Tuesday 21 September 2010

Good Things Come To Those Who.....Oh, Hell - I Got It! I Got It!...

As my old man used to say, "Gotca', ya bugger!"

Those words usually meant I was in for it, but not this time. This time, its a good thing.

After over ten months of endless solid main gears, I finally found one...


Just about every day for ten months found me doing searches for a Stanley 624 drill on eBay, jimbodetools.com, thebestthings.com and every other site I have bookmarked. Just about every day for ten months all I found were solid main gear examples which were far too new for my collection.

Finally, one stared me in the face. I was so used to not finding one that I continued on before the nickel dropped that I had just seen what I had been looking for. I actually had to backtrack to bring it up.

With most of its original paint intact, nothing broken and not even really dirty, from my perspective, it is a fairly decent example of what I consider to be a relatively rare tool. There may be a number of them out there, but they are definitely not for sale. I have no idea how old it is or what it is worth, other than what I paid for it, but to me, its worth at least ten months of work.


I figured when I finally found one, it wouldn't come cheap as, after all, when demand outstrips supply, the price rises. As I got this one for 17 bucks and I was the only bidder, I figure the demand in all the world for one of these was yours truly, so that wiped out the demand/supply theory.

It is missing its side handle, but it just so happens I have one. Not mentioned in the listing were the three original bits that were stashed in the handle. The cap was turned on pretty tight so I doubt the seller even knew they were there. I'll get in touch with Jim soon to see if he can come up with the complete set for me.

In truth, when I opened the box and held it in my greedy little hands, I quickly realized why there are not many of these old eggbeaters around. I had read somewhere that the spoke gear was pretty fragile, compared to the Miller Falls and Goodall/Pratt. So fragile, in fact, that most were broken. They were not kidding. This was not one of Stanley's better designs.

When I get this one cleaned up and I get the Miller Falls back from wktools.com where Mr. Kuc is working his magic on it, I'll shoot some photos so you can see the difference. There is some serious metal missing from this Stanley.


That's ok, though. I like rooting for the underdog, literally.

Peace,

Mitchell

5 comments:

  1. Nice find Mitchell! Congrats.

    Now, if it turns out to be too dainty for you, I'll gladly take it off your hands. (and do some Kuc magic myself - http://www.bob-easton.com/blog/?p=807)

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  2. Long before I purchased the first one I saw what you did with your Miller Falls on your blog. You have more nerve than I, my friend.

    I had this vision of removing a pin and hearing the dreaded...pingggg.

    Thanks for the comment.

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  3. Recently, I "inherited" some tools from my uncle. I went by his place to pick them up, and gave them a once over as well. There was an eggbeater in the lot, and the handle had a seam in it much like your's (although the drill I got is not a Stanley). I took a firm grip and gave it a twist. My uncle's eyes opened big as he said: "I've had that 40 years, I didn't know it opened!" Inside, a small piece of newsprint to keep the bits from rattling, and 15 new bits.

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  4. Correction:

    On Bob Easton's site this morning looking up an older post of his for some information I discovered that the eggbeater he rebuilt is not a Miller Falls, but a Goodell-Pratt.

    Even though I had read it before, it is such a good article, I got sidetracked with it...

    http://www.bob-easton.com/blog/?p=807

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  5. My father finally realized that it is over for him and his tools so he finally hand it all to me. Surprisingly, there are so old tools that still look so shiny and still usable. Now I realized that having them bears a big responsibility... to keep them clean all the time (lol).

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