It’s really no surprise that there is more and more antique industrial salvage proliferating boot sales and auctions these days. Scores of clothing stores and restaurants have taken up the aesthetic. Early on you could outfit your entire store with these pieces for 10 cents on the dollar, now these old relics are commanding big bucks. Supply and demand can be a bitch if you are just jumping on this band wagon.

I have always gravitated towards these old pieces and like to be surrounded by them in our design studio. They remind us of times past when sweat and tears seemed to be intertwined into their very fabric, when integrity and passion had not yet been replaced with units per hour. You can almost hear the salesman back then saying, “This here work table will hold 10 oxen, I guarantee it!”  It’s true and that’s another reason why we have old industrial furniture and machinery scattered around the Billykirk studio and in our personal lives – They are built to last and simply get better with more use. No modern table top can beat an 80 year old butcher block top that has seen action.

With the ground swell of people paying closer attention to an items providence, how they’re constructed, and appreciating an item that has a history there are a growing number of on-line antique industrial salvage businesses popping up.  Thankfully they exist for many of us who just don’t have the patience or wherewithal to wait and find certain pieces,  and have some money to work with.

I have been a fan of Modern 50 and Factory 20 web-sites for a while now and recently had a chance to interview Dino Paxos and Eric Ginter, the two men behind these two relevant and unique web businesses.

What are your backgrounds?

Dino – My artistic background started out in Baltimore City drawing tanks, making tiny ship models, and building fly jails out of wine bottle corks with my Dad. Much later, I was able to gain admission to a local county commuter college and I took some classes on and off for 8 years or so. But more significantly, a good high school friend of mine got me a job that turned out to be a 12 year career as a digital illustrator and iconographer at a D.C. internet start-up company. The creative types I met in that industry were incredible. I had never experienced anything like it. My college career was not really that “mentally” stimulating, granted enough to get my foot in the door, but the setting was just too distracting and mainly I was there to avoid working terrible jobs. But the commercial artist gig really started to change how I viewed myself, work, etc. All the people I worked with over the years made me feel very talented and creative, they really gave me the confidence to continue a life in art and design.

How did you get started in this industrial salvage business?

Dino – A close co-worker of mine, Eric Ginter, turned me on to mid-century furnishings, general procurement and reselling ideas. We’d go shopping here and there, dumpster diving, etc. He always found the good stuff, even if it was right under my nose. It was a little frustrating at first, but I was hooked. It felt like freedom, like money could be made out of thin air. It took me back to High School when I used to hit the North Point Flea Market on the weekends with my girlfriend, but that was just for fun, this felt like it had a future. I was getting frustrating with my painting, and I couldn’t figure out how to sell them. Not to mention, I was really attached to the paintings and that made it harder. But this mid-century stuff was flying off the shelves. So I started to really apply myself to it, and hunting Mid-Century Modern junk online, in thrift stores, sleeping in my van in front of estate sales and then charging into someone’s home in the early a.m. with lines of people right behind me. And we started the Modern50 website in ‘03. But after a year or so we just did not see any sustainability in our current business plan. The procurement process was really taking the fun out of everything; the estate sales were grueling, the investment required to get the good stuff was steep, and the competition relentless. When you are a picker, you want to find things, you have to find things, when you don’t it is mentally exhausting and very disappointing. And not to mention, if you are fulltime, you arn’t eating. So something had to change, I had artist friends calling me a “Merchant!” Things were looking bleak, my art studio was full of modern junk and half finished projects. We had to widen our scope, trust our instincts, learn to reinvent the procurement process, get creative, exercise a different eye. Try to gear things more to our artistic sides. Stop doing the things we hated and replace them with other new things. For instance, I always really enjoyed the product photography part so I let myself play there more. I started buying certain smaller things just to photograph them. I started frankensteining Eames chairs. For example, for the Fourth of July 2005 Website Sale Front page Image, I took a blue Eames side shell fiberglass chair, a red vinyl cover and placed it on a black Nelson swag chair base. It was awesome, totally wrong, but beautiful. It was a great photo, totally wrong, different, and alluring. The once insignificant parts of the process was where I would often find myself enjoying the most. Like, styling Craigslist ads with overtly sexual content; a fireman’s outfit, a fluffy pink feather boa, a buoy and a bat. I don’t even know what we were selling there…ahhh, costumes for the ‘06 Halloween. Anyway, it was ludicrous, and it was fun. By Spring ‘08 the situation was right and we decided to make a fulltime go out of it. Re-tooled the Modern50 site and Eric started the Factory20 website. And slowly people started to notice, it was great, some of our quietest gut instincts were leading the way, and clients from NYC and the West Coast were really starting to pick up on the new direction.

