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For many years, one of
the best places to get user-grade handtools was from “The Porch,” the
oldtools e-mail-based listserv (you can join here). The tools were generally sold by users and to users. The prices were friendly. The descriptions were honest.
One of my favorite sellers on oldtools was Josh Clark, who runs the Hyperkitten.com
web site. Since 1999, Hyperkitten has been a great place to learn about
Harvey Peace saws (Josh has a saw problem), plus other fun and
uber-geeky hand-tool stuff. (Router plane type studies? Check. Bench
plane dating chart? Check. Resawing with a framesaw? Check.)
Now
Josh is putting up the tools he sells on Hyperkitten.com. The prices are
fanastic. Josh always finds quality stuff – I know because I have a
fair amount of it in my tool chest.
So if you are in a tool-deprived area of our nation, or if your tool budget stinks, haunt Hyperkitten. Put Josh’s blog
on your RSS feed – he announces additions to his tool sale page on his
blog. And rest assured you are dealing with one of us – Josh is a woodworker and an honest tool seller.
Here’s a link to his “Tools for Sale” page.
— Christopher Schwarz
Other Good Tool Resources
• Patrick Leach, tool pusher extraordinnaire. Sign up for his e-mail list. Get a second job.
• Walt Quadrato at Brass City Records and Tools. Walt focuses on user stuff made in New England. And he finds some crazy good caches of tools.
• Jim Bode Tools. Bode focuses on the pretty and the pretty rare stuff. He posts new tools on his site every day.
• And my book “Handplane Essentials” isn’t too shabby, either. Printed in the United States, it’s 312 pages of plane geekiness.
