Dave Platz wrote;

> "These old saws are great for playing."  I frown.  He hands
>it to me (probably to try it out) and I look... yup, it's a Disston, and
>nope, those bends are never coming out.  I set it down and he suggests
>that some people like to paint landscapes on saws, maybe I could use it
>for that.  I cease to think of him as a human being.  

Which reminds me that Steve Reynolds and I witnessed something a couple 
of weeks ago that made us fairly ill. We were down at the Friday 
lunchtime flea market shooting the breeze with Phil the Collector when a 
women came up and wanted to know the price for an old Stanley rosewood 
and brass square. Phil said, "Ten dollars." The woman hesitated and then 
said, "I want it to paint on." Phil, without so much as a flicker of an 
eyelid said, "In that case it's fifteen dollars." Phil might actually 
have said fifty dollars, I'm not sure. In any event the woman was stunned 
into silence for a second into which I interjected, "I think I'm gonna 
throw up." Steve wondered aloud why anyone would desecrate an old tool 
like that. The woman began retreating while stammering, "I paint scenes 
on them and screw them to the corners of doors." This prompted 
exclamations of disgust and gagging noises from the two Galoots and Phil 
upon which the thoroughly rattled Desecrator of Squares fled the scene.

So. Now the idiots who paint tools are getting bored with saws and are 
branching out. Are these Normite spouses who are doing this? I fear the 
worst.

>"I'm not much of
>an artist.  What about that thing," I say.  "Oh, that's a wood plane."
>I look at her and she's a beauty, so I gamble.  "Well, the handle's busted
>[small chip out of the horn] and the paint's starting to flake [not bad],
>and it sure is dirty [heh heh].  I'll give you $10."  He thinks a plane
>that big should be worth more.  There's no one else around, so I say,
>(for the honor of that poor, desecrated saw), "Stanley made the only
>planes worth having, and this thing is a... Bed Rock?  [why would I want
>to pay good money for a Fred Flintstone plane?]  I'll give you $15."
>Now I've got a 3 patent date #606.  I still feel guilty about doing
>that, but at least now the soul of that saw can rest easy.

You did good. Those who bend Disston saws and then try to sell them to 
paint on deserve no quarter.
****************************
Tom Price  
Brakes For Rust                                                           
      
 
The Flea Market Tactical Primer is featured at The Galoot's Progress:     
                    
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