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View Full Version : If You Don't Look For 'em, You Don't Find 'em - Deals to be Found



Jim Koepke
09-06-2022, 10:32 PM
Yesterday we had our youngest daughter and her husband up. He does landscaping and other work and there was some to be done around the property. Janette just celebrated her birthday and Candy baked her a carrot cake. When going to pick them up I was a few minutes early and spotted a yard sale setting up. Not much, but did find an angle bracket, rusty old screwdriver and pliers. For me the heavy duty angle bracket was the best of the find. The rest was given the wire wheel treatment and will go in to one of my toolboxes. It all set me back a whole fifty cents.

Today we had to go into town to have some papers notarized and mailed. Candy also had to go to the lab at our hospital to get some blood work done and her new eyeglasses were in. Candy also wanted to go out for lunch somewhere. I suggested we go over the river to one of our favorite spots in Oregon and then go to Saint Helens to our favorite antique mall. She thought that was a good idea and thought of another store she would like to look in on.

There didn't seem to be anything for me at the antique mall. Went up to the counter to sit and wait. The woman there commented, "oh oh, his hands are empty." I mentioned there didn't seem to many tools in Tony's spaces and she said he changed his inventory for the upcoming Halloween celebration in town and had moved most of his tools to another store in Scappoose. She then inquired as to what I was wanting to find. I mentioned woodworking tools, she said there was a planer and made hand plane motions in one of the stalls and asked if I had looked on the third floor. I said something about the third floor usually not having much in the way of tools and that it was a bit of a climb for this old fart. She said there was a planner up there and told me which booth. So since Candy was still browsing I took the hike. Looking in the booth there were some nice hammers there, a Vaughn and another hammer for $6 a piece. I took the smaller one for Candy since she is always borrowing mine and isn't real good about returning them without me bugging her about it. I saw a transitional jack plane and a rounded bottom coffin plane. after looking at them a Stanley #45 caught my eye. Usually these are pretty beat up, sometimes with a welded repair and an outrageous price. I thought the price on this one was insane, $39. I checked the tag a few time to make sure it hadn't been switched. As I was turning it around in my hands one of the rods fell out and hit the floor, scaring the heck out of me. I didn't realize it was a rod that dropped until it was found on the floor. Interestingly the only blade with it was the slitter installed like a regular blade.

It didn't matter to me there are a bunch of others at home in the shop, this was one of those deals that just can't be refused:

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The worst spot of rust is on one side of the slitter. This plane almost looks like it hasn't been used. There isn't any shine to the rosewood fence from use. There is only a little bit of rust near the handle. Maybe it was used once with sweaty hands?

It often pays to have a chat with the people where you are hunting. They know where things are and want you to go away with less money in your pocket.

jtk

Stew Denton
09-06-2022, 11:38 PM
Wow, Jim, that Stanley 45 is incredibly clean. You got a super deal on it! YA DID GOOD! GOOD JOB!

Stew

Jason Buresh
09-08-2022, 1:22 PM
Nice find and an even better price! Especially if you already have a set of cutters at home

Jim Koepke
09-30-2022, 12:07 AM
We needed to go across the river again for some shopping. Candy thought a trip to St Hellens would be good.

I have had a nagging feeling that the person with the booth on the third floor of the antique mall. Could they have brought in a set of blades for the plane. It just felt like a visit was necessary.

It was kind of amazing how many people were out and about in the older part of town. This is a mile or two from the highway through the busier part of town. Candy told me it is because "old town" is also known as Halloween Town. Something about a movie being shot there.

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This image came up when Googling > Holloweentown Oregon < That theater is across the street from the antique mall.

So when we arrived my first thought was to head upstairs. I did the quick trip by a couple of my favorite booths on the way to the staircase and up and across the second floor to get to the stairs to the third floor ballroom.

No blades but did find a package of depth stops:

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All but one of the depth stops were from a #45. The cam stop is missing a screw and a piece of brass rod. I have spare screws and can likely find a short piece of rod to use.

There wasn't a price tag on it. There weren't any unaccounted for price tags laying around.

So looked around a bit more. Other items had sold from this vendor since my last visit. The seller's code on the price tags in the booth was also noted.

At the counter the lady who had sold me the plane was asked about these. My story of having purchased the plane a few weeks ago was told. So she sent a picture to the vendor and we waited. I walked around the store again before sitting back down on a stool by the counter.

Life went on all around. it was busy. Finally Candy appeared with things she wanted. The lady still had not received a reply so she called the guy and explained. He said they were supposed to go with the plane. Well, it seems something was nagging my brain, it just wasn't a set of blades.

The black depth stop looks like it could be from a #78. There isn't one in my shop to compare.

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The depth stop has ribs on either side of the vertical part. Maybe someone with a #78 can tell us if this is a stop for that plane.

jtk

Stu Gillard
09-30-2022, 1:36 AM
The black depth stop looks like it could be from a #78. There isn't one in my shop to compare.

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The depth stop has ribs on either side of the vertical part. Maybe someone with a #78 can tell us if this is a stop for that plane.

jtk

Sure looks like a 78 depth stop.
Here's mine from an English version.

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Jim Koepke
09-30-2022, 11:49 AM
Sure looks like a 78 depth stop.
Here's mine from an English version.


Thanks Stu, that confirms my suspicion.

jtk

Jim Koepke
10-01-2022, 4:50 PM
Was able to spend a little time in the shop today. Took the time to make the brass piece for the cam stop. Started out by measuring a piece from a complete cam stop.

The rod measured 13/64" (0.203") by 35/64" (0.547"). The diameter is about the same size as a #12 screw, just happened to have some of those:

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Many years ago while buying stuff from a dealer in South San Francisco a few spare 1/4-28 screws were purchased. One finally came in handy.

The threads were sawn off a brass #12 wood screw and the end filed and sanded smooth. A piece of scrap was drilled and ripped to hold the screw in a vise to saw off the head:

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The holder was straightened after the picture. A scratch had been made on the shaft at ~9/16" (0.5625") and set just inside the block. The side of the block was used to guide the saw.

Some more filing and sanding with 400 grit sand paper cleaned it up nice. If one didn't know which was which they might not be able to tell them apart:

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The old style cam stops, shown on the right, are often found broken. Not exactly sure when the design changed.

So maybe some day another set of blades will come my way.

jtk