When we go to antique stores, estate sales, or flea markets we like to collect unique items that in many cases we don't have a project in mind when we purchase the materials.
Then a combination of the needing something for the right person or just inspiration hits and a project comes together. In this case it was a bit of both.
We started off with a set of old early 1900's sprinkler heads. They were greasy, dirty, and didn't honestly look like much.
When we took a wire wheel to them, the beautiful copper emerged and at that point we set them aside because we had to do something with them.
This holiday season we were looking for a gift for a friend that was in the fire protection business and I knew we had to incorporate these into a project.
I wanted to create a matching set as the numbers on the heads were consecutive. Stamped into the side was 18 on one and 17 on the other. As my friend likes beer an wine what else would be better than making an opener and wine stopper set!
The first challenge was how to connect the hardware to the sprinkler head. We took a 3/8-16 insert and adapted the internal bore of the sprinkler head to fit the insert. At this point you could just thread the hardware into the sprinkler head, but the transition just didn't look right.
We decided to use the wooden bushing shown as a nice transition from the industrial aspect of the project to the bright finished hardware. With the stained and waxed wooden bushing we feel the project has a great look.
What ever the reason, it is always fun to make a unique item that will upcycle items from the past into a new use.
Take a look around our items and see if any of them will inspire you to do something different- Have Fun!
