Another Adventure: Old Tools by the BUCKET

[billjustbill]

This was the local flea market weekend....and I didn't go! Why? On Saturday and Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m. it began because an estate sale had posted one picture that caught my eye. A bucket of antique draw knives...

I spent two mornings at an estate sale of a fellow that had to be a part genius and the rest hoarder. The head of the estate sale company was heard to say "We only had two days to prepare the house and "THIS."


An upper income neighborhood, and a $300,000 home, was lived in by an 86 year old man whose health had declined in recent months. All the large power tools were already gone. Only a small pen lathe and the Hawk scroll saw. The space was crammed in a two car garage, a 16x16' room and another area of 8'x16' were piled hip-high with stuffed boxes, and a large cabinet in the center of the room was a two sided cabinet on which a small 4' wood lathe was mounted. Wire shelving went to the ceiling. His workbench was stacked with boxes and tools 3 feet high. It was awful and great at the same time.


On the second morning, everything was half price. I mainly came back to find the special base for the Gyro vise....and ended up finding two. The large "Hawk" scroll saw had not sold. The estate sale boss said I could have it for $150.00 plus another $50 for more buckets I'd filled with workshop candy. The way the saw was ordered, it has $240.00 accessories of extra wide front leg adapters so one can sit down and use it. If I bought the same 226 model saw, new, today, with $150 flat shipping cost, the leg adapter accessories, and the 26" depth cutting capacity, it would cost $1,800.00.


The-Hawk-Scroll-Saw

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There are $250.00 worth of accessories and special wide legs so you can sit and saw....

Scroll_Saw_Accessories

This fellow had old hand saws, antique and new wood vises, large wood chisels, cast iron and solid Cherry levels, spoke shaves and draw knives by the dozens ( the last two were use to make wagon wheel spokes, hoe and shovel handles, etc.) The estate sale owner had marked some too high, but some were $7 and $8. I was buying in bulk and formed a line of 4-gallon plastic pool chlorine buckets with the rest being in 5 gallon buckets or long plastic tool cases. Auger wood drilling bits number close to 1,000, all other bits for the old brace and bit could be found by the dozens. The old brace "tang" had bits for most any width of screwdriver slot, spoon bits, and old bits that fit the old European braces.

Hunting through all the stacked junk, and knowing that the other 25 guys were looking at what the could get, the pace was exhilarating and a combination of "hunting Easter eggs and unwrapping an almost endless amount of Christmas presents "you've always wanted"..... All and all, it took two pickup loads and the backseat floorboard filled to get it all home. Twelve buckets the first day and thirteen buckets the second day. The final count and the extras: 25 buckets full averaged less than $25 a bucket. Yet more in clear and wooden cases that won't begin to fit inside them

There were two pickup loads of buckets I came home with. I gladly missed going to the flea market! I could have spent the next 5 years scouting the local flea markets and never gathered the assortment of old tooling, much less found them at such prices. Not counting the three wood vises, and the red Gyo "Parrot Vise", the Rockler table saw cross cut sled, nor counting the two handed Beam boring drill, or the "Wards No. 83" solid cherry level and Stanley cast iron 18" level, or all the axe, sledge hammer, claw & ball peen, adz, hatchet, and pick handles, the $25 a bucket really cost less than that. Some of the wooden adz handles have the "Belknap- Bluegrass" paper label even though the company went out of business in the 1950's. It will take me at least six wonderful months to sort, keep, and "think" about selling.....


Sales like this are "out there", so keep looking, too!

Bill

 

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[kcm]

I haven't done any scrollsaw work in nearly 20 years, and that would have been a deal back then!!

So I take it you're gonna open up shop?!?!?

 

[billjustbill]

KCM, I'm retired and just gathering for my home workshop....and the workshop walls. However, if the economy goes South after the November election, I'll have something to work with....

Here's what I did using old handsaws mounted with plastic mirror clips above my 10' wide roll up door.

