Yard sale finds

[George Sanders]

Like I need more smoothing planes.:rolleyes: Anyway I found a Fulton smoother, a Craftsman and a nice Stanley 9 1/4 block plane all for $12. There was another plane but it had a stamped frog which to me is the kiss of death. They will all clean up ok and will make good trading material. They also have nice long blades.
At another yard sale I offered $15 for a 3/4 " mortise chisel but when they called the owner he said he didn't want to break the set. I almost asked what set was he talking about. Nothing in the box matched and the two of the other chisels were bent. :confused:

[Jim Koepke]

I almost asked what set was he talking about.

You should always ask, he may have had a whole set of mortise chisels or he could have taken a look and seen the rest of the set was gone and said how about $10.

You never know and that always haunts me later.

jim

[James Taglienti]

I have been countered with the "cant break the set" more than a few times. Most notably was a tool box with a wide variety of tools and trades, the vintages spanning at least 125 years. there was a very nice 386 jointer fence sitting next to a knockoff Ridgid-type pipe wrench from at least 2005. I made an offer on the fence and was told that the tools can't be "parted out." I think they had $500 on the whole lot. Resale value would have been whatever i got for the fence, plus about $60.

Also, a harbor freight benchtop lathe being sold with a 16 piece NOS set of socket paring chisels, which were about 90 years old. It took a half hour of convincing that the two items didn't go together and certainly weren't paired for life.

[Asher Langton]

I had the opposite of the "can't break the set" experience a couple of months ago at the Alameda Flea Market: a vendor had sold a wooden toolbox earlier in the day, and was still trying to unload its contents. Most of the stuff -- while interesting -- was too rusty for me, but he was happy to get rid of a Stanley 42x in near-perfect condition for $7. :)

[george wilson]

That can't break the set really irks me. Dealers trying to elevate the unrelated junk they have to some kind of pseudo "collector" status.

Many times,it's that,plus the fact that they are to ignorant to see with their own eyes that things aren't related.

It has kept me from getting a piece I could have used on a number of occasions.

[George Sanders]

Let's see...old, hinged wooden box, one inch corner chisel with no center point, (ground off when sharpened) two one and a half inch slicks which I could see were bent and had the handles cut down. He passes up fifteen bucks for a good 3/4 corner chisel and claims this "set" is worth sixty five bucks. The box also had five wooden pegs for draw bored timbers. It's a good thing I wasn't talking to him on the phone or I would have told him where he could put those pegs.
I suppose I should count my blessings with the hand planes as they will make good trading material or even loaners.

[george wilson]

You are an idiot for not going for those pegs!!!

[Jim Koepke]

You are an idiot for not going for those pegs!!!

They were probably highly collectable antiques. Worth at least a $1 a piece.

jim

[Dan Andrews]

Yep, this is happening on ebay right now. Some guy has several lots of hand drills. Two lots each contain one very collectabe and very old drill with another 6 or so pieces of junk. I am going to bid the value of the good drill, and if I win, I will ask the seller to keep the junk and reduce the shipping cost. I don't need 6 Dunlaps (or similar from the 1960's mailed half way accross the country to me.

[george wilson]

The owner may not be aware of any differences in the drill,and send you the WRONG one. Do be careful.