Ashtray Project
While in Iowa this summer, I got to do a lot of antiquing. I picked up several old pipes for restoring, some old reamers, cigar boxes and a Dunhill pipe rack. A local gentleman who went shopping with us inquired on the type of stuff I collect. I told him among other things that I collect most things related to tobacco. He indicated that he knew of something I might be interested in. A couple of days later we take a ride over to an old shed and he pulls a couple of strange relics out of a box. They were cast iron looking saucers with a good half inch of rust on them that he thought were cigar ashtrays. These had been outside on his great-grandfather's farm for years and then in an old barn since the 50's. 100 year old weathered cast iron is ugly. We proceeded to wire brush and sand blast them down a bit and sure as shit, they were indeed cast iron ashtrays.
I had these shipped back to Utah as a future garage project. I should have taken some before pictures so you can see the bad shape these suckers were in when they shipped out. Over the past several weeks I have worked feverishly with a wire brush. The next step was to use a few soaked coats of Naval Jelly. Then I got out my dremel tool with the small wire brush attachment and the ashtrays finally came to life. They are adorned in an outdoors motif with a sunflower, a hunter, hunting dog, pheasant, mountains and a rising trout. They will look even better after seasoning them (baking for a long time at a lower temperature with oil). One will end up on the deck and the other on my terrace. No real worries of these breaking outside. The suckers weigh 7 1/2 lbs. each:
Looking good after a few coats of Naval Jelly:
After dremel brushing:
Side by side of finished and unfinished ashtrays:
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