The other pic shows some old Two-Man saws mounted on an end wall. The Atkins has never been used and I found a pair of special handles for it in my bucket inventory...

Bill

 

[kcm]

That's awesome!!

Reminds me of the time I got the "best kind" of deal on some lumber. I had been out of the Air Force for about 2 years or so, but had a large woodworking job I was trying to finish. So made the trek back to Randolph (San Antonio), where I was stationed (was living in Houston area) to use their larger tools and extra space - not to mention getting a helping hand when needed! While there, the guy who ran the base woodshop told me about another woodworker who had just been to an auction and might have some lumber for me. So I called the guy up. Come to find out, a VERY OLD molding company had gone out of business, and the auction notice was put in the paper ON THE DAY OF THE AUCTION!! So this guy had bought enough lumber to fill his spacious 2-car garage, plus to stack lumber in his 100' long driveway covered with tarps, while they parked out on the street. He also got several older production machines, like a 16" (I think) jointer/planer, a 24" planer, and various other tools. He spent a TOTAL of maybe $500 for all of it. He said I could have any lumber that was left in his bin/lot areas - all I had to do was pick it up before the following weekend. Anything left behind was getting auctioned off again.

I had a small truck at the time, so I borrowed a truck from a neighbor and a 16' trailer from another neighbor. I loaded that truck and trailer down with all the 100+-year-old walnut lumber it would carry!! There was another bin that had several hundred bd. ft. of oak, but I left that - walnut was worth MUCH more!! One of the boards was 2" thick and about 24" wide and 12' long - perfectly clear heart wood, and nearly as black as ebony!! Unfortunately, I couldn't take that board as it was in someone else's bin. I also got some bird's eye maple, flame maple, birch, beech, a little oak, mahogany, .....seems like there was a couple other species, but the vast majority was walnut.

It was just me and the lumber was in the 2nd floor storage, so I had to back the trailer up and just tossed the boards down - only had about 2 hours before they closed for the day...and I wouldn't be able to make the trip back for more.

I left most of what was left in Texas with my Dad. He passed away a couple years ago, so I brought most of what he hadn't used back up here. Still have more to go - but not sure we'll have room for all of it when the time comes to make that last trip. At least the rest isn't the really good stuff.

Also, while still in the USAF, had an aunt and uncle that managed a mini-storage unit in San Antonio. There was an auction coming up then that I didn't know about, as they didn't think I'd be interested. Was a 10' x 20' unit stacked floor to ceiling, front to back, side to side with S4S redwood lumber!! They told me later it sold for about $30.

I can't do the woodworking anymore. Spent 26 years doing high-end work but lifting the lumber repeatedly for planing tears up my neck - I end up spending a week or more almost unable to get out of bed. So had to just stop completely.

 

[kcm]

...Just sittin' here gazing at your pics. Man, you really made out like a bandit!!

 

[diggummup]

I was expecting to see buckets of old rusty tools! Not! Great looking haul for sure, even if it's not my forte. What are those two cone shaped giant auger bit looking things with the wood handles next to the Stanley scraper planes?

 

[billjustbill]

Diggs,

The name may make your eyebrows go up...

It's a Bung Hole Auger....

You know the hole you see in wooden casks where the plug went? A long time ago they used different auger sizes to make the tapered holes. The holes were best drilled in the center width of a barrel stave which varied depending upon the size of the cask to prevent leaks at the seams when the tapered plug was knocked into place.....

antique bung auger | eBay

Bill

 

[billjustbill]

KCM,

What a great story. I do love Black Walnut, but finding it in a downed tree takes a miracle here in Texas.

 

[creekhunter]

Wow what a couple days, I really like the saw display(s) you have going!

 

[bigcaddy64]

Killer finds, Bill.

I too have had some of those sales where everywhere you look something fantastic calls your name. Its a good thing they are infrequent because they set bar high while simultaneously lowering my tolerance of people and sifting through junk . I had one about 2 years ago that was just a few doors down from my house. It was a private arrangement with the homeowner and i got to pick all day (on weekends) with nobody bugging me with the exception of the friends i invited to pick.

