Life sure is difficult :)

[Pekka Huhta]

On Wednesday I went to the customs to pick up some mail from US. You see, I had a later model #55 and wanted an older one. And a friend of mine has tried to buy my #55 for a long time and I thought, that heck, I'll buy an old one and sell the newer one to him.

Then became the trouble. I had two bids on eBay and, darn, won them both. So I got stuck with a total of 3 #55's: a Rule&Level one, one Sweetheart in a box so completely complete that there were the instructions and all included - and then my old one.

I took the photos and thought that it would make a good gloat: someone has too many #55's.

Well, little did I know about gloating. On Wednesday evening a stranger called asking whether I was the "Plane-Pekka". It turned out that it was someone I know at a local woodworking forum. He had seen some old tools on a flea market 130 km from where I live and thought I might be interested.

Well now, I was. I had to drive all the way there on Thursday, but under one shelf there were a few planes.

All of them are Stanleys, made between 1895 and 1910. A bit rusty and missing their chrome, but no pitting nowhere.

First gem was a #112, seems to be the earliest model with a toothed iron.

Then Stanley #46, #45 with three hollows and a #20.

A #71, #98, first "post-lateral" #4 and as a bonus, a Starrett combi square and a saw vise. Plus of course the obligatory odd chisels, rusty rifflers and other bits&pieces.

I'm not sure what to think about the haul. I have never seen that amount of old tools on any flea market over here. It's a miracle finding a few decent tools, but you find one of those lots once in your lifetime, at least around here.

They were not particularly cheap, exept the #112 which apparently looked so odd that the price tag was only 25 €...


You might ask what's so difficult then? Well, I HAVE TOO MANY TOOLS and in addition there are skid marks all over my Visa now

Pekka

 

[newt]

I am sick to the teeth, this is a maxi gloat. If you feel you have to many I can relieve some of your pain and would be prepared to offer a small fee.

 

[Philly]

Wow! You certainly suck, Pekka! :lol:
Great haul - mega jealous.
Philly

 

[Paul Chapman]

Some very nice stuff there, Pekka, particularly the #46 and the hollow bases for the #45.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Waka]

Lets hope that Martin doesn't see this post.

Very nice gloat.

 

[dchenard]

That is one gloateus maximus! :lol:

DC

Indeed, you suck :wink:

 

[Smudger]

Phnaar phnaar!

 

[MrJay]

Shavings please...

 

[mahking51]

Waka
I've had to go and have a lie down.... 8)
Martin

 

[Pekka Huhta]

Well, I haven't slept too well for a couple of days. If I wake up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet, I have to put on the workshop lights to see that they really are there

No shavings yet, I have spent the weekend building my bathroom. I had time to start cleaning up and restoring the planes, but got only this ready.

All of the planes are apparently purchased almost at the same time. I've found 3 "S" cast marks already and others have the patent dates very close to the end of 1890's (1894 and 95). The #4 is apparently type 7, which fits to the same time as well. It seems a bit surprising, as a cartload of planes must have cost a fortune. Who has had the money to purchase all of this at the same time? Apparently I got only the odds on the lot, as they had sold more than 10 planes before I got there. I don't know how many of them were metal planes, but still the lot must have been darn expensive.

What I heard about the lot was that a 60+ years old man was selling his mothers estate. The planes were given to his mother by his mother's uncle, who was a woodworking teacher at the beginning of the century. He must have been in US as a trainee or something, as importing that lot to Finland would have cost about the same as a small city's budget.

If I let my imagination fly I could think that the guy may have been an emigrant in USA for some time and he could have bought a good set of tools when returning to Finland. That could explain the same age for all the tools.

They have also seen very, very little use. The #4 even had the factory grind marks on the sole, so it can't have been much used as a professional tool.

Or maybe they had C*llectors already back then :wink:

I have to add the restoration pictures to the thread later. If not for anything else, at least as a repay for overdoing a gloat

Pekka

 

[mahking51]

Pekka,
Bah Humbug!! All I can say is:

'Kehitysmaat ja rahoitusongelmat nousevat!' - whatever that means! :lol: :lol:

Well done! the 112 looks a beauty.
Martin

 

[Philipp]

Hyvää päivää Pekka!

Congratulations!!! Unbelievable what's lying around in some places...

Guess you will need quite a bit of polishing powders for restauration work . Well, just send me some plane and I'll send you some kilos in return 8).

Regards

Philipp