Well today I got the mixed honor of buying new tires for my car.
I had hit a piece of concrete I couldn't see, and not only bent a rim
but ruined a tire.
Got a pretty nice junkyard wheel. (An online guy in Sac City.)
And today, I limped it over the mountain....slowly......... to Medford
(sometimes dreadford) Oregon. Pretty good today, not dreadful at all.
But then I kept far away from warehouse stores that cause me undue stress.
The tires are going to mean a lot of Ramen in my
future....................
But on the other hand, driving home was a revelation!
I kept thinking something must be wrong, it was so quiet and smooth
and grabby in the corners. heh :)
Anyway I had a little time to kill. I took a walk.
Along the road I was walking, what do you recon? St Vincent De Paul!
Its a religious charity thing, only I had never seen any religious
charity like this.
I first walked up from the back, before I even knew what the
business was, and there was razor wire. Actual razor wire! I had to
walk up and look at it close, and touch it. Razor wire in Medford Or?
It was underneath a layer of barbed wire?? at the top of the fence.
Barbed wire you do see on some things, but I never saw razor wire in
person before. Ever
I can't imagine what is so precious people would be desperate to get
to, a back porch / loading dock? I peeked through the fence and saw
some neglected vacuum cleaners and stuff?
Anyway, I rounded the building to the front door and saw whose
business it was.
No standing, no sitting, no talking, no loitering, no pets, no food
or drink,
(no breathing hard or blinking your eyes much?) ............. I swear
there must have been 9 different "no"s posted on the front of the building.
Backpacks or other bags will be checked at the door, and an attendant
will watch you!
wow
a charity built on donations, supposed to comfort the poor? who are
they keeping out?
On the other hand there were hand painted easter bunnies galore
running around and lots of really cute stuff painted on the windows.
There was some hand lettering on the glass that was pretty nice too.
It was all so odd.
Anyway, in I go.
I made a quick tour. I can scan these kinds of places fast. I am an
old hand.
I found a neglected #4 Stanley (bench hand, Jeff) plane. It was marked
$25.
I also snagged a Henckels fully forged bread knife, a couple of mint
condition extra thick tee shirts, and a very long, very soft leather
belt to be made into a guitar strap later. Didn't take long.
I must have quick sifted 300 pieces of cutlery. Many bins. Just
scattered in the bin with my fingers and rifled incredibly fast, totally
not looking much. Until............Oh............ that's forged
heheheh
Jumped out from the mob like neon.
Honestly, after the welcome on the outside of the building, when I
got to the counter I haggled the plane down to $20. I just did. I
really didn't even think about it much.
But I haggled strong (BROKEN HANDLE!! ) and made the clerk go "clear"
from "Upstairs" hahahahahahahaha
http://users.snowcrest.net/kitty/sgrandstaff/images/oldtools/type11.jpg
Yup, those are three patent dates, low knob. A type 11. Seems to be an
extra heavy type 11 too. I have hoisted a lot of Stanley planes, and a
little heavier is a little heavier.
Its got the correct R&L iron. (About 1/2 of it is left, and its clean as
a whistle, along with the sparkly cap iron.)
Except for a #9 stamped into the side of the plane (and the tote
too), the body is fully there and no pitting at all. The knob is fairly
rockin (after some polish) and I'll fix the tote. Its premium rosewood.
All the screws are loose as a goose. And under the mud, its roughly,
just about 100% paint.
A rich dark overall patina to the unfinished iron parts that I
wouldn't think of disturbing. (for my own use). Others might want more
polish, and once I might have polished it.
But me now, well,
I can't fake really rich patina. I can polish anything. But I can't
make really sweet even patina on old cast iron. And so if I get
something pretty I'll just keep it.
It had the totally wrong lever cap in the plane.
http://users.snowcrest.net/kitty/sgrandstaff/images/oldtools/bedrocklevercap.jpg
hee hehehehe
This is the cap from an early roundside Bedrock #603.
The ever fragile bottom corners of it are almost sharp, and once
again, nearly 100% paint.
life is weird
yours Scott
--
*******************************
Scott Grandstaff
Box 409 Happy Camp, Ca 96039
scottg@s...
http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/sgrandstaff/
http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/hpages/index.html
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