2020 Garage Sale Thread

[Private Lugnutz]

I'm going to have to ask the Snap-on crowd about the G date code. It doesn't look like the "G" for 1945 on the SO date decoder. Too round.

Not all the "G" codes in my collection are alike, and not all look like the example on the chart. I have "G" codes just like that, that almost look like they could be a "0" (1940), which had a European/military/scientific strikethrough through it, but if it was a mis-struck "0", lifting the strikethrough on the left, the left side of the "0" wouldn't be struck either. I think it's a "G".

I know the Wright Field tools were made between '42 & '45 but is there a way to narrow that range? Alloy Artifacts shows this ratchet with cover plates having a pinched waist instead of oval. Is that indicative of a particular production year?

There are more than a few variants of the WF-8 and WF-8S (1/4-inch drive). I don't think anyone has worked out a definitive number or timeline.

FYSA, Plomb's first Wright Field contract was actually issued in June 1940. You won't see that on the old Ed Boudinot/Van Natta brothers site, which is no longer being updated, or on AA, which refuses to make the update, but it's a fact. I have the contract records.

 

[LesserSon]

OR.
That stamp looks unequivocally a “G” to my eyes, but it looks like it came from the same stamp set as the 1939 and 1940 stamps.

Notice the style of the codes is generally consistent through each decade, like they’re using the numerals (and some special characters) from a single stamp set for ten years, then moving on to a new stamp set. I think they were not as fastidious about maintaining the decade-specific style during the war.
My Ferret deep 8pt sockets have 1941 codes, but the “1” does not have the base serif; it looks like the style from the 30s (they had used an “*” for 1931, so the “1” had never been used), whereas the drive tools and regular sockets (including the deep 12pts) have a serif style.
I don’t know if any explanation of HOW Snap-on got the stamps it used (crafted in-house or sourced) has been posted, but it seems plausible to me that meeting ramped-up demand - out of the depression right into lend-lease and war (not just military contract, but supplier/assembly demand) - may have required stamping with whatever was available.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Absolutely. All kinds of variance from the charts in examples. Not enough to cause massive, constant confusion from same years in later decades. Edit: But variance from chart for sure.

 

[d42jeep]

I have quite a few 1945 sockets with all kinds of different Gs. Here is a socket marked both 1941 and 1945 followed by a variety of G markings
-Don

 

[LesserSon]

Here are two different “G”s side-by-side.
Wow! Don - or rather, Gee!
If my idea is right, they would have had three different-style “G”s in their arsenal by 1945.

 

[tin medic]

That’s definitely a G.

 

[Flathead Youngin']

WOW! I've been watching for anything Vidmar, Lista, Tennsco, Equipto, etc. for years. To score that many in one swoop, that's just great....good for you!


As usual, I wish I were closer lol

It’s been a longgggg time since I’ve been on the forum. I think 4-5 years now? I’ve had many amazing scores since then, and maybe I’ll make a thread of them sometime, but I figured y’all would really appreciate this one.

I came across 30+ Stanley Vidmar tool cabinets and will be picking them up at the end of the week. All of them have between 7-14 drawers. Most being 9-11 drawers. All like new. These possibly will be for sale if you want to check out the classifieds section later.

We recently made the trek from Arkansas to Lake Powell in Arizona, and in typical fashion, I ran across some deals along the way. One of them being these vidmars.
We pulled our boat all the way to lake Powell (amazing experience) so all I had was my truck bed to haul anything back. So one Vidmar made it back, the others are on their way back currently.

If anyone ever wanted a Vidmar or two or three or four at a reasonable price...here’s your chance.

 

[Old Radar]

I'm going to have to ask the Snap-on crowd about the G date code. It doesn't look like the "G" for 1945 on the SO date decoder. Too round.

Thanks Lugz, LS, Don & Steve for the insight on SO codes. I guess the decoder charts for at least the wartime years are more of a guideline than a hard and fast rule.

