The large auction of vintage tools was a bust!

[Gene Davis]

Yesterday at dawn I drove east into the sunrise, forty minutes from metro Denver, to the high plains small town of Byers, Colorado. A local auction house had advertised a large lot of planes, saws, chisels, and other hand tools. A "collector" had moved east and consigned his stuff to be sold.

It was the second of three lots, or advertised as such. In the auctioneer's ad, photos showed about a hundred iron planes, twenty five or so wooden planes, and boxes and boxes of chisels, bits, augers, and more, with the saws taped up into bundles of a half dozen or so.

I got there early to view everything and was sorely disappointed. Most all the iron planes were Stanley, of course, but with missing parts, rust, damage, welded repairs, and hardly any had handles or totes one would want. But there were sure a lot of them. All had price tags, as the "collector" must have been actually a seller, likely selling out of barns or sheds.

The wooden planes were firewood. Not one had a decent iron, many had none, most that had wedges were done with badly-done replacements, and the bodies were split and cracked.

I looked through all the chisels, maybe 100 of them, and saw no 720s or 750s. Two in the lot were old Buck Brothers. Most had no markings.

My location, metro Denver, is a poor one for antique and vintage tools. In over a year of poring through Craigslist ads for tools and yard sales and estate sales, I have never seen anything offered that seemed worth restoring.

[Jim Koepke]

My location, metro Denver, is a poor one for antique and vintage tools. In over a year of poring through Craigslist ads for tools and yard sales and estate sales, I have never seen anything offered that seemed worth restoring.

One often has to do a lot of looking for very little finding. Every once in a while one will find a winner. After time, a person who finds a lot seems like they are 'lucky.' It is actually due to always looking. Talk to people, most of the time it is noting but conversation. Occasionally it turns into the mother lode. I have spent quite a bit of money and time with one person with whom I started a conversation.

Another member of SMC I have met and bought a few tools from used to run ads in a local classifieds paper about buying tools. If there are local message boards to post on, that may be the way to find some tools.

Just be aware there is a lot of running around for a few prized finds.

jtk

[Mike Brady]

Unfortunate and frustrating to you, of course. I have done some casual tool hunting in your area and in Ft. Collins. I never spent a dime. What you can find is mining gear and farm/ranch equipment. Tool collecting can be very frustrating and you may want to ask yourself, as I did, whether you want to spend your time doing that or purchasing modern tools and spending time in the shop.

[Chris Fournier]

I guess that some locales are better for certain items but I found out as you have that there are no deals to be had at auctions or garage sales if you add any value to the time spent ferreting out that one gem. I resigned my self to online and new purchases and spend more time at my bench. Of course there is the thrill of the hunt and many enjoy this the most but not me. Better luck next time!

[Nicholas Lawrence]

Worth the trip though. Just think how you would feel if you had phoned in a bid on one of those lots of broken planes!

[steven c newman]

Myself? I enjoy the hunt. Hate brand new tools...why? They have ZERO history to them. One can look at a vintage plane, and tell just what it was used for by other owners over the decades of use..
IMAG0004.jpg
That worn corner? merely shows that the plane was used at a skew to the wood. The plane behind it is almost as old. It has "character" marks all over it....from USE. I also enjoy cleaning the old ones back to life. Hoping they can give a second Century of use.

Some can go out, and buy brand new in the box everything. Equip the entire shop that way, too. Did they learn anything besides how to open a package? Or is it a matter of showing off what all their money can buy?

I'll take the Rusty & Krusty ones, and I can learn from them. Not just how to clean a plane, but how it was used and how to use it. Don't forget, lot of these old planes were The Premium Top-of-the-line planes of their day.

maybe bring back one of those brand new planes in about.....80 years or so of use, and see how they are still doing? Doubtful that those new planes would have been subjeted to the everyday, HARD use that the old timers went through...rant over.

[Chris Fournier]

Myself? I enjoy the hunt. Hate brand new tools...why? They have ZERO history to them. One can look at a vintage plane, and tell just what it was used for by other owners over the decades of use..
IMAG0004.jpg
That worn corner? merely shows that the plane was used at a skew to the wood. The plane behind it is almost as old. It has "character" marks all over it....from USE. I also enjoy cleaning the old ones back to life. Hoping they can give a second Century of use.

Some can go out, and buy brand new in the box everything. Equip the entire shop that way, too. Did they learn anything besides how to open a package? Or is it a matter of showing off what all their money can buy?

