O Galoots:

Fleabagging in summer is a bit different from the winter pre-Galootaclaus runs.
Eight of us gathered at 6 AM for early entry to the Alameda Flea (the monthly
Alameda Antiques Fair): Joe Parker, Kirk Eppler, Brian Ward, Greg Isola, Bill
Kaspar, Scott Murman along in 3-d for the first time (as opposed to his
2-dimensional version, which is to be seen in some photos of past fleabagging.)
As usual I got a ride with Michael Suwczinsky, and for a change I was awake and
almost ready. The sun was already high enough that flashlights and headlamps
were unneeded, the day was sunny and warm, vendors were set up all the way to
the back of the old Naval Air Station runway. Plenty of buyers around even at
that time of night (the part of night before noon, some people call it morning,
when you're supposed to be getting your soundest sleep). We went to the back and
started forward as usual, drifting apart and together as we came across the
feeding grounds. It didn't
seem like there was much around, and no-one had any big gloats to boast about,
but at the end of the day we found it had been perhaps the most successful run
ever; everybody had lots, more than would actually fit on the tailgate of Kirk's
truck for the usual photos. We broke up around 11 or 11:30, with some going off
to lunch and others heading home.

Michael got his one "wants" item, a bow and some arrows for his daughter (she
can't draw his yet), a bunch of molding planes, and some raw materials for
blacksmithing, so he had to make several runs back to the car. Brian topped a
successful day with a beautiful reconditioned filletster plane, sharp and ready
to use, the only major find when we went back to check stalls set up since we
started. Kirk most noticibly found a hand-cranked grinder with a sturdy, usable
tool rest, worth the price for the rest alone. Scott got a sweet Wilton vise in
a style he says came with multiple bases, without any actual base but he says he
can work around that OK. Most of what was on the tailgate I never saw at point
of purchase, it just went into bags or pockets.

My best finds were a Disston No. 7 7-point crosscut with the 1896-1917
medallion, in decent but not great shape, but at $1 I'm not complaining about a
bit of cleanup and sharpening. A good wooden spokeshave with captured-nut
adjusters and a 3" blade, clean and sharp, for only $12. A pair of center-screw
pencil spring dividers, from a drafting set but nearly as sturdy as machinists'
dividers and usable for woodworking or bookbinding, marked "VEMCO / Pasadena;"
I've been looking for years for pencil dividers that were neither too delicate
nor shoddy. Three usable gimlets and a gimlet bit, average just under $4 each
(these aren't so common out here as they are back East). A nice Stanley 9-1/2,
probably 1930s or later from the mark on the blade, superficially rusty but a
good long machined seat for the blade and the rust is superficial, for only
$10.00. I over-payed for a compass saw, $8 and who wants another compass saw,
they breed like rabbits, but hey, it
has
a handle with horns instead of the usual pseudo-streamlined hornless pattern,
and I've never seen one like that in the wild. My most dramatic find: I dithered
in choosing between two $10 walking sticks, then when I chose one the dealer
threw in the other on condition that I also haul away three others, all three
ugly and battered. He said I could throw them away when I got home, just haul
them. He was in a wheelchair, and told me that until recently he was walking
with the sticks I wanted; only, he had relatives who gave him ugly walking
sticks as presents the way most relatives give ugly ties. One of the ugly ones
is due for the trash today (imitation bamboo, made by plastering a
hardware-store dowel, and the plaster is peeling); one looks like a nice shaft
under ugly varnish, and a handle I can carve down into something more elegant or
comfortobale (mistyping, Jeff, not a legitimate Americanism, but I like it); and
one has a degree of coarse style,
with bright scarlet enamel paint glopped on in the shape of a dragon, so I think
I'll keep that one. And of course there are the two good sticks I wanted in the
first place. By the time we had repeated the early stalls I had spent every cent
I had along, ending with four nut runners (three of them good) bought for $2.12
instead of the $4 the dealer asked-- he said he liked my knowing to the penny
how much I had left. I even found something from my long wants list, a #2
Phillips bit for a Yankee spiral screwdriver.

And in the evening there was the first episode of the new series of "Sherlock"
to watch. The best Watson ever (maybe the only good one ever), Holmes right up
there with Rathbone and Cushing, a Mrs. Hudson who is an actual character, nu=ot
just an animated doorbell, Lestrade who knows exactly why he puts up withHolmes
without punching him ("He's a great man; and, with a great deal of luck, someday
he may be a good one."). A real red-letter day.

Tom Conroy
Berkeley

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