Ebay Droppings Thread.

[Colin62]

I wonder if I should offer my old #8 to the guy who lost, at say $1000?

[IanW]

I wonder if I should offer my old #8 to the guy who lost, at say $1000?

Now don't be greedy, Colin - $999 will be fair, & make it look more like a bargain....

[Mountain Ash]

Derek, can you explain more about the snipe thing? This might be why I miss out on things sometimes.

[derekcohen]

Derek, can you explain more about the snipe thing? This might be why I miss out on things sometimes.

MA, I use an app called "eSnipe". There are others. The cost is about $1 per auction, if won. No win, no pay.

What you do is enter into the app the auction in question on eBay, the maximum amount you are prepared to bid, and how many seconds before the auction ends you want the bid to go in (I usually get the bid in about 4 seconds from the end).

If a higher bid than your maximum has been entered before your turn comes up, then you are out of the running - but this stops you overspending anyway. The method also prevents others from knowing that you plan to bid, so the price is not driven up by such obvious competition.

A fair price is generally created because most of the important bidding happens in the last few seconds anyway, and the best bids then push the price to realistic levels.

All this means that you can set you bid at any time, and then leave and wait for the result. And sleep while all the action is taking place

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Simplicity]

MA, I use an app called "eSnipe". There are others. The cost is about $1 per auction, if won. No win, no pay.

What you do is enter into the app the auction in question on eBay, the maximum amount you are prepared to bid, and how many seconds before the auction ends you want the bid to go in (I usually get the bid in about 4 seconds from the end).

If a higher bid than your maximum has been entered before your turn comes up, then you are out of the running - but this stops you overspending anyway. The method also prevents others from knowing that you plan to bid, so the price is not driven up by such obvious competition.

A fair price is generally created because most of the important bidding happens in the last few seconds anyway, and the best bids then push the price to realistic levels.

All this means that you can set you bid at any time, and then leave and wait for the result. And sleep while all the action is taking place

Regards from Perth

Derek

Well that basically explains why I’m no good on EBay.
I thought as I did , I would put my limit at say $50 and see what happens.
I think I’m too old school lol.
Thanks Derek, I have to look into this a bit more.

How does one stop technology so I can bloody we’ll catch up?.

Cheers Matt.

[Mountain Ash]

Thanks Derek. I too think along Matts lines. Your app sounds like a great idea.

[GraemeCook]

Now don't be greedy, Colin - $999 will be fair, & make it look more like a bargain....

No, No, No, Ian.

I have been watching the Antiques Roadshow and it's all about provenance. If you can reliably document an association with Colin, then that #8 should be worth $1,500 in the right specialist auction on the right day; all you need is two or preferably three willing buyers. Derek's bulls!

[Colin62]

If you can reliably document an association with Colin

That’s easy - I collaborated with Ian on his article on making infill planes.*


* By collaborated I mean that he used a photo I took of a couple of planes, which of course doesn’t sound nearly as impressive, but it’s amazing how you can spin things to look like something else.

[IanW]

.......* By collaborated I mean that he used a photo I took of a couple of planes, which of course doesn’t sound nearly as impressive, but it’s amazing how you can spin things to look like something else.

Well, we did collaborate in the true sense, we had a bit of a discussion about it. There were too many scientific papers where the "collaboration" was far more tenuous than that! Some groups seemed to include the name of every member of the institution on everything they published, from the head honcho to the blokes who emptied the waste buckets.....

And shamefully, I didn't do you the courtesy of an acknowledgment!
I'll fix it in the next edition, after which the price of your plane will double.....

Cheers,

[IanW]

I think I've drawn attention to this before, advertised with different pics, but perhaps it's a different one...

I question the seller's motives in describing this as an "early infill" when it is almost certainly a Bailey style #6 with the guts ripped out & some wooden stuffing installed. I think this is being disingenuous, the seller has long experience in hand tools of all descriptions, and would surely recognise it for what it is & describe (& price!) it accordingly. In the current pics you can clearly see the web in front of the mouth and the 'ring' around the base of the knob, which, with the side profile & length pretty much confirms its origins!

So, "Why?" - Why would you do this to a #6 in the first place, unless some freak accident ripped the frog off its seating & damaged the machined receiving area beyond repair? I suppose that could happen without fracturing the body, but it would have to be a pretty rare phenomenon. And why would anyone pay that much for a re-worked #6 that has lost the convenience of its depth & lateral adjusters when you could buy a pretty decent #6 in good working order for half that amount?

Unless you are an avid collector of unusual user-modified tools.....

Cheers,

P.S., the reason I was perusing this site & others was to get an idea of what Norrises are selling for - I want to get rid of my A5, which is a perfectly good plane, but made redundant by my own-made infills. I'll be asking a good deal less than dealers, by the looks!

[ian]

I think I've drawn attention to this before, advertised with different pics, but perhaps it's a different one...

I question the seller's motives in describing this as an "early infill" when it is almost certainly a Bailey style #6 with the guts ripped out & some wooden stuffing installed. I think this is being disingenuous, the seller has long experience in hand tools of all descriptions, and would surely recognise it for what it is & describe (& price!) it accordingly. In the current pics you can clearly see the web in front of the mouth and the 'ring' around the base of the knob, which, with the side profile & length pretty much confirms its origins!