What it is about industrial antiques that you think appeals to so many of us?

Eric – Time, it is precious, beautiful and invisible. When I see intense wear on the surface of a piece of furniture or an object, it sends my mind wandering off into some imaginary past. It’s captured. You can be a child again, or go back to a time before you existed and wax your mustache in the general store. This feeling can be deeper and more inspiring than the form itself. You might not be able to sit in it, or eat off it, or even use it but I think everyone wants some of that feeling in their living spaces. Describe your clientele? Our clientele is very creative and successful. These people recognize our vision and can make it applicable to the real world. They like to challenge the constructs of their respected industries, be it, interior design, photography, retail design or their spouses’ idea of what goes in the living room. They are looking for inspiration, and energy. How often are you searching for items and where do you find it? I do much more research than hunting really. I hit the books everyday for an hour or two, right now I am working through a towering column of National Geographic Magazines from around 1900 to 1947, and a huge early century newspaper collection from LA, especially digging the old LA Home magazine inserts. All of this spawns Google searches and internet research, etc. Not only is it an organic and unintentional learning process but it helps keep your procurement totally unpredictable. We have spent the last two years amassing thousands of square footage of industrial vintage furniture, hardware, and salvage, so right now it is nice to be in the shop shooting this stuff and working on projects.

You are a supply and demand sort of business and therefore have prices that many people may scoff at. Besides simply selling to people with deep pockets how do you attract the Ikea customers of the world?

Eric - I think we are carving out a little niche that suits our creative whims for now. We really enjoy the eclectic clientele that our websites attract. A lot of what we do is born out of a very esoteric place, far off the American main street. So I’d venture, it’s a place most nesting shoppers aren’t even interested in visiting.

Who does the set design and photography for the items on your sites? In most cases, I find the styling of each of these installations as appealing as the item itself.

Dino – Eric and I both do the photograph and the styling of the products we sell. We are a two man show. We both enjoy the variety of tasks, especially compared to the very specialized corporate design jobs out there. Our business straddles a lot of disciplines, we are trying to create an ever-evolving nonlinear consumer lifestyles collection. It is infinite and undefined. The creative and marketing really start to make sense and intertwine. I was really never able to see the big picture in the corporations I was creating graphics and icons for, even in the tiny startups.

The author Kurt Reighley has a terrific book that is in bookstores now entitled, “The United States of Americana.” In his book there is a section on architectural salvage and in it he describes an ecological angle, amongst other reasons, for the interest in old industrial items. He says, “according to some estimates as much as 20% of the solid material dumped in America’s landfills comes from building salvage, much of it wood that could be recycled.” Relating to that, do you feel a certain amount of satisfaction for keeping these items out of the dump? Are the recycling aspects of your business something you dwell upon?

Dino – Well this question reminds me of a funny line I heard, I think it was a pro skateboarder or something he said, “I don’t go out to eat at a 5-star restaurant to take a shit.” I think once you start to realize the value of a dollar and the value of living the way you want to live, granted that came to me quite late in life, you start to find a use for all of your waste. I think it comes natural to artists especially, to make the next run or series more authentic or unpredictable, it’s about always evolving. This kind of wasting nothing really lent itself to creating a wonderful workshop. It opens up so many more creative options and magical combinations during the creation process. For instance, I’ll save the big tar chunks off of the back of salvaged slate paneling to make dye, or the dirt on the shop floor (sawdust, slate dust, paper, hair, soot, tape etc.) for texturing and dirtying. I have jars of all kinds of weird things like wood wedges from old mirrors, chair glides, rusty nails, turn of the century bolts, collars/cogs, name plates, drawer pulls, metal numbers, corks, etc., etc. I think it comes quite naturally if you allow it and of course have the space, the faith, and the patience to use all this trash. As a result, our workshop is always bordering on total chaos, but we have learned that this is really necessary for originality, but also totally challenging, overwhelming, and frustrating. We always joke that our scrap wood pile is the third member of our business, at times it has been over 6 feet tall, and very, very jagged. Everything you do does not have to have an immediate intention. The coolest is to save it long enough to find out what its new purpose will be.

