Estate Sale Finds

Tool hunting has been very slow the last few years.  But checking Craigslist once a week for promising garage or estate sales can pay off - you just have to be patient.  A few weekends ago, I found some interesting things.  And if I had gotten there earlier, it might have been much better.

A jumble of tools

When I took this box of tools up to the sales person, he said "for the whole box ...... $20."  I said I didn't want to steal from them - I gave him $30.  Still a steal!

Here's what I got

There's nothing spectacular here, but I'm very happy about it nonetheless.

First is an unknown maker hand-cranked grinder

This grinder needs work.  The handle spins and the wheel turns, but when I go even a little fast, the gears sound terrible.  Hopefully it's nothing that a good clean-up won't fix.

#233H
NORTH BROS. MFG CO.
PHILA. PA.
MADE IN U.S.A.
PAT. - 103676

This small driver was also pretty rough.  With it, there were two small slot-head screwdriver bits and a chuck attachment so it can handle any 1/4" hex shank driver bit.

Next up was this 10" brace.  Markings included:
PINE KNOT    and
NO. 3410

The jaws were kind of bogus - I prefer the older jaws that have some type of wire spring

This brace looks OK.  I hadn't heard of the Pine Knot brand, but according to a post on Sawmill Creek, it was a brand of Belknap's.  Belknap, of Louisville, KY, was in business from 1840 to 1986 and was a competitor of Sears and Montgomery Ward (ref: Wikipedia).  I'm sure it'll clean up fine and be usable.  There was one auger bit, a 3/8" (#6), but it looks unusable due to filed-down spurs.  It was also by Belknap; the brand was called "Bluegrass".  The guy at the sale told me someone walked away earlier with the rest of the bits.  Dang!

Next was this large square with 12" blade.

Unknown maker 12" square

This thing looks awesome!  Maybe I'll see some identifying mark when I clean it up, but so far I can't see anything.  I like the brass inlay where the blade is held in the stock.

Brass inlay is a nice touch

UPDATE: I cleaned this up and found it's a Stanley (no model number).  It looks fantastic now.  The brass cleaned up great and I'm pretty sure the wood is rosewood and looks fantastic with a couple coats of shellac.  The square was slightly out-of-square and I did a little work on the blade and on the brass wear plate to bring it into better condition - not quite perfect, but pretty dang good.

Bright and shiny

Just before I left the estate sale, I looked in another box I'd not seen and there was this spokeshave.  And I'm thinking, how did I not see this before?  Again, nothing special, but should be functional.

Nondescript spokeshave

No. 151

The only indication of a maker is on the iron: Stanley.
It says "MADE IN U.S.A." - maybe it's a bit older than I thought.

UPDATE: The spokeshave is now cleaned up and works fine.  It took a long time to get a reasonably flat back on the iron.  It had never been flattened and the cutting edge was in horrible shape.  But it's sharp now and cutting fine.  It's probably no older than the 1970's (or even the 80's?), but the iron says "Made in USA".  Perhaps the iron was made in the USA, but it's hard to imagine the body was.

Finally, there was this little hammer.  I picked it up to use as a plane adjusting hammer.  One end has a Warrington-type striking face.

Nice little hammer with figured wood handle

There was no maker's name that I could make out - the 4" long head had lots of small dents.

I'll be cleaning these tools up over the next week or two.  If they're worthy of a few words, I'll write about the rehabs.