Any thoughts on the inclusion of the drive post on the Imperial Brass ratchet?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

If my idea is right, they would have had three different-style “G”s in their arsenal By 1945.

I'd have to finetooth my collection later if we're really going to do this empirically, but as I said in post #2684 and #2686, I have at least two different G's, and quite probably three. Looks like Don and you have both already demonstrated two. If Steve goes through his, we'd have a fairly decently representative sample size.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I guess the decoder charts for at least the wartime years are more of a guideline than a hard and fast rule.

Sometimes they stuck the "E" code on the end of a model number separated by a hyphen, which also trips people up. But I haven't noticed as much if any variance on the "E" as the "G".

 

[d42jeep]

They came in a variety of sizes and were often stamped in random directions.
-Don

 

[txlonghorn1989]

I needed one for a project, a QSWO table top, and the Stanley’s were stupid expensive, so I bought the LN. Since then two #12 family members have followed me home for real cheap. Maybe try the opposite strategy, buy a 12 for reasonable, and that will open the floodgates. It’s worth a try, it has worked for several other tools I couldn’t find thru the usual inexpensive channels.

RTM, I've also been looking for a #12 as well. I've got a #81. Definitely like the way you're thinking. The eyes remain peeled!

 

[duddly]

I saw an old mailbox grinder on FB market place for $5 so I headed out. Nice neighborhood, and while I was picking up a neighbor mentioned that if I liked older tools she had some from her dad. I now own a 3 1/2 Wilton bullet! And she has my contact info when she finds more tools. I was very lucky that she was visiting her neighbor when I went to pick up.

I have been to a FEW sales during the quarantine, and hope to hit a few this weekend while visiting the grandkids for the first time in a looong while. I picked up this little OXWALL set a while ago. Not my style but it was just neat to see it in this shape.

I think I have a few more interesting finds from the last few months. Nothing amazing but mostly fun stuff from marketplace that I just had to pick up.

 

[Shiftless]

duddly:
Major league score on that bullet.
The Craftsman grinder might be salvageable but even if not, the parts are worth more than you paid.
Plus, hopefully, you’ll get a call from the woman with more tools from her dad. If the old guy had a vise like that, he obviously had the means and the inclination to acquire good tools.

.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

They came in a variety of sizes and were often stamped in random directions.

If that was in reply to me, Don, and "they" refers to "E" codes, I was referring to the precise shape (style, font, etc) of the "E" itself, relative to the precise shape of the "G" code, which we were just talking about, not its size or its placement on a tool. Again, I haven't noticed any detectable variance in the shape or style or font of the "E" code, such as the presence of serifs or shorter horizontal lines, or taller, or more squat, etc, as can be seen with "G" codes.

 

[txlonghorn1989]

duddly, it's sometimes all about being in the right place at the right time. I trust you bought a lottery ticket on the way back home. Congrats on the Wilton bullet vise!

 

[bmwrd0]

"The Imperial Brass 123C is interesting in that I have no idea why it is labeled a Refrigeration ratchet and secondly, of all the copies I could find on the internet, absolutely NONE had the male 3/8" drive post that mine came with. I can understand that this little piece might be easily lost, but I have to wonder if maybe the ratchet didn't originally come with it. Any clue?"

That is a refrigeration ratchet and is designated as such due to having several features that are specific to a certain vintage of refer system and tools. The square cutouts are for king valve stems, the 9/16" hex or 12pt opening is a common size nut, the ratcheting female 1/4" is again a common size for pressure tanks, and the little drive stud you have is to convert it to a standard ratchet. They come in both 1/4" and, like yours, 3/8"s, and are listed in many contemporary catalogs, but many people lost them or never bothered to get one.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

I finally managed to break the Corona cold streak and picked up this Trenton 80lb anvil for $20 along with a craftsman 3-1/2" vise! From what other GJ members and google say it is from 1900. Even though its only 80lbs it has a much thicker plate on top compared to my Vulcan 100lb anvil. This may replace it.

