This Week at the Boot Fair....

[jimi43]

Hello everybody.

It doesn't usually happen that the weather is atrocious all week to end in an oasis of climatic calm which awaited me this morning. Indeed the sun was so bright at 5:30 I was wearing sunglasses as I drove through the lanes to the fair!

So...the haul this week? Well...it was sparse...but the lack of quantity was more than balanced by the quality!

Again..I spent a bit over my normal enforced budget of £25....but I will get that back with a few FleaBay sales.

This is what was there of interest to me:

Going around the table and saving the best until last...we have....

A rather nice box of old brass screws (slotted of course!)....for a quid...

The box is even box jointed (although coming apart!)...quite a find!

Annie sold almost all of my old radios at huge profit allowing me to buy some electronic gear...

Over £150 worth there alone...£6. I will give these to my son for his band or testing and pass them on....

Next...an absolutely stunning genuine lignum vitae mallet...

This is an emotional purchase at £8 because I could not pass it up...it will be treasured and part of one of my new tool designs sometime soon...watch this space!

A pair of Bushnell waterproof binoculars for a quid...

...and they float...just in case I go bird watching on the beach this summer!!!

For about the last year I have been trawling FleaBay for a decent machine vise...and they are either rubbish or silly money so for three quid...this was silly money and brilliant quality...

There is absolutely no play on any part of this vise...just a quick...um....Dip? and the rust will be history. And I need to try out my new metal bluing system I bought AGES ago...an ideal candidate!

And now for the first of my gems...this absolutely stunning I.Sorby paring chisel...

I hesitated...left it...went back...left it...about five times...because it was £15...but then in the end I said "what the hell" and bit the bullet....and I know I won't regret it...

Looking back..you could say I am now as pleased as "punch" I didn't pass it up!

But this is the real gem...Now...bear in mind that I am a new boy to this wooden plane world...but I know what I like...

I bet Professor Andy will be able to tell you the maker just from the shape of the wedge...but for those of you who are unaware of these little gems...here's a clue:

Just to sit and hold a tool that was made 200 years ago is almost a spiritual thing...add to this he was Cornish as is my whole family bar me...and his great great great....etc...grandson...was probably one of the best vocalists of my generation...well it has really started a new Genesis for me...(ok coat later!)....down that very slippery slope that starts on the beech!

For £2.50...I consider this a cheap membership to a rather nutty club! :mrgreen:

Ok for that plethora of puns...I'll get my coat but before I do...did you guys find anything amongst the DVDs and toasters?

Jim

OH...I nearly forgot...I bought a toaster for a quid!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

(1979 Morphy Richards of COURSE!....I'm all class me! 8) )

 

[Benchwayze]

Jimi,

Nice haul, but I think that 'stunning' mallet might be a 'stunning' cosh or 'tap-stick'.

I could be wrong of course. :lol:

 

[Tony Spear]

Hello everybody.

Annie sold almost all of my old radios at huge profit allowing me to buy some electronic gear...

Over £150 worth there alone...£6. I will give these to my son for his band or testing and pass them on....

Joe Meek! Now there's a blast from the past! :shock: =D>

 

[AndyT]

Sorry Jim, but you've just thrown your money away there. It's a well known fact that planes by Gabriel were always a disappointment - most people who bought any tried them out once then put them back inthe box for a century or so... knowing your luck I expect the rest of the set will turn up next week! :lol:

 

[jimi43]

It's a distinct possibility John...but since it has actually been used this afternoon to great effect as a mallet and it is such a beautiful design...it's now a mallet...and a new design! Do you have any references for the other uses....I would love it to have been used to press gang Jack Tars onto HM ships!!

Yes...good eyesight there Tony...Joe Meek...compressor....a relatively modern one too...bargain for a fiver! A musical tool too! :lol:

Good try Prof! Good try indeed but I checked it out you see...on some ash...

...and it's a little darling!

Oh...and I ran it by the shop manager...ALFIE!

He could hardly suppress his laughter.... :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Jim

 

[jimi43]

Actually John....you got me thinking and I did a bit of research and I think it is actually an old PESTLE. This would make sense as the round part of the head...the top...is roughened rather than the circumference of the head which is smooth...indicating its use for working in a mortar.

Probably as the one in the link...an apothecary one. Still makes a great mallet! 8)

Jim

 

[Racers]

Hi, Jimi

Again a nice haul, like the paring chisel.

I was down you way on wednesday/thursday, we went to Dungeness and stayed overnight at Hever Castle.

I should have stayed on for the boot sales!

