Where is everybody / Cheffins

I live half an hour from it and forgot it was on :-((

Martin P

You wrote (snip):-

M> Is there anybody out there? ........

M> .........I M> bought a few spanners and things from the stalls to remove the mag, M> greasers, oiler etc. and then found that the packaging of the new shiny M> tools I bought was totally impenetrable without machine tools or M> dynamite.

Don't know if there is anyone else about, but you made I laugh - particularly the above! Much modern packaging seems designed to frustrate, remember when sticking plasters used to have a little piece of red cotton thread which made opening the paper envelope a doddle even with limbs hanging off? Not any more - you could bleed to death while trying to negotiate the complex plastic wrappings.

nickh=== Posted with Qusnetsoft NewsReader 2.2.0.8

We stopped going to Cheffins after last Octobers sale. Stuff seems to go for silly money there and its almost a 3 hour drive for us.

Incidently I recently purchased a a 4.5hp Ruston PR from the 1000 engine rally. Id be intrested to see some pictures of yours if you have any.

Pictures of mine can be found at

miley snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com

Congratulations on the new purchase. I hope to see it sometime. It sounds like a good buy helped in some way by a poor description. I would have thought you would have known that the first rule of our interest is never go anywhere without some tools. Of course they will never be the right ones but something is better than nothing. I have a tool bag in every car and a multi tool normally on my belt. I'm waiting for that to be made illegal as it has a knife blade - shock horror. My excuse is that I'm a qualified engineer and therefore I'm licenced to carry such tools. I hope I never have to defend the case though. It would have made opening the packaging easy of course. The worry is how long it will be before we have to have licences for things like stanley knives and sharp screwdrivers as though they are guns.

John

A Swiss Army knife should be OK in most circumstances, but unfortunately, the better designed Leatherman has sensibly locking blades - & that makes it illegal, regardless of blade length.

I've taken to not wearing mine in public places, but at events where there is a Rope of Difference, you should be OK.

As someone who may have to justify at any moment why he has a broadsword with him and as PRO of our professional body, I'm more aware than most of English Law on this issue ;o))

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

"John" wrote

As a "Viking" Kim surly English law is of no use to you and you would not take any notice anyway :-)) Martin P

.net...

Hi Mike,

I haven't got any pics. yet but will post some next weekend. It looks like yours is earlier than mine as I have the Wico EK mag and the Ruston name cast into the hopper. AFAIK mine is dated somewhere between 1928 and 1932.

Mark

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Dear me no, I am as law abiding Englishman as you'll find walking the broad world. Any laws I break are of little consequence, observing my fathers dictum "Law is for the obedience of fools but the guidance of wise men."

English law, you understand, none of this Roman Law nonsense that takes so little account of precedent.

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

Diplomacy done, plates spun, fires fought, maidens eaten - well, three out of four ain't bad

I know what you mean about silly money.

Two things surprised me (although maybe I'm out of touch). There was a very nicely restored Wolesley WDII that went for (IIRC) £120, a very tidy engine but no guarantees as to its internal condition, mag etc. (the catalogue didn't even suggest that it was a runner) so I thought that paying that much for it was a bit risky, not to say, OTT.

There was also a pair of ploughing traction engines, apparently in serviceable condition that went for £140,000! Maybe I'm really out of touch but £140 grand seemed a lot to me. I assumed that there was a premium to pay for a matched pair of ploughing engines. I guess that one on its own is not the optimum configuration for dragging a plough around. :)

But OTOH, there was a very nice threshing machine (smallish) on a specially built twin axle trailer and powered by a very nicely restored tank cooled Lister A that went for £850 ish. It seemed good value bearing in mind that the sum of the parts would greatly exceed that value.

On yet another hand, there was a number plate, '1 BUY', that was bid up to £30K and failed to reach its reserve! Someone was being a touch over ambitious!

I guess that, as with all auctions, it depends on who is there and what they want.

The other thing that really annoyed me was the catalogue. The stationary engine listings were just (as I mentioned before) one liner descriptions which covered the range from my engine, listed as a Ruston 4.5 HP PR (which as I said was useable and nicely restored) to a Ruston 6.5 HP PB which turned out to be an engine block, crank shaft and one flywheel, it didn't even rate as class 1! Quite appalling, I thought, when a £50 enamelled sign plate had a colour picture, a full description and an estimated value!

Mark

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Besides, it's only illegal if you get caught.

John