22 pistol

Ahhh. My Ruger 22/45. Got the rail for a scope/red dot. Got the nice wood grips and the stainless steel. This baby is smooth like butter. Not as nice, mind you, as my old Smith and Wesson Model 41, which I sadly had to sell off a few years back when money was tight. But nice

Coked up

This Coke bottle comes with a remarkable story, which is why it is prominently displayed in the window. This is another beach find, but one with a strange story. When I found this, the top was sealed with cork and melted wax, with something inside. It was hard to tell what, though, since the cork seal had leaked and allowed salt water in. Anyway, I took it home and removed the seals, then shook out what looked like a plastic bag (it was covered with green, slimy algae). When I opened this bag, there was a wad of sodden paper. I dried the paper by placing in on the back grate of an operating box fan (I learned this from years on the water...when your cash gets wet, dry it on the fan). When it was dry, I was able to carefully unfold it, and written on it was a message in rather flowing script. It appeared to be a note from the captain of a sailboat who was soloing across the Atlantic in the Fall of 1970. The note said that the boat's name was the "Connie Mae" and that it had been de-masted in a storm. I'll spare you some of the details, but the skipper indicated that he thought his chances of rescue/survival were low, and then he revealed (in the note) a secret.

Evidently, the guy had been an Air Force Chief Master Sergeant in Vietnam, off of his second tour of active duty. The note said that during "unofficial" operations in Laos, he had acquired a number of gold artifacts, as well as a substantial amount of heroin, which he planned to sell. Under imminent threat of death on his sinking sailboat, he revealed the hiding place of both the gold and the heroin in what I assume is his last note. He said that the loot was buried in the corner of an old tobacco drying barn in North Carolina, and provided details on how to find it.

Well, a year or two after finding this note, I happened to be within about 30 miles of this location while on Spring Break, and a few of us decided to see it the note was for real. Under cover of darkness (on a rainy night), we located the barn and snuck in. Using an old G.I. trenching tool, we dug in the corner of the barn where the note said the stuff would be. After only about three inches, we hit something hard. After taking away a bit more dirt, we found three large ammo cans buried in the corner of that barn.

As for thier contents...well, let's just say that my student loans are paid in full, and also that it happens to be april fool's day.

Kershaw folder

A Ken Onion design, called (IIRC) the "Scallion". One handed opening via a thumb stud or a spring button thingy on the spine. It's not a switchblade due to the vagaries of the design, but it is still frowned upon in some jurisdictions. Not a weapon as far as I'm concerned, but a handy one-hander...the utility of which I've blogged about before. This is my everyday walkin' around knife.

Oh, and today is my kid's 5th birthday! Happy birthday, buddy. Remember, all this shit is yours someday!

22 rifle

A Winchester .22 rifle with a under barrel tube magazine. This is going to be the kids first gun when he gets a bit older. Probably start shooting with him this summer, but I need to get/make a good backstop for our yard.

Scout Rifle

A New England Firearms "Handi-Rifle" single shot scout rifle chambered in .223.

Bull barrel, red dot scope, maple stocks, rolling block break action. Accurate as balls out to 200 yards (I've not tested it further).

Goose

Here's a painting of a Canada goose I did a few years ago on an old hide stretcher. The wooden stretchers were used here in the mid-Atlantic to prepare and preserve muskrat hides, which during my youth were fetching around $7-$8 per pelt. Not so much these days, methinks. I had a stack of these, on which I was doing thematically related paintings (sometimes trite, like black labs, marsh scenes, etc.) to sell. People then started making requests, so I was being asked to paint shit like non-water dogs (sort of OK), flowers (huh?), and clowns (get the f**k out of here). I finally gave up - people were missing the obvious connection between the stretcher and the subject matter. I only hope these don't fall into the same category as those painted saw blades you sometimes see at the county fair...

Big Bowie

Big (>14" blade) Bowie knife. It appears homemade, with an obviously welded guard, copper riveted handle, and wooden scabbard with copper trim. The blade is spring steel, and it kind of whippy...

