The Carlton Scroop Tool Extravaganza
On October 14th I had the great pleasure of attending the Vintage Hand Tool Extravaganza at Carlton Scroop. This is the 5th time the event has been held (And the second in 2023). I believe Another is being planned for April next year.
Held in Carlton Scroop’s town hall, its a fantastic mixture of Demonstrations, Vintage Tool sellers and exhibits of private collections. More importantly for me, its a rare chance to meet tool people from the patch and elsewhere that I would normally only get to interact with over the internet.
Robert McPhail of Old Tool Mart knows my weakness for odd brace bits, and had the most immaculate example of a deck doweling bit I have ever seen squirreled away for me, not to mention a mouth water selection of tools for sale.
I got to meet the patches very own William Leigh and collect that lovely chisel you saw in last weeks post, along with a box of handles from the same piece of chestnut. That saw me running from seller to seller rummaging through their boxes of chisels to find good ones to rehandle in the future.
Peter Tiffney was demonstrating saw sharpening all day. Only when I got to the town hall did I realise I really should have measured my suitcase so I could have bought a freshly sharpened saw from him, but I lacked the foresight. He had one of Phil Gaynor’s excellent saw vices with him, and looking at the tooth line on one of Peter’s saws made me realise just how much I have to learn about saw sharpening.
Andy Brown had his usual massive collection of weird and wonderful tools on display, and gifted me the prettiest little gimlet I’ve ever seen. I spent quite a while perusing his wonderful collection. His plane makers planes in particular are a treasure.
I got to spend a little time chatting with Richard Arnold about wooden plough planes. He showed me how the rear post in early ploughs is slightly rounded on the underside to make it more pleasant to hold. That Is a detail I now realise I have seen hundreds of times in photographs but never picked up on. He also had the original saw that inspired Skelton saws London Longstroke range, along with the first Skelton reproduction. Every time I get to hold a Skelton saw, it makes my wallet itchy (and if you didn’t catch it Shane Skelton did a presentation on his saw range this week on BenchTalk 101.
Bill and Sarah Carter came as well. I got to handle Bills favorite plane, a weighty beast. They entertained me for a long time with stories about an eccentric Irish plane collector who would sometimes catch a ferry and meet them in Wales to buy Bills planes.
Master spoon carver Paul Smithies had completed 3 spoons for my kids. The hysteria they triggered when I presented them when I got home had to be seen to be believed.
Siggy Chaloupa, all the way from Australia, somehow managed to convince his better half to let him abscond from his honeymoon for the day. I’ve spent so much time chatting with him on zoom it was fantastic to finally meet him in person.
Andy Tuckwell brought me a massive beast of a Syracuse wood boring bit that has to be seen to be believed. It had a wooden tube to hold it made with the bit itself, and staring at it you suddenly understand how wooden pipes were once a thing.
Shrenik Savla-Shah turned up, and brought me my copy of the wonderful “British Saws & Saw Makers” by Simon Barley.
Alexander Angell and Phil Bristow, both Bench Talk friends made it down to hang out and help drool over tools as well.
At one point I was chatting with a friendly guy as we both rummaged through tools and it took me a little while to realise it was Tim Smith, the plane maker. The fantastic thing about an event like Carlton scroop is that almost everyone you meet is a fountain of knowledge on some subject.
The Village hall is not massive, but it felt like a tool Tardis. No matter how many times I did a lap of the room, I would spot something I missed on the previous pass. One of the vendors had a wonderful example of a Preston bull nose plane, with an attachable chamfer guide I never knew existed.
My only concern at the end of the day, was would my suitcase be overweight on the flight home. Keep an eye out for next year’s Tool Extravaganza, its worth the trip!
Andy Brown’s mother planes. Planes used to make planes!
Peter Tiffney demonstrating saw sharpening.
Richard Arnold displaying some of his tool collection, and Tim Smith on the Table to the right.
A close up of some of Richard’s infills.
Goodies for sale at Robert McPhail/Old Tool Marts stand
The underside of the Preston Bullnose with the Chamfer attachment.
Tool geeks unite. From the left, Shrenik Savla-Shah, Andy Tuckwell, Siggy Chaloupa, Alexander Angell, Sean O’Donnell (Me), Phil Bristow and Paul Smithies. So good to see you all.
The legendary Bill & Sarah Carter hanging out with Siggy
A days tool loot!