My brother, Kirk, pulled 4 very nice Paul McCobb dining chairs out of Goodwill a couple of years ago for $10 each. Can you describe any interesting steals or special finds you have come across?

Eric – Early on I used to hunt for things around D.C. But competition and constant disappointment really unscrewed my procurement tactics. Sleeping in the van in front of Estate Sales, Watching dealers cheat their way into the sales early was just not my thing. It was too rough and not very creative. I really had to rethink everything if I was gonna stay in this business. And so I slowly gravitated westward
to the country for my junk.

Best Field finds:
-Donald Deskey Art Deco Mahogany Desk $40 in 2004 at a Church Rummage Sale.
-George Nelson Gate fold Desk and Credenza Black Micarta and Mahongany $80 in 2004 at a Church Rummage Sale
-Sergio Rodrigues Livingroom Set in Carmel Leather (Settee and 2 Easy Chairs) in a Auto body Shop waiting room, still there-will not sell it, now one of the chairs is just in a pile on the floor, and the guy still will not sell it or throw it out.
-Pile of 6 Knoll Stainless Steel and Bronze Table Frames $200 at a country warehouse in PA.
-Pair of John Follis Architectural Pottery Tire Planters $37 at a city thrift store in DC.
-50 pieces of Gustavsberg Stig Lindberg Bersa Ceramic dinnerware $100 at an estate sale in Maryland.
-Hans Hansen Rosewood and Silver Jewelry Box $6 at an estate sale in Maryland.
-HA Jakobsen G70 floor lamp $5 at an estate sale in Maryland.

Best Online finds on eBay and Craigslist:
-Paul Landacre California Hills and Other Engraving book for $500 in 2003.
-Jim Houser hand paint skate deck for $400 in 2003.
-George Nelson Pair of ‘Half Nelson’ chrome lamps for $400 in 2008.
-Arne Jacobsen Pair of Oxford Chairs for $265 in 2008.
-1977 Red Honda CVCC $500 in 2008
-50 Hot Pinks Eames Fiberglass Chairs, $5000 in 05.
-1996 Subaru Outback $500 in 2007.
-M*A*S*H* Vietnam Era 30 foot military telescoping encampment lights, two set in boxes the size of caskets for $150 in 2008.

Is there anything in your collection that you simply cannot part with? If so, what it is it?

Dino – My paintings, mainly, and some trinkets from my Father. Getting a painting out of me is like an episode of American Pickers when they can’t get the farmer to sell anything. It’s funny; at times I am that paralyzed, irrational hoarder, that can’t let go. This business unforeseeably teaches you a lot about spirituality, especially attachment and unattachment. To pick the next great thing you really have to love it and sell it, it’s one action. Perhaps spiritual lessons just come with age but I have gotten a lot of lessons from this business. I really liked the Basquiat Cafe Table that was really a very proud creation of mine. The magic workshop in action; from total chaos and the things that you’ve tripped over for months to the most childlike of results. I never even took it home to live with it, and now it’s somewhere in NYC. When you create a piece of furniture, selling it is the last piece of the puzzle. Even with painting; I say I paint solely for myself; however, I desperately want people to like it. Even if the art is a deliberate depiction of my hatred of those unbeknownst future viewers, I live and die under their opinions, and buying is today’s the ultimate sign of desire.

I know you’re based in Virginia and have a showroom there. Do you have plans to open any more stores/showrooms?

