Hotdog I Hit The Jackpot

[bob21804]

I'm a hobbyist who recently got back into leatherwork and I'm really enjoying it this time around. Over the past several weeks I've been working on projects most days and ordering from Tandy and, more recently, Springfield Leather regularly. Today I stopped at a 2ndhand place and asked the guy if he had any leatherworking supplies, thinking he might have a tool or 2. He said he had a bunch, and led me to an wooden trunk full of tools and supplies. I sure wasn't expecting that. I guess he picked them up at an estate sale or auction. It was like a shop in a chest. He left me alone to look through the stuff, and of course I wanted just about all of it. I ended up making a deal with him - $175 for the lot. After I got it all home, started going through it and cleaning things up, as I looked up prices online, I came up with just about $2500 worth of stuff - mostly hand tool, various sizes and types and shapes of punches, skivers, edge bevelers, chisels, alphabet stamps, knives and older lace, and dyes. There's well over $300 worth of items I already had on my Tandy and Springfield Wish List. There are over 100 Craftool Stamps, mostly vintage and much, much, much more. I may have to post pix of a few item that I'm not sure of. There's still quite a bit to clean up, but I feel I really hit the jackpot today.

[tardis86]

nice find! I never get that lucky. congrats!

[eglideride]

SCORE! Looking forward to seeing some pictures!

[TinkerTailor]

A wise man once told me, "Fortune favours the bold, you will never get what you do not ask for."

Nice find. Askin around paid off.

[jtweatherford]

Woohoo! I've been out looking before for finds like that and so far I've come up empty handed. I will keep looking though!

[chiefjason]

I didn't hit that big but I picked up about $300 worth of stuff at a pawn shop for $65 OTD. I caught him before he took the time to price it and told him to make me a cash price on the bag. I got a bowling bag full of tools and other stuff.

Good deal!

[bob21804]

This is actually my 2nd jackpot, although the other time was a smaller haul. A few years ago, I picked up several hundred dollars worth of leathercraft supplies at an auction, for $25 - still nothing to complain about. Here are a few pix of today's haul - not all of it, but most of the tools. The alphabet set had a powdery white residue, but between a brush on my Dremel and a few minutes in my Harbor Freight Ultra Sonic Cleaner, it looks good - no real damage. The last pic shows about 111 stamps. They're not rusty or corroded, more dusty than anything. I think they'll all clean up well. There is some light rust on a few pieces, but I think they'll also clean up fine. I threw very little away, and no tools, except a metal ruler. I am working on loosening up a few tools with stuck parts. There's also several bottles on older Fiebing's dyes (older labels), a couple full and a few less. Also, 4 spools of the older lacing that has some moisture and smells a bit musty, but I think they'll clean up okay too. There's also an organizer with probably a few thousand assorted rivets, snaps and spots in fine condition, and a couple dozen belt buckles that unfortunately are kind of corroded. And there are a few old-style custom makers stamps, but I don't think I'll change my name to Wayne Butler to make use of them. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pix. Let me know if you see anything especially interesting.

[bob21804]

Nothing wrong with that at all. I love a good deal. I drove past the 2ndhand shop today before turning around to check it out. I really didn't think he's have anything. I was on my way to Michael's, to see if they might have some double domed snaps. After loading that heavy wooden chest full of tools into my truck, I never did make it to Michael's. lol.

[bob21804]

Here's 2 more pix. One is the wooden chest, before I dug into it. It's not a huge chest, probably about 32" long x 18" wide, but definitely plenty of room for lots of goodies. The other pic is a wooden handled tool, about 4 1/2" long overall. The handle is 3 1/2", and the working end has 7 prongs, 1/2" long, arranged in a circle. Can anybody tell me what that is? Is it just for making decorative marks in leather, or something else??

Thanks,

Bob

[lonesome dove]

It's called a stippler and used as a backgrounding tool. Nice find!

https://www.google.com/search?q=leathercraft+stippler&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjX_c3lmOXKAhXJRyYKHfazDosQ_AUICCgC&biw=1600&bih=749#imgrc=PRm_HUZqyGgNBM%3A

Edited February 7, 2016 by lonesome dove

[bob21804]

Ahhh, very good. Thank you. It's always nice to know what those odd tools are.

[Bob Blea]

Congratulations, that is a great find!

[bob21804]

Thanks for all the congrats, I spend quite a bit of time today cleaning up the craftool stamps, as well as the edge bevellers. There was a bit of corrosion on a handful of the tools, but fortunately, no pitting on the working surfaces. Now I need to start thinking about making a couple racks to keep them organized and within convenient reach,