Up for sale on the online auction, a 043 and 050, nice condition although I always understate their condition so that nobody is disappointed.

Went to my favourite hardware store at the weekend and bought a brand new Luban No.1 plane. The good thing it only cost £85, which is a bargain for a quality piece of equipment. I was pleasantly surprised at just how well these planes are made. Having had a look at the Wood River and Lie Nielsen’s I think it is a no-brainer to go for one of these planes made by Quangsheng.

2 baby blue whales out for a swim.

13 as new Marples brace bits:-

1 1/4″, 1 1/8″, 1″, 15/16″, 7/8″, 13/16″, 3/4″, 11/16″, 5/8″, 1/2″, 3/8″, 5/16″,1/4″.

A nice “Scotch” brace with a good collection of bits by Mathieson including a dowelling bit and a bit for flat saw screws. 

When I first became involved in tool collecting, one of the guys I regularly got interesting items from invited me to his storage unit to have a look round. When I arrived and he opened up the unit I could hardly believe my eyes. There in the centre of  room was a 1 1/2 ton Mathieson mortising machine from the Saracen Head Tool Works in nearby Glasgow. He smiled when he saw the expression on my face and said “I think you’ll need a bigger car.” We had a laugh and then I had a look round the rest of the unit. When I was about to leave I noticed a box of tooling sitting beside the machine, I asked what would happen to the machine and he said it would got for scrap. I asked if he would sell me the tooling and he agreed. Although I was unable to save the machine I did manage to save the tooling.

As Mick Dundee would say “That’s not a screwdriver” , “THAT’S A SCREWDRIVER”.

2 London Pattern screw drivers, 4 1/2″ and 23″ in length. The smaller is unnamed the larger by Mathieson of Glasgow.

14 of brace bits by Alex Marshall of Glasgow. Ranging from 1 3/4″ to 3/16″. They are in top condition still showing the yellowing of the hardening process.

Very rare to find one of these in good condition due to pitting caused by the trowel digging in soil and the related dampness. Manufactured by leading makers Brades Co. This is a nice example of a tool used in the Victorian passion of keeping ferns.

The Victorians were mad for ferns, growing them in Wardian cases in their drawing rooms, conservatories and ravine gardens, and hunting many of the UK’s native ferns to the verge of extinction. Then they fell from favour.