Those tools you picked are great and you should easily be making a profit after selling a handful of items

 

[bigcaddy64]

You did get the bases for those Gyro Vises, right? I see the one with no base but i also saw what appears to be 2 complete ones in a bucket in your truck.

 

[boogeyman]

We've all heard of the holy grail. Well brother you found it! A lot of times if you go home unload and go back at the very end, the "What'll you take for the whole mess" works good. Another guess you'd call it a trick I use is to offer help cleaning up. I've seen some of these estate sale people keep some low grade tools because they look cool or pretty and throw Keen Cutter, Snap on & Craftsman stuff in the roll off dumpster.

Like what you did with the saws! My luck if I tried that I'd be driven to the ER in my scratched & dented truck.

 

[kcm]

You did get the bases for those Gyro Vises, right? I see the one with no base but i also saw what appears to be 2 complete ones in a bucket in your truck.

The one with no base?? The only vise I'm seeing that has no "mounting base" is a machinists vise. They are normally clamped in place using C-clamps or, like on a milling machine, using step clamps like these:
Proxxon 24257 Step Clamp Set

That gyro vise is totally awesome! Have never seen one like that before. The old man appears to have been quite meticulous with everything - even down to clearly labeling what was in his plastic bins, even though they were clear and the items could be seen. That's VERY awesome!! ...The old man was probably rolling over in his grave at how his family was handling the tools.

Bill....oh Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill....you truly did get an awesome score there!!

 

[Butter Hat]

Tools rule! Great buy there.

 

[ethanfez]

That swage block.. You selling it? I've been trying to find one for almost a year.

 

[billjustbill]

That swage block.. You selling it? I've been trying to find one for almost a year.

Not selling, just posting. Is the swage block next to a vise on the tailgate pic?

 

[ethanfez]

Not selling, just posting. Is the swage block next to a vise on the tailgate pic?

Yep. It is the one that looks like Swiss cheese. A very hard to find thing (for a halfway reasonable price) in the blacksmith trade. Should get you a few hundred if you ever sell.

 

[billjustbill]

Better idea of what's inside the First Twelve Buckets

We've had over 7" of rain since last Friday. So today, in the garage where the only dry spot on the place is, I spent time getting a pictorial inventory of half of all the tools I bought several weeks ago. Here's a better idea of what was inside the first 12 of 25 buckets.

The wood chisels and gouges are up to 3" wide. Inside the bucket are hand carving chisels with a heavy wooden mallet with a date carved in it. More hand carving chisels remain in the bottom of the first bucket...

All the different shapes and sizes of adz tool heads show old and new. The ones with a "punch" end is said to be used in early wooden ship building and rebuilding for inserting and removal of wood dowel-pegged joints. There are a dozen single and double curved handles to fit all but one adz head; it takes an oval pick-head style handle. The bucket is full of hammer and hatchet handles; most are unused original replacements.

Hand held small vises along with drill press and table mount vises with jaws 1-1/2" to 3" wide.

The fellow was into Blacksmith and Forge work. Hardy hole cutters, tongs, specialized hammers, and a lot of his forged projects were made from files and rasps. Others show his ability for handmade woodworking tools.

Other pics at the end show new tools and older machinist tooling by Starrett. Many different styles of England and American made marking gauges, specialized try squares and angle squares layout tools.

Also the rest of his collection of Bunghole barrel drill bits, and to go with the various boring braces & depth gauges, there are assorted dowel making and round tendon making apparatuses along with reamers and old bits.

 

[kcm]

Now THAT gets "my" heart to pounding!!

In all honesty, I for the most part can't stand jewelry, although some is very beautiful, even to me. Also don't care much for money - but if ya' gotta have it, ya' gotta have it!

But these kinds of tools?? WOW!!

Thank you, Bill, for making this old man happy today.

 

[billjustbill]

Added pics due to full storage in above post. ;>)
Bill