Wipeout Bootfair Weekend?

[jimi43]

Was it raining where you are?

We managed 5:30am to 10am and then the heavens opened...thankfully we took the top from a gazebo to use to cover everything!

So...was it a wipeout on the buying front too...well nearly...but I found a consolation prize and only spent 50p...all day...

At the bottom of a box of very rusty tools....I found this:

Trust me...it was just a rusty tube when I got it but through the rust I could just see....NY...was it American!?

Nah! in front of this was a Germ of An idea.....yes it was pure German engineering....

It is a stunning ratchet tool...with a kind of collet:

....and once I hit the lathe with it the back was able to be removed to disclose all the tools...

It is called "EDU":

...which is a nightmare to Google as you can imagine...with all the educational abbreviations....but I will find it...

Clearly for export...and I seem to remember a simple "Germany" means something as to dating as opposed to "West Germany" and all the other permutations but I can't find the dating info...anyone know?

The quality of the steel...the smoothness of the ratchet...the sheer weight scream expensive...so I need to do some more research...but for 50p....I think I got a bargain and a potentially usefull tool!

Shout if you recognise it!

Anyone else get anything over the weekend?

Jim

 

[DTR]

Intriguing, how is it to use? I like the collet. The handle looks rather uncomfortable to me though. Apart from the screwdriver bits, what are the other bits?

Just a wooden skew rebate for me, and The Book of Flying. The missus picked up plans for a radio controlled model plane from 1950, the Rudder Bug.

 

[jimi43]

Intriguing, how is it to use? I like the collet. The handle looks rather uncomfortable to me though. Apart from the screwdriver bits, what are the other bits?

Just a wooden skew rebate for me, and The Book of Flying. The missus picked up plans for a radio controlled model plane from 1950, the Rudder Bug.

Hi Dave

It is very well balanced and substantial rather than heavy. The knurling is of the highest quality...cut rather than pressed...so grip is very sure and positive.

There are two flat screwdriver bits....a bradawl....a kind of flat spade drill thingy....a drill...and a chisel..which is bleedin' sharp! I have honed it and it really works!

Pretty impressive...just wish I could guess its age..I would say 50s.....what do you guys think?

Skew rebates are nice planes...not sure about the "Book of Flying".....Flying always strikes me as something you can't learn from a book...safely anyway! :mrgreen:

Show us the plans....I love plans of models...

Jim

 

[Scouse]

German screwdriver? No hidden 'trademarks' I hope! Looks nice if a bit odd, never seen one like it, especially with the collet. For me, a lot of the fun of boot sale finds is the stuff you don't recognise and have to research.

Just a tiny church hall antique fair this week which yielded an Eclipse 4S saw/scraper multi-tool type thing in a nice tin; camera is on the blink though, so no pics sadly.

The two main boot sales have been called off until March up here now, but there is a small indoor one next weekend, might be interesting.

 

[Mark A]

Hi Jim

I went to the boot sale yesterday. It rained. Then it stopped. Then it rained again. Then it stopped. Then it drizzled, followed by a monsoon, then it stopped etc etc etc......

Only about 30 stalls turned up unfortunately so it was lacking tools somewhat. BUT I managed to find a Wolfcraft drill stand, still in its box and in excellent condition for £4 so not too bad.

When abouts do they usually finish for the winter?

Cheers,
Mark

 

[Vann]

Pretty impressive...just wish I could guess its age..I would say 50s.....what do you guys think?

I think pre-WW2 when there was just the one Germany. From ~1945 it would be marked "West Germany" (and they wouldn't have been exporting to Britain during WW2 - unless some luftwaft pilot was using it to un-jam his bomb bay doors and dropped the dammed thing :shock: ).

I've got a centre punch that was my dads, that says "Germany" - which I used to feel was very special. Then they re-united and so now its just ordinary #-o

...not sure about the "Book of Flying".....Flying always strikes me as something you can't learn from a book...

That reminds me of "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines" - the German general learning to fly as his pilot was ill.... :lol:

Cheers, Vann.

 

[jimi43]

I was thinking I read somewhere that goods exported to the UK from Germany with just "Germany" as the country of origin were pre-WW2 but I still can't find the definitive evidence.....

I follow you logic though Vann...and if this is the case...then it is even more impressive because the condition and engineering are sublime....

I have a feeling this is going to be a keeper and I might pick it up and use it with regularity!

Cheers

Jim

 

[DTR]

Show us the plans....I love plans of models...

Jim

I must thank Grace for uploading these. She says: "The plane is called Rudder Bug and has a 72' wingspan. Some photos for you, not very clear but hope it gives you the gist of how large this model could be. Paid a pound for it for my dad as he's an avid aeromodeller"

 

[dickm]

"The plane is called Rudder Bug and has a 72' wingspan. Some photos for you, not very clear but hope it gives you the gist of how large this model could be.

