A day at the flea market - pic heavy!

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Oct 27, 2010
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Its pretty much a weekly ritual for my son (3 years old) and I to go to the flea market. He and I get to spend some time together and I get to hunt for vintage tools and eclectica. Today, the wife decided to tag along which was almost better because I could really dig through things!

Today I brought home two axes, one bare head double bit and another hafted. I passed on several others.

First up is a True Temper Kelly Perfect 3lb dayton pattern on a 35" haft. This seller paints all his tools matte black to prevent rust, handles and all. Its a pain sometimes, but better than pitted and rusty. This one is is great shape, zero mushrooming on the poll and the weight stamp is clearly visable too! The haft has a serious warp in it and once I pulled it it was clearly not useable. I will hang onto the haft as a pattern because I really like the shape.

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Next up is this double bit. It has lots of red powdery rust on it and I should have passed on it. I looked it over, the bits were decent, passed the file test and I could see the different grinds fairly well. Once I got home and hit it with a wire brush really quick I could barely make out the stamp, I got burned. It's stamped CHINA very lightly. Oh well, I'll use it to practice making hafts and it was only $12.

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One of the axes I passed on was this Norlund boys axe head. It has severe mushrooming on the poll, but that was the least of the issues, it was split all the way through the center of the poll! Yikes!

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The other axe I passed on was a very nice Plumb with a wonderful old haft that had been taken care of. It was just more than I wanted to spend.

It was a good day and I'm pretty happy with my haul. I need to get going on bucking out some rounds of pecan from my buddies fallen tree so I can get busy making hafts.


-Xander
 
Eh--don't be too disappointed about the Chinese double bit unless it cost you too much. If it passed your inspection/testing of it then it's a good user at least. :)
 
Yeah, that's pretty much how I feel about the Chinese axe. It will be one I grab for nasty jobs, lik roots and fallen limbs where damage is much more likely. I'm not going to turn it into wall art just yet.


-Xander
 
That Kelly's a helluva nice score. Too bad about the warped handle. But it still more than makes up for the Chinese axe. All in all a good day for you.
 
That Kelly is a dream, I whole heatedly agree! I visit the bay area quite a bit and I wasn't aware that there were any Pecans in California. I'm gonna have to figure out where to find some and get to haft makin'.
 
'CHINA' :eek:
Send it to Memphis... He likes those :D

That TT is sweet though. I've got one like that, but its not hafted yet.

Heck, all and all a good day and quality time spent with the Fam :)
 
So jelly of your flea markets! All I can find at local markets is weird furniture and baby clothes.
 
That Kelly is a dream, I whole heatedly agree! I visit the bay area quite a bit and I wasn't aware that there were any Pecans in California. I'm gonna have to figure out where to find some and get to haft makin'.

Not much for pecan trees in the Bay Area, you have to head East to the valley a bit to find them. Hell, there are three across the street from me as landscape trees! I'm just about 2 hours East of SF and an hour South of Sacramento, if you make it out here look me up, I'll buy you a beer (or coffee).

Indeed. I have a "China" in the garage right now. I was think about ordering a really nice fiberglass handle for it!!! :p

I'm thinking this one might be a good candidate for the Louisville Slugger haft, I'm gonna find me an old bat and shave it down and make a haft out of it! Unless this is an ancient Chinese war axe from the Ming Dynasty...:p

So jelly of your flea markets! All I can find at local markets is weird furniture and baby clothes.

Geeze, if a Swede is saying the furniture is weird I don't even want to see it, have you been to an Ikea lately?! For every good tool score at my flea market there are 5 or 6 days I come home with nothing. You really have to be persistant to get good loot. I've been going about 40-45 times a year for the last several years.


-Xander
 
I thought about that, but the eye was very mishapen and I don't have access to a skilled welder without paying top dollar. I figure I have better chances waiting to get stuff I don't have to spend much to fix up.


-Xander
 
Just came in from the shop. Got the TT Kelly Perfect all prettied up. Brought out my favorite stripper and had the paint bubbling off in about 45 seconds. Scraped it clean, neutralized it with water, scrubbed with a scotch brite pad and then a final neutralizing bath in Windex. Lots of rust under the paint, but the brass wire wheel was next. It buffed up very handsomly and the stamp is much more visible! I just cant believe how nice of shape this thing is in, I dont think it was ever used to pound on anything.

I also sharpened it up, took the edge back a bit to get rid of some minor chips and dings. It's not a very pretty sharpening job, but it slices printer paper (and my thumb) nicely. I will polish the edge a bit more and strop it as well.

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-Xander
 
Fast14 Good job on the perfect. I love finding heads like that, it's like finding buried treasure.
 
Thanx guys! It sure is nice to see it come back to life. Here it is compared to my no name 3 1/2# Mexican. This is how it looked under the paint before the wire wheel. I guess I know which design they were trying to copy!

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-Xander
 
I thought about that, but the eye was very mishapen and I don't have access to a skilled welder without paying top dollar. I figure I have better chances waiting to get stuff I don't have to spend much to fix up.


-Xander



Good point I have a welder and a forge but I do not claim to know how to use either but I do enjoy the the work it takes for a really abused tool
 
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