 

[Shiftless]

Congrats Mr. W
Sumgai scored big on that deal.

 

[Smokeshow69]

I saw an old mailbox grinder on FB market place for $5 so I headed out. Nice neighborhood, and while I was picking up a neighbor mentioned that if I liked older tools she had some from her dad. I now own a 3 1/2 Wilton bullet! And she has my contact info when she finds more tools. I was very lucky that she was visiting her neighbor when I went to pick up.



I have been to a FEW sales during the quarantine, and hope to hit a few this weekend while visiting the grandkids for the first time in a looong while. I picked up this little OXWALL set a while ago. Not my style but it was just neat to see it in this shape.



I think I have a few more interesting finds from the last few months. Nothing amazing but mostly fun stuff from marketplace that I just had to pick up.

Major suckage on that grinder. It is actually pre mailbox grinder and is not common. It is missing a red plastic quench tray. Nice work on the dual scores!


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[duddly]

I finally managed to break the Corona cold streak and picked up this Trenton 80lb anvil for $20 along with a craftsman 3-1/2" vise! From what other GJ members and google say it is from 1900. Even though its only 80lbs it has a much thicker plate on top compared to my Vulcan 100lb anvil. This may replace it.

Wow! Love the anvil! You inhale profusely!

Let's hope for a little bump in the finds as people start cautiously coming out into the open.
Stay safe everybody!

 

[Old Radar]

"The Imperial Brass 123C is interesting in that I have no idea why it is labeled a Refrigeration ratchet and secondly, of all the copies I could find on the internet, absolutely NONE had the male 3/8" drive post that mine came with. I can understand that this little piece might be easily lost, but I have to wonder if maybe the ratchet didn't originally come with it. Any clue?"

That is a refrigeration ratchet and is designated as such due to having several features that are specific to a certain vintage of refer system and tools. The square cutouts are for king valve stems, the 9/16" hex or 12pt opening is a common size nut, the ratcheting female 1/4" is again a common size for pressure tanks, and the little drive stud you have is to convert it to a standard ratchet. They come in both 1/4" and, like yours, 3/8"s, and are listed in many contemporary catalogs, but many people lost them or never bothered to get one.

Thanks for the explanation, Bimmer!

 

[Shiftless]

Let's hope for a little bump in the finds as people start cautiously coming out into the open.
Stay safe everybody!

to that ^^^^^^^^
Thanks for the reminder duddly.

Stay safe. Masks, gloves, social distancing.
I’m not even going to mention extra hand washing. Who among us pickers DOESN’T wash his hands after hitting sales ?

 

[d42jeep]

If that was in reply to me, Don, and "they" refers to "E" codes, I was referring to the precise shape (style, font, etc) of the "E" itself, relative to the precise shape of the "G" code, which we were just talking about, not its size or its placement on a tool. Again, I haven't noticed any detectable variance in the shape or style or font of the "E" code, such as the presence of serifs or shorter horizontal lines, or taller, or more squat, etc, as can be seen with "G" codes.

Right. My point was that the the Es came in a variety of sizes and placements. They are sometimes hard to spot when they are stamped on a sockets knurling.
-Don

 

[tin medic]

If Steve goes through his, we'd have a fairly decently representative sample size.

I'll check mine. I may have 1 or 2 G marked pieces laying around.

 

[Smokeshow69]

to that ^^^^^^^^
Thanks for the reminder duddly.

Stay safe. Masks, gloves, social distancing.
I’m not even going to mention extra hand washing. Who among us pickers DOESN’T wash his hands after hitting sales ?

When ever I go to sales or go picking, I wear latex gloves. Easy to pull off or throw away once done! Plus your hands stay clean [emoji6]


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[Private Lugnutz]

Right. My point was that the the Es came in a variety of sizes and placements. They are sometimes hard to spot when they are stamped on a sockets knurling.
-Don

Yep. Understood. It following my comment about the E's not having the same kind of variance in look/style/shape that the G's exhibit, I just wanted to qualify that it was a different variance you were pointing out, and one that is not exclusive to the E's. The G's aren't consistently located or oriented, either, in my experience.