Dino - No plans for expansion. Just dreaming of buying a factory or farm to live and work. Expanding into farming or other means of revenue in-lined with the area we decide to settle into would be great. Keep things new, keep learning, I try not to narrow my possibilities when it comes to making a living. It took me a long time to realize and develop the confidence to choose how I earn a living and now I can’t get enough. I like working with my hands and I really like the people that I work around and meet, never a dull moment, and totally unpredictable. I could not have gotten further from the old corporate world. I never was going to learn to like myself in that construct. I like being tired at the end of the day. I like putting my back into it, while I can.

Certainly shows like “American Pickers” help keep the fires burning but what do you see happening in your future down the road?

Eric – Would love to continue doing what we are doing for a long time. It would be nice to buy a barn and some land, get out of the city/suburbs. Have some room in the yard for several rusty cars, a few 33 gallon drums of filtering veggie oil for the wagon, play around with some mammoth architectural projects, and learn how to build a house.

Thanks again for the interview gentlemen.

They make frequent stops to Brooklyn to deliver their finds (9/27 next shipment) so be sure to join their Twitter pages:  Modern 50 & Factory 20 to stay informed.

Below is just a small collection of the great industrial ‘furniture’ finds these expert pickers have come across.  Be sure to check out their “Oddities” and “Fashion” sections.

Toledo Drafting Chair

Clothiers Long Work/Display Table

Metal/wood Industrial Tall Chests

Amish Pine Workbench

Industrial Lab Desk

German Industrial Display Unit

Artist Desktop Drawers

Belgian Townhall Seats

Vintage French Smokehouse Cabinet

Steel and Brass Atelier Cabinet

I have always loved the Triumph TR6.  Not necessarily the electrical workings of one but the lines and sound under the bonnet are perfection in my book.  The lead designer of a lot of the Triumph’s, Giovanni Michelotti, got it right most of the time and though Germany’s Karmann (of Karmann-Ghia fame) did the facelift, Giovanni’s aesthetic is all over the TR6.

As a kid there was a yellow one that I would regularly see tooling around my neighborhood and the look of it never left my imagination.  So once I moved to So Cal in 1996 I set my sights on buying one.  I got involved with the great folks at the Southern California Triumph Owners Association (SCTOA) to learn as much as I could about the cars and who I could get to help me restore one.  In 1997 I finally found a rust free 1971 TR6 with the much sought after “overdrive option” from a guy who had already stripped it down but was going through a divorce and needed to sell it.  I quickly snapped it up and began the year long process of buying the odd part on Ebay, vintage car shows, and scouring the pages of the Moss Motors catalog for after market parts.  Luckily the SCTOA has a bevy of knowledgeable mechanics and I found a true friend in Greg Cole.   He let me keep my car among his throng of old Brit bangers and on most weekends I would drive to his place in Chino, CA to work on it.  Finally in late 1998 she was back on the road.   Old Blue was a fairly reliable companion for 6 years but I had to let it go when I moved to the East Coast in 2005.

I recently came across some of my old Triumph memorabilia and this story I wrote that got published in the SCTOA’s monthly membership newsletter/book back in 1999. I am still looking for my pile of TR6 photos to post.

Click pages below a few times to enlarge

If you are in NYC this coming Saturday or East Hampton the following Saturday drop by Steven Alan and pick up something hand-crafted in the USA for dear old dad.  We will be on hand customizing card-cases, wrist wear, key chains, etc.  with initials, names and dates.   You can choose leather colors, waxed cording and snaps to make your dad something truly unique.  Each item will come with a gift bag.

June 12, 12pm – 6pm
Tribeca
103 Franklin Street
212 343 0692

June 19, 12pm – 6pm
East Hampton
52 Newton Lane
631 604 1726

My Red Wing Pecos boots next to a Revolutionary War Cannonball that was unearthed in my Jersey City backyard last summer.