Pete

 

[Benchwayze]

Actually John....you got me thinking and I did a bit of research and I think it is actually an old PESTLE. This would make sense as the round part of the head...the top...is roughened rather than the circumference of the head which is smooth...indicating its use for working in a mortar.

Probably as the one in the link...an apothecary one. Still makes a great mallet! 8)

Jim

Makes sense Jim,

I have a Plumber's Metal-working mallet (I think they are called dollies) It's not huge, but make a nice mallet for small work. (It would make a fine gavel too!) There's another one without a handle, that looks like a child's spinning-top. I actually saw one of these used as a gavel on 'Flog-it', or some-such programme.

I suppose your find could also be used as a priest. So many cross-over tools eh?

:wink:

 

[jimi43]

Hi, Jimi

Again a nice haul, like the paring chisel.

I was down you way on wednesday/thursday, we went to Dungeness and stayed overnight at Hever Castle.

I should have stayed on for the boot sales!

Pete

Next time you're down mate...pop in if I'm here...

Yes...the paring chisel is a beauty. I have a few tool jobs lined up for that little baby.

It's all a bit of speculation at the moment John...it just looked right. I have one from last September....

The "dolly is actually the cone thingy....you hit the lead against this as a former...there are many sizes...in fact there is a huge haul of these tools on FleaBay at the moment...all boxwood! They go for next to nothing....there are so many around. The one above is lignum vitae as well with a box handle...a lovely tool indeed!

Jim

 

[Richard T]

Fantastic paring chisel Jim .... er, I mean terrible! Horrible looking thing. Just send it to me and you will never have to look at the nasty thing again. :mrgreen:

We got to the bootsale this morning for the first time in a month of wet Sundays and did pretty well.

Mitre clamp by Marples and a pointy rasp from dear old John

Four boxes of screws

A new 8mm bit by Titex and some gravers ...

... one of which appears to be from Wonderland.

A small screw car jack - long square threaded bar and nut for the use of and a largish grindstone with a rule for scale.

But it's not just any old rule, it's a one of these:

Uber posh.

I also got a (nother) ratchet die .... and some brushes:

As you can see this die lever is by Thomas Chatwin &co. Birmingland.

While these last items may not appear at first to be woodwork related, the die lever will be the missing piece of the puzzle of my on - going bandsaw carriage; the setworks

And the brushes will be mounted on brackets I have yet to make on the flat rail to sweep the dust off on each pass.

If anyone who hasn't seen it and is vaguely interested, it has its own long and laborious thread over in the Projects Dpt. entitled "The Thing in the Garage".

 

[DTR]

Nope, not jealous. Not jealous at all (hammer)

 

[feswood]

Hey jimi nice haul ,the plane i know its history the wood came from solsbury hill, i dont remember, exactly but they tried to use a sledge hammer to knock it down which shocked the monkey who started shaking the tree :lol:

 

[Benchwayze]

Blimey Richard! How big is your bandsaw? :lol:

 

[Blister]

Blimey Richard! How big is your bandsaw? :lol:

Its not a bandsaw its " The Thing in the garage "

the-thing-in-the-garage-t37191.html

:mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[Blister]

Lots of nice items , well done :wink:

 

[Benchwayze]

I know the thing is in the Garage Blister! :lol: :lol: :lol:
But it feeds the bandsaw, does it not?
So I wondered; if the 'fing wot feeds the bandsaw is that big, how big is the bandsaw wot it feeds! :mrgreen:

 

[andersonec]

Blimey Richard! How big is your bandsaw? :lol:

12"


Blade that is..........

 

[Benchwayze]

Hmmm! A big 'un then!
And I thought my 8" was big! :lol: Saw, that is...

 

[Richard T]

John - it's a Charnwood 750, 3hp single phase, 18" throat and originally 12" cut - this was actually more like 11" but now I have taken the table off and put the bottom bearings underneath the case it's about 13 - 1/2". 8) Which it might cut .... if Balsa

Anyway, this is this week's bootsale thread: here is The Thing's thread: the-thing-in-the-garage-t37191.html

Thanks for the link Blister

 

[Benchwayze]

John - it's a Charnwood 750, 3hp single phase, 18" throat and originally 12" cut - this was actually more like 11" but now I have taken the table off and put the bottom bearings underneath the case it's about 13 - 1/2". 8) Which it might cut .... if Balsa

Anyway, this is this week's bootsale thread: here is The Thing's thread: the-thing-in-the-garage-t37191.html

Thanks for the link Blister

Richard,

Nice looking bit of kit! It makes my ageing 351 8" look a bit sick!