 

[txlonghorn1989]

Wow! Love the anvil! You inhale profusely!

Let's hope for a little bump in the finds as people start cautiously coming out into the open.
Stay safe everybody!

Not sure what things are like where anyone else lives but in Texas the virus is worse than at any time since the pandemic started. Can't figure out why anyone who risk going to an estate sale at this time. I need nothing. It's just a hobby and not one worth risking my life, my health or that of my family. Stepping down from the soap box now. Sorry all. :0)

 

[225]

Selling SO techangle torque wrenches. Listing is in the classifieds

 

[Old Radar]

to that ^^^^^^^^
Thanks for the reminder duddly.

Stay safe. Masks, gloves, social distancing.
I’m not even going to mention extra hand washing. Who among us pickers DOESN’T wash his hands after hitting sales ?

This is the mask I wear to sales. It's a respirator with P-100 vapor filters--filters out 99.97% of oil-based (and non oil-based) particulates. N-95s are only rated at 95% of non oil-based particulates. I swab it down with alcohol when I get home and it's ready to go again. Beats the **** out of a bandana!

 

[WNYflyer]

to that ^^^^^^^^
Thanks for the reminder duddly.

Stay safe. Masks, gloves, social distancing.
I’m not even going to mention extra hand washing. Who among us pickers DOESN’T wash his hands after hitting sales ?

In my vehicles I carry those sanitizing towelettes packets like you get for cleaning up after eating ribs, chicken wings, etc. Use them all the time and especially handy at those sales where you are really digging. Of course especially useful now for sanitizing purposes. First time my girlfriend at the time spied all of them in the door of the car she jokingly asked me if I planned on being busy since they looked strikingly similar to packets of condoms, I said you tell me ! and she proceed to turn all red

 

[Outlawmws]

Congrats Mr. W
Sumgai scored big on that deal.

 

[Catfishdan]

I stopped at a small looking garage sale on my way to work today that had a ton of old tools. I used some restraint and only left with one box full of stuff for 30 bucks. The first photo is all plomb. The second photo is the rest of the stuff including snap on, proto la, Blackhawk and more. It was a very safe sale too. Only one person in the garage at a time with masks all around.

 

[Jim_No_Garage]

Toward the general purpose of tidying up my basement, I spent three hours this morning stripping used nonmetallic sheathed cable.
14.5lb@$.40/lb=$5.80 with plastic;
9.9lb@$2.15/lb=$21.28 naked...
$5.16/hr. I have earned a lower wage than that, but not in this century. I suppose if I upgrade my equipment from a utility knife and a fence staple to an actual cable stripper, I could improve my lbs/hr efficiency, but I think I’ll just stop hoarding wire. It’s awkward to store.
I am now a connoisseur of solid copper wire. The vintage outer sheathing is hard to split, but the consistency of the insulation makes it easy to strip. The nouveau sheathing comes off easily, but the 2-layer insulation is a *****.
Scrapping used copper tube last week was a LOT more lucrative, although I’m not sure how cost-effective spending an hour cutting out the sweated joints to separate the #1copper from #2copper (@$.15/lb difference) was. Cutting the brass fittings off seemed worthwhile. I’ll have to see if the receipt is still around. And using a bandsaw instead of a disc cutter would have significantly lowered the investment of time.
I mention all this because I see copper at garage sales and flea markets priced all over the map. At one, unopened 50’ coil of 12-2 for $10, at another, bundled cutoffs priced like fine jewelry. The potential (like everything) lies in what you can do with it.

We have noticed something new over the last year or so while "curbside shopping". Any furniture with metal pulls have the pulls removed very quickly. Sort of ticks me off - I saw a very nice slant front secretary with curved drawer fronts at the curb but the all of the pulls were gone. It would have been a pita to find pulls with the right dimensions to replace them. The secretary went to the landfill. With pulls I would have grabbed it and used it or flipped it.