It would need to be that sort of size to lift the necessary valve-based radio receiver and its batteries! From memory, all R/C models in that era were single channel, so could only control one surface, in this case, the rudder. Must have been fun to fly!

 

[kalvt22]

I had a great boot on Sunday.
Brought an old shipwrights Adze head in alright condition for £5. Two brand new, never been opened trend router bits (one was the biscuit jointer bit with bearings) for a pound each, a grinder that went on fire when I put a plug on it, a cranked chisel and a set of 12 jumbo hooks for £2. Not too bad for a wet morning.
thought your screwdriver was a yankee at first glance!

 

[jimi43]

Thanks Dave! Those plans are wonderful! Are you going to build it?

That is some haul Kalv...no pics? The adze is particularly cheap...have you seen what they go for on fleaBay? :shock:

I missed two axe heads....I was fed up with rust removal and these would have needed serious surgery but I thought about one which was a beautiful shape and went back to get them and they were gone! Snooze you lose and this was bleedin' 6.15AM!!!

This ratchet tool makes the Yankee ones look like kiddie toys...it is so very beautifully made...no slack or anything. I got a hardened steel Pozi drive tip the same size and filed it down ( :shock: ) to shape....and added a drill bit...this is going to be my workbox tool to reach for I can see that now.

The chisel bit is now blinkin' lethal! I'll have to make a leather sheath for that...I keep stabbing myself getting it out!

Jim

 

[Shrubby]

Jim
Looks useful. EDU made yankees as well. Robert Schröder still make a ratchet tap wrench very similar to your driver
Matt

 

[jimi43]

Jim
Looks useful. EDU made yankees as well. Robert Schröder still make a ratchet tap wrench very similar to your driver
Matt

Hi Matt

I Googled every possible combination and can find nothing of "EDU"....do you have more information?

If they made "Yankees" then they must have been a better league of Yankee because this is so precision...the ratchet is very positive, the collet is precision made and all the tools are beautifully hardened steel. The knurling clearly has been cut and not pressed.

If you have more info I would be most grateful

Cheers

Jim

 

[kalvt22]

Here you go Jim - I didn't think to include a photo as normally in my house no one except me is interested in my car boot buys!
I dont think the adze is a very old model which probably means it isn't much good, stll making a handle for it should kill an evening or two! (or a winter sunday morning when I can't go to a car boot!)

 

[DTR]

Thanks Dave! Those plans are wonderful! Are you going to build it?

I don't think so. One day I'll have a stab at a glider though, my father-in-law has plenty of glider plans to choose from.

 

[jimi43]

I would probably agree with you Kalv....it might be made in the last 50 years...still a nice object....sharpened up.

I am fascinated by these model plans Dave...

Back when my son was young, I decided to make him a yacht..because we lived on a little island.

I didn't have any plans so I went down the marina and physically measured all the parts of a friend's full sized one and worked from my own drawings. All was fine until I got to the keel and ballast! The model ballast was far too light!

I still have it in the workshop...it takes up quite a lot of space but I don't want to part with it in case one of my kids has a little one some day....grandads should always have a spare yacht or two to sail...don'tcha think? 8)

Jim

 

[Shrubby]

Jim
No great insight into EDU I'm afraid, I note down tool manufacturers encountered at flea markets,inherited stuff and friends toolkits.There has been a lot of conglomeration in European toolmaking and it's possible that they were swallowed by a larger fish.
Have a look at www.robert-schroeder.de
The model yacht sounds good - you could retrofit brass or lead ballast.Of course then you would need to test it - you know, just to make sure it worked
Matt

 

[jimi43]

Jim
No great insight into EDU I'm afraid, I note down tool manufacturers encountered at flea markets,inherited stuff and friends toolkits.There has been a lot of conglomeration in European toolmaking and it's possible that they were swallowed by a larger fish.
Have a look at http://www.robert-schroeder.de
The model yacht sounds good - you could retrofit brass or lead ballast.Of course then you would need to test it - you know, just to make sure it worked
Matt

Hi Matt

Thanks for the link mate! Will delve tomorrow.

I did in fact fail to mention that I did retrofit the keel FAR larger than the first one and having examined real yachts a bit more...they seem to be very deep in keel...

It sails beautifully and the radio control worked the rudder using a chain gear from one of those Lego Technik kits...

It worked so well I used to sail it around the harbour whilst having a beer in a bar overlooking the bay...until one day...it caught a breeze...took it out of range...straight out of the harbour and out into the Caribbean! We had to chase after it in the hotel speedboat...took us ages to catch the darn thing! I'm convinced that someone in Mexico would have had a great toy if we hadn't!

I will take some pictures tomorrow and post them...

Jim