It all started innocently enough. My goal was to acquire
old hand tools to use in my furniture-making business.
The more I acquired and learned to use, the more fasci-
nated I became with the tools used by previous gener-
ations — tools that built this, and other, nations before
electricity became such an important factor in our lives.
History, as well as handcraft, has always been a passion
of mine, and in using old hand tools, the two seemed to
meld seamlessly together.
As my tool inventory grew, in self-defense, it became
necessary to sell off some of my tools in order to make
room for more. (Any of this sound familiar?) This need
gave rise to the Semi-Annual One Old Sorehead & One
Nice Guy Vintage & Antique Tool Sale.
The plan was simple: have a one-day garage sale in order
to sell off duplicate examples of tools and ones I no long-
er "played with." A conversation with a friend I'll call "Bill"
(because that is his name) led me to the conclusion that with
his excess inventory as well as mine, we could make a pretty good offering
for the day. A Saturday date was set, flyers
were printed and mailed to known tool "users" (read: "collectors")
as well as left at locations they were known to fre-
quent, a classified ad was placed in the local newspaper, and fingers
were crossed.
The day arrived, the gate was opened at the pre-deter-
mined time, and eager tool hunters rushed in with desire
in their eyes and money in their pockets. Later that day
after the frenzy died down, plans were made for another
tool sale later that year.
From its austere beginnings that May in 1997, the
Semi-Annual One Old Sorehead and One Nice Guy Vin-
tage & Antique Tool Sale has grown from a one-day sale
with an attendance of 75 to 100 people to a two-day
event with an attendance in excess of 700, and growing.
- Lynn Dowd
THE 23RD ONE OLD SOREHEAD
& ONE NICE GUY VINTAGE &
ANTIQUE TOOL SALE
MAY 17 & 18, 2008
Great
weather and record attendance characterized the 2008 spring tool sale.
For the second time, we caught some of the action on video.
A good time was had by all.
For
the curious among you, the song on the video is "Stuff That Works",
written by two fellow Texans, Guy Clark and Rodney Crowell. This performance
is by Guy Clark, with Rodney Crowell sitting in, and can be found
on Clark's "Dublin Blues" CD. I highly recommend you pick
up a copy.
22nd One Old Sorehead
& One Nice Guy Vintage & Antique Tool Sale Video
This young man,
referred to as a GIT
in some circles,
convinced his proud
Papa to purchase
him a saw of his very
own. Thus begins his
slide down the
"slippery slope".
Two honorary "Old Soreheads" ( the original
Old
Sorehead is in half-frame on the left ) gazing in utter dis-
belief at how nice the Nice Guy can truly be.
Father
and son tag teams... a wondrous sight to
behold!
More photos from past sales:
DOWD'S TOOLS ON THE ROAD
On June 16th, 2007
Dowd's Tools packed up the trusty 1980 Suburban and made a trip
to Austin,
Texas - a relief effort, of sorts, to the "old tool deprived"
deep in the heart of this great state. We
had contemplated doing this for a while, but were having trouble
finding a venue. Relatives of ours
were about to do some extensive remodeling on their house, and were
having a garage sale to clear
out space. They were generous enough to offer us the use of their
carport during the sale.
We contacted tool
junkies we know in Austin ( they helped spread the word ) and did
additional
advertising. We got up early ( EARLY! ) that Saturday morning, made
the drive down to Austin, and
set up. The turnout was better than we expected, and the crowd was
enthusiastic. While our
offerings were but a small portion of what we lay out for the sale
here in Garland, it was, from all
reports, much larger than is usally seen in one place in the Hill
Country of Texas.
Our thanks to the
good folks of Austin, Texas for their warmth, hospitality, humor,
kindness, and
encouragement. We'll be back. Our special thanks to John, Dianne,
and Helen Barton, our hosts.
