Musings on rust hunting

My wife and I enjoy Antique Shops, Flea Markets, Estate Sales and the like; and I've been fortunate to stumble over a few nice finds. We make it a point to hit the shops when we travel as well, and can't help but noticing the regional flavor of the tools I happen across. Here in Northern Indiana, it's tough to throw a rock without hitting something used in timber framing or Post and Beam barn construction. The shops are lousy with wooden bow saws, T Handle augers, large wooden planes, big slicks and corner chisels, and huge long handled mallets used to pound the joints together. It's all suited to large scale work. When you see how many barns we have around here, it's a wonder there's not even more of this stuff.

How about where you live? Are certain types of tools more common due to local or regional industry?

Not much woodworking here in western, pa. This region is known for throwing things out and starting over fairly often, and most of the antique flavor around here is more tool and die-ish stuff, lots of old glass (this was a glass making area) and garden tools. Like every place, there is cast iron pans, stanley planes, some chisels, breast drills, etc.

Back home (central PA), there was a lot more T-auger type stuff, and broad axes, draw knives, etc - and you can run across stuff that's really really old from time to time. Plenty of stanley-ish stuff there, too, and a lot of NY and philadelphia maker, and carpenter (the maker) tools. The culture, old germanic, kept people from throwing much away. I can't remember how many times as a kid I was told "that's really worth something". Wife's grandmother would always confirm that you wouldn't throw something away before she'd give it to you as a gift. I couldn't tell you what my maternal grandfather's hobby was - because he didn't have one. Folks of the area didn't throw things away, didn't buy things they didn't need, and didn't self indulge.

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Originally Posted by Rob Luter

My wife and I enjoy Antique Shops, Flea Markets, Estate Sales and the like; and I've been fortunate to stumble over a few nice finds. We make it a point to hit the shops when we travel as well, and can't help but noticing the regional flavor of the tools I happen across. Here in Northern Indiana, it's tough to throw a rock without hitting something used in timber framing or Post and Beam barn construction. The shops are lousy with wooden bow saws, T Handle augers, large wooden planes, big slicks and corner chisels, and huge long handled mallets used to pound the joints together. It's all suited to large scale work. When you see how many barns we have around here, it's a wonder there's not even more of this stuff.

How about where you live? Are certain types of tools more common due to local or regional industry?

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California is a much younger state. There isn't much around Southern California in the way of hand tools or other woodworking (Semi-desert and all). In Seattle, you saw lots of logging equipment.

In Eastern Ontario, the economy has always been a mix of lumbering and agriculture, with skilled trades in the larger towns. Flea markets and auctions often carry a mix of hand tools (many from the UK), axes, crosscut saws, singletrees, harness, yokes, and the usual rusty junk that sells for 25 cents.

My wife and I do the same thing. We typically plan our vacations around antiquing. Here in the north east, woodworking tools are fairly abundant. Since a large number of manufacturer were abundant in the Connecticut area, its not uncommon to come across them.

Wherever we travel, my wife and I take in antique/flea market/resale shops. She keeps an eye out for hand tools, especially planes and makes sure I get a look at them. Most are suitable for doorstops, but a couple have found their way home with us.

Here is southern NH we have a good bit of everything. From the start of NH as a separate colony from Mass, timbering, treenware, bobbins for weaving, lumber for pulp papermaking, and just about every other kind of forestry and tree related industry has existed as a major part of the economy. If you'll pardon the hyperbole, it's hard to go anywhere without tripping over woodworking tools of every description from timber framing to the most delicate marquetry. In the town I live in, we had the various Underhill companies making edge tools from scythes to axes, and on to chisels. John Sleeper the planemaker also worked in town and at one point we had half a dozen active sawmills producing hemlock, white pine, and chestnut lumber. In addition to easy access to antique tools I have 3 hardwood lumber dealers within a 15 minute drive of my house and 3-4 more within an hour's drive. Life is good.