I recently inherited exactly half of my father's tools, toys, etc. He passed away recently and willed my brother basically everything his wife would never use. I was able to get a lot of really great and useful stuff which I will happily use in my new shop if I ever finish it. Luckily my brother isn't much of a woodworker or mechanic.
We met up at his house with trucks and enclosed trailers and both completely filled them. I'm happy to say I've got about everything Craftsman ever made from back when it was worth buying, including a lot of specialized woodworking tools, full size wood lathe, joiner, radial arm saw, etc. etc.
Dad really liked Sears stuff from when they sold the Hillary gear. I thought he had given me most of it already, or it had died a slow death in the attic, but I found two real gems when cleaning out his back yard shop.
Article 1: Hillary Field Gear 3 burner stove. It was high up on a shelf and covered with dust and dirt dobber nests. I expected it to turn to dust in my hands. When I opened it up I was blown away! The construction is amazing. It fired right up and after a good cleaning is now going to be my camp stove of choice. I still need to clean up the latch, the only thing that isn't pristine.
I've probably eaten a lot of pancakes made on this stove, I definitely have memories of it being around the campsite when I was a kid.
Article 2: I do NOT remember this thing, and I bet he forgot he had it. He knows I would've geeked out over it in the last few years since I favor a 'lighter' camp than most, as us SMB types typically do. It's called a Kangaroo Kitchen. There seems to be very little info about them online, but they were in Washington state somewhere maybe? Anyway, sold in the 60s/70s and hard to find complete. This one
is complete and in phenomenal shape! It still had the old school propane bottle inside with gas in it. It fired right up and it seems to do just about everything and a small and lightweight aluminum package. I'll have to research how to clean up/recoat the griddle. Anyone know? Maybe I can just season it like you would a cast iron skillet?
If anyone has any more info on this thing or has seen one please let me know! It's really unique and I plan to use it and enjoy it. It is a stove, griddle, oven and grill.