As I was slipping into a old tools slump, I began to wonder: “Is Southern California OT hell?”. The 100°+ heat last week certainly didn’t help. While our local tool meet yielded interesting specimens and many tools finding new homes, the wild was drying up—much like the shrubbery.
Today was set apart. At 6:20a the regional flea was overcast, even threatening rain. Apparently old tools sneak out between extreme shifts in weather. Fearful of low turn-out due to the predicted heat, sellers were in no mood clutch their wares.
It started with an scarcer find: a Bailey low-knob 5 1/2 C. This wasn’t likely to be collectors specimen and needed some work. I lingered long enough to get the price down to a sensible level.
Next the Disston & Sons dovetail/carcase saw fell into place. A bit farther down, I had seen the Langdon (unmarked but probable) mitre box the month before and figured he would sell it at his marked price, I had one and really didn’t need a spare taking up space. As it turned out neither did the seller, and that too was lugged to the car. The Disston mitre saw that accompanied the box is in great shape. I’m always glad to see full horns on them.
Then came a nice brace, a Goodell-Pratt. Nice, durable chuck as well. The best part was upon asking for a price. The seller looked at another brace beside it (a dime-a-dozen half-boxed Barber Imp.) and gave me the same price for the GP. Perhaps a post on disassembling and cleaning this ratchet is in the future.
Various other items were picked up: Jennings bit box, Stanley levels, GP and North Bros. spiral screwdrivers, a decent drawknife and two chisels.
The last find was a Sargent double-ended block plane. It’s simply built compared to other such planes but solid. 
Good day all told, and my apologies to any Galoots that didn’t find many bargains after me. The Barren Land will never be New England, but at least I remembered what the hunt can bring in.
No Comments