# Anybody into Sad Irons



## passthebottle (Jan 13, 2009)

These are quite common finds in bottle dumps but does anybody else bother to drag these home besides me, or maybe I'm just more of a packrat than the rest of you. Don't get me wrong though, the car has to be close by, I won't carry them for miles through the woods.


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## woody (Jan 13, 2009)

Yes, they make good door stops and clean up well.
 I like your cowbells, too!!!


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## GuntherHess (Jan 13, 2009)

Some of the cast iron trivets they sit on are pretty fancy. They just dont make great cast iron like they used to. I try to use some of it around the house when I replace stuff. I'd rather pay $15 for a nice antique cast iron heating grate then buy a stamped piece of crap chinese grate at Home depot. I'll try to take some photos of stuff If I get a chance.


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## GuntherHess (Jan 13, 2009)

Here is a sad iron I have. My kid uses it to crack nuts...


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## GuntherHess (Jan 13, 2009)

A trivet for irons ...


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## GuntherHess (Jan 13, 2009)

Floor grate in living room...


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## GuntherHess (Jan 13, 2009)

A mortise lock on bathroom door. Cast iron allowed a lot of details...


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## GuntherHess (Jan 13, 2009)

Even small stuff like cabinet locks were made nice. Back in the days when craftsmanship were important...before the age of walmart...


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## tigue710 (Jan 13, 2009)

you gotta get you some brass screws there Gunther!  I love all the old ornate detail found in Victorian and federal fixtures.  I always restore them when remodeling or even painting for someone.  People are always so surprised what was sitting there buried under 20 layers of paint!


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## GuntherHess (Jan 13, 2009)

Ya, all I had that small were some galv. need some small better looking ones.
 They typically used iron screws because the items were normally painted.


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## RED Matthews (Jan 13, 2009)

Hello again,  I really have always liked old cast iron.  I started when I was about 8 years old.  I still have my first cast iron toy which is a Hubley green race car with a removable man.  I have pieces of all kinds of old workmanship and early casting quality.  I have my Fathers cast iron tractor and thrashing machine and lots of pieces of iron things like the trivets and irons and cow bells.  My wife and children want me to start selling them off.  It is just hard for a pack-rat to give them up.  Great items, guys.  It always pleases me to realize that so many other people like the same things I do.  RED Matthews


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## RedGinger (Jan 13, 2009)

Hey Gunth, we have grates like that.  I'll have to ask Joe where he got them.  Just don't step on one the wrong way.  It really hurts your toes!  I found a door handle like yours recently in a dump.  Is it ceramic?  I'd like to install mine in a door at home.  Why are they called sad irons?


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## GuntherHess (Jan 13, 2009)

> door handle like yours recently in a dump. Is it ceramic?


 
 Yes, they came with the house.


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## woody (Jan 13, 2009)

The _sad_ in sad iron (or sadiron) is an old word for solid, and in some contexts this name suggests something bigger and heavier than a flat iron.


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## Stardust (Jan 13, 2009)

I've got a basket of door knobs like Matt's ( are they worth anything?), have big old brackets (really neat), irons lets some of them go, []  going to do some art with some of the neat things. Got some funky ideas in my head. Time to let the artist free again...

 why were they called sad [8|] ? I'd be sad if I had to Iron...[]
 just saw woody answered my question.....[]


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## tigue710 (Jan 13, 2009)

true, but the brass, or copper will look very nice!  The owner of a cabinet shop I used to work at bought out the stock of a very old hardware store in town so we had 100's of boxes of every type and size of brass, steel or copper screw you could imagine.  I still go there when I need to replace screws on old fixtures... he treats me good... except that he said he would call me in for furniture repairs because I did the best work in the shop, that never happened!  lol  even his work is slow right now, and most of his costumers were film producers and what not in New York or Western Ct...  I built a vanity that was sold for 12,000 bucks...  two weeks of work, at twelve dollars an hour...  !  I was not so happy with that job...


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## dollarbill (Jan 13, 2009)

Hey passthebottle and all 
    This is a cool post .I love all the old cast iron and metal pieces in old houses .I have an iron or 2 around here some were but there in bad shape . Matt those are some cool door locks and grates and trivet . Hers a few cast pieces .My wife has collected a few trivets and small iron skillets .Heres some pics from my old home to.
   bill


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## dollarbill (Jan 13, 2009)

Up stairs fire place grate


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## dollarbill (Jan 13, 2009)

interior door locks


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## RICKJJ59W (Jan 13, 2009)

I dug  a few out of  a privy's.Most of the time we find them with out handles.I can't find the pix in my folders.There are a couple of pix on my web page.


