A Vintage Fix

I hate it when vintage goodies get damaged on my watch. I'm a klutz so, despite my best efforts, it sometimes happens. That's why I'm happiest with my less-than-perfect vintage Pyrex. If my fingers slip in the sink, I haven't destroyed something valuable.

Sometimes I have little fingers helping me.  Fifteen or sixteen years ago, this little bell was taken apart by my toddler daughter. There's a long screw that threads down through the wooden handle and she'd untwisted it. It seemed like it should go back together, but I couldn't get it threaded properly.  Then I got upset (with the situation, not my child) and tucked it away in a safe place to deal with later.  I didn't want to ask Hubby for help, so it sat and sat until a few months ago, I finally handed it to him. "This came apart. Can you fix it for me?"  He looked at it for a second, couldn't fix it, and my heart sank. All that time I had it tucked away, I was sure that he'd fix it for me -- and then he couldn't? That just wasn't possible.

It's been sitting out, waiting for him to try again when he had more time. I took another look at it myself this week, tried to thread that stupid screw through that stupid hole...tried to shift the piece of wire that connects the clapper to the end of the screw...then wondered what would happen if I just took that wire off and put it back in place once I'd screwed the handle back on.

Worked like a charm! And it only took me a decade and a half to calm down enough to figure out the fix. Not one of my best examples of problem solving.

My efforts scratched the metal a bit, not that you can tell with the handle back in place. But at least I didn't try Super Glue. Did you see the news stories about King Tut's Mask? I just can't imagine how something like that happens (not the damage -- the hasty repair.) My parents took my sister and I to see the Treasures of Tutunkhamen exhibit when it was in Seattle years ago and I can still remember how awed I was by that mask shining in its case.

As for Hubby's repair skills, he's always saving things that I thought were beyond hope. I'm sure if I'd asked on a different day, he'd have taken apart that wire himself.  But I'm still kind of proud of myself for managing it.

I'm told that the bell was from Aunt Molly's days as a schoolteacher.

This post is linked to Thrifter Share, Ivy & Elephants, Knick of Time, Thriftasaurus,