A Few Things from an Estate Sale

You never know what you might find at a garage or estate sale.  As it turns out, someone beat me to most of the woodworking stuff, but there's more to that story later.

Here's the initial take from the sale.

The initial haul

The bench screw was the first thing that caught my eye.  But the nut was nowhere to be found.  Turns out, the guy running the sale knew where it was still bolted to a bench, so I grabbed it.  It was 10 or 20 bucks.

It cleaned up fairly easily and looks to be in great condition

The only marking on the vise

I can't tell if that says OEM or GEM, or GBM or some combination of similar letters.  I don't have a need for it currently, but I know I will in a new shop that is someday in my future.

Next is a Nicholson rasp, from when they made them in the USA.  This thing was barely used!  It's very coarse, more so than I typically need, but I know it'll come in handy.  Cost a buck.

Made when they still cared about how they made them

Third was a dial indicator with articulating stand (certain there's a better term for the stand).  It was in its original box and seems barely used.  The stand has a switchable magnetic base. Twenty or 30 bucks.

Dial indicator with stand

The switchable magnetic base

This will come in handy for a number of things, but something I've wanted to be able to do is measure more accurately the amount of set on my saws.  I've used calipers to measure the total set (both sides), but with this I'll be able to measure set on one side of a saw plate.

Finally from the initial group, I found this old Charles Morrill saw set for a few bucks.

In grungy condition, but later cleaned up nicely

I'm going to do a separate post about this set - it's pretty interesting and works fine.

When I was there, I spotted something that really made my spidey senses tingle.

The iron at bottom was lying on a table in the garage (ignore the top one for now)

Most people reading this know what it is: a 1/2" straight cutting iron for a router plane.  My eyebrows raised about a half inch when I saw this and I grabbed it immediately.  But then I looked in vain for the plane that it belonged to.

The guy running the sale said the plane went away with someone early in the day.  Apparently some people get advance notice of estate sales and are allowed in a little early (arrgh!).  Being the concerned guy I am, I knew this iron had to be reunited with the plane - the guy knew how to get in touch with the new owner and would get it to him.

OK, silver lining: he said the guy who bought it is a reseller and might be willing to sell it to me.  I got the number and visited him the next day.  He had bought quite a number of things that he had little knowledge of.  Not only did I get the router plane, a Millers Falls #67 with the 1/2" spearhead iron, but he also threw in a drawknife and a very thick 1 1/2" wide, almost 1/4" thick plane blade (probably homemade) because he appreciated that I educated him about some of the tools he got.

Millers Falls #67 router plane

I paid $80 for it - wish it could have been less, but I'll take that.  I'll be writing more about this router plane in a week or two.

The drawknife was pretty badly pitted and the blade was bent and twisted, which is why he gave it to me.  I'll write more about it soon.

Drawknife in rough shape

After I picked up the router plane and drawknife, I stopped back at the estate sale to grab the 1/2" straight cutter.  While I was there I found a few other small things (at no charge) that I thought were interesting.

Tools for a brace and a few punches or nail sets

The largest from that group is this countersink which,
after sharpening, works great

I'd thought for a long time it would be nice to have a chuck on a square tapered shank.  This allows  small driver bits and round-shanked drill bits to be used with a brace.  And the countersink is a monster.

I haven't been to many garage / estate sales over the last couple years.  It's nice to start getting out to them again.  Like I said, you never know ...