the third tiki I've managed to find - previously I found a more recent tiki at Goodwill for a buck and a neat figural tiki glass at an estate sale for $3.
Back
Bottom
On the counter
Good luck in the hunt! John
Addendum:
I also posted photos on flickr and a user identified this object for me:
