On Sunday evening Candy, aka SWMBO, was asking about plans for going into town Monday and suggested we go out for breakfast. Sounded like she was coming down with a bout of cabin fever.
We decided to hop across the river into Rainier, Oregon where the Cornerstone Cafe serves up a good feed. This also made it easier to convince Candy it might be a good day to drive to the lumber store in Portland and check the antique and thrift shops along the way. She was happy to oblige.
Coming into St. Helens there was a faded sign with a difficult to read address. We couldn’t find the place going by what we thought was on the sign, we passed by too quickly. We did see a shop open we hadn’t been in before. The sign on the outside said “collectables, crafts and guy stuff.” Most of the guy stuff was car tools, tailed tools or fishing stuff. There was an 8” sweep Stanley brace, a #923 if my model memory is correct. There was no price on it, when asked about it the lady of the store said, “make an offer.”
Thinking, thinking… “Hmm, now she wants me to both buy it and sell it. Maybe my 'I don’t really want to buy this thing price' might get me off the hook… “
“How about two dollars?”
“Okay”
She got me and she got my two bucks.
We continued on toward the old part of town where there is an antique mall we like to visit. There was a cast iron nutcracker corn/shortbread pan in the window Candy was interested, but not for $70. While talking with the woman at the counter tools came up and she told me to go back and see Tony who was straightening up his space. He has one of my favorite stalls to rust hunt in the store.
A short walk to the back of the store and there he was arranging his display. After introductions were traded and my interest in tools was exposed he started showing me some of the things he was bringing in today. He handed me a fairly clean Stanley #40 with a Sweet Hart iron. The price tag was $40 (this plane was going home with me, trying to keep a straight face).
He really packs stuff in. There was a pre-lateral transitional jointer wedged between a couple of fruit crates full of odds and ends. He even showed me a corner of a Griswold mail box buried in a display case. He gave me the feeling he really didn’t want to sell it. He also told me about the Griswold collector from whom he bought it. He said the guy had about a dozen of the mailboxes but would only sell the one for close to retail.
He also said he would make a deal if we bundled a few items. Oh! Twist my arm why dontcha!
Tony showed me a plane amongst a crowded case with the handle lower than the top. He pulled it out and it was the plane that caused me a bit of lament because it was left behind one time in the shop and wasn’t there the next time. Turns out Tony has three or four different spaces in the shop and things get moved around. He also rotates stock between another store in Scappoose, Oregon, the next town over. The plane has a round bottom with an ~1-3/8” radius.
He had a couple of other planes, one a Craftsman by Millers Falls. The other had an early Stanley R & L Co Bedrock lever cap and was marked $20. A quick look indicated it wasn’t a Bedrock. It had a tapered iron. The base looked to be an Ohio Tools model. He received a quick introduction to the world of Franken planes. The mouth was damaged at the back. He was a little surprised about the lever cap likely being worth the price he was asking all by itself. If the wood wasn’t in such poor shape that one would have come home with me for parts investment. Maybe if it is still there next time.
There was also a very nice falling wedge. Having come close to running out of wedges when taking down a big cedar in our yard, the tree cutter was lucky for my propensity to accumulate wedges, it seemed reasonable to get another.
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He also had some cast iron tea pots Candy wanted. There was a piece of pottery, about 10” tall, that caught my eye:
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The pot talked me into buying it and there is nothing more for me to say about that.
Upstairs in the shop there was a cabinet with a pair of calipers. Lately it has come to me having another pair or two at the lathe would be handy. Doing more work using dividers has opened up an abundance of new ideas.
We settled up and rolled out of town.
There is an antique shop somewhat between St. Helens and Scappoose without a sign that isn’t always open, but we could see the doors were open so we drove into the parking area. There were a few braces there and my story about the unwanted brace was related to the woman in the store. She told me to go talk to her husband Jeff and see if he might be interested. Jeff looked at it and when asked if he wanted it he didn’t seem too interested until my offer of “three bucks.” It was plain to see he was struggling to not take it, but it still ended up coming home with me. He laughed when he was shown the calipers, he remembers me from buying a pair of dividers from him and later a lefty hewing hatchet.
We didn’t find much of interest there so we drove on toward Portland. Crosscut Hardwood lumber has advertisements calling themselves “the woodworkers candy store”. Yes it is.
Candy saw a piece sawn from tree that was 12/4 X 10’ tall with the thinest part of the trunk a bit less than 4’. It was marked as being 137 BF. it was pretty. Candy walked up to it and pressed against it with her arms out and said, “make me a table with this.” Even without knowing the species, it was clearly out of our budget. We did come across a piece of 12/4 hard white maple that got my attention and 20 BF worth out of my VISA. Candy found a couple of pieces of 4/4 black walnut for which she has a project in mind.
The weather was great today. A good day for my lady and me to get out for a ride and some shopping. Not such a good day for the bank account, but it is only money.
The weather report looks like rain and a lot of it for the next week.
jtk
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