Assortment of nails?

Sort of. These are all from known or probable shipwrecks on the Delmarva Peninsula. The two on the upper left are from a known wreck, which I cannot name, located somewhere in Maryland. The big treenail (pronounced "trun-el") on the bottom is from an old wooden coal barge on the beach south of Woodland Beach, Delaware. The other three are from wrecks or probable sections of wrecks in and around Lewes, Delaware. The one on the far right is a "cut nail". You are not likely to find these in your local hardware conglomerate...it came from the same location as this and this.

Smith and Wesson 625

A formidable beast, chambering .45 ACP ammo in what are known as "full moon clips" (lower left). These function as a speed loader, enabling a fast, 6-chamber reload. I used to be able to toss a moon clip of full metal jacket round nose into the chamber from a foot away. Reloads are FAST. I mean FAST.

Another little folder

This is a Schrade "Classics" folder, given to me as a 2008 Christmas present. Sadly, it is a newer model made in China, rather than in New York state. This is actually a nice little knife for those occasions on which a belt clip folder would be inappropriate (e.g., weddings, meetings, etc.), and a nice discreet pocket knife is the order of the day.

Silver flags

These are pure silver ingot reproductions of early American flags (including the "Don't Tread on ME" flag - bottom row, fifth from the left). I think this was one of those "Franklin Mint" promotional from the U.S. Bicentennial (1976). My grandparents bought it for me way back then, and it sat on their shelf for a number of years. I think I only got it after my grandfather died a few years ago. I'm not sure of the collector's value, but the silver is probably worth whatever the current market price is.

Lovely Rita

Meter Reader.


Here's an old bronze water meter cover from somewhere or other. Stick a 302 area code in front of the 7 digit number that's stamped on there and you'll have a Dover, DE number. Dial it on your phone. I dare you...

Oh, and ask for 'Rita' if you do.





Actually, don't.

Semi-auto delight!

Smith & Wesson 4506 (.45 ACP). Stainless steel with skateboard grip tape on the grips (my addition). Fast, accurate, comfortable to shoot, and hella easy to field strip. Get one while you still can.

Type of trailer for moving surf boats

Another nautical photo I rescued from oblivion. It's a surf launch at the old Cape Henlopen Coast Guard Station taken in 1937. The words LEWES and U.S. COAST GUARD are visible on the boat (click on picture for higher resolution). Looks to me like the tire's a bit dug in on this one. I imagine the NCO on the right thinking "Dammit - how'd that ever happen? The procedure doesn't cover this." and the enlisted swab on the left (cooly dragging on a butt) thinking "What the hell did you expect, dumbass. It's sand."

Copper post card

Again, I'm no stamp collector of philatist, but this is a pretty cool, USPS-legal post card that was published by the Air Force during Operation Desert Shield. This was the 1990 build up of American forces in Saudi Arabia following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. At the time (as I recall), everyone feared that Iraq (under Saddam Hussein) would push on through Kuwait into S.A.

This was the precursor to our involvement in the "Gulf War" (the first one) called "Operation Desert Storm". To many, Iraq's aggression leading up to this conflict has been long overshadowed by the current war in the region - ostensibly against "terror". Whatever - Saddam had to go. This piece is a nice callback to what he was really up to in 1990 - and thugs like him never learn.

"That makes you...chart man."

This is a 1927 chart book for the "Inside Route" from New York to Key West. We now call most of this route the "Intercoastal Waterway". It has a whole section of beautifully rendered charts in the back (see upper photo) as well as nice descriptions of hazards, landmarks, and points of interest in the text. Having spent some time on the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, the Atlantic Ocean off of Delaware, and New York, this book is priceless for showing all of the myriad things that have changed about these waters, as well as those things that stayed the same. I've been thinking about matting and framing some of the charts - that's how pretty they are - but the sizes are all weird (a 48" x 8" chart makes for an odd and expensive frame).

