Thread: 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.



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.



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!



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.

Nice finds, I love old vises. My other old "vices" I try to get rid of.

Regards,

Howard

One of my favourite research tangents during my PhD took me into the sordid history of waffles and waffle irons in late 14th and early 15th-century England. Who knew they had been around that long?

I love the look of that axe and would have snapped it up too. Nice finds

Nice finds! I would like to see what the vice looks like once you have it cleaned up and painted.

I believe that to be a wood splitting axe. When the ax is embedded in a log, you would hit the other end with a sledge to drive it through.

Originally Posted by Magpie

I believe that to be a wood splitting axe. When the ax is embedded in a log, you would hit the other end with a sledge to drive it through.

I thought those usually had larger blunt ends and more wedge like blades... But you could well be right.

As for the waffle iron, I'm telling Aunt Jemima and Mrs Butterworth!

Love the story, Bruno, yard sales are a interest of mine. Rarely do I find good stuff like that, though. If you were in driving distance I would have given you all of the stuffed animals that my son received as a child, I kept them stored in a controlled environment, all were in new shape.

I'll take an "Armchair Woodsman's" guess at the axe; it was probably used as a finishing axe, the large circular indention on the bottom of the bit, was probably to allow your hand to "Choke" up on the axe head for one handed fine work, the shaped butt was probably used for tapping in pegs, spikes , etc.... just my guess.

Interesting. When you say 'finishing', what kind of finishing do you mean?

Btw, with flea markets, the success depends a bit on the crowd that come to sell their stuff. Sometimes it is very 'family' related and many people will sell toys, kids clothes, etc. Sometimes you get lucky and someone is selling the stuff of their deceased grandfather. Good stuff is to be had then, because most people take one look at the workshop, and anything that has a spec of rust or a wooden handle has to be 'crap' in their minds and they sell for pennies.

For garage sales, there is always the chance of a lucky find, like the coticule I sold you. Usually best bargains are to be made in old houses and farms, because there is usually a ton of pre-war stuff lying around. Or old folks cleaning up their storage. There you can find good stuff too.

Finally, there are the regular antiques and curiosa markets. These consist mostly of people who travel from place to place during weekends with uhauls, selling stuff. Most sellers specialize in certain things. Some sell glasses, stamps, collectible stuff, etc. And some sell old tools. These people usually have some interesting stuff, but they are also a bit more aware of value so it's often less easy to make a bargain.

Finishing like in smoothing, shaving, jointing,,,,does that axe head have a "chisel" bevel on it? It's hard to tell from the photo.
We are talking an axe here or is it what many refer to as a hatchet or small "belt axe" ?

I believe that axe to be a roofers hatchet, sometimes called a carpenters hatchet. Used for installing wood shake singles and siding. You can trim the shingle with the sharp end and then use the poll (hammer side) to drive the nails. Maybe a lath hatchet. They all have similar purposes, but slightly different blade shapes.

I had one growing up, and spent many hours in the woods making forts south it before we graduated up to a double bit axe. Good memories.