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Garage sale today. No razors
Today was garage sale day in the county so I spent most of the day cycling from here to there, nosing through old stuff and old junk. I bought several stuffed animals for my daughters. At sales like this, they cost pennies. I found some mildly interesting stuff but nothing worth buying. However, my wife told me to go to a specific place, which she thought I would like. She had seen that the sale was a large yard for of big rusty things. She knows I love nosing through rusty old tools :)
The place was an old farm, and I think the (new?) owner just threw everything out of the stables onto the lawn for sale. There was a lot of horse bridles etc, and also a lot of old farm equipment for removing grain from chaff etc. Most of it early last century stuff. All very interesting, but nothing I could use (or move). A lot of other old tools, scythes, a mechanical drill press, etc.
The first thing I bought were some old ironing irons. They look like an iro, but made from solid... Iron :). You put them on the stove, and when they're hot you can iron your clothes. also early last century. My mother uses them as paper weights during book restoration
Then I found the first I wanted to have: this bench vise.
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This is pretty old. No antique, just a couple of decades up to half a century. It's one of those things that are nearly indestructible. The body and the clamp are cast in a single piece from cast iron. The thing weighs 50 pounds. I paid only 15 euros, and I know one of these would set me back at least 10 times as much if I were to buy it new. I already have a made in china one, but this one is much better. I am going to clean it up, repaint it, and then mount it on a block near my anvil.
The second thing I bought for myself is this: a nice axe. It weighs about 4 pounds. I just bought it for 'because'. :) It has an interesting shape and I'll just fix it up. I don't know if the shape has a special use or not. I just thought it looked interesting. 5 euros.
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And then the last thing: an old waffle iron. also beginning last century. It is badly rusted on the inside. But I am not seeing an antique waffle iron here. I see a pair of blacksmith tongs with waffle plates attached. I'll just cut off most of the waffle plates and end up with a pair of very strong tongs for 5 euros. Waffle tongs!
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Btw, I know some people might find it sacriligeous to turn an antique waffle iron into tongs, but Belgium is swamped with things like this, and in much better condition. Every flea market, garage sale and similar venues have antique equipment by the ton. And the insides are really rusted so no point in just keeping it around because it is old.