Noooo, not that cowboy in “Dr Strangelove” wiseguy! A local antiques show, 120 tables, and the only plane that asked to come home with me was this British model that I’d never heard of before, but it is a size #4 b’gosh. Yeah, saw the usual overpriced ‘78s, a couple of #45s (I’d swore I’d never buy another 45 unless it is complete) and a dozen other run-of-the-mill planes. This “Talco” plane is cool, I’m looking for pics of similar Talco planes to see the profile of what the front knob should look like. Then I’ll either make one or maybe snag one from a Made in USA generic plane. This one has a good feel to it, anxious to peel a few shavings with it. I’m really developing an interest in the British stuff, it seems to be a bit easier to come by in Canada than how I knew it to be in the USA.
So… today, still jonesing for a few hits after the disappointing weekend, I went to “Habitat for Humanity Re-store” and there was a bunch of Stanley chisels!! $3 apiece. It wasn’t ‘til I got ‘em home that I realized that they were metric sizes, and although it appeared to be a set, two of them were marked “Marples” on the polypropylene handles. A nice set, but they look weak at the junction of the socket to cutter. THEN…I checked the mail, and voila! Two AWESOME pigsticker chisels, genuine Marples with wood handles, breath-taking chisels like I’ve never owned before… Hmmm, it’s all British stuff!!
And of course a Miller’s Falls chisel, and who can resist old Craftsman clamps from the days when they were made right. also a nice J Howarth cutter for my infill plane. I passed on a Disston 8 pt. saw with fingerhole handle….something made me say no @ just $4. Happy hunting, guys!
-- Einstein: "The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." I'm Poopiekat!!
Hey, I want to make an observation that some of you bargain-hunters may already know: At our local Habitat Re-Store, there is a huge display of miscellaneous screws, bolts, hardware etc, packed in those blister paks, originally meant to hang from peg-hook retailing. These are dumped into one BIG pile, and I could be all by myself rummaging thru the pile, tossing a pak or two into my basket. People from all over the store will come stampeding toward me, all of them desperately grabbing at the things I’m looking at. This stuff has been there for months, there’s nothing new in the pile, but people seem to think that if I’m buying a handful of items, they gotta have them too. As soon as I walk away, so do they… Just weird. Ever notice the psychological motivations behind some shoppers? I’m amused by it! Sometimes I’ll remark to one of these shoppers, “These are $49 at Lee Valley!!!” and show them a pak of 4 cheezy brass-colored cup hooks..
-- Einstein: "The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." I'm Poopiekat!!
You’re lucky poopiekat. I have three Habitat stores near me (within 25 miles) and they all think they are a retail outlet. Plus,I never see any tools in them. I used to go to a Habitat store in Columbus Ohio that was a real gold mine. Huge store,lots of “good junk” reasonably priced. I think the same people that run the Habitat stores around here also price stuff for C/L!!!! Good score on the chisels for the price., if nothing else you can use them for loaners.(learned that lesson the hard way “gee,didn’t know there was a nail there”
Yeah, Howie, there really seems to be a problem with the insufficient base of knowledge that some sellers suffer from. There is one woman who frequently is the volunteer behind the counter at a used goods store here, she was sure I was trying to rip her off on some drawer slides. I’d assembled 12 sets of CL, CR, DL, DR, the sign said $2 a set. Now, to me a ‘set’ is the 4 distinctly different pieces you need to mount one drawer. She insisted a set was 2 pieces. I tried every which way to explain to her that it takes FOUR pieces per drawer, hence THAT is what a set is. Finally, another customer, a cabinet maker, explained that I had it right. The price went up to $4 a set a week later! Same with an old man who had 12” 4/4 red oak lumber…$150. When I got there, it was three pieces, 10-11” wide, 9’-10’ long, and milled badly to 5/8th plus. with knots, checks waterstains etc. Then in the corner of his garage was the Delta Home-Craft table saw/ jointer twin setup….$500! and it hadn’t been run in 30 years. Oh, and… I do not lend tools. Well, I might lend a crowbar to a guy whose shoelace is caught in a moving escalator…. but..I worked hard to find my vintage tools, worked hard to earn the money to pay for my vintage tools, worked hard to restore, resharpen and refurbish them too. I would lend them to the type of guy that understood why I and so possessive towards my tools, but those guys already got everything that I have. Patience, and keeping my quiet dignity about myself when I’d like to brain somebody with overpriced crap is the only way forward. The good stuff will come to you, priced right, eventually.
-- Einstein: "The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." I'm Poopiekat!!
Joe: One of my side endeavors is to have a hardware store in my basement, and indeed I can usually scrape up just the fastener I need, whether wood screw or machine screw, brass, zinc, stainless steel, lag bolt, carriage bolt, I rarely have to venture out to get a needed fastener. The only way you can do that is by hunting…make it part of your travels, junk shops, discount stores, sometimes even Sears has closeouts of brass fasteners, awesome! Heck I even have rare 5-40 and 12-24 threaded machine screws, still in packages. You just can’t go to HD and find that stuff! If I was more O/C, I’d have it ALL perfectly sorted by now; but I got about 3/4 of it separated by thread, diameter, head type, metal type, and length. I don’t mind pawing thru the unsorted stuff, cuz I know what I got… And hey, I got cylinder locks, hinges, pulls, and other cabinet hardware, coming out my ears. I just can’t pass it up when I see it.
-- Einstein: "The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." I'm Poopiekat!!
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