Blue2: That bench was originally a Hamilton Standard prop stand. We’d hung fresh props on an A26 & the boss says “Chop that up & throw it in the dumpster”… I loaded it into the back of my truck & took it home to *repurpose* instead. That was about 25 years ago 🙂

It may become a genuine aviation artifact, most of the wood came from Hamilton Standard, one of the vises came out of the original Lockheed ADP at Burbank & the other one came out of Lockheed ADP at Plant 42 in Palmdale.

ADP: Advanced Development Projects = Skunkworks 🙂

Time is the issue with restoring a vise if it’s the one you’re using every day.. but then one day you find another that’s better than the one you’re using, so you restore the new one & swap them out… However, there’s a good chance you then find one even better & the process starts all over again. Which is how I ended up with about 40 bench vises…& this is the one that will replace the blue on once I get the new bench built..

except when I say one, I actually mean two because ya have a swivel on one end of the bench & a static on the other.. so these two Morgans

will be replaced by these two Rock Islands..

ok, that’s more than enough vises for now 🙂

The vise collector in me would have that Record 25 temporarily purloined for a quick resto…

LOL! I’m 58 & a 1/3 & everyone knows the size of the coke can without having to work out if the ruler is 6in, 12in, yardstick or metric etc..

A month of 15/85 molasses followed by some Kroil would have that all loosened up 🙂

JWP: I recall someone at Dx flying a warbird with the prop from another type for some reason & he didn’t like it at all. I think it was a Spit prop on Buchon or vice versa. May have been Mark Hanna?

Many years prior to there being any aviation activities in the area, there is a story of an ancient stone circle which was later removed to build the airport… any pics of that?