The Aberfoyle Antique Market – Six Hours After Market Opening

Aug 26, 2021 | Olde Tools

For years I’ve set challenges for myself when travelling through markets and antique malls. Back in the early days, I’d go on a seven hour run and find (not surprisingly) that I had oa five dollar bill and some change left in my pocket with one mall left to go.  I’d set a goal to walk through the entire mall and find something I could buy for less than $5 and flip for more than $12.50. A long time back in the eBay days (“Tell us more grampa”), I took my young son out with me to find a hubcap at the side of the road. I sold that “free” Pontiac hubcap for $US 32 on the Bay. Two weeks and four flips later… with work and keeping track, my hubcap had turned into more than $500.

A few weeks back, I arrived at the Aberfoyle Antique Market at 2:00 pm, basically to gauge the afternoon traffic – which was surprisingly strong in the heat. In my travels around the market, I found two great pieces. The first was a very rare John Dryburgh strike-block plane. The iron was protruding a quarter inch below the sole and the wedge was right “stuck in”. It had caused the front of the plane to split – which I would have to glue up later. The strike block was truly a rare find. They wore out quickly due to the low bed angle (I have pictures two smoothers behind it to show the bed angle difference) and high applied forces. It was used to shoot end grain and was largely replaced by metal versions in the mid-19th century. This one will will cause me to have to find some exotic wood to make a shoot board – Oh… the bother! I have culled literally hundreds of Dryburgh planes to come up with the 140 unique ones in my collection. This is the first strike-block Dryburgh I’ve seen or heard of… so I ever so reluctantly pulled the $10 from my wallet…

During my travels, I talked with the resident tool dealers and they told me that at least a half dozen tool dealers had been through in the early morning.

The previous Sunday, I was coming back from a Grimsby run in the late afternoon… stopped in at Aberfoyle… and pulled a perfect Disston finger-hole rip saw for $10 and a Millers Falls No 5 egg-beater drill for $8. Unlike the 6 am shark-frenzy… it’s like sauntering around picking up “manna” off the ground. Try it sometime… go slow and be focused.

As I was about to leave the market, I spied this quarter-sawn oak wall shelf and another $20 left my wallet. I can see it supporting “This Weeks Featured Piece” in the timber frame this winter.

The happy wanderer…

 

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