Bootfair in Sunny Kent

[jimi43]

I usually post bootfair threads in the Hand Tool forum but I think in this instance it would be more correct to post in the General forum because of the power tool element!

This morning was predicted to be VERY nice in the South of England so I got up at 5am and went to only my third bootfair this year. Up until now there hadn't been ONE tool throughout the whole fair but today made up for it in spades!

I took my standard £50 with me and for that I managed this lot!

One of those Rexon water sharpening gizmos...however bad or good the reviews..had to get for a tenner didn't I!?

From the same guy and another tenner this dinky little sanding thingy from Poolewood just up the road...

And just as I was walking away he said...I suppose you want this one for a tenner as well...and produced this little French scroll saw...

Nearly knackered myself getting this lot back to the car (why are they always from a seller at the far side of the field!)

Then I bartered a bit and got this gem of a caliper for a tenner....

Marked out in "foreign" scales so eminently suitable for use today...I think my Imperial ones will still get used but you have to move with the times after all! :mrgreen:

A beautiful little box for a couple of quid....an HSS 21mm holesaw for 90p....all sorts of bits and bobs for pence and some brass for £1.50 almost cleared me out but I did manage to get a nice set of bones for my dear daughter who is collecting old games.

So....my formula for starting early and getting the best pickings is still working though sadly....no infill planes...today anyway....

Next time! :wink:

Cheers

Jimi

 

[SteveF]

i would like to know what fair u go to on a saturday

Steve

 

[jimi43]

i would like to know what fair u go to on a saturday

Steve

Now being as close as you are Steve...do you think it likely I am going to invite competition!!! :mrgreen:

You can have the Sunday ones...I work on Sundays! :wink:

Try the Swanley one really early...it's going to have hidden masterpieces all over it's acres...but early too...6am latest!

Jimi

 

[SteveF]

i dont blame u

pedham is good , but a lot of trash

i never even look for a saturday one to be honest

p.s. nice find there

Steve

 

[Bluekingfisher]

Do you actually use this stuff Jimi or do you hoard it for a while, then take it back to the boot fair in a year or two's time :?:

David

 

[jimi43]

Do you actually use this stuff Jimi or do you hoard it for a while, then take it back to the boot fair in a year or two's time :?:

David

Oh...all sorts of permutations of the above David!

First, things get played with and studied. If something is interesting, I will research it on the Internet.

If the item does something which I can't do now with the kit I have, I keep it "just in case". The scroll saw will be one of those items.

The belt sander is to compliment my large disk and belt sanders when the action needs to be finer and more delicate...so keeping that.

The water-cooled Rexon...test...decide whether I'm in the "horrible rubbish" or "amazing bit of kit" camp based on the wide-ranging views here (!!) and then keep as part of the sharpening armoury or sell to someone else on FleaBay at probably near to what I paid for the lot.

The box is stunning and I'm keeping that...it has character and history and is superbly made in a rustic way....

I loved the catches!

I will find a key...redo the inside, install an escutcheon plate which has fallen out and give it to my daughter probably. She collects antiques.

She already has the dominoes....she was thrilled with those!

The caliper I will use when I make precision parts for the observatory and the odd tool.

If you take one look at my workshop you will see where the rest ends up...it's looked after by the smelly offspring of a chance liaison between Steptoe and Aladdin's mother half a century ago!

It's a complete mess...but I know where everything is...well...with the help of a GPS anyway!

:mrgreen:

Jimi

 

[Bluekingfisher]

I'm off to have a look at your workshop Jimi (if I can figure out how to do it lol)

I only ask as I used to attend every boot-fair in my old neck of the woods, especially the big one just south of South Godstone when i lived down that way. Anyway, I collected so much stuff over a period of a couple of years or so I ended up re selling it at boot fairs having never used much of it. I still have one of two items which have been a, one in a million find, but I resist venturing out now as I know i wouldn't be able to resist buying something that I may need one day, but never actually would.

That said, it was always good fun rummaging around.

David

 

[jimi43]

I'm off to have a look at your workshop Jimi (if I can figure out how to do it lol)

I only ask as I used to attend every boot-fair in my old neck of the woods, especially the big one just south of South Godstone when i lived down that way. Anyway, I collected so much stuff over a period of a couple of years or so I ended up re selling it at boot fairs having never used much of it. I still have one of two items which have been a, one in a million find, but I resist venturing out now as I know i wouldn't be able to resist buying something that I may need one day, but never actually would.

That said, it was always good fun rummaging around.

David

Oh absolutely David! The temptation to buy stuff you "may need one day" is incredible.

Over the years...I have refined that to "will need one day". I feel better that way!

I figured after I had the heart ripped out and semi-retired that I could do loads of things to keep myself amused:

1) Sit by a picturesque stream with a stick and a hook in the misguided belief that I will catch some ugly slimy thing I would not be able to eat or....

2) Wander aimlessly (literally!) across rolling hills with another stick seeking out small white balls in the undergrowth and listening to more balls from my partner...or

3) Go to bootfairs for retail therapy, exercise (5 hours...walking!)....idle banter with other nuts who share the same obscure interest at 5am when the rest of humanity is missing this glorious weather and quite often get some amazing deals or......

4) Give up, keel over and die!

I chose No. 3

It's just a shame that there are not daily ones and that ALFIE refuses to surface before 9am! :mrgreen:

Cheers mate

Jimi

 

[Bluekingfisher]

Keep it up jimi, as long as you have a smile on your face and treat every day like Christmas then you have a recipe for longevity.

 

[Fergal]

Looks like the boot fairs in Kent have much better stuff than the ones in Bristol. Most of the hand tools I've seen at them are either beyond repair or not sufficient quality to be worth restoring. As for power tools I've only ever seen B&D, Wickes, Screwfix etc. none of the better brands.

I suppose I need to get up earlier...

Fergal

 

[jimi43]

Looks like the boot fairs in Kent have much better stuff than the ones in Bristol. Most of the hand tools I've seen at them are either beyond repair or not sufficient quality to be worth restoring. As for power tools I've only ever seen B&D, Wickes, Screwfix etc. none of the better brands.

I suppose I need to get up earlier...

Fergal

In a word Fergal...yup!

By 6.30am ALL the good stuff has been bought by dealers and early nuts like me.

:wink:

Jim

 

[SteveF]

I never found a boot fair that let me in that early

u must be a regular with a special pass

I am also one of the "one day it will be of use" buyers

i keep promising to take all my spares and have a stall to get rid of it again :lol:
I find if I get there too early I am walking around in 30 mins and waiting for new sellers to arrive
boredom sets in and i leave before all sellers have even got there

Steve