Dan Dahl, the Senior Director of  Red Wing Lifestyle, emailed us a while back to say that he liked what we were up to at Billykirk and if we would be be interested in a trade.  “Does a bear shit in the woods?” is what I was thinking,  so we soon worked out a nice trade including Black Beckman Boots, Copper Engineer Boots and some Hawthorne Muleskinner 8181’s. In our emails I had also mentioned that I had an old pair of Red Wing Pecos Boots that needed re-soling and was hoping to have them replaced with crepe soles like the ones on a pair of 875’s.  Dan said that wasn’t an issue.  Finally, I asked if it were possible to get a photo-montage of the boots’ transformation.  Done and done.   Needless to say, I am very pleased with how my refurbished Peco’s turned out.

Making quality boots and shoes is an art and to continue to do it day in and day out for over 100 years is a testament to Red Wings unyielding commitment to their customer. They are also one of the last remaining shoe and boot manufacturers in the USA.

The slide-show below from Dave Hill, Red Wing’s Design Director, shows you the re-soling process including cork-filler paste!  Place your cursor over an image for a brief description and use the + symbol to speed it up.

Growing up in Minnesota, like I did, one basically has an obligation to support Red-Wing Boots of Red Wing, MN -  It’s sort of like a right of passage when you get your first pair as kid.  And why not?  The price is right, they are built to last using top notch materials, they look great and wear-in perfectly.  Back in the day, everyone who worked in the building trade,  hunted,  or was in farming had a pair of Red Wing boots.  That hasn’t changed one lick, except that in the last 20+ years the brand has captured a completely new urban audience and one that is as passionate about their boots as a big game hunter.   So, I posed a few questions to Dan:

1) Describe a typical day for the Senior Director of Lifestyle at Red Wing and what does your job entail?

I oversee the brand managers in three markets, Japan, North America and Europe.  This included budgets, design etc., pretty much anything it takes to help the brand succeed.  Not too exciting really but a lot of fun. I get to meet and work with a lot of great, interesting people.  Travel quite a bit which is both good and bad as I have a family with 4 busy kids.

2) How, when and who got the Red Wing Japan movement started and can you elaborate on what that relationship means to Red Wing?  Is it considered successful or wildly successful to the bottom line?

Japan really looked to the US for fashion inspiration in the 70’s.  In the US during the 70’s, wearing overalls with work boots was popular.  This trend carried to Japan and then during the 80’s expanded exponentially.  Kimuya Takuya, a famous movie star, wore Red Wings in his role as a character in a popular TV series and Red Wing sales exploded.  Since then, boot sales have fluctuated but the “realness” and authenticity of Red Wing resonates with the Japanese like no other boot.  Red Wing is very successful in Japan thanks to a great Red Wing Japan office who love the brand and take wonderful care of our customers.  The “Americana” trend is big in Japan and we are lucky to be the boot pared with authentic American and American inspired clothing.

3) Who decides on what boot or shoe to re-visit for the Heritage line or who to collaborate with?  How much time and money goes into bringing back these old Heritage items?  In other words, do you have a vault of old lasts you can utilize so there really is not a great deal of investment?

Aki Iwasaki is our creative lead.  We have on archive all the catalogs from 1905 forward.  Aki spent several weeks and scanned all the catalogs so we now have a disk with all this information.  Aki has a long term plan of looks he likes and wants to bring back.  His latest is the 101 Postman shoe and Postman Chukka.  I can send pics if you want.  We do have some old lasts and lots of old machinery to help make the old styles authentic.  Some of the machines we use come from the early 1900s.  Beckman is another Aki design.  As the generation of fans in Japan from the 1980 matures, he wanted to offer something more formal to this 40 to 50 year old group.  Beckman started Red Wing and owned a high end shoe store so a Beckman collection just made sense.  Dave Hill is our design director and product lead in the US.  He is the narrator of the latest Complex Magazine video. Dave is a 35 year veteran of SB Foot, the tannery owned by Red Wing.  His knowledge of leather is unmatched and he helps Aki come up with authentic leathers to match with Aki’s style designs.

4) Where does the Beckman Boot and other Heritage styles fit in % wise to the overall sales at Red Wing?

Heritage styles make up about 15% of sales at Red Wing.  The rest is either Red Wing work which includes some heritage styles or Vasque or Irish Setter.

5) I assume the bread and butter of the Red Wing collection is still blue collar working guys and hunters so when the powers that be see Red-Wing mentioned on all these fashion blogs and the GQ’s of the world, do they truly embrace this new demographic or see it as a passing fad?