I'll take the Rusty & Krusty ones, and I can learn from them. Not just how to clean a plane, but how it was used and how to use it. Don't forget, lot of these old planes were The Premium Top-of-the-line planes of their day.

maybe bring back one of those brand new planes in about.....80 years or so of use, and see how they are still doing? Doubtful that those new planes would have been subjeted to the everyday, HARD use that the old timers went through...rant over.

That is indeed quite the delusional rant Steven, I like it!

I don't care for old hand tools at all although I'm sure that my new to me hand tools will please someone down the line although they won't need any cleaning or fettling for the 10 cents on the dollar that they will fetch.

While I have no vintage hand tool love I am into older houses and live in one for many of the reasons that you laid out, I like the rounded edges and history that I can guess at. Now that I think of it I feel the same way about some of my motorbikes, the old ones are more interesting these days.

Oh man, I pray that I don't get inflicted with the vintage hand tool bug at this stage in the game, it would ruin me! What have you done?

[Gene Davis]

I think that going west, out across the prairies and plains in then into the mountains, the good tools stop at a line going from Minneapolis down through St Louis. Some may have made it out to Des Moines and Omaha, but what you need for good tool hunting is a history of ongoing wealth, and my location in the intermountain west does not have it.

I grew up in Summit county, Ohio, an area settled not long after the Revolution, with rich soil that brought in good crops every year. The county seat towns of Ohio and the rest of the midwest, with their big old courthouses, their close-in streets full of huge old homes, the stores and shops, the grain elevators, and the relics of old manufacturing plants, meant that all through the 1800s there were people of means that could afford good things. Thus there were shops and men working with good tools to produce those good things.

We moved to Colorado a year and a half ago, and I have toured most of the state, and the surrounding places in Wyoming, Kansas, Nebraska, and New Mexico. I go solo by motorcycle and stop to look at all the towns and villages. It is all a completely different scene from where I grew up and where we lived before here (upstate NY), the biggest difference being the lack of a history of long-term prosperity. The high plains consist of ranch lands and dry land farmland, with the front range of Colorado having a history of both, plus mining. The mining towns of Colorado were all boom and bust places, with most of the money interests having been absentee owners and investors.

Which is why the huge tool collection I saw yesterday was mostly junk. Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward stuff.

But I have my eye on a nice try plane made by A. Mathiewson in Glasgow, circa maybe 1875. On eBay, not from a yard sale or auction.

[Stew Denton]

Hi All,

Sorry the auction turned out to be such a bust.

I fall in the group with Jim and Steven, there is just something about the old tools. I wonder, every now and then, "who used this plane, what did they make or build, were they a carpenter or craftsman, perhaps a skilled hobbyist?"

I dearly wished that years ago I had marked my saws, planes, etc., as to whether they were my dads or my grandfathers. I know in some cases, but not all. Now they are mixed in with mine and in the case of the saws I know one of my grandfathers, and a few that I have owned for 40 years or so, but not the rest, same with other tools. I can use my grandfathers #4 Ohio plane, or his mallet or saw, or my dads 605 Bedrock or square, or one of the other tools that I know were theirs, and there is a link there. I think they would have approved, and appreciated that link if they had lived to see it, or knew that in the future I would use those same tools, and value their tools. I wish I could talk to them.

By the same token, I hope my grandsons will use, take care of, and appreciate the tools that they can inherit from me, and in some cases know that they are the 5th generation of their family to use those exact tools. My son in law will appreciate that, but I don't know if the grandsons will grow up to use, and enjoy woodworking tools, they are too young now to know.

Like Steven and Jim, I enjoy restoring and using the old tools, and by and large, once they are restored, they are wonderful tools. To me, a new tool will never have quite the same attraction as one of the vintage ones that I have restored. That is not to say that some of the really good modern tools aren't wonderful tool, because the premium tools are also wonderful tools.

Because of the above, I enjoy reading how others restore old tools, and Jim, Steven, George, and others have contributed to my improvement in that area.

Mike and Gene, I think you are right about the area. My son in law has advised that good vintage tool hunting is much better toward the east coast, not so good here in the west, where we live.

My 2 bit rant.

Stew

[Steve Bates]

I agree with you Gene, it's slim pickings out here. Although, going to a Rocky Mountain Tool Collector club meet I've found several good user tools. I've observed these guys and gals like to upgrade their collections so I've found good deals on their excess inventory.

I understand the Midwest Tool Collector Association is another good source for information and tools.

Good hunting.

[Frederick Skelly]

But you know Gene, it might have turned into a bonanza too. The only way to know was to go and check it out. ......For me, there's worst ways to spend a Saturday morning than gettin' up early, pouring a good cup of coffee and driving 40 miles all by my lonesome self in hopes of finding something interesting. Quality time man, quality time. All by my self. Even if the tools were retched.

