Sometimes you luck out. I found a toolbox by chance.

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Bm101

Lean into the Curve
Joined
19 Aug 2015
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Location
Herts.
On ma holibobs. Devon bound again. We like it and all that guaranteed sunshine and gorgeous women in bikinis stuff you get going abroad is overated when you have two younguns and your sis in law has a tiny thatched cottage near Honiton you can borrow for a couple of weeks every year if you are careful with planning your time off. And you have a good coat. We tried swinging next doors cat to test the space in the front room. Less said about that the better tbh. The kids still break out in tears but I look at it as a life lesson.

Anyway.
Last year I found a junk shop in honiton called the loft. It called itself a vintage hermitage or summat. Whatever. Picked up some files, a few other bits and bobs. Feeler gauges etc. Pennies. Worth a revisit. Couldn't find it.
After a while and clicking on various Facebook links. We have moved to colyton. Slow day after the Mrs got a little sunburnt. Let's have a mooch. We head over. Meh.

And here's the thing. It's 100 yards from this shop. The toolbox. I look at the Mrs. Dya mind? Noooo. So I wander over. I'm expecting woodworm and rust.

I wander in and then wander out to the motor. You're gonna have to give me 2 hours. Wandered back in. I've never been in a shop that has a a wall of planes. I've been in Axminster. But I've never been in a shop that has old planes lined up like that. Low knob old stanleys, records. Norris infills, engineering tools. Tbh I nearly wet me pants. Let's be honest. Loads of turning stuff there although I'm a lttle baffled by chucks an that.

Walked out with a metric vernier, some punches, a few other bits. Resistance was strong I'll be back before the holidays over.
Just a heads up for those that don't know.
 
You lucky, jammy so-n-so Bm! We don't have anything at all like that (that I've been able to find anyway).

Actually, when I was taking Model Engineer's Workshop mag a few years back I seem to remember the then editor visiting that shop and giving them a write-up. He said it was good then so it deffo sounds like it's worth a re-visit.

Save some stuff for me (if I ever get across to U/K by road again) :D

AES
 
I have been there; it is certainly a very interesting shop. Judging by the vast quantity of stock, I think the guy is more of a collector of old tools than a retailer.
 
Bm101":k0gz33po said:
On ma holibobs. Devon bound again. We like it and all that guaranteed sunshine and gorgeous women in bikinis stuff you get going abroad is overated when you have two younguns and your sis in law has a tiny thatched cottage near Honiton you can borrow for a couple of weeks every year if you are careful with planning your time off. And you have a good coat. We tried swinging next doors cat to test the space in the front room. Less said about that the better tbh. The kids still break out in tears but I look at it as a life lesson.
This surely must win the "Best opening paragraph on a forum" award.
 
http://www.thetoolbox.org.uk
Yep it's for sale. Such a shame if it were to close. A veritable Aladdin's cave. Drawers full of chisels, labeled by size and type, chucks, Myford manuals, gauges... probably fork handles. It's the sort of shop where there's so much on offer you can miss a norris infill plane the first three times you look at that particular shelf. How many shops in the World can you do that? A real gem.
Trying to explain it to my Mrs after in the car...
'It's like a shoe shop. But there are no decent shoe shops anywhere in real life. You have to buy your shoes online without trying them on. You can only get them at a couple of places new and they are expensive. Or you have to buy them unseen and overpriced off eBay because they are 'vintage' unless you're lucky enough to stumble across someone selling a pair for three quid at a bootfair that the dealers have missed.
Then one day, quite by chance, you see a little understated shop called 'the shoe box'. You wander in expecting wall to wall crocs and work boots and you find pair after pair after pair of Jimmy Choo and Louis Vitton. And they are stacked everywhere and fairly priced. And you're trying hard not to do a little dance because all of a sudden you're 7 years old again and you just found the world's best sweet shop except you have a job so you don't have to ask for pocket money from your dad who doesn't get it.'