I think they worry it is a passing fad but we have been selling strong in Japan for 20 years so I think they are starting to embrace the Heritage division.  Also, we are dedicated to US made which makes us popular at the factory.  Bill Sweasy is the owner of Red Wing and he is certainly a fan.

6) Are there any interesting, obscure stories at Red Wing from the past that might be interesting to the Selectism readers?

Cool story about Eric Clapton who insisted on having the clutch pedal on a new Ferrari re-worked so he could wear his 875’s.  He refused to wear the driving shoes recommended by Ferrari and would only take delivery if they would change the pedal so he could drive with 875’s on.  They quickly cut off the pedal and re-welded to accommodate.  There are tons of stories but I am probably too new to offer the best ones.  I will try to dig some up and get more to you.

7) What does the future hold for Red Wing?  Any glimpses you can share on what you guys are working on would be great.

I mentioned the postman shoe and chukka above.  New for Fall 2010 is also a Beckman Chukka.

Contact info for re-soling:

E-mail address  -  shoe.repair@redwingshoe.com

Phone     651-385-1448

Current turnaround time,  9 days when the product is received in the repair shop.

Shipping and handling instructions will be determined when customer contacts repair shop.

The creatives over at llot have an iPhone art photography contest going until the end of June.  Free to enter.  The top 100 photos will be published and printed in the iPhone art photography book.

If you don’t have the ShakeItPhoto app for your iPhone you are missing out.  It gives your photos a Polaroid effect.  A few recent shots from the Billykirk studio using the ShakeItPhoto app.

The first beer can had it’s 75th birthday recently and though I am a bottle man 95% of the time, I don’t think I have ever turned down a “can” of beer.  My father was a can man, not just in drinking them but in collecting them.  Most of his beer can collection was found in garbage dumps while hunting and fishing in TN and MN.  He still has his best finds on a narrow shelf that surrounds the ceiling of his downstairs man-cave.  Along with the cans, he has a decent collection of antique Church Keys (can or bottle opener), his 1974 Beer Can Collectors of America membership certificate #2292 which is still proudly framed on the wall, his BCCA membership directory and membership patch. A few cans from his collection and his BCCA items are shown below.

The first beer can debuted on January 24th, 1935.  Though the technology existed to produce cans strong enough to withstand the high pressures that occur during pasteurization, prohibition stymied the progress. In 1933,  just before the alcohol ban was repealed, the American Can Co. (ACCO) unveiled their “Keglined” cans which they had been experimenting with for over 20 years.  Not only where they able to stay pressurized but they were internally sealed with a non-toxic, moldable plastic called Vinylite so you wouldn’t get any metallic flavor co-mingling with your favorite brew. The other huge advantage was that cans were much lighter than bottles and therefore cheaper to move across the country + the metal being cheap, would not have to be returned. Moreover, cans offered the advertising agencies a much larger surface area to play with.

These first cans were made out of a heavy gauge steel and therefore required a Church Key or awl type devise to open them.  The Church Key was actually invented for the ACCO in 1935 by D.F. Sampson in order to punch a hole in the flat top (hence the name, “flat tops”.) Printed on the side of each Keglined Can was an illustration of a Church Key and operating instructions on how to open the can. These single pieces of pressed metal with a pointed end were typically given away free with these newfangled cans.

The bigger brewers like Pabst and Anheuser-Busch got the initial can tests underway with the ACCO in the late 20’s but wouldn’t commit until the can had been tested in the real market.  Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company (1858 – 1961) out of Newark, NJ was the first to take the plunge and signed the first agreement with the ACCO to create the first beer cans to go into production.  In June of 1934 four cans of Krueger’s Special Beer were delivered to 500 homes in the Richmond, Virginia area and delivered with a brochure on how to open the cans and a questionnaire.  The results were amazing, with over 90% of the participants giving their approval.  By January 1935 Krueger’s canned beer was being sold throughout the city and very soon after Krueger unveiled their cans the rest of the breweries fell into line.  That first year of canned beer ended with over 200 million cans being sold.

