Wood Clamps Repurposed Into Bookends
Some families have so many family heirlooms that they end up having estate sales after choosing the few items they desire. In our family, that will not be the case. When we were young, my parents moved us around the US a lot so items even from their early years of marriage were purged before moves. My parents didn’t even inherit heirlooms from their own parents later in life. Sometimes I get so sad to think that two u-hauls were spotted by a neighbor leaving my Grandma’s house with generations of heirlooms contained and it wasn’t because my Grandma hired some movers. It was just plain and straightforward thieves who stole our memories and inheritance.
Lately, I’ve been trying to downsize my mom’s home just a little bit. What antique pieces she has were bought by me in an attempt to make her home cozy over the years. So actual family pieces just don’t really exist. However, my Dad has a shed of wonderful tools and woodworking items. Most are probably so rusty that the grandkids don’t see any value in them. However, I do see value in some of them. Maybe because I inherited his same love of woodworking. We both seemed to use it as a stress-reliever. Although a few of my projects cause me more stress than they relieve but, enough about that. This post is to show you that I choose to see the beauty in making a simple item into my own heirloom cherished item.
I came across the clamps when I was pulling the lawnmower out to mow the yard at my Mom’s house. I decided they were just too pretty and needed to become useful again. At first, I thought about just cleaning them up to use them in my own woodworking projects. Later I decided that they looked like unique art pieces all by themselves.
I just took a little CLR cleaner and a wire brush and took off a layer or two of rust. I did want some of the rusty look to remain so I made quick work of the clean-up. He had two types of clamps in his shop. The typical c-clamps and then the straight line clamps. I actually couldn’t decide which I preferred. I took a little poll on my IG account and it seemed that most liked the straight line clamps. Both make interesting bookends. Maybe you have some in your shed or a family member’s shed that will serve a daily purpose instead of just gathering rust in the elements.
Above you’ll see both types of clamps work well for bookends. Which one do you prefer? I love that the straight line clamps have the wood handle instead of the rubber/plastic ones you see nowadays.
