Spent most of the day driving around to sales today, some highs and some lows. I made the decision to head quite a ways south to hit a couple estate sales that were on their third day. No surprise, they were really picked over. Still found some stuff I liked...
Cheap sandpaper (1/2 off day!), a couple big Nicholson's for my knife making buddy, a Gerber chef's knife that someone attacked with a grinder, and a tiny crescent wrench just because. I also grabbed a magnetic knife holder that I forgot to put in the picture. $11 for this lot.
Second sale was also totally picked over and had obviously not had nearly as many tools to start with...grabbed a few small items for $4 and headed to the next spot. I probably wouldn't have bothered even buying anything but I wanted the VLChek ratchet.
After those two estate sales I was looking forward to a few garage sales on the list that hopefully hadn't been picked over. The next spot seemed like a bust at first until the gal running the sale dragged an old bucket out "just found this one, do you want to dig through it"? Why yes, yes I do. The top stuff is craftsman, the big socket is Plomb and what do you know, another Duro Chrome DBE (x). This one is the 2013. Also grabbed a few Barcalo and for whatever reason when I find motorcycle wrenches I buy them if they're cheap. The SK sockets are a mishmash of SAE and Metric. Not sure what the drag link socket is, too rusty. Will find out tomorrow.
After that I felt like I was doing pretty well and headed to another estate sale for 1/2 off day. This one was staged at an offsite warehouse, and when I showed up a lot of the tools were still there because even at 1/2 off they were overpriced. Although I wasn't interested in the stuff on the table, there were totes and tool chests under the tables so naturally I started digging through them. Found a nice Mitutoyo caliper, some measures, and a few other shiny little machinist bits.
This is where it all started going bad. I forgot the shoulder bag I usually carry today so I had a tote that was in the car already. I had the tote set down behind me when this dentist looking guy starts picking through it. No biggie, I could see that it was an honest mistake (it was up on the table with the other stuff), so I just told the guy it was my pile. Then he goes: "Did you pay for it yet"? I was like "no, of course not", had no idea where he was going with the question. Then he goes "well it's not yours then!". I just gave him a stare, I'm not a violent man but if you start pulling things out of my bag we're gonna have problems! I said, it's my bag, what's not clear about that??? He mumbled some ******** about "it was a bad joke" and wandered off. I couldn't believe the nerve of the guy.
Anyway, I quickly forgot about the dude because I found a little baby bullet in one of the totes...score! Or so I thought. Finished digging through about 10 totes and 3 boxes and was ready to cash out. Took the stuff up to the lady who was checking out and she goes...none of this stuff has prices, where did you get it? I was like uh...in the totes and boxes under the table. She goes "that stuff doesn't belong in this sale, it's for a different estate!
WTF??? I was over there digging around for 1/2 an hour in full sight of the checkout about 30 feet away. Dragging these heavy *** totes across the floor which was not quiet. There was no sign or anything to indicate that the stuff under the table was off limits. So the guy running the sale comes over and is like...Oh yeah, that stuff isn't in the sale but we'll sell it to you anyway, but not at half price! Quotes me 65 for the baby bullet and says, I need to look up all the Mitutoyu so you can't buy that and no half off on the Wilton. But you can have these little oil cans at half price for $2.
Yeah right, you ain't getting a penny of my money. Couldn't walk over to tell me that stuff is off limits? He was literally 15 feet away. If I was more of a conspiracy theorist I'd wonder if he just waits for people to pull out the good stuff and then tells them they can't buy it so he knows what stuff to look up on ebay. I dunno, maybe I'm the rube for not knowing the drill there but it didn't feel right to me. I also overheard him refusing to honor 1/2 price with other customers. I won't be returning to one of their estate sales again, and if I was executing an estate I'd be pissed that they're mixing estates together!
After that I was all bent out of shape and to make it worse right after that I wasted an hour driving up to a sale that I was actively trying to avoid. Caught in the old Craigslist stale photo trap...
After all that I was pissed off until I reminded myself that I'm supposed to be doing this for fun. I still had time for a few more sales before they closed. The first couple were busts, but the last one of the day had some tools, mostly late USA craftsman. I picked up a complete 137 piece USA mechanic set missing only the 3/8 and 1/2 inch ratchet. Every other piece was in the box. Also grabbed some bike hex wrenches and a bunch of 1/4" sockets. I didn't take any pics of this because the reason I bought the set was to give it away.
Earlier in the weekend I had met a fellow tool collector as he mentioned he was a mechanic and looking to complete some sets. Long story short, we arranged to trade some of his stuff for some of mine. I have a bunch of stuff that's going in a yard sale next week so I let him pick through it. He found a few bits that he wanted, but then mentioned that his friend was also trying to get a tool set going but didn't have much in the way of trades or money. These guys were young and just starting out and one of the reasons why I rescue tools is so that I can give them to people that can't afford USA made stuff. So I added a few ratchets to the set out of my garage sale box and gave the big set to them in addition to the stuff I traded. Hopefully they were stoked. Anyway, this was way too long. Sorry.
Here is the stuff I got in trade from my new tool collecting acquaintance. Him and his buddy are now hunting Plomb, Duro, Indestro, Vlchek and Long C for me

Plomb and Indestro up top, little Plomb DBE, Circle H ratchet, Long C t and DBE, Vlchek DBE. Little wrench day!
Ok I'll shut up now. Sorry for the rant.