The December 28, 1933 issue of Brewer’s News featured a photograph of 2 Krueger’s Special Beer cans. The one above is one of two that are the best known examples to exist.

Krueger’s first beer can set, 1935.

Krueger’s Ale can from an American Can Company advertisement, 1935.

While cans were cheaper than bottles they brought with them a big challenge, paticularly for smaller breweries, in that they required a significant packaging line overhaul. The problem, however, was solved with a “cone top” can in the shape of a bottle.  Now the cans could be sealed with crown bottle caps just like bottles. Thus, the smaller breweries could run the can through their old bottling lines.  This assembly line solution, however, was short lived because cone tops were bulkier than flat tops so they cost more to ship and retailers preferred the “pyramid stacking” qualities of flat top cans.  By the early 60’s the cone top can’s 20+ year run had ended.

In 1963 the first pull tab beer cans made their way to the liquor store shelves. Pittsburgh Brewing Company, brewer of the iconic Iron City Beer, was the first to use them and the market loved them. But these removable strips of sharp metal caused a whole new set of issues. Besides litterbugs tossing them everywhere, pets and wild animals often choked on them and they were not friendly to swimmers’ feet. In 1975, the first fixed tab beer can was introduced by Falls City Brewing Company of Louisville, KY. Their design caught on and has remained relatively unchanged since. Incidentally, during WWII, the Falls City Brewery, along with a number of breweries, received contracts with the US military to provide canned beer to our soldiers overseas. Not surprisingly, after mid 1942 to 1947 all beer can production was stopped for civilians since metal was directed towards the war effort forcing brewers to package their beer almost entirely in bottles.  Like all the canned beer supplied to our US military during WWII, the Falls City Beer came in an olive drab can like the one below. For those thirsty soldiers holed up in a bunker a camouflaged beer can did make good sense.

As far as metal kegs are concerned you may be interested know that in 1934 Flowers’ India Pale Ale was, for a short time, exported from Britain to India in experimental steel casks.  However, it took around 30 years for the beer brewers to start to do away with oak beers barrels in favor of metal kegs. In the late 50’s, stainless steel kegs were replacing the oak ones because they were lighter and just as strong.  Finally, in the early 1960s, aluminum alloys were introduced because they offered the advantage of being stronger and even lighter than stainless steel.  My wife’s Grandfather, Sydney, who just turned 99, used to deliver kegs of John Smith’s all over Yorkshire, England after WWII. He and I have shared many a pint and to this day Syd still drinks John Smith’s. Old Syd exemplifies this quote by Thomas Jefferson, “Beer, if drank with moderation, softens the temper, cheers the spirit, and promotes good health.”  Though, I do believe, the mention of “moderation” in Jefferson’s quote is a mute point in Syd’s case because after a bit of calculation I figure he has consumed a conservative 30K pints of beer over his lifetime.

My fathers 1974 BCCA #2292 Membership certificate, patch and membership directory.

A few cans from his collection including a 40’s Krueger’s Cream Ale.

A few beer can sites to make you thirsty:

Oskar Blues Brewery (First US craft brewer to brew and can its own beer)

Rusty Cans

Can Smart Beer Cans

Arts Beer Cans

Breweriana

Beer Can History

Beer Can Collecting By James

Beer Showcase

Click HERE for a 75th beer can birthday video from the Beer Can Collectors of America web-site

Years ago scores of US pencil manufacturers were competing for your business.  The big four were: Dixon Crucible Co., Eagle Pencil Co., Eberhard Faber and the American Lead Pencil Co. Beneath these Goliath’s of the pencil industry were a lot of smaller firms trying to get some of the market share.  One of those smaller outfits was Musgrave Pencil Co. whose operation was nestled amongst the red cedars of Shelbyville, TN. Musgrave Pencil Co. was founded by Colonel James Musgrave in 1905. Mr. Musgrave was in the sawmill business and when a huge lot of old, weathered red cedar fencing came available he snapped it up with the idea of turning it all into pencils. So, off to the sawmill the fencing went and out of that spawned his pencil making empire that has now stretched past 100 years.  Shelbyville would eventually be declared “Pencil City, U.S.A.”  At one point there were 6 pencil manufacturers just in Bedford County, TN alone.  Besides the old machinery that Musgrave uses to churn out their pencils they also continue to make their own pencil boxes next door to their pencil factory.  They are also one of two US pencil manufacturers with production history pre-dating 1920 who still trace current ownership to descendants of company founders. General Pencil Co. in NJ is the other one.

