That brings back memories. When I started work in the early sixties many of the filing cabinets had a “war finish” label attached, they were painted a sort of dark brown. They were still in use forty or more years later. “War Finish” did not mean low quality, it was just meant to denote that no resources had been wasted in their production.

It also reminds me when I was very young, late forties, my mother did outwork for a clothing manufacturer, each garment had a “utility” label sewn on, it consisted of two circles with a segment cut out of each. I think they were still used in the early fifties, I’m not sure when they ceased to be used.

I also have one or two pencils with the word “utility” stamped on them, not sure where I got them from, possibly from work. I keep them as an object of interest, not for use.

Neil

Utility furniture, too, including Parker Knoll.

And the war book production standard.

I learnt the basics of milling on war finish machines.   The training shop had, I think 10 mills of which three or four were war finish, one was war reparation.  The rest were very new, Elliot, Bridgeport and A and S.

The war machines were in good shape, mostly, when it might be thought they would be clapped out.  One of them had well worn leadscrews, myself and another apprentice were tasked with sorting out new leadscrews.  Rather than buy or make new, we reconditioned the worn (metric) screws by turning the O/D down a very small amount.  Then into the thread milling machine to “thin” the thread to remove the wear.  New nuts made to suit.

The main production workshop had several large war reparation lathes, all were very tired and gradually replaced over the next few years.

There was also an “SIP” jig borer that came from the war reparation route.  The story that went with it was that the Germans hid the machine down a mine just before they were overrun by allied forces.  The plan was to use it after the war to help get the country back on its feet, that didn’t happen!

Thanks for opportunity to take a walk down memory lane, hope I haven’t bored you.

At work we were still using war time desks and chairs until the late 80s. I then bought mine from the swarf shed and later passed it on to a friend. A lot of the lathes etc were from the war. I also remember utility furniture which struck me, as a child, as being a better quality than modern, 1950s, furniture.

Going slightly off topic, my mother used Nivea Cream and I remember the news that it was going to be the last war reparation company to be handed back to the Germans by the UK. I think this was the very early 60s.

JA