I'll be running my youngest off to RPI to start his college experience. No sales for me unless I hit some on the way back.
Happy hunting, all!
Congratulations, BB. Great school!
Thanks, Lugnutz! We got him moved in today, and I couldn't think of a single final nugget of wisdom he didn't already embody. He'll do great!
I left him at about 1:30PM, and so had time to stop at two sales on the way back to Boston. The first one was a home flea market (a reseller of previously picked stuff operating out a basement garage). Mostly yard sale bric-a-brac, but I found the tools department and fished out these two:
Plomb 1053 dual-marked DBE "3/4 AM (1 1/8)"
Craftsman Long-C
After joking that the price was "Fifty dollars!" they settled on $2.
Next, I plugged in the address of an estate sale an hour away in Otis, Mass. I'd get there a half hour before closing on day 2 of a three day sale. The ad had pics of a vintage gas pump, and boasted lots of old tools. I rolled up as predicted with 30 minutes to shop. The sale was a well-excavated garage, with all of the screwdrivers in one place, drills in another, etc. Pre-sorted sales usually mean higher prices, and they were. However, as I picked my way around the room, I spied a glossy black tool box with what I now know are vintage drawer pulls (thanks, GJ!). Sure enough, still hidden behind masking tape was a vintage Craftsman Heritage badge. I went through the drawers and saw some SK wrenches, Vicegrips, but also a lot of tool box debris--nuts, bolts, knobs, dirt. You know, the standard left-over junk that accumulates in a working man's toolbox over the course of a few decades. No drawers full of Snap-on wrenches or other obvious treasures.
I waited until one the female staff members asked if I had any questions. When I brought up the tool chest, she called for two guys, an older gentlemen in his 60s and another about my age. The old guy says "Oh, we haven't even had a chance to go through that box yet." He shuffled through the drawers and said "How about a hundred bucks?" The younger guy immediately jumps in with "Oh, there's easily a hundred bucks of tools in there, that's a great deal, blah, blah blah." I hemmed and hawed because I wanted it, plus the handful of other tools I'd already picked, for between $60 & $80. However, I only had $45 in my pocket and I live too far away to come back on the last day hoping to score it less on closing day. That, and Mr "That's a bargain" kept nannering on about how many good tools were in there.
I should have walked away, but I offered to pay the old guy's $100 asking if I could throw in the half dozen wrenches and welding mask I had picked up already. The young guy says "No way!" at the same time the old guy says "Yeah, sure." Well, apparently the old guy was the authority, because we shook on it. I gave the guy $40 to hold it and zipped out to an ATM for the balance.
As I was leaving, I noticed an Eco air meter on the outside wall of the garage. I know they are pricey on Ebay, so I casually asked if they were selling this one. "Yeah," the young guy pipes up "the bidding on it is up to $600." I nodded and said "That's a good price." Way beyond my price range. The old guy dollied the toolbox to my car and we loaded it in.
Fibre-metal Model 706-3C fiberglass welding mask
Tru-flate tire inflator
Assortment of big combo wrenches--Billings, Proto, SK Lectrolite
Complete import forged steel metric combo set
Box of mostly Thorsen sockets
No-name stainless steel multi-tool
Bell wire dykes
Bonney 2566 brake spoon
Vice-grip welding pliers
Craftsman 3/8" speeder
Assorted 1/2 sockets (Snap-on, Craftsman, SK, Thorsen)
SK 42470 1/2" ratchet
Junk Taiwan socket set
Schilde Cutter No 10
Vintage Stanley non-electronic stud finder
RIMAC whatsit tool
NOS gas tank filler flex pipe
Seven DBEs
Not a great deal--but now I have yet another restoration project---oh boy!
debris removed from the head assembly.
