Flea market - always a joy - no matter what the weather is like

[eskoilola]

Today another visit to the Frankfurt flea market. The weather was rather cold so not too much crowd. Unfortunately the sellers also avoided the cold weather. Still I could find something in there. The flea market is there every saturday and this is really something I have not seen elsewhere. The street (Schaumankai) is packed with sellers about one and half kilometer (one mile) length. The items range from total crap to valuable art items. You can buy a on-site-refurbished bicycle or used shoes. Here and there one can buy kebab, bratwurst, mettbrötchen and also some italian specialities with a very decent price. A full blown kebab with apple juice and tea as desert will total about 7 euros and 50 cents. Lecker ! If You want to spend some time to download a bigger picture, the small pictures can be clicked to do just that. It would be nice to see what kind of flea markets there are in Your region. I assume that there is a strong tradition on these in Britain and USA.
I have never owned a tap wrench. The one I found was totally rusted and locked up. However, I could take it apart with my very undecent equipment here in Frankfurt. After oiling with Ballistol the components went into the dish washer. Now the wrench looks really used and beaten but it works like new. Not bad for one euro.
Ballistol is very thin oil that does not make things greasy. I suspect that this oil might be used for guns. At least the name gives that sort of a suggestion. I found this bottle from Conrad.
The same man who sold me the tap wrench had a bunch of threading dies slipped in metal thread. He asked one euro for each die but I was able to bargain the price to a more reasonable figure - these are used and most of them are of some old style. In addition these were very grimy. Also these went into dish washer and when they came out a light application of ballistol made all the difference.
One of dies is looking really strange inside. There are only three spikes with varying width. It might be an acme die but I quess I have to try it out. It has no markings on it.
After some german national food (Döner Gebab) I came across a micrometer. It was totally jammed but as it looked otherwise good I thought that I could rescue it. It appeared that it had been lubricated with some really sticky oil which then engaged the lock when trying to turn it. Back in my apartment I took it apart, cleaned really well, oiled with ballistol and now it turns freely and the locking works as it should. I know for fact that this thing is not made from chinesium and for a price of 7 euros I think it was a bargain. All I now need to do is to calibrate it when I'm back in finland.
Just when I was about to leave for Bauermarkt I stumbled into a lady ... errr ... not the lady but the stuff she was selling. Among all the used watches and whatnot there was two items that catched my eye. The first item was a grinding stone which is brand new - straight from the sixties I assume. The other was a set of character punches. Also these were unused. Both are german made and especially the character punches seem to be of a really good quality. These were the most expensive items for today. Good quality and probably worth the 10 euros.

[Meldonmech]

  Hi esko

               An interesting assortment, you did very well. I expect you will look forward to your next visit.


                                                                    Cheers David

[eskoilola]

I am visiting that flea market every saturday if I am not back home in finland.

Another place that I visit on saturdays is the Bauermarkt (farmer's market). That is the place where I have learned to speak german. Sitting with the old ladies and sipping Ebbelwoi aus Bembel. That is another thing I am going to miss when my assignment here ends. Not the Ebbelwoi but the ladies and the atmosphere.

[Toolshed]

Challenge accepted.  I will try to take some photos of treasures i acquired this past weekend at some yard sales and estate sales.  I have yet to get too our local flea market.  Unfortunately a LOT of market in the states have gone to selling mass produced crap.  Some times you can find someone selling something good ( read GOOD as being covered in grease and dirt and you can take home and fix)

Had one old fellow quizzing me about all the obscure tools he had lying around.  He knew what things were really worth tho, so I didn't come away with a lot.

[krv3000]

brill nice finds