GG's,

Despite the high cost of gasoline, I decided to attend today's session of the
local flea which meets Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  Thursday is always the
lightest day. Today is cloudy, with reports of rain in western NJ.

As I arrived, I saw only about 15 vendors.  "Ha!" I thought, " This may not be
worth the effort." To boot, I was about 15 minutes late for the official
start...

Second vendor I visited produced the following:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/146046409@N.../52168268239/in/dateposted-public/

Stanley 248 Plow Plane, missing fence rods and a few other small parts. Only one
cutter. ( Missing parts available from St. James Bay Tool Co. )

Stanley 151 Spokeshave

Shop-Made Screwdriver with octagonal shaft.

Drawknife. Handles in excellent condition.

Cooper's Chamfering Drawknife, strong maker's mark.

Miller's Falls 2A Hand Drill with undamaged handles which just need refinishing.

The vendor and I negotiated for a bit. At first, I thought the whole lot would
be more than I wanted to spend, and was about to make a painful selection of
less than the full lot.  We finally settled on $55. So I handed him three
$twenties...he gave me back $10 and said "Fifty!" ( Which was my last offer
before I agreed to his counter-offer of $55. )

So, the adjacent vendor had packs of sanding belts.  I bought 30 belts for $10.

There wasn't one single thing that I wanted in the entire remainder of the
market.

So, WHY did I buy this minty Cooper's took? ( One of my friends has already
commented that it appears unused. ) I don't do cooperage... I'm sure it has
something to do with this being the first one I can recall seeing "in the wild."

The real point of this drivel is "The harder you look, the luckier you'll get!"
Don't pass up unlikely venues...you just never know!

John Ruth
Metuchen NJ