[Twisted Canuck]

Pretty likely actually, Graybeard. A crock and slicer were apparently very common, everybody made kraut, nobody would even think of buying it. They sure are nice heirloom pieces though, right?

I was just looking at this thread again, and figured I would add two pieces. In the spring of 1967, shortly after I was born, dad bought a business in Cardston on main street, a tire shop. Apparently it was originally the M.D. Building (it had a really cool and massive walk in safe, wish I had it in my basement!)...anyway, when he bought it, there was an old oak stool at the counter, and a bronze fire extinguisher behind the front door. I grew up sitting on that stool, coloring, stamping his invoice books, spinning, and generally trying to stay out of his way. And I always liked the way that extinguisher sparkled in the sun coming in the big windows.

Dad sold the shop some time ago, and he passed away a few years ago, but before he did, I was visiting him at his home in Coaldale, and saw the extinguisher in the corner of his garage under an inch of dust. He was going to flat out give it to me, but my siblings would have had something to say about that (family, yep)...so I did him a deal and made a kit of sweet Spanish wine he liked and bottled it in exchange. The stool I got after some wonderful family discussions (dad had said he wanted me to have it)....anyway.. good memories from them. That stool is still as solid and tight as the day they made it, and will still be good 100 years from now, and in fact the manufactures is still in business (Krug Furniture in Kitchener ON). They don't make them like they used to!