Kool Kan Openers

Doing more basement archaeology and came across something that stylistically takes one's breath away. I hadn't seen one for years and this one is the best colour, red, and is in pristine condition, probably stuffed in a box in the 50s or 60s when the cutter wheel needed replacement or a Christmas gift of a 'better' electric model superseded it.

Made by the Rival company, the Can-o-Mat opener looks like it came from the same design studio as the 58 Cadillac.

Anyone else have any 1950s (or 40s or 60s) stuff lying around or still in use?

[Jenise]

Wow is that pretty. Looks like you have it staged to sell on eBay--you should do well. There are a lot of people in my area with old 50's houses who would kill for that period-piece of a can opener. Unfortunately, those same people are also the least likely to be eating canned food!

Not my photos, taken off the net.

I didn't have time to snap anything as we just turned it up last night.

Sue said "Shall we give it away?" and I said NOOOOO......it's pretty!

So now I have to clean it up (the drive wheel/cutter needs attention) and figure out a place I can stick a wall bracket in my place, no easy task.

Nice! I have a couple of kitchen items that came down to me from my grandmother, but they're more along the lines of roasting pans and meat grinders. Nothing nearly as cool as that.

So now I have to clean it up (the drive wheel/cutter needs attention) and figure out a place I can stick a wall bracket in my place, no easy task.

That is really cool, Bill. But, if you don't really need a can opener, why not eBay it?

Well, I live in a late 1930s house with old inlaid wood floors, antique (original) phones, and leaded glass windows, so the can opener would fit right in. We currently use a manual can opener that is just OK, so why not see if I can recondition the Can-o-mat and use it? Assuming a clean up will do it, or I can find an NOS cutter wheel.....

Ask Jenise - everything else in the house is old and decrepit, right?

Only vaguely related, Bill, but I recently bought a mountable pencil sharpener for our son, who is constantly in need of sharpening his pencils for homework. It looks like this:

I hadn't seen one of those in I don't know how long, but they're still popular enough to be sold at Staples, apparently.

Mark Lipton

Yes, I still see them. Another of my hobbies is collecting fountain pens and using them, so I like the old pencil stuff too. Some of the antique sharpeners are great - see
http://www.officemuseum.com/sharpener_g ... 0-1929.htm

Wish I owned this one! A Raymond Loewy (e.g. Studebaker) design. That reminds me, when is the next series of Mad Men coming on......

[Jenise]

Only vaguely related, Bill, but I recently bought a mountable pencil sharpener for our son, who is constantly in need of sharpening his pencils for homework. It looks like this:

I hadn't seen one of those in I don't know how long, but they're still popular enough to be sold at Staples, apparently.

Mark Lipton

Loved those! A fan of the mixed aroma of graphite and sawdust from about the time I could walk (I was born for Paulliac!), it was always a delight to empty the pencil sharpener.

And, Jenise, because those pencils were/are made from Eastern Red Cedar, you were also getting a noseful of cedar aroma, too. I also loved emptying the pencil shavings out of the sharpener for just that reason. Little did I know then that I was training myself for a life of wanton oenophilia.

Mark Lipton

[Jenise]

Little did I know then that I was training myself for a life of wanton oenophilia.

Mark Lipton

We're a pair. Same here, but I also recall that I was super finicky, I favored one particular pencil brand because the cedar was stained instead of painted that ghastly yellow and seemed to have a stronger aroma. (From about age 8, I bought all my own school supplies at a local old-timey office supplies store I could walk to). Training is right!