When we were developing our new, smaller hand-stitched journal we designed it with “locking loops” so you could slide a pencil or pen through the loops to hold it shut.  We do a lot of sketching so we felt a pencil was appropriate.  After some research Musgrave proved to have all the elements we were after.  They offer silver ferrules when most pencil companies only offer gold, they could print on hex shaped pencils, and, more importantly, they are one of the last pencil companies in the US that offer old style line-type embossed foil printing (not just flat printing.)  This gives the pencil a vintage look.

Study a vintage pencil sometime and you will notice line-type embossed foil printing in multiple fonts and type sizes + unique ferrules and erasers. Many of these older pencils are little works of art and like Bullet Pencils, lunch boxes, match books and tape measures of the past, pencils represent yet another basic commodity that used to be made with pride and have amazing detail.  Sadly, there are very few pencil makers in the USA, like Musgrave, who are still willing to take the time to make something the customer wants and takes great pride in doing it.  Dont’ take my word for it, give Robin, in their art dept, a call.  She will make sure you get what you are after and not nail you on high minimums + her Southern hospitality is refreshing.  If you are in the market for your own custom pencils be sure to get her to send you a catalog and some samples because their web-site does not show their complete range.

During the production process I had the nice people of Musgrave take some shots of our pencils being produced which you can see below.

Musgrave then

Colonel James Musgrave circa 1930’s

Musgrave now

Preparing the dies for printing our pencils

Printing our hex pencils

Hex printing machines

Tipping machine spitting out our pencils

Erasers & ferrules being added

Cutting our pencils down to size

Preparing for the boxes

Gross counter

Boxing up our pencils

Boxed and ready to ship

Our new No. 231 Hand-Stitched Journal with 3.5″ x 5″ Moleskine & Billykirk Pencil being assembled in our Jersey City studio.

Brand Name Pencils has some great images of early pencils.  The detail in some of these is astounding, especially the “oversized ferrule” examples.  Note the “no metal” ferrules on the WWII pencils.

Pencil Pages is another collectable pencil site to check out.

2009 was a significant year for Billykirk.  We reached the ten year mark in June and could not have done it without a loving family, good friends, dedicated workers, supportive reps & store buyers, vendors, our mentor Arnold and a lot of very loyal Billykirk customers.  Many of you have been repeat customers over the years and for that we are very grateful.

Our desire and passion to create lasting hand-crafted items that get better with age has not waned in these nearly 4000 days.  And so we will hit 2010 with gusto and look forward to the next ten years.  Be on the look out for some exciting developments in the coming months and may your 2010 be the best yet.

Below is a Billykirk photo montage from 2002 ~ present.

Hand-crafted in the USA since 1999

If you like the folk style music of the Appalachians with a bit of gospel thrown in then this new E. C. Ball tribute album, “Face A Frowning World” is a must.  Nathan Salsburg devoted a good chuck of time to arrange this beauty.  It features Bonnie Prince Billy, The Handsome Family, Michael Hurley, Jollie Holland and others.

Royalties from the sale of this album will be donated to the Blue Ridge Institute, which documents, preserves, and promotes the folkways of the people living in and around the Blue Ridge Mountains.

More info on the album can be found on Nathan’s blog, Root Hog or Die.

USA by Designers call for entries via Design You Trust

Designers, illustrators, photographers, design studios, collectives/crews, agencies, students, visual artists… you are welcome to submit an innovative, creative, exciting, personal and experimental artwork inspired by the theme:

” WHAT DOES USA MEAN TO YOU? “

We are expecting diversity and freestyle: all styles of outstanding visual media are welcome. Selected works will be featured through online exhibit and book (more information soon).