One Man's Treasure
Back in 2017 my neighbor was tossing his old sled out to the trash. Having seen other blogs and the decorating people did with old sleds I thought - heck! I'll take that thing! My neighbor just chuckled and said, "One man's treasure...". Again, that was in 2017. Here's a picture from when I first grabbed the sled...
And here it is just a couple days ago...
Yep - pretty much the same! But - in 2017 I did do a (very) little work on it...
I took the momentous step of sanding the rust off the runners!
And Then It Sat
I'm not sure why, but I quickly lost interest in it. So much so that a week or two ago it was heading back out to the trash, and for whatever reason I held onto it. Then a couple days ago I thought maybe I'd dig in a little and give it one last chance. Before I get started, here's the stamp on the underside. I'm not sure of the manufacturer, but I think I can make out that it was made in 1936. Maybe? If anyone can tell, please let me know!
When I finally got started, I decided I would replace all the wood. Not a popular move I know, but really, there wasn't much value in keeping the original because it was so worn out.
So I started by carefully taking the sled apart...
It had some pretty beefy rivets in it, making the tear down quite challenging...
I actually had to grind them off...
I think the most challenging part was fabricating a new handle, which started by tracing the old one...
Cutting it with my trusty ol' saber saw...
Then sanding and shaping at the drill press...
All Taken Apart
At long last it was dismantled. Always interesting to see something in its separate parts, and to think it was probably the first time in some 73 years.
Then it was a matter of sanding down the steel parts:
Then it was a matter of cutting the rest of the wood pieces. This is the dry fit without the steel:
Now it's just a matter of painting the steel and reassembling the whole thing. Hopefully this will be complete in the next couple days!