The brace in the bag with the little white tag

Sometimes its very easy in the rushed pace of the current times….stress, job loss, the economy…etc., it is easy to lose faith in one of the greatest things all humans can share…a good and trusting spirit.

My first pic here are some wonderful gifts I recieved from my beautiful Jenn…..some toys from the Lee Valley catalog! A nice new small Stanley cabinet hammer and 3 Narex morticing chisels 1/2, 3/4, and 1/8…..yeah!!!!......lol. Wonderful and thanks again!

The other 5 pics were from a funny post christmas visit to our local auction. I usually, as weather permits make it to the auction on a Sunday morning and see a nice friend I made there named Ralph. Every Sunday I hunt outside table to table for some cool old handtool stuff…and then work my way to Ralphs table. Of course if you wait a few weeks as I sometimes do….Ralph usually has some new cool cleaned up gems!....(Well if you do not mind old tools anyway…lol) This time was a real treat…some Millers Falls eggbeater drills…one with the side knob missing….but…hey..he did the two large and small drills together for $20 ….chucks work great..and all cleaned and ready for use!

I did $3 on this cool old golden oil can as well. Then I saw this cool smaller Millers Falls brace…..man…...”how much Ralph?”.......”Ahhhh….got $10 on there…we can do $7”......haaaa…..SOLD. Cleaned up, great working chuck….NICCCCCCCE!...LOL $30 and he even threw in an old rasp for free!

So…...I get home….said to myself…ah lemme go threw these newbies…and set em somewhere..lol. I go through the bag…......no brace!!!!........oh no!...tool nirvana….ruined in a matter of moments…lol

Now lucky for me…..I live 20 minutes away….as I roared my truck back I realized, well????, I do not really know Ralph all that well…lol…I sure hope the brace is still there. I actually felt bad thinking that….but I admit, I did.

I figured he probably never even remembered my name…we only have a brief but fun conversation while I root through his table treasures…..lol

So, I got back and there is Ralph packing his table up!!!!!....it was getting pretty cold out I can understand thats a cold place to sit. He looks at me and says, “so sorry we got talkin’ and I never put it in the bag for ya”.....we had a good laugh, said “its over there in the yellow bag.” We shook hands, a very nice and kind old felllow and off I went with the brace.

In my rush and adrenaline it was not until I got home, I saw the bag was tagged with my name….Joe. He did remember my name, and he is just a nice and as decent of a guy as you would think. Isn’t that refreshing.

In that moment I realized something special….. the little white tag, it meant much more to me then the brace in the bag, because that little tag was the spirit of why I enjoy woodworking and enjoy the good folks on here.

So cheers Ralph! I look forward to some more great picks on your table as the weather gets warmer….and to share a good laugh as well. Never bought a bad tool from him….I have used all of them in great enjoyment.

I hope this brought some of you enjoyment, have a great evening friends, glad to be here.

Best wishes and great shavings

Joe

-- "Make something you love tomorrow...and do it slowly" JLB