'Ahhhhh.' She said. 'Shall we come back this way again before we go home?'
God bless her.

Someone buy it. Quick.
 
GREAT post Bm! Thanks.

(Though she has MANY, MANY pairs, my wife says she's not into shoes - or handbags). No hope for me then. :D

AES
 
Hi Bm, You where down my neck of the woods. I used to run a picture framing workshop in the centre unit, the one
you went into from the shop counter.
The chap who started the Toolbox took my unit and knocked thro, this is the second owner, he's a model engineer more
than a tool collector.
Yes amazing place and a real shame if it ever closed down, a good opportunity for someone retired looking for
something to do.
 
Fantastic! Love these sort if discoveries. Tony Murlands shop down in Suffolk is very similar to what Bm desribed with the toolbox, the guy has a collection 2500 hammers or something.... have not been there for ages.
 
QUOTE: ............. a good opportunity for someone retired looking for
something to do. UNQUOTE:

Yeah, and from your description, someone with a bob or two to invest in the not inconsiderable stock, let alone the business itself!

AES
 
I hear a lot of people saying they 'lucked-out', when they have some good fortune. ISTR not so long ago, 'Lucked-out' meant you ran out of luck. 'Lucked-in' meant you had good luck! Strange how fashions in language change. Seems it's all been been turned around! :?

Still, not to worry. It just means I shall have to concentrate if I ever need to use the expression; which I believe originated in the US.

Pleased for you and your good fortune Bm... :D

John
 
I do find some of the language odd. Especially how bad can mean good. "It's well sick" or somewhat older term "wicked"

Love the sound of the shop though. My dad used to work in a very traditional hardware store. You could buy nails by weight etc. They had a very old petrol pump out the back that they used to use for selling paraffin and would put it into whatever container someone brought in.

Out the back there were rows and rows of narrow shelves containing ever imaginable thingiymebob and whatyoumacallit you could ever need.

Unfortunately the store was owned by a family and whilst the brother ran the store (having taken it on from his father) the rest of the family weren't involved so when Tesco offered to buy it from them the family jumped at the chance effectively making the brother redundant along with all the staff. It was such a shame to see it go as despite its old world charm it was very profitable and employed about 8 people.

For anyone in the Southampton area, the store was Russels of Sholing - anyone remember it?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I popped back today. It was inevitable I suppose. I knew I wasn't going to buy much. The early days of buying because it's summat I might need (for any excuse) are long gone. I have most of the tools I actually use. But we were going that way.... :D so I reasoned it would be rude not to.
In a strange twist of events because it seems to be one of those places I met the guy who used to own the shop. He now runs a mostly Internet based business and is on Andy Ts taths list mentioned earlier in the thread. (He remembers you of course Sawdust. :D ).
He suggested I should visit his stall in Lyme Regis on the seafront. More importantly he mentioned that he supplies a lot of the guys in the boat building centre there.
Bear with me here...
A few days ago I met with an old mate from my old road in Bromley. He got made redundant, moved to North Devon near Bideford and ended up doing a year long woodworking course. Did well too BTW. Best in class etc. Or is that just Crufts? :|
Anyway....
We're having a chat and he says, pop into the boatyard in Lyme Regis. Take a look around, good guys just introduce yourself. I'm gonna fly through there if I get a moment.
Then just to complete the circle he says, have you heard of Dave Charlesworth? A bit I say.
:shock:
He lives a bit over there he says. I might pop in I say.
If you're reading this Mr C. Count yourself lucky.
Two sugars btw. :D

Anyway. I walked out with an eclipse sawset and a couple of sawfiles that look in good nick. After all that. A future tool after all.
:roll:

A couple of pics. Taken with permission.
From the mobile so links only.
http://m.imgur.com/A4NANxZ
http://m.imgur.com/41x5RbI
 
There used to be one in Salisbury "Penny Farthing" but they moved to Wantage I think and haven't heard anything about them lately?
Yes still in existence "Pennyfarthing Tools"

Rod
 

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