that is a fireman's tool invented by my Great grandfather. it could open a hydrant and pry things
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The version of that game I like to play is with flea market dealers who don't know what it is, is worth, or if broken can be easily fixed.
Sometimes they do know and are glad to see it find a good home where it will be used as intended.
The counter to that is the flea market vendor who doesn't care and wants more than retail.
Them "Hey, I got a bucket of micrometers over here for $9000."
Me: "They look to be all rusted and frozen."
Them: "Yeah the bucket was under a downspout for a while, but you can clean them up and they would be like brand new."
The counter to that is the flea market vendor who doesn't care and wants more than retail.
Them "Hey, I got a bucket of micrometers over here for $9000."
Me: "They look to be all rusted and frozen."
Them: "Yeah the bucket was under a downspout for a while, but you can clean them up and they would be like brand new."
Bob La Londe
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I try to stay on good terms with them too, sometimes a great find slips past them. I'm not saying who or what.
Pretty sure Gunner is dead, so... I finally called him out because he never followed through on anything for me.
Sometimes I'll pay asking price for something that is priced close to value, and then use that as a negotiating point for what I really want.
"Come on. I deserve a break once in a while too. I paid asking price on your other item." Sometimes it works. Sometimes you just walk away with your only slightly over priced tchotchke.
Pretty sure Gunner is dead, so... I finally called him out because he never followed through on anything for me.
Sometimes I'll pay asking price for something that is priced close to value, and then use that as a negotiating point for what I really want.
"Come on. I deserve a break once in a while too. I paid asking price on your other item." Sometimes it works. Sometimes you just walk away with your only slightly over priced tchotchke.
Bob La Londe
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For me it's a treasure hunt for tools that have become commercially obsolete, discontinued, difficult to find, have declined in quality or are very expensive new. As a retired hobbyist I don't have to do things the newest and fastest way, and I often have bright ideas to solve problems while tediously hand cranking a machine tool and watching chips come off the incomplete workpiece. I'm much more inclined to put a cheap or second hand piece of equipment on the milling machine to modify it than something I just bought new for full price. The second hand stuff is made of metal and CAN be repaired or customized.
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