Do You Remember When

[Iwannacamp]

FWIW there are still some old time hardware stores around. We had one that 4 floors and took a whole block. It was Burhman Pharr hardware in Texarkana. It closed cause the grandchildren didn’t want to run it...they wanted to spend the money (my understanding) and they closed it and made loft apartments out of it.
There is an old timer in Paris Texas called Swaim Hardware... not as big, but old.

[D W]

Originally Posted by Iwannacamp

Amazon has it

Attachment 242364

Quite a bit on eBay too

Yes, I saw that in a few searches I did. On-line is probably the only place you'll find it. On the average it cost about $25-$30 per pound delivered. Those same 1 lb cans used to sell for $.99 in hardware stores. I know that there's inflation, but the going prices these days are ridiculous! Just not cost effective to operate carbide lamps at these prices. Justrite no longer makes carbide lamps. The MINEX version is still available but they now sell for a whopping $70! They use to sell for around $5. That's a lot of inflation as well.

Oh well, we can still "remember when".

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by D W

Yes, I saw that in a few searches I did. On-line is probably the only place you'll find it. On the average it cost about $25-$30 per pound delivered. Those same 1 lb cans used to sell for $.99 in hardware stores. I know that there's inflation, but the going prices these days are ridiculous! Just not cost effective to operate carbide lamps at these prices. Justrite no longer makes carbide lamps. The MINEX version is still available but they now sell for a whopping $70! They use to sell for around $5. That's a lot of inflation as well.

Oh well, we can still "remember when".

Especially when one can get an LED lantern or headlamp that will run all night (and maybe several nights) on a single charge. Not only that, they work better in wind and rain.

As for Carbide, I had a neighbor who was a shipyard welder and had a huge shop at home. One item that fascinated me as a kid was his carbige Acetylene generator. Several times larger than the Oxygen bottle next to it and it provided the fuel for his Acetylene Torch.

[waybeck2018]

Originally Posted by AFDON

Scrapper, You would think that by now I would know enough to proofread anything I put on this forum! I guess its the old but good syndrome getting me. Got to say, you get 90 points for catching me on this one!

on me. for you.

Stay safe.

I understood what you wrote in your original post ! Probably because I also milked and (then) fed chickens and hauled water to them. Simple enough for a farm boy to understand.

[waybeck2018]

Originally Posted by D W

Who remembers using carbide lamps back in the day for hunting and camping? We used them all the time in the scouts. Surprising enough they still sell them today. Local hardware stores used to sell the little cans of Calcium Carbide for fuel. Just add water and instant acetylene. Personally, I haven't seen Calcium Carbide in a hardware store in decades.

Many happy memories of coon and possum hunting using these lamps. Those were the good old days.

[oxcamper]

Who remembers "sonic booms"?

[EarlA]

Originally Posted by oxcamper

Who remembers "sonic booms"?

I grew up about 5 miles from, at that time, the largest SAC base the USA had so I heard (and felt) multiple times a day!

[Fish N Farm]

How many times have you kicked yourself for selling it? I went to a car show at the local Dodge dealer several years back and I saw a red 1967 Hemi Cornet and the car belong to a guy I went to school with and he had it since it was new. No telling what a Hemi car is worthy today. The guy that owns the company I work for has a 1969 Boss 9 less than 6,000 documented un restored miles. He bought it sometime around 1988. A Nam vet was KIA after buying it and his parents had kept it in their garage almost 20 years. He paid $20,000 and was a good deal but not a robbery at the time. I saw one go on Barret Jackson for $415,000 about 10 years ago.

[Fish N Farm]

Since you are a Rail Roader my Grand Pa was a switchman in Galveston and the Round House was across the street from where my dad worked and in the mid 50's the GH&H still had 2 working steam switch engines.

[TheWolfPaq82]

Originally Posted by D W

Sharp looking car! However, the wheels are not period correct for a Muscle Car. Cragar Mags, Chrome Reverse and Rally wheels were the style during this era.

Yep ! wrong wheels. I had Cragers on my 69 Charger RT.

[Oaklevel]

My cousin bought a new 1970 AAR Cuda still has it with 39K origional miles even still has the origional tires .............. he turned down a 6 figure offer. It is in mint origional condition. Other than filters the only thing not origional is the vacuum linkage on the 6 pack.

