2 of pad saws. 1 made from rosewood the other from beech. Elegant little items at a small cost.

 

Lufkin 50′ tape in original box. Of little value but a nice display

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This is a Mathieson 2 1/8″ machinist level that I carry with me as a lucky charm. It is small enough to fit snuggly into my pocket. In all the time I have been collecting old tools, I have never seen another of its like.

I called into Bills Tool Store as usual, at the weekend. The previous week I had seen a new old stock Record spokeshave on display and thought about making a purchase as it was only £7.50p. In the end, I had decided against it. In the meantime, I had a change of mind and decided I would buy it if it was still there. When I arrived at Bills I checked the windows and it had gone. In its place, there was a Stanley USA 271. I decided not to make the same mistake as the previous week and bought it right away.

There can’t be many tools stores where you can still purchase this type of vintage tool.

Thank goodness for places like BTS.

On a recent trip to my brothers’ workshop, I happened to mention that I was considering buying an Ultimatum brace, as an addition to my tool collection. We had a look at a few back additions of our  David Stanley catalogues and then carried on working on our latest projects. Over the past few weeks, we carried on refurbishing a number of planes with no more mention of the brace, until last night when he presented me with this fully functional miniature brace that he had made in the workshop. Dims 6 3/4″ X 2 1/4

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Two Stormont Archer mortice chisels (pig stickers) manufactured in Sheffield, England.

Partial labels on both. Good condition. Both blades 6 3/4 inch (17cm).

A note of interest: I read an article in a national newspaper about Bill’s Tool Store in the Barrowlands in Glasgow, Scotland.

The owner of the shop, which has a fantastic real old feel to it, has been collecting tools for yonks. I believe that he even bought some of the tools from Alex Mathieson closure, which had its main factory only a half mile down the road. Anyway, he has been quietly adding to his collection for the past 40+ years.

The week before the article came out my brother happened to be in Glasgow and called into Bill’s Store. Bill(Val son of Bill) occasionally had an odd older tool for sale. My brother got talking to Bill about his interest in old carpentry tools and, off the cuff, Bill said, “I’ve got a collection too. Would you like to see it?”. My brother (a collector himself) jumped at the chance.

Bill took him into a neighbouring five-story building, which was jam pack with tools. There were at least five Spiers mitre planes, shelves of Infill Planes, unopened boxes – all sorts! Bill said that he hoped to turn the building into a museum and keep the history going. I can only hope he does.

So if you are ever in Glasgow be sure to pop into Bill’s Tool Store. He might let you have a look around!

In the Spring of 2018, I got a phone call from my brother to say that on a visit to a local hardware store, he had noticed a box of old tools. When he inquired about them he was told that they had belonged to the previous owner of the store, who had sadly past. It had always been his intention to clean the tools up and put them on display. As like many a project, he had never gotten round to doing so.

The tools now belonged to his elderly wife who only came into the store on a Wednesdays. The person that my brother was speaking to was the owner’s daughter. She said that they might be for sale, but that they had been “stung” by somebody who had gone through the box and given £50 for a Norris. Of course, when they checked up on the price of the Norris, they had felt cheated.

My brother called me to ask if I would be interested in making an offer on the tools that remained. He said that the box contained a 13 1/2″ Spiers, a Mathieson smoother, a Preston bullnose, a Preston bullnose copy, a copy of a Preston router, an unnamed smoother and a beech brace. Wednesday came and I decided to make my way to the store. I introduced myself as the brother of the guy who had called in the previous week.

The older woman was busy cleaning the tools and her daughter told me the story of the Norris, saying that they might not sell the tools because they felt cheated. I explained that I was a collector, which I consider is top of the food chain as far as buying tools is concerned (mug!). She still said that they were unsure. I told them what the tools would be worth when restored and what I thought they were worth as is. I made a top offer for the tools and I just about had my hand bitten off.

The daughter said that she had looked up the router on the web and it was a Tyzack. At the time I didn’t realize the significance of that but after checking up, I found that they are rarer than hen’s teeth. I decided to show off my newfound spoils to my nephew, whose reaction was, “You’ve paid hundreds of pounds for a box of rust?”.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

 

I’ve recently seen a few Granny’s Tooth routers on the online shop reported being by the great maker Alex Mathieson. Alas to say, the reason that most people name them by Mathieson is by reference to the blade. Like everything else that Mathieson manufactured, they are of the highest quality.