© 2011
Albert A Rasch and
The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles™
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ebay is the devil.
There, I've said it.
One of my compatriots over here is an avid ebay shopper. He gets all sorts of stuff, but concentrates on comic books and electronics. He is quite adept at finding the deals, timing his bids, and putting the right price on them to get them.
It's been a steep learning curve for me, but I finally won my first bid tonight! Suffice it to say that I figured out it takes aproximately 7 seconds for my bid to hit ebay and another 7 to get back. Fortunately I have a multi monitor setup that allows me to refresh one screen while confirming the bid on the other. So I have learned how to play along with the ebay regulars and challenge them on their own turf.
So what did I get?
A 10 gauge bench mounted roll crimper!
I can't remember when I never wanted a 10 gauge bench mounted roll crimper. I mean every kid on my block in New York City wanted a 10 gauge bench mounted roll crimper. As a matter of fact I was at the ECP (entry control point AKA Suicide Bomber Gate 1) and through an interpreter I found out that the scrawny, underfed Afghan was here looking for a 10 gauge bench mounted roll crimper. Go figure. I don't make this stuff up, I just report it!
Now, I happen to own a H&R 1960s vintage 10 gauge slug gun. I've always loved that thick barreled shoulder thumper, and the only thing missing is a handful of brass shells loaded with a big ball of hardened lead up front, and another handfull of paper hulled thumb thick shells with a couple of ounces of BB shot. A cold Fall day, acorns on the ground, with turkey and hog on the menu, who could ask for more?
Some 10 gauge paper hulls, so I can actually use the 10 gauge bench mounted roll crimper that I so cleverly won on ebay, would be nice.
Getting back to ebay, as you all know I'm a bit of an amateur wood butcher, and I love handtools! One of my favorite tools is the Stanley #51 spokeshave. Little did I know that Stanley has produced some 100+ varients of the spokeshave; of which the majority are available on ebay. Now how was I to know that I needed a #67, an adjustable mouth #52, and the #80? Just to be safe I bid on another dozen varients just in case I might need them too.
Now the real problem is how am I going to explain the 5 hand saws I am waiting on? One of them is a Disston Forester's saw measureing a whopping 41 inches that still has its belly! At the price I may get them at its a bargain just for the forester, and the other four saws might actually be useful.
And I have a bid on a slab of Bubinga...
Bubinga?
WTF is Bubinga?
I know now, but I didn't know I needed a four foot long, eight inch by two inch thick slab of Bubinga until yesterday!
I checked out the hammers on the off chance that I didn't have a particular one in my collection of fifty or so. Nothing like getting a real deal on another eight pound sledge sans handle and paying more in delivery than it would have cost to get a new one
with a handle at the local hardware store.
Then there are the wooden planes...
Ok, so I took the Bubinga off the watch list, and I haven't won any of those spokeshaves I thought I needed. But I do have a couple of #78 rabbet planes now, one complete for my father who used to have one, and one for me to clean, refurbish, and bring back to its former glory. I picked up a couple of other planes for refurbishment, a box full of measuring calipers for the machine shop portion of my garage, and another box full of Stanley marking gauges that I will refurbish and resell. I figure that will keep me busy when I get home.
What I'm looking for is a three inch thick, eight inch deep, by sixty inch slab of quartersawn live oak. It's for a secret Chronicles' project that I dreamed up one feverish night, while relentless Afghan ameobas prowled through my intestinal track. I'll need a Stanley #71 too while I'm at it, that should keep me occupied trying to get one at a reasonable price. Seriously, how many people in the world could possibly need one, that everytime a #71comes up they run the price up beyond what can be considered appropriate? Well, I'll keep on bidding and we'll see who ends up with what!
Note: Monday morning 0406 hours Afghanistan.
Stanley #238 Grooving Plane
Started at $9.99 days ago, and has sat there at that price for all those days. Today, three hours before close of bidding it has steadily increased to
$63.00! The 238 would have come in very handy for the Super-Secret Chronicles project I am working on...
Albert
Best Regards,
Albert “Afghanus” Rasch
The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles
Albert Rasch In Afghanistan
Though he spends most of his time writing and keeping the world safe for democracy, Albert was actually a student of biology. Really. But after a stint as a lab tech performing repetitious and mind-numbing processes that a trained capuchin monkey could do better, he never returned to the field. Rather he became a bartender. As he once said, "Hell, I was feeding mice all sorts of concoctions. At the club I did the same thing; except I got paid a lot better, and the rats where bigger." He has followed the science of QDM for many years, and fancies himself an aficionado. If you have any questions, or just want to get more information, reach him via TheRaschOutdoorChronicles(at)MSN(dot)com.