I have a mostly original 1966 factory GT Mustang and a 1953 Buick

[TitanMike]

Remember cruising the neighborhood on these:



I found that the best roller skates for one of thse were your sisters.

[D W]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

Remember cruising the neighborhood on these:



I found that the best roller skates for one of thse were your sisters.

Those were fun until you hit a crack in the sidewalk! As I recall those steel wheels didn't last long on the concrete. They wore down fast and got flat spots on them.

When we got too big for the scooters, we started building these. Go to the dump to get discarded boards, hammer the nails out of the wood, straighten them and reuse them. Got the baby coach wheels and axles from discarded carriages at the dump as well. We learned real fast that we had to fashion a 2x4 to rub a rear wheel for a brake.

[Scrapper]

Originally Posted by oxcamper

Who remembers "sonic booms"?

I still hear sonic booms about once a month. I live in the flight path between the ANG base and the training area. When the WI-ANG had the A-10 Warthog, the pilots would buzz us while we were working the fields in the spring. They would come in from behind then roll out for another pass from a different direction, making up to a half dozen passes. When they got done with their fun they would come by low enough waving their hand and wings then do a steep climb-out and head back to base. Several times they would come over the trees and make simulated attacks on our house.


They have been flying the F-16 for several years now and are expecting to upgrade to the F-35.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by Scrapper

I still hear sonic booms about once a month. I live in the flight path between the ANG base and the training area. When the WI-ANG had the A-10 Warthog, the pilots would buzz us while we were working the fields in the spring. They would come in from behind then roll out for another pass from a different direction, making up to a half dozen passes. When they got done with their fun they would come by low enough waving their hand and wings then do a steep climb-out and head back to base. Several times they would come over the trees and make simulated attacks on our house.


They have been flying the F-16 for several years now and are expecting to upgrade to the F-35.

An interesting read on Sonic Booms and Military aircraft flying over the US:

Aerospaceweb.org | Ask Us - Military Supersonic Flight Rules

As for the A-10 "Hog" creating a sonic boom, not really. Max speed is 439 mph. Noise? Absolutely and a lot of it. Sonic Booms can do serious damage on the ground with a lot of broken windows being some of the least.

I was at an airshow years ago when a pilot put on an unofficial "show" by doing a vertical climb. When afterburner ignited there was a sudden loud noise but nothing like a sonic boom which sounds like dynamite going off nearby.

[TitanMike]

Those were fun until you hit a crack in the sidewalk!

My folks kept a bottle of Merthiolate on hand along with band aids (The kind that suck to your skin like glue).

The Merthiolate stung like heck. When patched up back out we went. Don't remember anyone ever suing the city for crappy sidewalks either

[D W]

Originally Posted by oxcamper

Who remembers "sonic booms"?

Sonic booms are a common occurrence here in Alaska. We have several F22 Fighter Squadrons here at JBER (Elmendorf AFB). The Russians are forever probing Alaska air space and the fighters "scramble" to intercept them. They wait until they are west of Anchorage to hit the afterburners, but you can still hear and sometime feel the sonic boom when they hit mach1.

[AFDON]

Don't remember anyone ever suing the city for crappy sidewalks either __________________
I remember, before we moved to the farm, that in Indiana at least, the home owner was the one responsible for the sidewalk upkeep. So you got a nice two or three house stretch and then one where the tree root had lifted the concrete.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by AFDON

Don't remember anyone ever suing the city for crappy sidewalks either __________________
I remember, before we moved to the farm, that in Indiana at least, the home owner was the one responsible for the sidewalk upkeep. So you got a nice two or three house stretch and then one where the tree root had lifted the concrete.

When I was a kid, new scrapes and scabs made for good "tales" during recess. Back then they were a sign that kids were having fun

[D W]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

My folks kept a bottle of Merthiolate on hand along with band aids (The kind that suck to your skin like glue).

The Merthiolate stung like heck. When patched up back out we went. Don't remember anyone ever suing the city for crappy sidewalks either

Yep, if you didn't have scrapes, bruises or band-aides you were considered a sissy. And, the old adage "just rub some dirt on it"!