Mystery solved!
#10
This must be why so many chisels are found without their handles!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/vtg-Old-Antique-...~oAAOSwFNZW04WI
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#11
I'll let my wife know that at least one other person is as obsessive about old tool auctions as myself !
Chris
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#12
I bet the handle, which looks like it was in brand new condition, was cheaper than a plumb bob when some young carpenter was starting out, or when a homeowner with kids and therefore no money needed one. Pretty clever, although I also bet it was marginal as a plumb bob - not enough weight to settle to plumb quickly. But needs must.
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#13
$5.53 for a vintage chisel handle
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#14
I never heard someone calling a chisel handle "Primitive" To me that is an outright lye and it is not a plumbob either.

To many dumb people out there just looking for money.

Arlin
As of this time I am not teaching vets to turn. Also please do not send any items to me without prior notification.  Thank You Everyone.

It is always the right time, to do the right thing.
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#15
Plumb bobs were not expensive, the Stanley ones were cheap. Even the brass Hercules?? didn't cost a fortune.
A man of foolish pursuits
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#16
I've used a nut on a string a few times. Its close enough for rough carpentry.
Matt

If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.
-Jack Handy

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#17
I went to a vocational school for carpentry and had a classmate who made and sold 50 caliber bullets as plumb bobs. Ever kid in class had at least one!
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#18
It's amazing what some older folks would do to save a nickel back then. For a lot of people, the mindset that the Great Depression created never disappeared. I genuinely admire the frugality and creativity of such people, but occasionally they took thrift to almost silly levels--and this is one good example.
Steve S.
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Tradition cannot be inherited, and if you want it you must obtain it by great labour.
- T. S. Eliot

Tutorials and Build-Alongs at The Literary Workshop
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