Annual PATINA Tailgate and Auction *This Weekend!*

In the firmament of notable vintage tool events two pop up on my radar every year; the Martin Donnelly warehouse-cleaning auction in mid-July in central New York and the annual tool flea market and auction for the Potomac Antique Tools and Industries Association, or PATINA.  The PATINA soiree is coming in less than a week, and if you are anywhere in the mid-Atlantic region it is well worth your effort to get there.  You can find the details here.

I do not go as often as I used to since escaping Mordor, it’s only an hour north of DC but four hours from Shangri-La.  I think I have been twice since moving to the hinterlands.

The outdoor tailgating starts at dawn and the weather is often (usually?) a challenge so make sure to dress appropriately.  I cannot recall ever going when the weather was nice, but I’ve heard it is a theoretical possibility.

I have had amazing success at the tailgating, finding everything from derelict planes to be transformed into other tools, such as my parquetry shooting plane and the dovetail plane.  I do not mind thrashing about with a $2 or $5 plane body for some wild scheme, but I would be hesitant to trash a $25 plane body.  So I gather up a handful of the cheap vintage bodies to play with later on.  I’ve also had great success in buying loose laminated old plane irons, and have been known to pick up my favorite model of old Stanley bench chisels for just a few dollars apiece.

By the time I’ve gone through the tailgating twice and made all my purchases there, the inside dealer’s sale is usually open and that is where I normally spend the rest of the day until I run out of money or energy.

Alas this year I will not be there as it is the first weekend of our famed Maple Festival and I am on duty there.  These are the two weekends every year where our tiny county community of two thousand people are joined by tens of thousands of visitors to eat and drink all things maple syrupy.  I’m not  a huge maple flavor fan, but the buckwheat pancakes the size of trash can lids are to die for.