Looking for places to buy old tools

[James Ziegler]

The best place I've found is a Midwest Tool Collectors Association (MWTCA) swap meet. The area P meet Aug 24 in Adamstown, PA looks closer to you than the area R Avoca, NY meet July 24-26. While neither is very close, both are closer than you might have guessed based on the "Midwest" in the name. Check their web page at MWTCA.org.

I was looking at that a week or 2 ago. Adamstown, PA is definately closer to me than anywhere in NY would be, and I was thinking of heading there to some large flea markets sometime anyway. Thanks for pointing it out.

[James Ziegler]

Part #3,

Lever Caps, Iron, and Chip Breakers: Look these over.

Hope this helps you in your quest for planes.

Regards,

Stew

Stew,

Thanks for the detailed posts. You should think about putting them together somewhere more accessable. I've read some of the sources taht you mention, but not all of them.

I did manage to buy a couple planes a few years ago, well before I had found any of this information. I did OK, but wish I had bought more when that booth was still at the local antique mall. The Sargent 414 that I got is a good user. The Stanley 5 1/4 should be too, but I've been having a lot of trouble setting the chipbreaker on it. I probably just need to set it up with lots of camber and use it for rough work.If I went though all of your advice, I might have skipped it. I probably should have also picked up the Sargent 418 (guessing what it was, I'm not sure anymore) that the booth had, but it's long gone now.

[James Ziegler]

A good place to look for vintage woodworking tools is in the classified forum here. You can buy without being a contributor, you have to be a contributor to sell. Look every day and act fast; the good deals are snapped up in a hurry.

Are you interested in buying saws that need to be cleaned up and sharpened or do you want them ready to use?

I can go either way on any saws. I've tried my hand at sharpening already, and I need more practice. That particular saw isn't doing a vrey good job right now, but I think that it may need more set, and also cleaned better. I'll learn eventually. I'll probably also take a saw sharpening class this fall at a local woodworking store. There's a hand tool only woodworker that lives near here that ran a successful class at the store this spring, and he's coming back to do another this fall, so I think I'll sign up this time. So if I don't figure out sharpening before then, I'll have a chance then.

[Cody Kemble]

I just had to look it up too. I grew up in central PA and never heard of it. We always went to the green dragon or roots. I actually will be down there the weekend of the tool show. Now I just have to find an excuse to go.

[Jim Matthews]

Englishtown, NJ at the other end of the state had great variety back in the early "aughts".

There was once a reliable flea market in Marlton, NJ at a former drive in, but that's
from the same era and my memory was that pickings were slim, there.