Clare's Storeroom

Clare's Storeroom
Originally uploaded by JaySeaAre.

A former neighbor of ours, Clare, taught me some basics of woodworking and general household repairs during the 9 years we were neighbors. He once told me that he bought his little Milwood Bungalow in 1964 because, "It was the one that was most plumb and square, corner to corner". So goes the practical nature of this good friend who is never out of arm's reach of a tape measure and a T-square.

My friend Greg Cavey, a fine woodworker himself, and I visited Clare this afternoon and he gave us the full tour of his workshop. He custom built 5 or 6 of these hardware storage cabinets in this picture to fit the peanut butter, jam and baby food jars that he'd collected over the years.

I once needed a bolt for a 1940's Schwinn bicycle that I have. I went to the hardware store, brought home the bolt that seemed to be the right size and tried threading it to the old nut, but the thread just didn't seem to line up. I called the two locally owned, old timey hardware stores in town and nether could help me with the oddly threaded nut. They were stumped.

I talked to Clare about my difficulty in finding the bolt to which he replied, "Do you reckon it has what they call a German threading?" I didn't know. He said, "After the war, they stopped making those, so I just kept a couple around if I needed one." He went down to his workshop, swung open this cabinet and handed me a bolt that fit the nut perfectly.