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## dollarbill (Jan 13, 2009)

Interior door .There made of 1'' bys of  different withs


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## dollarbill (Jan 13, 2009)

How about old claw foot tubs


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## dollarbill (Jan 13, 2009)

The old tubs hardware and it still works good .Thanks for looken and for you other good fokes for posted your old stuff . 
   bill


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## dollarbill (Jan 13, 2009)

A couple of dug pieces


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## Stardust (Jan 13, 2009)

BILL​[]​my dear friend,​hello there,​i never saw a cast iron cross trivit.​i have several different ones.​one that was made into a hanging light.​love my cast iron pans best way to help replace low iron is to burn something in them and eat it.​this is a fun post.....[8|]​


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## Stardust (Jan 13, 2009)

Bill,
 Is that a bottles book next to the toilet? [8|]
 If it is did you put it there just for the picture?[]
 Cause I would have.


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## tigue710 (Jan 13, 2009)

Man that is an excellent house Bill!

 My favorite piece of cast iron is my frying pan!  You'd be hard pressed to get me cook cakes on anything else!  Or bacon, or filler with mix and throw her in the oven for some corn bread!  Hmmm I'm getting hungry now...


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## passthebottle (Jan 13, 2009)

That's some good kooking cast iron Gunther and Dollarbill. I'm a flooring contracter so I know all about floor grates and your rught about the old heavy cast iron ones being the best, I know a lady that had a large 3'x3' one in her hall, sent it out to the bodyshop t0 be painted and clearcoated a light green color - looks great.


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## passthebottle (Jan 13, 2009)

Cast iron clown that's quite freaky looking that's always looking for a handout.


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## passthebottle (Jan 13, 2009)

Course you know what's coming next. With a push of a lever in the back he eats the money!


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## RedGinger (Jan 13, 2009)

Joe found this grate in our ceiling where an old oil field house had collapsed in a town that is now gone.  How's that for a run on sentence?[]


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## RedGinger (Jan 13, 2009)

Here is a doorknob like Gunther's.  I found it in a Victorian dump and polished it with some steel wool.  I really like it.  Am I going to have to take a pic of our clawfoot tub now too?  This takes me forever on this computer.  It's really cool.


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## capsoda (Jan 13, 2009)

Great looking stuff folks. That is the kind of clown that would give kids nightmares. Sure is an ugly bugger.


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## Stardust (Jan 13, 2009)

now i've got to make my corn bread cassarole caue dr tigue got me hungry...... it's the best ever []


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## ajohn (Jan 13, 2009)

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has a soft spot for EVERYTHING.Hey,never know when that'll come in handy!!!
 OK, the first person who can guess what that long thing is in the middle is, will win a HFJCo. jar


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## ajohn (Jan 13, 2009)

here's the jar...


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## ajohn (Jan 13, 2009)

Better picture


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## whitefeather (Jan 13, 2009)

hi a-john is it a yoke without the wood?

 Whitefeather


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## ajohn (Jan 13, 2009)

WRONG!Come on whitefeather,you were there when I got it...I think.


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## whitefeather (Jan 13, 2009)

Hay "passthebottle" "cute name"  I like the play on words. yea, the clown is scary, I like the texture on the wall though.

 Whitefeather


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## Stardust (Jan 13, 2009)

looks like a yard sale aj .... how much do the mason jars go for?
 that clown is scary passthebottle..... []
 lions and tigers and bears...
 oh my!


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## whitefeather (Jan 14, 2009)

Oh Ok I think it is had a saber in it of some sort... 

 whitefeather


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## whitefeather (Jan 14, 2009)

Oh well...[] AJ. but I do know where you got the sharping stone came to you,  x-mas from the children and I[].  I Give .... you win[8D]. On to the next adventure.

