The Curse of Paul Sellers!!
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8 November 2017 at 3:27 pm #359449
No, not Peter Sellers, although there is a bit of a resemblance…
I mean how it seems that anything Paul mentions in his videos as a cheap and plentiful find on eBay suddenly soars in value.
The most hilarious one would be the £8 Aldi chisel sets, which people are reselling for £25+ on eBay, tagged with “as recommended by Paul Sellers”.But I am finding a lot of those £20 hand planes are now £50-70 easily, and a 4-piece set of Marples chisels in pretty dire condition still sell for over £100. It’s getting to be quite a struggle finding kit that was dirt cheap even mere months ago.
I guess Paul has helped to make woodworking just that popular again!
you can still find bargains if you look for it, even on ebay, just got to wait before pouncing, it can take a long time though to find it for a good price, I once waited over a whole month before eventually finding a saw for £5 that no-one else bidded on, it is now my main ripsaw and it’s a vintage spear and jackson made in sheffield with a nice beech handle, amazing considering I’ve used it on almost every project so far and it just keeps going and going. Try going to some auctions if you can and antique fairs
15 November 2017 at 6:20 am #366905Despite being happy to pay that bit more and having just bought a 044, 78 and 071 planes, I’m sorely tempted to get to some boot fairs as I think there will be plenty of things on offer. Though maybe we all end up like Paul owning 1231 marking gauges this way!
I’ve had some great stuff on ebay, and I was lucky to start my hobby early enough that prices were much lower than today.
That said, if you search ebay for loose terms you can often find things that people have not listed accurately, and so don’t turn up in other people’s more precise searches.
I bought a No 3 and a 4 1/2 on ebay for £11.50, as they had been poorly listed. Both are now my daily users.
For more specicic searches, try setting up some email search alerts, they can help a lot.
Good luck!
Darren.
2 January 2018 at 9:13 pm #426577“Vintage tools”
“Antique tools”
“Old tools”It will take a bit more work to sift through all the extraneous results, but you will certainly find some steals that way. This is also more likely to turn up “lots,” which could be 5, 10, or 15 different tools, but may contain the one or two you are desperately looking for, at a bargain. I recently saw on eBay something labeled “vintage tool lot,” which contained a 71, 2 bench planes (a 3 and a 5, I believe), a try square, along with a dozen other junk tools I wouldn’t ever use, that sold for about $70. The description didn’t list any of these tools, so I doubt many would-be buyers even saw the listing.
4 January 2018 at 1:46 am #427866I do occasionally find things… and I do mean occasionally.
I’m also not a newcomer to things like eBay.I was merely remarking on just how much people are no willing to bid for things. I ended up buying a brand new Veritas router, as it was cheaper than a lot of the poor condition older ones.
I must say that currently I am buying new tools instead of the weak offerings that I am seeing on the EBay market. My first plane (a Stanley #4) I bought on EBay 1.5 years ago when I first started woodworking with Paul. I paid $35 US which I restored the pre owened EBay plane using Paul’s videos. In fact I have purchased many Stanleys: #4(2), 4 1/2, 5(2), 5 1/2, and a #7 all of which I have restored. Now I am looking to buy a plane for my grandson and I do not see anything on EBay worth restoring for less than $100 (including shipping). At that price I would just buy a new plane and either keep it and/or pass down a restored plane. You can buy a new Stanly plane for $50 (yes I know it is not the same as the pre war ones) or the new sweetheart version for $150. A Woodriver version is $150, Veritas at $220 and Lie Nielson $300. For me at $100+ I will go with new.
5 January 2018 at 12:15 pm #428975I have bought on eBay and bought new tools. I don’t always like the new tools, for instance I bought a new Lie Nielsen block plane that looked beautiful but I found it too heavy (I gave it away to a new woodworker). If you look for brands that are NOT Stanley you can do very well. I have some Millers Falls tools that fit me well and they are amoung my favorites. Also if you buy groups of tools you can find some deals, then you can sell the ones you don’t want. It’s really part of the fun, one mans junk is another mans treasure.
21 January 2018 at 5:46 pm #446942Far from it being a curse, Paul and others who encourage hand tool woodworking have saved a dying art. Hand tool woodworking suits so many of us. I have a small space to work in, a 2 year old who loves being out in the workshop and a dust allergy. Companies are now seeing a new market, probably more profitable than selling us cheap/disposable power tools. The new Axminster Rider range is a perfect example. Affordable, high quality hand tools. They’ve even launched a square awl . . .so they must be reading Paul’s book and filling out the gaps!! Win win for us.
24 March 2018 at 9:48 pm #507638Bought 2 10″ quick release bench vices .near perfect condition 99 pence
3 May 2018 at 7:14 am #539091I remember seeing router planes at flea markets for $5. I also remember thinking, ‘Why would anyone want one of those old things when there is so much cool stuff you can do with ‘real’ routers!’
I have been watching router planes on US & UK Ebay literally for months, but unless you are willing to pay an incredible premium for a complete 71 (Stanley or Record, etc.) you’re stuck with a rusted, possibly damaged, bent or warped (I no longer trust Ebay photos – another story) or missing parts unit for not much less than you could buy a brand new Veritas router for, and you will still have to possibly buy parts, flatten it and/or have the unit soda blasted so you can paint it, etc..
I was lucky enough to get a fine Stanley 45 with a couple boxes of very nice blades for a less-than premium price, but as much as I like the idea of using vintage tools the market has just gotten ridiculous with all the speculation and craziness.
I’m getting mine from Veritas.
6 May 2018 at 7:00 pm #540612I picked up a like new condition Stanley 5061 on eBay today for $22. I don’t have a huge budget but I’ve always been into collecting and finding old neat things so I can tell you for sure deals are out there – even still – even on eBay. You will have to invest some time and patience. You have to weed trough part outs and resellers, but if you keep your eyes peeled you will find what you want at an affordable price.
6 May 2018 at 11:02 pm #540712Sold my Stanley rebate plane…..boxed complete for £90!!
Made my own ….works perfect …with vertical adjustment I currently only have a 1/4″ cutter but need to get round to making two larger sizes……I used Allen keys ground and sharpened.
I also have a poor man’s router……..I can cut a perfect stopped housing joint every time in minutes or face of tenonI too have spent quite a bit of time searching for tools Paul has recomended…and found some prices getting too high for me…for example any groves saw! I have found used tool dealers to be more reliable and more reasonably priced…espescially when you look at shipping…in canada i got a decent record no. 4 for about 40 bucks…needed flattening and rust removal but i use it all the time..Darby’s tools in Manitoba i think…got a steal of an 1870 saw covered in rust but nib in tact on ebay..and the nicest handle ive come across…but lots of misses too!
14 May 2018 at 11:42 am #546440In Pauls blog about the groves saws he says the price will go up but even for 100pounds it’s a good price for a lifetime saw. I’ve found multiple groves on eBay for under 150$ shipped. You have to understand how long these tools last and how much use you get out of them. We all want a wall full of the nicest old tools for cheap and you can do that with patience. In reality though is it really expensive? If you pay 150$ for the saw and even use it just for two years that is less than 10$ per month for a lovely saw. About twenty cents per day if you plan to use it for two years only
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