The Last Bootfair?

[jimi43]

Since the weather was staying rather warm...I thought I would venture out at 6am in the dark this morning to possibly the last bootfair of the season accompanied by the dear wife.

I took the normal budget of £25 but didn't really need it....not to say that there weren't any treasures there!

First up....an "Elcometer".....

This is a rather interesting bit of kit...which I just bought to resell on FleaBay for the "milling machine fund"....but having read about it...I think it might be rather useful. It measures the thickness of non-ferrous materials adjacent to ferro-magnetic materials....normally to measure paint thickness on steel car bodywork etc...but I can see this would be most useful for other things in the toolmaking area...like measuring brass thickness and so on....and for a quid...worth a punt...and it works!

Next...probably the best buy of the day...

Probably the biggest caliper gauge I have ever seen.....a full 24 inches....in it's own wooden box and with very little surface rust which will soon wipe off without trace...

It's a lovely old one...as can be seen by the engraving...and of course...high quality....

....from the famous L.S.Starrett of Athol Mass. USA company! And only a tenner!

And.....last but certainly not least...a bit of a lamb dressed up as mutton...for this little lady....

...a wooden mallet which has definitely seen better days....

...but if you know your mallets and your wood...you wouldn't pass this one up...and I didn't...and at £1.50 and an hour in the workshop...this sexy little goddess shows off her true colours.....

The beautiful grain, the weight and the aromatic smell on my hands tells me what I suspected...

.....valuable lignum vitae head and beech handle!!!

So even this late in the year...with a bit of searching and a bit of a gamble...you can come home with quite a treasure trove.... 8)

And only half the budget spent! :mrgreen:

Anyone else get out there this misty morning?

Jim

 

[AndyT]

Lovely stuff yet again - I'm especially impressed by the way that you spotted the inner soul of the battered old mallet!

But the puzzle remains - if the people you buy this stuff from are willing to sell it for so little, why do they get up before dawn to do so?

Why not saunter down after breakfast and find someone willing to pay two or three times as much, in compensation for finding that the rest of the treasure has gone?

 

[jimi43]

Lovely stuff yet again - I'm especially impressed by the way that you spotted the inner soul of the battered old mallet!

But the puzzle remains - if the people you buy this stuff from are willing to sell it for so little, why do they get up before dawn to do so?

Why not saunter down after breakfast and find someone willing to pay two or three times as much, in compensation for finding that the rest of the treasure has gone?

HA! :mrgreen:

Well...ya see it's like this.

Usually, when Annie and I do the bootfair with a stall...you get the dealers out first and of course you put your prices up high but fair and sell what you can during phase 1. Then this dies down a bit...time for a coffee and a saunter around to see what's left that the dealers don't recognise or want....

Then phase 2...the "tourists" arrive around 9am to 10am....and buy things at the best prices...

Then the last phase...phase 3 near the end when late-comers arrive and just buy anything...even as you are packing up. That's the way I work on selling...well Annie does most of that while I forage around for most of the morning. :wink:

It seems to work for us...I will miss it in the winter.

Jim

 

[AndyT]

Yebbut... I'm no expert, but I don't think anyone would say that a 24" Starret caliper at £10 is 'high but fair' !!
That's a crazy price!

You must have done the research by now - what would it sell for at a US online tool dealer or on eBay US?

 

[jimi43]

Yebbut... I'm no expert, but I don't think anyone would say that a 24" Starret caliper at £10 is 'high but fair' !!
That's a crazy price!

You must have done the research by now - what would it sell for at a US online tool dealer or on eBay US?

You know that...I know that...thankfully no dealer hit that stall before I did that did know that! :wink:

There was a bloke standing right behind me wanting to grab it just as I handed over the tenner...the look on his face said it all! :mrgreen:

The mallet gave me more pleasure....more of a Sherlock with that one...not financially but the wonder of what is "underneath"! Lignum vitae has fast become one of my favourite exotics and does tend to crop up in the most unusual places but if you look carefully at the damage in the original photo...there are classic tell-tale signs of hardwood splitout...swirling grain...all clues.

Not knowing just how beautiful it would turn out makes the rest of Sunday fun!

I am sitting watching episode after episode of FROST on ITV3...it's miserable outside but I am discovering that using MAAS on the caliper reveals that most of the "rust" is in fact just gunk and that is better news too!

I haven't actually got around to checking out the second-hand and auction prices yet...I think I will leave that until later!

Cheers mate

Jim

 

[DTR]

Cracking job you've done with that mallet, and the caliper too 8)

 

[bugbear]

Usually, when Annie and I do the bootfair with a stall...you get the dealers out first.

which I just bought to resell on FleaBay for the "milling machine fund"

Is "dealer" an irregular noun, in the sense of "Yes Ministers"...

"I have an independent mind; you are an eccentric; he is round the twist."

"I buy stuff for myself and sell items when I find a better example, you buy and sell for the tool fund, he is a dealer"

:lol: :lol: :lol:

BugBear

 

[jimi43]

Usually, when Annie and I do the bootfair with a stall...you get the dealers out first.

which I just bought to resell on FleaBay for the "milling machine fund"

Is "dealer" an irregular noun, in the sense of "Yes Ministers"...

"I have an independent mind; you are an eccentric; he is round the twist."

"I buy stuff for myself and sell items when I find a better example, you buy and sell for the tool fund, he is a dealer"

:lol: :lol: :lol:

BugBear

Yup! That's is BB! You nailed it! :mrgreen:

Actually...my definition of "dealer" is the same as my definition of "professional"...

Unless it's your prime income/business then you ain't one! :wink:

Also...I like to feel that I don't conduct myself like most dealers that frequent our local bootfairs. Driven entirely by the need to survive on that income...they fight amongst themselves...dig in the back of cars without permission and generally act like squabbling vultures...

I like to think that I will never act like that and never need to....but I'm not about to ignore a quality item, particularly obscure and fascinating ones, when I know that I can make a profit from them to pay for something I need that I could otherwise not afford. :wink:

Jim

 

[RogerP]

..I will miss it in the winter.
Jim

We're lucky this way. There's Gloucester every Sunday and Wednesday (on a purpose built hard-standing site) and another a few miles down the road on Sundays at Cheltenham racecourse and they both run throughout the year, except in the most inclement weather, and, in the case of Cheltenham, when there's racing.