Car booty 13/04/2014

Today I took the family to our first car boot sale of 2014 at Rusper.

(They’d tried to open last week but cancelled on the day as the weather was changeable and the field hadn’t fully dried out. This week there were no such issues).

I’d only been once before, last year with my youngest daughter and had been very impressed.

First lap

My first find is probably my favourite:

• Woden X190 dowelling jig – £4

The wooden box is in great shape …

… the original instructions are present …

… and two sets of bushes for the different size drill bits are too.

There are various scales marked on the body for adjusting the position of the holes, which can be moved closer together or further apart

The two holes can also be moved relative to the clamp, to position them on various thicknesses of timber.

The Woden sticker is still bright and clear.

I doubt I’ll use this much, but couldn’t resist such a nice bit of kit for £4! 🙂

I found 4 items on another stall, which I got for £4:

• Moore & Wright hand screw clamp
• Moore & Wright calipers
• Brown & Sharpe calipers
• Hand drill

The stallholder claimed various tools on his stall …

… including the hand screw clamp …

… and callipers were all made by his Uncle as apprentice pieces, but the Moore & Wright markings on the tools beg to differ!

The inside calipers are marked Brown and Sharpe mfg Co, Providence

I couldn’t see any markings on the drill, but I liked the look of it and after my attempt at replacing the springs in my hand pillar drill I thought I’d have a crack at fixing the chuck on it. (The springs do seem to be present, but at least one is rather bent/flattened, meaning the 3 jaws are no longer evenly spaced).

Second lap

The above came from my first trek round the sale.

The family then stopped for an icecream break and I went round again to see what we’d missed.

My first find on the second lap was a saw:

• Spear & Jackson handsaw – £1

The blade is slightly bent towards the tip, but I’m hoping to be able to straighten it.

The handle was what drew me to this saw – it’s in great condition …

… and in addition to the medallion there’s a larger, washer like one round one of the screws.

After the handsaw I picked up 3 tools for £1, including a rather nice hacksaw:

• Eclipse hacksaw
• Robt Sorby chisel
• “Rampin” push pin

The handle has a variety of markings, including “No 20 T” and “Made in Sheffield England”

The top bar can be adjusted to accomodate different blade lengths

The other side of the handle has some TPI recommendations:

I have more than enough chisels but I can’t resist a decent make for under a pound

The handle is damaged but I think it’s still useable.

I have several Woden pushpins, but was interested by this one.

Also in the group photo above is my third find of the second lap:

• “Spiralux” ratchet screwdriver – 50p

I have a bit of a thing for ratchet screwdrivers. This has a very smooth mechanism but is covered in paint, but I’m sure it’ll clean up.

I saw my final purchase on my first lap, but was focussed on tools and didn’t buy it then:

• Wooden sewing box – £2

My eye was drawn to this again when I got back to the stall this was on, so I bought it for my wife.

I’m guessing it was made as one piece and the lid cut off, as the grain continues nicely across the hinge joint.

It even has a load of thread and pins in.

I also picked up some Sylvanian Families for my daughters for £10:

• Wedding Chapel with Vicar
• Sylvanian Families Bride and Groom
• Sylvanian Families Wedding Cake and Accessories

It was a lovely sunny day and a great way to spend the end of a week’s annual leave.

I’m only back at work for a few days before the long bank holiday weekend though and both my local car boot and Rusper are opening on the bank holiday Monday, so next weekend should be fun!

• Admission: £1 (1 car)
• Total tool spend: £10.50
• Total other spend: £20 (including icecream!)
• Grand total: £31.50