 Whitefeather


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## ajohn (Jan 14, 2009)

Star,It's a pretty common mason jar.Goes for about$10.00-$15.00 if it's whittled.I think their cool looking.
 whitefeather,your close


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## Stardust (Jan 14, 2009)

i think they are cool i just got some at my local thrift and have them on my stove back. the look neat.they like me dtere and always give me  a good deal.
 thanks for the info. they hold stuff like that for me. when your nice to people it pays back. []


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## cobaltbot (Jan 14, 2009)

Being a history nut as well as a bottle nut I for one love bringing home rusty metal junk.  I bring home sad irons and always place the heavy stuff in the bottom of my pack, then put the bottles on top.  I once brought home a 57 pound cannonball and thought my little daypack was going to split in two!  I love finding irons as well as the trivits that kept them from burning stuff.  A couple of these are in rough, almost gone shape but I still might try and restore the one on the right.  Wrought iron sad irons and trivits are generally older and scarcer than the cast iron ones.  Supposedly people had more than one sad iron to keep one heated as the other cooled off.  Early trivits were very hollow as the less metal the sad iron sat upon the less of a heatsink factor it provided.


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## cyberdigger (Jan 14, 2009)

A guess: the top piece that held a wooden sign, like for a tavern or some store?


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## tigue710 (Jan 14, 2009)

I'm guessing either part of a one man saw or part of a clamp...


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## cobaltbot (Jan 14, 2009)

guillotine[X(]


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## cobaltbot (Jan 14, 2009)

Our 1883 house is filled with neat old hardware for the doors, hinges. etc.  Whenever I hear they are going to sadly implode another old house, I try and get permission to go in and strip out any cool hardware.


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## cobaltbot (Jan 14, 2009)

Found these bronze? door escutchens in a bottle dump.  I like the eagle, bowl of fruit, and what looks like a milk bottle or can decorations.


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## cobaltbot (Jan 14, 2009)

Something else I drag home are plow points.  Anyone else nuts enough to do this?[]


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## Stardust (Jan 14, 2009)

welcome back charlie.....
 how's the honey bunch doing?

 love your rusty stuff colbolt. i have rusty stuff too.


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## whitefeather (Jan 15, 2009)

cobaltbot


 I like the pic of the locks? they have little bottles on them too. What can you share about them?  And yes I do know someone crazzy []enough to bring things like items on the stairs, What are they from plows? a-john as a mater of fact brings a lot of lut home, from any job he could [:-]that man would bring home any thing old in the houses he could. doors, fences, wooden collumns, windows , and I think some one on the fourm was building a shop or store and he said I should send they a window they need[].The funniest was he went jogging and was running back to the house with a big fallen tree he got out of the creek on his shoulders, down the middle of the street.  It looked funny to "outsiders" but I knew what he was doing. It was a good one nice shape and seasoned. Nice to think of fond memories. Thank you for the pics.

 Whitefeather


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## ajohn (Jan 15, 2009)

tigue710,You are close enough to be right.It is a clamp to hold saw blades for sharpening.It can be mounted on a saw horse or a table edge and holds the blade teeth up so the blade can be worked.I'll try to post a picture tomorrow.Way to go! you win!I will PM you a message.                      A.J.


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## cobaltbot (Jan 15, 2009)

Thanks Star and Kim.  I haven't found out about the door plates yet but when I first went to dig there, there was a fawn lying on top of my spot - so I gave it up for that day and came back another time[]


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## dollarbill (Jan 15, 2009)

Hey Star,Passthebottle and Matt
  Thanks for replays and for a great post passthebottle. Yes that is a bottle book on the side of the john Star Iam always reading (he he ).Love  all this  old metal too.Thank   all .
                          bill


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## Stardust (Jan 15, 2009)

love it....
 it's really neat...
 i'd hang it on the wall.
 what did it do?
 are you going to make us guess? []


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## Stardust (Jan 15, 2009)

ok let's confess it now. we bring home everything. we see beauty in something old and now it can be reused. we have so much of this stuff that other people just don't understand. sometimes we have to sneak it in. we become a little obessive about it all. we think about when we'll be able to get it next and the high we get we we find our stuff.may it be bottles, sad irons, something on the side of the road, a box lot at an auction, a find at a flea market or yard sale, curb alerts, freecycle, craigslist, a great local thrift, the joy of finding a new one, need i say more... oh yes the FREE part, we all love free or a good bargin. that's how i get my highs...

 now how about you? []  DO YOU DRAG ALL THIS STUFF HOME AND SAY YOUR GOING TO USE IT FOR THIS AND THAT and it sits around
 and mabe your other half dragged  in just as much and your house is full and your yard is starting to look like a junk yard? is your basement too full? garage filled so your car can't go in?
 signed,
 just wondering as i'm cleaning today...[] but, i'll be back got to go tothe local thrift. []


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## tigue710 (Jan 26, 2009)

Received the jar today, thanks A.J.!


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