The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1885-08-07
Reuovatins secondhand Corks.

In queer little room in queer old
house In Forsyth street at the end of an
old-fashioned brick-paved alleyway, a
snowy-bearded man, bubbling over
with good nature, sat ut low bench
yesterday clipping corks with cary
Ing knife as keen as razor. A little
wooden sign over the alley-way had the
single work 'Corks" painted on it.
"Corks' was scrawled with chalk on
the door of the room In which the busy
man sat, and he himself was enthroned
on an old stool among great mounds of
corks of all kinds and sizes. They
were scattered In heaps on the bench,
stored In great paper bags at his feet,
and piled high In wooden boxes behind
him. He strapped the keen blade of
the knife against the edge of the bench
every little while, and clipped the
corks before him with the regularity Of
machinery. while he chatted with a
visitor about the odd industry of max
ing new corks out Of old ones. He was
old Pop Mackin. tho pioneer of the
trade Of renOvating secondhand corks.
There are more people ut the bust
ness now" he said, ethan anybody
would dream of. They go around buy
ing up all the secondhand corks they
can get at So barrel. A barrel will
hold from twenty-seven to twenty-nine
gross Of corks. They get the old corks
from retail liquor stores, and then sort
them out according to size. Then
they're dumped into a big tub OF cold
water and soaked till tho dirt is all
rinsed out. After that they're tossed
into boiler OF hot water and steamed.
The steaming is done by covering the
boiler tightly with piece of heavy
carpet. 1t keeps the steam imprisoned.
and drives it through the cork. The
corks are in all sorts OF curious shapes
when they are put in the steam-bath.
but no matter how they have been
crushed In by the neck vi the bottle or
by the wire and Irvine fastenings-and
some Of them are tough-looking corks,
toO-they come out Of the bath per-
fectly shaped again. After the bath
the corks are allowed to dry, and then
We trim them with sharp knife, and
they are just as good as new"
"But how" the visitor asked, lean
you hide the damage where cork
screw has been bored through corkp"
EASY enough" the old man respon-
ded with laugh, as he picked out u
perfect little cork; 'that trick was
done with u cutting machine. The fact
is that corkscrew only damages. as a
rule, the top and bottom OF cork.
The damaged cork is sent through a
cutting machine. and paired down un-
til the damaged part is cut away.
Sometimes it has 10 60 through the
machine two or three times before it is
perfect, but after that it is as good as
any cork that was ever made"
"How many corks can Il man pre-
pare dailyP"
ut depends upon the corks; but an
industrious man can sort, wash, steam,
and trim about fifty dozen corks. They
are sold by the gross again. Sometimes
the profit is only 81 barrel, sometimes
more"
''Can you make it pay ut thatp"
IL guess Pm satisiid.' Pop Mackin
said. decsdclly. II used TO work in q
sOda-water factory away back in SO,
when first caught on to the idea from
y fellow who came Oh from Philadel-
phia to buy up all the old corks he
could get. lu the soda factory l got ST.
a day. tried cork renOvating, and /
found that could spend u lot OF time
chatting with friends that ! met in day
time, and could make just rs much and
often more than when worked steadi-
ly at the soda-water business. | went
to the war for three years. A man who
hadn't $50 to his name when left took
hold of the business while was away.
When got home again l found him
living in house OF his own in Twelfth
street. He had made the cost of it by
buying up old corks, and old bottles,
too, and renovating them. He sold
them again at handsome profit, be-
cause it was war times, aud business
booming. never was us lucky as that,
but there's many man ut a more am
bilious business worse of, and much
less contented than am, my boy, and
you can tell them SO from me. Med
York San.