Much More Than Just Old Hunks of Metal

I don't know if you remember these original and very cool bookmarks Justin made for me for Mother's Day, but it turns out he was also working on something else. It just took a little longer.

I present ... my lock. 

I really wish you could see this in person because it's a work of genius. (I may not be an impartial judge.) Justin took an old rusty lock that he found in an old burn pile, dismantled it, soaked the pieces in rust remover, polished all of the pieces with a wire wheel, put the lock back together, and then figured out a way to attach a Plexiglas door to the whole thing so you could see and admire the workings. 

You can open the door up with screw in the center, see how the lock mechanism works, and move the levers, slide the sliding bits, and generally marvel at both the lock and my youngest son's ingenuity and creativity. It looks like it's been painted, but that patina is what remained naturally after Justin painstakingly removed all the rust. We have old locks just like this on most of the doors in our house, so it's great to be able to understand what's going on inside when I turn the knobs or use a key to lock our doors.

It has pride of place on my kitchen table, right in front of where I sit so I can see, admire, and play with it every day. I love that Justin understands my admiration for old hunks of metal and has the imagination and cleverness to bring his interesting ideas to wonderful fruition. I love my old lock, and I'm willing to be nobody else is lucky enough to have one like it!