Gorgeous Hallowell Steel Work Bench

On Tuesday evening, I was walking the pugs and came across the most gorgeous old rusty steel work bench, set out by the trash (Wednesday morning is trash day, here). It was very sturdy, and it had this shape, and it had these distinctive flared feet, but it wasn't this green color:

photo: urbanremainschicago.com

It was this color:

 photo: pdxpicker.com

It had a metal plaque on it that read "Hallowell," so I looked it up online when I got home. Hallowell began making steel work benches in 1903. It was acquired by List Industries in 1992. The company is headquartered in Florida.

photo: dickblick.com

I was sad because I knew this was a gorgeous, mid-20th-century piece of good, American steel. But I have no place for it in my home, and I have no power tools to restore it to its former glory. So I left it, sorry to think about it going to a landfill somewhere.

A few minutes later, I went out again to walk another pug, and I saw my neighbor's young-adult son, out in his driveway building something. And it hit me: his family would LOVE this table!

 this photo, and photos below: Max Kim-Bee, for Country Living magazine

Because this is their home. See the industrial steel legs on this console table?:

And the rustic sides on their island, and the benches beneath?:

Oh, the work table will be so happy in this house!:

I told the son about the work bench, and his eyes lit up. "I'm going to go get it, right now!," he told me. A few minutes later, I saw him and his dad in their big ol' pickup, the rusty work bench in the back. They were SO happy with the table.

I am thrilled to have made a match.

And to keep a venerable piece of American steel from going to the trash heap.