Today's haul (gloat)

[Marcus Ward]

I promised my wife I'd take her out today and spend the day with her so we went antique shopping (rust hunting). I managed to come home with:

• D23 disston ripsaw 5 tpi
• Geo H. Bishop ripsaw 5.5 tpi (looks suspiciously like a disston). I bought it more to see what it said on the etch than to use it but it's in pretty nice shape so I'll keep it. Both blades have spot rust but retain a lot of their original shine. $3 each.
• 8" greenlee spoke shave 12$
• Yankee 131A pushdrill but it's brass rather than chrome, not sure if that's normal or not. 9$
• nice antique sliding bevel, unsure of the maker. 2$
• butler molding planes, one is a beader, the otherone puts a fingernail profile on, near as I can tell. These are my first molding planes. I didn't sharpen or do anything other than set the irons and try them out and ... oh man, they're more addictive than saws. I must have more, much more. Wow. Can't wait to incorporate these into my woodworking. 8 bucks each in good shape, no checking.
• a brace, no idea what maker it's filthy but in good shape. 2 bucks!

I think my wife got a piece of fabric and a hat. Oh and a sweater. I am clearly the winner here.

I will try to get some pictures up if any are interested.

All this was bought in Sedalia, MO, for those of you in the area. Ohio st & Main St is a pretty nice antiques district.

[jonathan snyder]

Nice Haul Marcus. Nothing like a little quality time rust hunting with wife.

Is your Bishop from Cincinnati, Oh or Lawrenceburg, Ind? If I remember correctly, they moved from OH in IND in 1901. Disston bought them out a few years later. I have a Backsaw (#8 I think) with the Cincinnati etch. Its a great saw.

Lets see some pictures.

Jonathan

[Thomas Knighton]

Nice haul! I agree, let's see some pics!

[Steve Clardy]

Looks like Marcus will soon have Sedalia cleaned out of goodies.

[Zahid Naqvi]

no pictures didn't happen
looks like you had a good Saturday.

[Marcus Ward]

Boy you guys are tough customers. I don't think I'll be able to clean out Sedalia, I'm not rich enough, but the pickins are good right now. Sometimes I go up there and there is nothing, and then sometimes, like this, it's a lot of good stuff. Here are the pics:

[Bill Houghton]

The 131A, while it's a Good Thing, is a Yankee (spiral is perhaps the best generic term) screwdriver, not a pushdrill. The two major functional differences between a spiral screwdriver and a pushdrill are:

1. Many spiral screwdrivers, and, as far as I know, all the Yankee drivers (originally North Bros, later bought out by Stanley) offer right and left ratchet as well as locked functions, for tightening, loosening, and doing fiddly back and forth adjusting of screws. Invariably, except when locked, they ratchet on the return stroke, so that the bit doesn't turn; otherwise, you'd loosen the screw every time you backed off. Every pushdrill I've ever seen turns to the right when pushed and to the left on the return stroke. When used with the proper straight-fluted bits, a pushdrill cleans the swarf out on its return stroke and preps the hole for the next forward stroke (I've read some commentary that a pushdrill drills even on the return stroke, but don't see how that can be true with no forward pressure).

2. The pitch of the spiral on screwdrivers is designed for high torque, which usually translates to fewer turns per stroke; pushdrills are the opposite.

For the smaller Yankee screwdrivers, you can get drill bits; I own a set, but have never used them, because the pitch of the screwdriver shank translates to poor drilling (better than spitting at the wood, but way worse than a pushdrill, eggbeater, or even driving a nail in and removing it).

This is not to denigrate what you've got - Yankee drivers are great tools. You can get both bits and a magnetic hex-bit holder from Lee Valley; I think McFeely's sells hex-bit holders too.

On some years of Yankee drivers, at least, I think the chrome wasn't terribly thick. I've got some, like yours, in which the chrome has worn off either completely or nearly.

Bill, who owns enough Yankee drivers and Yankee and other pushdrills that he can supply all of the grandchildren he'd like to have AND their spouses, if his sons ever marry and start producing, that is.

[Bill Houghton]

Went back and looked at your pics - you've got a North Bros. driver, in my opinion another Good Thing over later Stanley drivers. But that may be my prejudice speaking, since North Bros. was in Philadelphia, birth city of LOML.

[Thomas Knighton]

Marcus,

That brace looks almost exactly like my Stanley No. 919 10in brace seen here:



Mine was readable from purchase still. Hope that helps some

Tom

[Marcus Ward]

Thanks for the info, Bill. I always thought pushdrill was a strange name for a screwdriver but I didn't know what else to call it.

Tom - I finally got the brace cleaned up enough to read the maker's mark. It's a John Fray from before Stanley bought them out. I've got another brace marked both Fray and Stanley so that's from right after he was bought out and Stanley was selling the Fray stock. It's supposed to be collectible but I just use it. This brace shown above has to be before 1906 as that's when Stanley bought Fray. I don't really care for the jaw design on this one, it seems clunky.

[Phillip Pattee]

Marcus,
You could paint some nice schlocky nature scenes on those saws, then they would look real nice.

[Thomas Knighton]

Thanks for the info, Bill. I always thought pushdrill was a strange name for a screwdriver but I didn't know what else to call it.

Tom - I finally got the brace cleaned up enough to read the maker's mark. It's a John Fray from before Stanley bought them out. I've got another brace marked both Fray and Stanley so that's from right after he was bought out and Stanley was selling the Fray stock. It's supposed to be collectible but I just use it. This brace shown above has to be before 1906 as that's when Stanley bought Fray. I don't really care for the jaw design on this one, it seems clunky.

Ah OK cool. I knew it looked like mine, but now I know why

If you don't like the brace, just send it to me. My 919 could use the company

Tom

[Greg Cole]

Marcus,
Looks like you managed to get more useful stuff for less $ than I this weekend.... but I now have a stack of 5 cases of Irish Ale in the shop.
Always say the stack will last a good long while (least til St Patty's day...) but somehow the stack disappears rapidly!

Greg

[Marcus Ward]

Oh man... you should bring some with you when you come down. Is it out now or did you go to blvd to get it? I need to pick some up.

[Rob Luter]

Hi Marcus,

I have a couple sliding bevels that are nearly identical to the one pictured. They are both Disston, and marked as such on the blades. Look close and you may find the same.

- Rob