Parasol repair

[igenlode]

(click to view entire image)
I managed to repair an old lace parasol (not 'vintage', I think, as the inside had plastic parts) by cutting down and lashing on a cut-down rawlplug to replace the missing wooden tip, so that the canopy extended under the appropriate tension when unfolded.
Ideally it would have been a wooden rawlplug for a better match, but I couldn't find one in my collection of scraps and wasn't about to go out on a hunt for an entire new packet of rawlplugs :-p

I lashed and whipped the edge of the lace canopy fairly securely through the split in the 'tip' (held together chiefly by the whipping!)

Now I just need to find an appropriate recipient, i.e. a lady who thinks a lace parasol is pretty and doesn't object to the fact that it has been 'rescued'...

Comments

Re: Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith]

LOL yes. History of hand tools is its own whole field.

Around here some folks collect shuckin' pegs, of which there are multiple varieties. If you don't know it's a thing you strap on your hand to peel the leaves off a corncob easier, it would make no sense. Going to street fairs and historic events, I see all kinds of folks showing of their collection of historical oddities.

A friendly acquaintance of ours is a flea market vendor, with a particular eye for older items including those with practical uses.

Me: *squeal* "A melon hook!"

Her: "Oh, is that what that is? I had no idea."

Me: "Yeah, after you cut open a melon or squash with a seed cavity, you use this to scoop the guts out."

Another time she had an item that neither of us recognized, and someone else was trying a photo search on smartphone to identify it. We found some possibilities but no firm conclusion. Fun times.