Galoots,
Last weekend SWMBO and I were driving through
the village of Burridge (don't blink, you'll miss it)
when we spotted a rummage sale.
Yes, a rummage sale, literally in the middle of nowhere.
Of course we stopped to check it out.
Admit it, all of you would have stopped.
Doesn't matter how much of a hurry you were in,
nor how many tools you already have, nor how
fabulously unlikely such a sale would actually
HAVE any tools. Yeah, you'd have looked.
And the most amazing thing happened.
I found tools! Not many, and not rare or
super awesome tools, but I found them.
In amongst all the junk like cheap pliers and
screwdrivers that had been abused by some
hamfisted oaf, was a cardboard box.
The label on the box said "$1 each".
The pile inside called to me, like all dusty cardboard
boxes of random junk call to me. Since this was a
rummage sale, I rummaged.
And I found a hammer. It was so cute, so tiny,
and so unloved, I just had to have it. The handle
looked like it was from some other hammer, and
the head was just jammed partway on, no wedge,
and badly fitted. And of course the handle was
just way too big for that neat little head.
I spent $1 on this guy.
https://groups.io/g/oldtools/photo/267353/3804697?p=Created%2C%2C%2C20%2C2%2C0%2
C0
I pulled the head off and cut the handle down
a bit, and shaved it a bit smaller. Didn't take
much, but now it is the perfect fit for my little
traveling toolbox.
https://groups.io/g/oldtools/photo/267353/3804696?p=Created%2C%2C%2C20%2C2%2C0%2
C0
The second tool I pulled from the Dusty Box
of Galoot Treasure was a marking gauge.
It was dusty, dirty, stained, and paint-splattered,
but otherwise it was in perfect shape.
Definitely a good user tool. And based on
what I see so many woodworkers using these
days, this little gem would have ended up in
the dumpster at the end of the sale. Despite
the large number of gauges I already own,
this one was not going to meet a bad end,
it was coming home with me.
https://groups.io/g/oldtools/photo/267353/3804695?p=Created%2C%2C%2C20%2C2%2C0%2
C0
Check out the business end of this little guy.
It had a nice long pin, plenty of useful life in it.
There's even a wear strip, so dull and tarnished
that you'd miss it if you were not looking for it.
And look, it still has the shoe that protects the
beam from the head of the thumbscrew!
There is nothing wrong with this tool, and
everything right about it.
https://groups.io/g/oldtools/photo/267353/3804694?p=Created%2C%2C%2C20%2C2%2C0%2
C0
Then I looked on the side of the beam.
Look who made this: Disston.
Yup, a very nice gauge from a big name maker
of some of our favourite tools. For a whole dollar.
And that's a Canadian dollar folks, although I'm
sure the ladies running the sale would take your
US bucks at par, heh heh.
https://groups.io/g/oldtools/photo/267353/3804693?p=Created%2C%2C%2C20%2C2%2C0%2
C0
This little foray into oldtools was very welcome
diversion for me, because I was in the middle of
a decidely non-Galoot project. The transom on
the old green boat needed replacing. That was
an exercise that called for oscillating saws and
sanders and fibreglass and epoxy, gah! I hate
that stuff. It was all misery, tool wise, so the
rummage sale was a really nice thing to run
across. Put me right back in my happy place.
Now, I need to rearrange my little tool box
to see if I can fit that wee hammer in there.
Darrell
--
Oakville ON
Wood Hoarder, Blade Sharpener, and Occasional Tool User
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