TOOLS AND THE SHOP > GENERAL TOOL AND MACHINE DISCUSSION

Unicorn amongst yard sales?

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Davethorik:
Found an ad on marketplace for a Reed 204-1/2 vise for $70 and it looked pretty clean. About 50 minutes one way, not too bad. In some of the pics of the vise, you could see other tools laying around it with price stickers on them. The seller said there was "a whole bunch of tools for sale". I felt my wallet wince when I heard those words, but you fellow garage junkies know how it is.

I get there and I had to pick my jaw up off the ground. Turns out some distant relative of the seller died unexpectedly and had been a plumber, and somehow the seller wound up with all the guy's tools.

There was a 2 car attached garage full of tables covered in stuff, and a pole barn out back maybe 40×20 the same way. Seller was going to have a garage sale but fell and injured his back. The stuff had been set up ready to go for weeks, but he was laid up. He said he was trying to unload some of the bigger items using a friend's marketplace account, like the vise I spotted, but would still have the sale when he felt up to it. I was the first to show!

Naturally, I got first pick of everything. I did get the Reed, which is in nice shape. He had 5 or 6 other vises, most were cheap imports. But I did grab a nice Miller's Falls 2.5" clamp-on, and the pick of the day was the cutest precision vise I have ever seen w/ 24mm jaws for only $2!!!. I also picked up a nice selection of hand tools. I left a bunch of stuff behind because someone absolutely butchered them engraving initials.

Fairmount body hammer
Williams S-15 spinner, 1/2
Proto ignition pliers
Plomb WF-37 breaker, 1/2
Mystery hook tool
Vintage Tru-Flate air blow gun NOS in box
Crescent Jamestown patent pending 8" adjustable
Ridgid E-110 hex wrench

In total i spent a benji for it all.

Davethorik:
Here is a better pic of the precision vise. It had a laser-etched VST10 on top of it, so I plugged that in Google and got another surprise. Sold by an outfit called Gromax, a west coast based importer of machine tools and machine shop related items.

They call it a tool maker's vise, but the description leads me to believe it is mostly intended to be used in a wire EDM machine. Either way, it is built just like the larger versions i am used to seeing. Made of stainless steel, hardened to 56 HRC. Ground all over to within .0002" and list price of $68. It is an import, but very well made.

Lookin4_67GalaxieConv:
That's some quality stuff.  Really liking the Reed.

Is a benji equal to a hundy?

Davethorik:
Thank you, sir. I don't find sales like this often, but I have seen a few in the past, where there is interesting stuff everywhere. The fact I got to leisurely browse with nobody there but the seller was awesome, i think I was there just under 1.5 hrs.

Oh and yes $100 for everything

hickory n Steel:
Very nice for sure.
I love the little millers falls.

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