Galoots

Whilst we were being regaled with such diverse and fascinating tales of
tool acquisition this weekend, I was also off doing some toolish stuff.
The Tools Of The Trade sale was today.  I picked up a couple of friends
on the way, and met a few more at the show.  It was better attended than
recent editions, there was a big line waiting for the opening at 10 AM.
I have not seen the sale this crowded in years.  I hope everyone found
what they were looking for, and I hope the dealers made some good
sales.

http://galootcentral.com/components/cpgalbums/userpics/10074/TOTT-Apr-2017.jpg

One thing I noticed a lot of this year were mangled chisels,
I stopped to take pictures of a few of them.  One was a framing
chisel that looked like it might be salvageable with a lot of work.
Very rusty and pitted, and the tang had been squashed - I wonder
if it was heated to do that?  The hex nut for a bolster also needs
some rehab.  The price tag is a leftover April fools joke?

http://galootcentral.com/components/cpgalbums/userpics/10074/Mangled2.jpg

Then there was a box with a lot of Chisels With Issues.
I pulled two of them out as very graphic examples.
One was your typically abused socket chisel. A former firmer,
with the socket beaten down to nothing.  I am sure there are
worse ones out there, but this one is just sad.  The second socket
chisel in this picture was a sash morticing chisel.  I can perhaps
understand a bend in the normal direction of the chisel use, but
sideways?!  Wow.  And it didn't break.  Maybe the heat treat
was a bit off on this one too.  I guess the $4 price tag isn't too
outrageous, as you could easily cut this back to make a short
chisel, but that's a lot of grinding to establish a new bevel.

http://galootcentral.com/components/cpgalbums/userpics/10074/Mangled1.jpg

I will report soon on the few things I did buy this weekend.
Nothing as astounding as the stuff Bill and Scott were telling
us about, but good enough for me.

-- 
Darrell LaRue
Oakville ON
Wood Hoarder, Blade Sharpener, and Occasional Tool User

Those are the kind of tools I usually buy. Smashed chisels, cracked planes,
abused auger bits, and beam dilling machines that sat on a barn floor until the
wooden base dissolved.
The mortice chisel looks like it was driven into a barn beam to hang harness
straps on.

Darell,

To paraphrase C. W. McCall's song "Classified":  I've seen better stuff in a
junkyard!

I read somewhere that some old timers of the less-refined sort never bothered
with handles. They'd buy their chisels un-handled, and just beat on the socket
with a steel hammer from day one!

To me, that's a fifty-cent tool.  I've got a coffee can full of chisels with
mushroomed sockets, most of which came to me in box lots.

My fantasy is to someday make a new socket on a lathe and weld it on.  Yeah,
someday in that never-never land when I have plenty of time for fussy little
projects.

John Ruth

I think I've seen the bent kind before... it's for cleaning up around corners. 

        Nathan Goodwin
          Weymouth MA