Gentle Galoots,
I've often urged fellow OLDTOOLS aficionados to pursue every opportunity to find
diamonds in the rough or "sleepers." You never know what tag or estate sale
might yield items of interest.
On my way to meet a friend for a Saturday lunch, I saw a sign which said "Yard
Sale 8 to 12 - Tools" and gave an address. Now, here it was already mid-day,
so I just knew that by the time lunch was over there would not be anything of
interest left!
I mentioned this to Lisa over lunch. She suggested that since the address was
more-or-less on the way home, we should stop there even if the prospects were
poor.
It did not look promising as we drove up to the address. There were tables in
the yard, but no one in sight. No tools were readily visible except a Yankee
screwdriver, which I already have too many of.
When we walked up, the next door neighbor leaned over the fence to remark that
the sale was over and the seller had stepped out, but that he was authorized to
sell the remainder. Him: "What are you looking for?" Me: "Old tools." Him: "I
think there are some in that box over there."
Oh, yeah, there were!
1-1/2 Skew Rabbet Stothert / Bath - Mouth widened by sawing. (Ugh!)
1/2” Dado Plane Sandusky Tool / Ohio stamped “62” with what appears to be a two-
figure stamp rather than a “6” and a “2”. Missing depth stop, although the
adjustment screw and thumb knob are present. Missing dado nicker and its wedge.
1-1/4” Skew Rabbet, Benson & Crannel / Albany
1” Skew Rabbet, F Baldwin. Very well executed asterisk which may be a stamp.
1/4” Boxed Beader, Kennedy & White / N. York Small section of beading gone at
heel. (New York USA or North York GB?)
1/4” Beader, Bewley. Visible wear at toe.
Turnscrew with a decorative twist, forged from an old file. Beautiful handle,
possibly boxwood, with brass ferrule. Tip chipped. (Hey, it’s a file!)
Brad Awl. Slightly bent, but wooden handle near perfect.
Scraper, sort of triangular with two rounded corners. Perfect except handle
painted light gray.
Leather tool, name unknown, C. S. Osborne. Turned handle with brass ferrule.
Marked 5, presumably a size. Used for some unknown creasing or beading
operation.
1/4 Flat Blade Screwdriver, 13” o.a. Wooden handle in fine condition. Steel
ferrule cross-pinned through blade. Slight bend in blade.
9/16” Out-Cannel Gouge in very good condition. Tang held in a wooden file
handle. “W. Butcher / Cast Steel.” Back of tang bears a B in a circle, and an
arrow with a head and four feathers pointing to a Maltese cross. This arrow
doesn’t resemble the “Broad Arrow” mark of the British crown as I know it.
72” 12-fold steel rule with Roman-style incised numerals. Too darkened by patina
to see a maker’s name. This is not pitted, and should clean up to be a user.
The Box was obviously a roller skate box; its furniture-grade plywood with
nailed mitered corners. Its interior bears two bumper stickers for “Singing
Skates, Red Bank NJ” - a skating arena which existed circa 1940-1955. (The arena
, which featured live music, offered classes in “Ballroom Dancing on Skates,”
according to the on-line archive of the local newspaper.)
My questions for the group are:
"Stothert / Bath" - Is this from Bath, England or Bath, Maine? My Great
Grandfather, Bant Hanson, lived in Bath ME and my granddad, who died 22 years
before I was born, grew up there.
Bewley - Never saw this mark before, nor have I seen F. Baldwin. Any Info?
Oh, and the whole box set me back $35.
John Ruth
Metuchen, NJ
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