I went to a local flea market today

allen levine

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new york city burbs
I could not get motivated this morning to go outside and work on chairs.
I attended a wedding last night, didnt get there till 9:00 pm, had to work, and was pooped today.
So I decided to go over to a flea market in back of the cinema.
(green acres shopping mall)
Its almost like a real flea market again, alot of people selling used stuff, not so many people selling socks or pickles or nuts.
I came across a guy selling various tools, mostly old rusted junk hand tools, but he had 5 or 6 old wooden hand planes, similar to what someone posted the other day. 2 were missing blades, the others the blades looked old and rusted.
I really only wanted them so when I redo my shop, I can hang them on the wall for decorative purposes only. He wanted 25 or 30 bucks each, I only wanted to give him 10 dollars each. We each thought each other was nuts, so that was that.
The next tool booth I stopped at, alot of new stuff, but all generic cheap looking hand tools. No name brands, really priced cheap, but I really didnt need much of that, I stick to mainly craftsman for hand tools. I did manage to find one item I needed, Kobalt brand, a 25 pack of #2 square head bits.
3.00 bucks, sounded reasonable, so I made my first purchase.
A few minutes later, I found a guy on the end of the aisle, with a ton of hand held power tools, all or mostly all obviously used, but most of all the saws or drills had the hard plastic cases they came in.
I was really interested in a sawzall, since my cheapo ryobi 18 V is gone, I gave to my son along with all the other battery operated tools by ryobi.
I asked him if I could try the sawzall out, to make sure the one I want works ok, he said, take it home, plug it in, if it doesnt, just bring it back, hell refund my money. Uh, if it doesnt? Do you have a plug here.(no) Can I go over near the theatre maybe theres an outdoor plug or one of the food vendors will let me borrow a plug for a second? (he wanted no part of that, like he would not trust me which I was fine with, but send one of the kids with me he had working there.), didnt happen, so I had to walk, didnt think my request was off the wall like he looked at me like I was from another planet.
Found one more guy with tools, but as I walked over to look over his stuff, I noticed he had the cheapo ryobi 10 inch portable table saw, the one I see for 99 bucks on sale at HD, and he had a crud blade in it, the fence was crap, not as good as the fence I had on my ryobi portable, and he had a little metal stand under it, and wanted 125 bucks for it all. What? Used at most, that saw is 50 bucks in the condition it was in.
It was hot, the heat got to all these vendors I figured, or maybe they thought they were sitting with gold.
I spent 3 bucks, but Im still looking for a few tools.
 
In the grand scheme of things, it sounds like you had a successful day at the flea market. You've still got money in your pocket for when you find a real buy. ;)
 
Allan, we have a place down here called Oak Hill Flea Market.....I like to call it the only place that you can buy a 12 gauge shotgun and a party hat for wife from the same vendor. This place is so backwards it is unbelievable. And the reason I say that is because everyone thinks that their junk.....and I do mean junk....is forged in gold. I don't even bother going there anymore. I have better luck with Craigslist.

Just my 2 cents
 
It's not the heat Allen. They are genuinely nuts!:eek: I've been cruising craigslist pretty regular and what some of these people are asking for the el cheapo tools is unreal. Only thing I can think of is that there are alot of suckers out there.:dunno:

Thats what lead to my jointer purchase. Saw a grizzly 8" on craigs and the guy want $650 for it. Listed what he paid for shipping, how much the push blocks cost, extra set of blades and so forth. I e-mailed him and offered him $400 and said you could get a brand new one for that price. He thought I was nuts. I still see it listed so who is nuts?
 
sometimes but not to often do you find deals at those, doesnt seem like there would be that many folk intersted in buying the stuff that is offered at those prices:)
 
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