Growing up in Alexandria, LA in the latter half of the 20th century, I remember the old-time lumber yards before Lowes and Home Depot. In Alexandria, we had Martins and Handyman. In Natchitoches, it was Natchitoches Lumber. Every small town had a lumber yard.
In each of those places, there were a couple of constants. Somewhere, normally near a cash register, was a barrel full of yardsticks. Complementary yard sticks. If you needed one, take one. If you needed two, take two. If you grabbed three, they looked at you like you were a thief, and they would talk about you. These yardsticks were advertising with the company mane emblazoned on them, normally with a catchy slogan.
Grandpa had a work bench. Along one edge, he had routed out a slot and screwed a yardstick into the surface. He also had a supply of yardsticks near the shop door, and the grandkids were forbidden to mess with his yardsticks. They were used for more than measuring. Often for discipline, with the bunch of rowdy boys I called cousins. Many times, if he needed a lath for a project, he would snip a yardstick rather than rip a piece of dimensioned lumber.
Several years ago, when I was working at the school, they were throwing away some old supplies, and part of the discards was a bundle of meter sticks that someone had bought for the curriculum. I salvaged them from the trash and took then home. I have used them up, and I miss yardsticks.
There is one old joke about how they are not making yardsticks any longer. No, they are still 36 inches.
6 comments:
I remember yard sticks too. Mom's house probably has some in a closet somewhere.
I have an old fashioned T-Square on my restroom door trim head. Used for drafting on paper, using the table edges as a sliding reference point to draw a line. Dad was an old school architects (no computer drafting - Hand drawn was the rule of the day)/
Old stuff we no longer see - I miss that.
I still have a couple of them, from 84 Lumber.
Family owned largest hardware/farm supply in town. I remember yardsticks and barrels of nails. Out back was a tremendous pile of coal. My mother was not happy when I came in from playing in that coal pile!
We were served by a *Hickory Switch*. (from a Privet bush]
I have several. One came with a house I bought and is old enough the phone number starts with 2 letters and there is no zip code.
Jonathan
I used to work in the print-biz. There's a LOT of shops shutting down. One of the neat things I acquired over the years, is a calibrated ruler. Certified accurate and all kinds of fancy credentials. Thanks Kodak!
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