Better hunting the next time!
Fred

[Rob Luter]

Yesterday at dawn I drove east into the sunrise, forty minutes from metro Denver, to the high plains small town of Byers, Colorado. A local auction house had advertised a large lot of planes, saws, chisels, and other hand tools. A "collector" had moved east and consigned his stuff to be sold.

It was the second of three lots, or advertised as such. In the auctioneer's ad, photos showed about a hundred iron planes, twenty five or so wooden planes, and boxes and boxes of chisels, bits, augers, and more, with the saws taped up into bundles of a half dozen or so.

I got there early to view everything and was sorely disappointed. Most all the iron planes were Stanley, of course, but with missing parts, rust, damage, welded repairs, and hardly any had handles or totes one would want. But there were sure a lot of them. All had price tags, as the "collector" must have been actually a seller, likely selling out of barns or sheds.

The wooden planes were firewood. Not one had a decent iron, many had none, most that had wedges were done with badly-done replacements, and the bodies were split and cracked.

I looked through all the chisels, maybe 100 of them, and saw no 720s or 750s. Two in the lot were old Buck Brothers. Most had no markings.

My location, metro Denver, is a poor one for antique and vintage tools. In over a year of poring through Craigslist ads for tools and yard sales and estate sales, I have never seen anything offered that seemed worth restoring.

That's a shame! I agree that Denver is a tough town to find old tools. It's just not old enough. That said, there's an antique mall on the South end of Broadway we like to hit when we're out in Littleton visiting family. They usually have a couple of decent items. I scored these augers there last year:



A couple years back the same place had a box full of old Millers Falls eggbeater drills as well as misc. eggbeater parts. I pulled a nearly new drill out of the mix. It gets used frequently. I've seen some Stanley #4 and #5 planes there too.

[Gene Davis]

If you are talking about the large antique place in Littleton at 5501 S. Broadway, I was just there and they had nothing of value. Very slim pickings. A place near me in Lafayette has far more.

I've my fingers crossed, having just paid market price on eBay ($108) for what appears to be a genuine and original 22" wooden try plane by A. Mathieson, Glasgow, middle 1800s, with Mathieson double iron. It should arrive by week's end. Rounds out my wooden plane array, filling the gap between my 16-inch double iron jack and the 27-inch single iron jointer.

It is what I had hoped to find out at the auction in Byers.

That is a nice looking set of bits. Were they sharp, or did you have to hone them?

[Lenore Epstein]

. It is all a completely different scene from where I grew up and where we lived before here (upstate NY), the biggest difference being the lack of a history of long-term prosperity. The high plains consist of ranch lands and dry land farmland, with the front range of Colorado having a history of both, plus mining. The mining towns of Colorado were all boom and bust places, with most of the money interests having been absentee owners and investors.

Same thing anywhere I've been in Utah, though I'll admit I wasn't looking hard for hand tools back when I lived for yard sales and classifieds hunts. Plenty of mining and livestock gear and absolute junk, though, although I've narrowly missed a few decent looking old Stanley bench planes in the classifieds.

I think it's hard for those on the coasts or places like the upper and middle Midwest to picture just how different things are here.

I love well-made old tools, and there's something a little heroic about flattening convex plane soles (I'm STILL trying to get my eBay #3 flat from side to side), but it would be really nice to be able to meet a tool in person before taking it home so I'd know how much work I was signing up for. Too bad I'm far too attached to the relatively barren Intermountain West to consider relocating, and I'm not up for traveling more than a few hours from home, so I either need to figure out which online old tool dealer to trust or break down and blow the big bucks on new tools.

[Rob Luter]

If you are talking about the large antique place in Littleton at 5501 S. Broadway, I was just there and they had nothing of value. Very slim pickings. A place near me in Lafayette has far more.

I've my fingers crossed, having just paid market price on eBay ($108) for what appears to be a genuine and original 22" wooden try plane by A. Mathieson, Glasgow, middle 1800s, with Mathieson double iron. It should arrive by week's end. Rounds out my wooden plane array, filling the gap between my 16-inch double iron jack and the 27-inch single iron jointer.

It is what I had hoped to find out at the auction in Byers.

That is a nice looking set of bits. Were they sharp, or did you have to hone them?

Yep, that's the place. I have family in Littleton and we manage to stop in every time we're out there. I'll be in Arvada/Golden/Louisville next month and am interested in the place in Lafayette. What's it called?

The bits are like new, and plenty sharp.