So, "Why?" - Why would you do this to a #6 in the first place, unless some freak accident ripped the frog off its seating & damaged the machined receiving area beyond repair? I suppose that could happen without fracturing the body, but it would have to be a pretty rare phenomenon. And why would anyone pay that much for a re-worked #6 that has lost the convenience of its depth & lateral adjusters when you could buy a pretty decent #6 in good working order for half that amount?

I think the "why?" is answered by "why not"


But as you say the seller has "long experience in hand tools" so my thoughts

the pane is described as being made of "steel" and not cast iron which, if true, would add some value to the plane. AND importantly explain why the frog broke but the plane didn't.

The rear tote, lever cap, and blade are "different" to the normal Stanley offerings.
I'm not up on plane blade markings, but that looks to be either a Matheson or Spiers Ayr blade. Same for the lever cap.


So to my mind -- and I know I may have been born this morning -- what the seller is describing could be "true". It's an infill plane, with an unusual front knob.

Below is a "Steers Patent No.306 Fore Plane"



and a 23-1/2 in Spiers Ayr No.2 Jointer plane in Dovetailed steel

(both photos from Jim Bode's web site)

[IanW]

All fair points Ian. I acknowledge that the Steers plane has a side profile similar to a Bailey, but there are a couple of features, like the web in front of the mouth (the Steers has a very tall one compared with the typical Stanley, & closer to the mouth), & and the knob ring, that are highly consistent with a Stanley #6 body. The blade, cap-iron & lever cap may be branded "Mathieson", but all are obtainable from various sources & I have never seen a Mathieson that looked like this, nor has any literature I've come across mentioned such planes, but of course, that doesn't rule out that this was a prototype, or a very limited run to test the market, that hasn't yet come to any plane historian's notice.

As to why not? Well, true, people do all sorts of funny things for their own reasons, but as I said, I can't see the point of removing a functioning frog other than because some terrible fate befell it. Just sticking a wooden blade bed in a metal body doth not an infill make in my eyes. If the original frog receiver is still in there, or remnants of it, it would've added to the difficulty of getting a clean, tight fit. It looks like a pretty good job was done on it, though I think there are enough wobbly bits to suggest it's not a factory job.

As to the description "steel", well, as I implied, the seller is sometimes vague or loose with his terms, some people refer to any ferrous metal as "steel". I reckon on the basis of what I can see in the picture I would bet at least half a stubby it's common or garden variety cast iron.

I could be entirely out to lunch, it has happened once or twice before. It's the mystery of it all that has piqued my curiosity - I'm mildly tempted to drive up to Noosa & ask if I can take a look at it! Don't worry, there isn't a ghost of a chance I'd come home with it.....

Cheers,

P.S. Thanks for the heads-up on that Steers - yet another make I don't recall having seen before.

[ian]

All fair points Ian.

snip

It's the mystery of it all that has piqued my curiosity - I'm mildly tempted to drive up to Noosa & ask if I can take a look at it! Don't worry, there isn't a ghost of a chance I'd come home with it.....

Cheers,

P.S. Thanks for the heads-up on that Steers - yet another make I don't recall having seen before.

It might be worth your while to drive up to Noosa for a day and take a better look.
Time it right and you could do a bakery stop in Eumundi.


Fitting an infill tote to a Stanley #6 seems an awful lot of work for the likely increase in value.
I'll admit to being totally out of touch when it comes to the value of 2nd hand planes, but I'd expect the parts plus labour to fit the infill would not justify the expense.
also, the seller having "long experience in hand tools" would really be pushing their luck should someone go to the ACCC alleging "misrepresentation"

[IanW]

....... Fitting an infill tote to a Stanley #6 seems an awful lot of work for the likely increase in value......

Increase in value? I cannot see how the value would be increased! Stuffing a bit of extra wood in the back is unlikely to turn it into something that would equal a genuine Norris or Spiers, and as I keep saying, you've lost the handy adjustment system that came with the original. I'll grant you don't need them, I have nearly as many tippy-tap planes as those sporting screw adjusters, but if you've got 'em, they are handy at times.

....... the seller having "long experience in hand tools" would really be pushing their luck should someone go to the ACCC alleging "misrepresentation"....

Whoa there, me lad, I'm not accusing him of misrepresentation! A bit of hyperbole & perhaps some omission of detail, but nothing more. Caveat emptor rules.....

Cheers,

[GraemeCook]

....... the seller having "long experience in hand tools" would really be pushing their luck should someone go to the ACCC alleging "misrepresentation"....

...
Whoa there, me lad, I'm not accusing him of misrepresentation! A bit of hyperbole & perhaps some omission of detail, but nothing more. Caveat emptor rules.....

Cheers,

Simple defence: "I have 10+ years experience with hand tools..."

More realistically; would anyone at the ACCC have heard of Bailey, Stanley, Spiers or Norris? Would anyone know what an "infill plane" was? Would anyone care?