# A DIAMOND Bootfair find!



## jimi43 (26 Sep 2010)

Hi Guys and Gals...

So today was spent at the bootfair again…and this time I was searching out a parallel iron for the old plane. These are rarer that you would think…being mostly tapered irons of 3/16″ thickness and I found another one today.

Although it was a beautiful iron and back iron…it was sadly tapered again and comes in a thou short of fitting! It was closer than my other one…a Sorby but no cigar! Back to the drawing board on that one.

But I did manage to pick up this little gem:







It’s a glass cutter…but not just any glass cutter. This one is over 100 years old made by a company from London…the strange sounding “Sharratt and Newth Diamond Glass Cutter Company”.

The name is clearly marked on the brass ferrule:






….in wonderful old script…and the history of the company goes back to the mid 1800s… but the best part was the rose cut diamond on the end which is huge….






You would never get that much rock on a modern one…it would be too expensive. As a bonus the handle is made of my favourite wood…Brazilian rosewood! I have now found a design that I simply love and will soon be making a nice little marking knife with this profile…it is perfect in the hand…as I often find with vintage tools.

But does it work…

Hell YES!!! I effortlessly scored some 1/4 plate float that I had been struggling to cut with a cheap cutter and it snapped like a Rich Tea biscuit…right along the score line with no cracks or chipping out.

So I have not only found a work of art but also a very useful tool…and a piece of design inspiration to boot!

Don’tcha just love it when you have a day like this! Simple pleasures I know but pleasures none the less! I think it was worth the £3 I paid for it...bargain indeed!

Another bootfair tomorrow!

Later guys and gals!

Jimi


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## yetloh (26 Sep 2010)

Lucky pipper. If only I didn't have an aversion to getting up early!

Jim


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## AndyT (26 Sep 2010)

Jimi you really do have the knack of finding the unconsidered gems!

I think I'll have to give this bootfair thing a go.


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## Evergreen (26 Sep 2010)

Jimi

If ever proof was needed that any tool can be made better, then your glass cutter provides that proof. It's functional, beautiful and made to last - a tribute to the late Victorians.

I'm waiting for the day when you post pictures of a vintage sink plunger which you've just picked up for 5p, complete with Brazilian rosewood handle...!


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## jimi43 (26 Sep 2010)

HA!! What a nice thing to come back from a dreadful shift at the grindstone they call work to find such great comments on this thread!

yetloh...yup...the early bird catches the rosewood worm! And it was bleedin' FREEEEEEZING this morning...I wish the Scandinavians would keep their wind to themselves!

Yup Andy...I think I have an inbuilt "rosewood" guidance system...it use to be blue and white stripes when I was into TG Green Cornishware for the missus...in the past I have been known to spot a tea cup from 100 yards! Now...fortunately..it's rosewood. Anything that has a Rio attached to a tool has got to be worth a few pennies! Now I just have to hone my "Norris" detector and I'm well away!  

I tell you something though...it's no point in being even 10 minutes late...with eBay as a research tool...dealers who abound at the kickoff...they know tools, ceramics, furniture...you name it they buy it.

EG - the victorians never made sink plungers...their sinks didn't block - they were too good!  

Cheers guys!

Jim


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## Alf (27 Sep 2010)

AndyT":3ejjszs8 said:


> Jimi you really do have the knack of finding the unconsidered *gems*!


Please tell me that was an unintended pun... :lol: 

Nice example there, Jim. As you say, it'd make a lovely model for a marking knife.


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## woodbloke (27 Sep 2010)

Alf":gmpme6gi said:


> ... it'd make a lovely model for a marking knife.



The handles that David Barron did for his pattern of marking knike (recently documented in F&C) used the same (or similar pattern) for the handle - Rob


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## jimi43 (27 Sep 2010)

woodbloke":23alwyp5 said:


> Alf":23alwyp5 said:
> 
> 
> > ... it'd make a lovely model for a marking knife.
> ...



HA! Yes...I do believe that pun was intentional ALF!

Rob - do you have a link to that article?

Jim


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## Benchwayze (28 Sep 2010)

Jim, 

Did you realise it was a diamond before you tried to grind it, or afterwards! :lol: :lol: :lol: 

John


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## jimi43 (28 Sep 2010)

Benchwayze":2bp8zhd8 said:


> Jim,
> 
> Did you realise it was a diamond before you tried to grind it, or afterwards! :lol: :lol: :lol:
> 
> John



HA!! John....that's a good one!

Actually....the stall that I bought it from had it in a glass case with a load of "valuables" like watches and tat necklaces and rings...you know the sort...

After buying it I showed it to a fellow stall holder who I know quite well and who deals in gold and gems....and he was the one that looked though his lupe and declared it a very large gem for the job...not cut for an engagement ring but valued at about £50 as it stood - just for the gem.

I think the way they mounted them in those days...below a tiny brass washer with the tip poking through, meant that they had to be rather large....these days they have special glues for the purpose of fixing a little chip to new ones.

Cheers mate

Jim


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## Benchwayze (28 Sep 2010)

Cheers Jim, 

I often thought about using the wife's engagement ring to cut glass.. But I don't think 'We' would have been amused! 

Nice find.. Makes the job so much easier I am sure. (I can't work with glass 'A--Tall' no way!) 

John


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## jimi43 (29 Sep 2010)

Benchwayze":3hxmcs46 said:


> Cheers Jim,
> 
> I often thought about using the wife's engagement ring to cut glass.. But I don't think 'We' would have been amused!
> 
> ...



If it's any consolation John...I used to hate cutting glass too...I always got my Dad to do it.

But with this cutter I am able to do it no problem. This has transformed my ability...the right tool for the job was all that was needed!

I was a bit ambitious trying 1/4 plate first! Now I am going around trying to find things to cut!

Double glazing...watch out!!!  

Jim


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