It will literally be an oily shop project - probably always remembered as "The Oily Shop Project" for me.
BACKGROUND
My grandfather was a well respected man and best known in this area for his lifetime of service in the oil fields. He owned a oil field services company and was instrumental in keeping most oil wells around this area serviced and running. Avoiding some of the ugly details, he shut down his business (his choice) about 20 years ago, and literally "closed up shop".
The shop (40x80) was "car sealed", if you will, with everything left as it was when he was in business - and was left that way for the remainder of his life. Upon my grandfather's death (1998), the property was left to my uncle. My uncle has, on occasion, made some limited use of the shop but it has for the most part sat unused and occupied only by those things left some 24+ years ago (with some limited exceptions).
THE SHOP
The shop is actually an old oil field pump house....meaning it's a building originally erected in the mid 20s to serve as protection over a pumping unit. If you've ever seen some of the early pumping units (with a shiv and multiple belts driving several wells) you'd understand why such a large building. My father took the pumping unit structure down when he was young and erected it at my grandfather's as his "new shop". It has two bays, a secure "tool room", and a bathroom. I will not cover up the ugly truth of this shop being a huge mess, OILY OILY OILY, completely unorganized, nearly impossible to walk in - much less find anything or to even know what's there. For nearly a year my uncle and I have held discussions about the idea of trying to do something with the shop.
THE PROJECT
The decided goals of the project are 1) make the space where it is usable for us (the family) - we're all into things mechanical and geesh it sure would be nice to have that huge workspace, and 2) find the tools, inventory them, clean them up, and organize them. For me, personally, side goals are understanding what tools my gpa chose to make use of, and to "cherry pick" those I'd like to keep for myself and pass on.
Today I decided it was time to stop procrastinating about the project and drive over and take a look at it. My goal today was to decide if this was a project I could take on right now and complete in a timely fashion. I spent nearly 5 hours looking at the surface level. I plan to officially start this project on Saturday. I'm very excited to learn more about my grandfather's tool stash and wanted to share the story, as it unfolds, here.
I didn't have my camera with me today. I'll try to get a few pictures on Saturday before I start.
