Rust Hunting in Georgia 2014.04.12

It's been a while since I've posted - it's also been fairly slim pickings lately. This is a roundup of several months culminating in April of 2014.

Most of the items above I found at an estate sale - it was highly advertized and there were many people picking over the large hand tool collection. As usual I went for the less popular, less expensive items. Of particular note are these two routers - the mini I got for $5 and the larger (which is a nicely done patter-maker's router - no idea what I'll do with it as it's huge) was $25. Everything was also discounted about 40% so it was all fairly cheap. I've been looking for a Stanley corner brace for a while and this one works fine.

The handsaw is interesting in the way the nuts bind (they protrude and are quite sturdy - also the reinforcing plate). About $5 at Goodwill of all places.

And finally this trio of planes - two knuckles and one rabbit mouth (no cracks on the latter).

That's it for this installment. With my current work load I'm just not getting out as much as before. I hope to remedy that this year.

-- John

Rust Hunting in Georgia - June 3, 2011

Hit a couple of sales over the weekend - picked up a lot of small items very cheap at one, then a few items at an estate sale on my street.

Nothing really special here - the pick-axe is a bit unusual. It's marked "Collins" and appears to be for mining? At least it doesn't have the wide spade bit on the back like most you see, rather a thinner point on one end. The haft is hickory I believe. That was found with the two saws. The rest I got at one sale.

The smaller, dovetail saw is unmarked and missing a screw so I'm not sure about the maker - I think it'll clean up but I mostly got it for the nice grip - it's covered in orange and green paint so I suspect it came from a school.

The handsaw has very little blade left and is a bit bent to boot. I got it for the nicely carved apple grip - it's also the first "The Simonds Saw" I've found in the wild (pretty much invariably they're either Disston or Warranted Superior).

Of the small items, there was this rubber 60's era Craftsman mallet (the head is still soft enough to stand an impact, no cracking at all) and this container of bear spray, which beats the heck out of that cheap pepper spray for home defence.

The trowel was a rather nicely handled one, the Stanley Handyman "Yankee Screwdriver" a bit different from my others in that it has a Phillips bit, while the mini driver is just marked "Made in USA" but appears to be Starrett by the knurl and red box.

I also got this trio of scrapers (one marked Sargent and another Red Devil - both hardly used) plus this nice Stanley Sureform.

The last few items include a trio of files (one with a great handle), a metal straight edge and a very nice condition Stanley "Handyman" metal level. (those things to the left are wire ties, used to attached cables to buildings and poles - they come in handy).

Nothing really special in the lot but still worth saving from the dump. It's funny, I've "lost" my crappy pick axe - one of those plastic-handled jobs you get at Home Depot so I just started looking around for a replacement, and now I've found two in two weeks. When it rains, it pours I guess.

-- John

Rust Hunting in Georgia - January Estate Sale

I managed to hit an estate sale last Friday and picked up a handful of tools. Someone in the family was a hobbyist woodworker - the largest piece of equipment was an older Shopsmith with a full compliment of accessories (bandsaw, etc) - there was also a European bench that was already long gone when I hit the sale (probably a good thing as I wouldn't have room for it anyway and they tend to be very pricey).

Most of the prices were reasonable to high (as usual) - I passed on a later model Disston handsaw at $10 and a few other tools, but did manage to pick up a set of Footprint cabinet maker screwdrivers - these are the flat haft type with oblate handles in beech. I also found a #15 SnapOn Phillips driver, a "Sears" marked grinding wheel dresser (appears unused), a rosewood handled putty knife (partial to those) and a Sargent hole punch (second of this type I've found). Most items were in the $1-2 range with $25 on the screwdriver set. Nothing real special here but all good user tools.



Footprint Bench Screwdriver Set



Made in England



Snap-on SSDP102



Sears Grinding Wheel Dresser



Super Hyde Putty Knife



Sargent Hole Punch



Not too bad for a brief stop. In particular I've been thinking about a set of cabinet drivers so those are very welcome.

-- John