Another neat little piece

[Iplayfarmer]

Yeah! The kind with wooden shelves & cabinets with drawers full of old fittings. It should smell of lightly oiled steel, beeswax and manila rope. The kind of place where you can ask about plugs and feathers and they don't look at you funny.

For me it's a toss up between a good old hardware store and a genuine army surplus store. I'm talking about the kind of army surplus store that gets stuff surplus from the Army, not the newer places that get a bunch of chinese knock off stuff painted green and camouflage. You can tell by the smell... there's a slight hint of gunpowder and diesel smoke mixed in with the musty oiled canvas and rusty metal.

The talk of this Hooten's place reminds of the country song from a few years back...

Dixie Rose Deluxe's

 

[Window Geek]

...
50% of the shoppers were women. They come into the store and turn left to go to the housewares, garden spot, paint/wallpaper, etc. while the guys turn right and go to the steel, welding supplies, tools, tractor parts......:thumbsup:

They were the only place I could find the brass 3/4 inch 2 inch nipple that I needed. Nice folks as well.:thumbsup:
Glenn

We've got a store in Central Mass called Klem's. Tractors, workwear, canning supplies, livestock supplies, tropical fish, toys, and you name it. Usually most 3 point hitch stuff in stock. This is one diverse store and awesome to visit. My wife will always go along.
A few years ago I needed a chimney cleanout door. Couldn't find one at any lumberyard or Lowes or Home Despot.
Klems had it;:cool2: real American cast iron and less than 20 bucks.
That's my kind of store!

 

[Baby Grand]

We were up to Unity, Maine for the MOFGA Common Ground Fair last week and stopped by Liberty Tool on the way. Huge collection of old tools, some of them real treasures, but you have to dig through a lot of junkola to find it. That's part of the fun - it's a scavenger hunt. Creaking boards and old hardware smell galore! I think my wife likes that place even more than I do; I got lucky when I found her.
-Jim