By the way, the quote in the Title Block is from Pirates of the Caribbean III - At World's End. I like those campy movies despite...everything.

I'm no philatist...

...nor am I a stamp collector, but this 50 year commemorative piece was given to me on said anniversary by my grandfather. He was at Pearl - not for the attack itself - but he was flown in the next day to help with the clean-up. He had nightmares about it for the rest of his life, and of his many WW2 experiences, he talked about this one the least. What I gleaned came from unguarded snippets of story and his hollering in his sleep when he was having those dreams.

Here are a few recollections of his - you can no doubt piece together the horrible scene from just this:

He mentioned pulling bodies and body parts from the water, which although gruesome and vivid, did not seem to stick with him as much as the fact that they were covered (along with everything else) with bunker oil that had spilled into the harbor. I'm sure he flashed to that every time he smelled diesel or kerosene, since smells trigger memories way down deep in our lizard brains.

The other recollection he had was of guys in capsized ships banging on the hull or bulkheads to signal they were trapped inside. From the outside in their little motor launches, my grandfather and his colleagues could hear this banging as recovery efforts got underway. Some of those guys stopped banging before rescue came...

He told a few other bits and pieces to me over the years, but these are the two that resonated with me the most.

He also had a little bit of the red sun from a crashed Japanese plane from that day - it was about the size of a silver dollar and had clearly been cut from a larger piece with tin-snips for distribution to US troops as mementos (souvenir is too light a word). He gave this to me many years ago - unfortunately through college and several moves, I lost it.

Unconventional rifle

This short little rifle is a Marlin Camp Carbine in .45 ACP. Yup - it eats a steady diet of .45 ACP rounds, and even accepts the standard magazine from the Colt 1911. This is a great little camping gun, where permitted, and packs enough stopping power for just about all of the dangerous wildlife one might encounter. Yet, becasue it chambers a pistol cartridge, recoil is virtually non-existant (compared to large caliber rifle cartridges). This always gets looks at the range, because it's a short little rifle that leaves nice 1/2 inch holes (with semi-wadcutter ammo) in paper. It's pretty accurate out to 100 yards - after that, the terminal ballistics tend to curve downward due to air friction. This is my answer to the famous Thompson sub-machine gun, which also chambers the .45 ACP.

Sadly, Marlin does not make these anymore.

Insulator redux

This a another Brookfield insulator from the tracks near Clayton, DE. This one is a CD145 shape, for those who worry about such things...

A stepping off point

Once again, today's post represents something of a stepping off point. I realized some months ago that in order to accommodate my desire for doing one post per day for a year, I was going to have to expand the scope of my original intentions (old weapons). In that time, I've expanded into the realms of artwork, antiques and artifacts, and other ephemera that somehow became part of the collection I call "Flintlock's Arsenal".

I'm not yet halfway through the year yet, and if I'm going to make it all the way, I'm going to have to delve deeper into the ephemera of my stuff. I'm going to begin bringing in some more nautically themed items, including some old and interesting books. I'm going to begin including modern pocket and sheath knives that I sometimes carry (well, I always have a knife, but different occasions call for different tools), and I've found a fix for my "Friday" dilemma.

To this end, the scan above is of a photograph that was in a box of old pictures I was asked to take to the trash by my employer (State of Delaware) 18 - 19 years ago. I hated to throw these out, as there were hundreds of different pictures, but I only had time to rescue a few from the top that interested me (boats, mostly). The rest were summarily hauled off to a landfill or whatever, and are probably 50 feet down in Cherry Island now.

The photo above has the following inscription on the back, in particularly florid penmanship:

35 ft Motor Boat 4007 ' "Henlopen" on the dock at Bklyn Navy Yard 2/22/34.

As I type this, I realize that this picture was taken on the same day (2/22) as my wedding anniversary, with a probability of 1 in 365 (or is it 1 in 730? I forget)