We see an old man during cleanup we call "the snipper". All wires on anything get cut and tossed in the truck. No wire gauge criteria - he cuts the wires of keyboards and old wired mice! He must be stripping it because around here I don't think they accept burned wire. That can't be very time effective. The funny thing is he has snipped wires of finished goods that are worth serious money. If he took them and sold them he'd be better off. Not his thing I guess. It bothers me less that the pulls being gone because I can easily replace a power cord.

Cheers

Jim

 

[Private Lugnutz]

We have noticed something new over the last year or so while "curbside shopping".

I converted my house to central air (built in 1893, no easy feat!) about five years ago. Last year I put a couple of very old window AC units on the curb with a "FREE / STILL WORK!" sign on them. Two different "snippers" tried to cannibalize them for copper before I stopped them. I wanted someone in need from Red Bank or Sea Bright to get them. All they had to do was take them and strip them at home and I'd be none the wiser, but no, they had the nerve to try to strip them on the curb and leave the rest. Harumph!

 

[gpw_42]

We see an old man during cleanup we call "the snipper".

Cheers

Jim

Jim, did Archie (from Meyersville) have a son? What ever happened to his place? Looking back, there had to have been some real treasure in that dilapidated mess...

 

[mikeinri]

I stopped at a small looking garage sale on my way to work today that had a ton of old tools. I used some restraint and only left with one box full of stuff for 30 bucks. The first photo is all plomb. The second photo is the rest of the stuff including snap on, proto la, Blackhawk and more. It was a very safe sale too. Only one person in the garage at a time with masks all around.

$30 for all of that is pretty darned close to sucking! If only you'd failed to control yourself...

Mike

 

[bmwrd0]

So, I made a little trip to an estate sale that looked pretty good but was an hour out of my way. I was the second of a five-day sale, and while there was little in the way of vintage tools, I feel the trip was worth it:


A little Star tap and die set (with an interesting tap wrench), Blackhawk Mustang and Craftsman (U) breaker bars, Herbrand double-ended flex wrench, Penens ratchet (in need of lube) and an unused Mustang socket set, complete with crossbar! (but minus a couple of sockets) and I packed it all up in a:

Vintage doctor's bag, which was complete with vintage hand-rolled cigarette fixings!
All that for $20 (smokes were free, and very dry)

Then I stopped at a couple of Restores on the way home, the first one being unfruitful, but the second one (usually a dud) was rearranging its tools, and there was quite a bit of good stuff. I left most of it, but did pick up these:

A complete set of Vermont T&D (1/2-20) and wonder of wonders, a Stanley #10. I paid a bit for the Stanley, $30, but it doesn't have any cracks in the usual places and outside of the knob was compete. But, I had a good knob on a parts plane, so all good there! All in all, a fine day. And Sat is one of the 56-mile garage sales, so I am looking forward to that!

 

[Smokeshow69]

I stopped at a small looking garage sale on my way to work today that had a ton of old tools. I used some restraint and only left with one box full of stuff for 30 bucks. The first photo is all plomb. The second photo is the rest of the stuff including snap on, proto la, Blackhawk and more. It was a very safe sale too. Only one person in the garage at a time with masks all around.

Pretty good amount of vacuum with that find Dan! Well done!


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[LesserSon]

ssdave,
I think the Red Devil is model 444 Giant Grip. The four on eBay all have a patent applied for stamp, so yours must be later. I think the patent might be for design of the embedded-shield grip pattern they used for a while. AA has a pair, but doesn’t explain the patent. They do suggest similarly-gripped combination pliers were made by Kraeuter, so maybe the patent was held by them. Mark Stansbury has a company history that states the pliers business was sold to Crescent in the mid1920s, but they must have resumed making pliers or contracted thsm, because they do advertise some pliers in the 1951 catalog.
And there’s that triangular Harrold logo again!