The forecast was slim for today, only two sales in the area but also likely my last weekend of the year to go picking. I emptied the truck and headed out to the first, a 2nd-of-2-day estate sale about 45 minutes away. The crowd was small but this is what greeted us in the driveway:
The inside was just as old and rickety--the sale company was only allowing four people at a time up onto the second floor. Since I was #19, I scratched around the first floor through the piles and threw a few finds into a bucket. I almost didn't wait in line to experience the death trap on the second floor, but it turned out to be worth my while. I finally made it up and was scrounging next to another picker. I kept finding things in the debris piles around my feet when he said I ought to look at "that old vise over there". Sure enough, bolted to an old door, which was in turn screwed to an old Singer sewing machine base, was a Prentiss Bulldog No. 51! Two of the bolts were loose, so I got them out by hand but the third one I missed and bent when I tried to just tear it out. Luckily, I found a hack saw elsewhere and cut the third bolt to free the vise.
I went through this olive drab filing cabinet that I suspect is military. I didn't buy the cabinet, but I'm sure our esteemed thread host can tell us more about it.
Sargent & Co. No 105 saw vise
Greene & Tweed "Defense Hammer", No 4--needs new faces, but this one's a keeper!
Alemite Mo. 6587 grease gun
Empty Crowntop Craftsman 1/4" socket set clamshell
3" pulley
Evans CL-100 Plumb Line, made in "Elizabeth, N.J."
Cincinnatti Tool Co 708 carpenter's clamp
Empty Craftsman metal tool tin
Cheap foldaway saw with an intriguing metal-cutting blade
Yankee North Brothers 1435 egg beater drill with bit
Craftsman 41584 6" flat-blade screwdriver
Morrill saw set tool with 1880 patent date!
Snap-on SW-301 15/16" 1/2" 12-pt socket, 1951 date code
Made in USA pliers with some kinda logo below it--anyone know it?
EDIT: 3baygarage nailed it--Fairmont Tool Forging. Thanks, 3bay!
Scholl Horn Co No 40-6 long/thin nose pliers
Swingline #101 Tacker
Nothing worth grabbing in the house, so I bargained with the sale company owner, Chris, for all of the above for $25. I also found two full sheets of 3/4" plywood in the garage and got them for another $10.
The second stop almost didn't happen. The ad simply read "72 years of merch. Everything you can think of. No junk." Normally, that wouldn't make it through my search filters, but as I said, today was slim pickings, so I didn't use filters. It was only after flipping through the pictures for this sale that I saw a workbench and some tools on basement pegboards, so I decided to stop. There was only one other lady there and no one in the basement. I had it to myself! I found an ammo can full of tools and after fishing out three Snap-on wrenches off the top, I closed the lid and took the whole thing. Adding as I went, I worked my way around the basement to the end of the workbench.
I spotted these two bench grinder attachments on a shelf...
Craftsman 9-6677 drill grinding attachment
Craftsman chisel sharpener attachment (may be incomplete)
...and then turned and found this:
Commercial crowntop Craftsman 1/2 H.P. Model 397.19440, date code Jan 16 1974
I called the guy down and asked him for a number on the grinder and attachments.
Him: "Oh, I don't know...whatever we can get for my mother's expenses...how about $20?"
But then I thought "What would Mike Wolf (American Pickers tv show) do?"
Me: "I think you're a bit light. I give you $40."
Him: "Why don't we meet in the middle and make it $30?"
[emoji106]
Me: "Deal!"
He even helped me unbolt it from the bench and carried it out to the truck!
Oh, and I got the rest of the haul, detailed below, for another $30.
NIB Starrett No. 4 Screw Pitch gauge--still in original paper wrap!
Atlantic S65W 6-ft tape measure
Lufkin "Universal" 50-ft steel tape
Pile o' hose clamps of various sizes
Brown & Sharpe 10S stainless 1" micrometer
Starrett No 588 ruler and reference
Williams AP-6X adjustable
Armstrong 8" adjustable
Diamond Caulk Horseshoe Co 10" adjustable
Wiggy No. 5008 DC voltage tester
"Lectrlite" (not a typo!) 308 DBE
Blue-Point HS-12 hack saw
Brace of Snap-on OEX combo wrenches, mostly 1960 date code
Snap-on No 71-M 1/2 ratchet, 1962 date code, sockets, and extension
Craftsman and Barcalo Buffalo DOE wrenches
Craftsman, Worth and Kraeter chisels and a magnetic picker upper
A set of bullet S-K 1/2" sockets, and an assortment of other brands
Some Taiwanese junk
Random clamp, probably for a desk lamp
Ammo can by EMCO
