Vacation Finds

A little of this and that in San Diego.

I was recently in San Diego for a teaching seminar aboard the aircraft carrier USS Midway. San Diego has a ton of attractions and things for tourists to see, but I ventured off the beaten path to Architectural Salvage on the corner of 5th Ave and C St. This post is about what I found there.

The view walking in.

Antique doors and stained glass throughout the store.

The benches below were tucked back in a corner looking like they had been there a while. I’m not an expert on benches, so I won’t run my mouth too long about them. I can see they have a face and tail vises, and the bases (just visible in the 2nd and 3rd photo) are knockdown style with wedges to draw the stretchers tight. Maybe portable, jobsite benches?

Several old workbenches, well-used.

I also found a couple old hand planes. The wood body plane below was on the floor as you see it and, as you’d expect, the blade was rusted out. The metal body specimen was unmarked, but I’d guess it was in the Number 7-8 range in terms of size.

Now just for decoration.

The photos below show some of the antique hardware, probably the coolest part of the store. Once an item gains the label “antique” it seems the price is multiplied in most cases, but this shop was mostly reasonable.

Doorknobs. I’d be curious how easy it is to get these to work with modern hardware.

Bathroom fixtures.

Door plates and handles.

Of greatest interest to me was the joinery used in the older work. I usually spend some time looking for joinery in antique shops, if it’s good enough to last through the decades (especially in a coastal humid environment like San Diego) then it’s probably a smart idea to emulate. The old craftsmen knew what they were doing and you certainly won’t find IKEA furniture in this store in a hundred years.

A newer example but still sturdy construction to house the stained glass.

The joint below made me pause for a good 2-3 minutes to try and figure out how it went together. One of these days I may try my hand at recreating it.

Not sure what to call this joint, maybe a corner mitered mortise and tenon bridle?

Some half-blinds on an old drawer.

And finally, some functional dovetailed storage boxes with nails to secure the joint. Seems like it worked for quite some time now, maybe I should be nailing my joints.

Hope you enjoyed this break from my own amateur projects. If you have any comments or know anything further about those benches or that corner joint, please let me know. Cheers.