# Depth gauge and other auction wins



## trlvn (Jun 21, 2020)

Lately, auction prices have been zooming into the stratosphere but I managed to snag a couple of things this week at a reasonable price:






All in, $40 for everything pictured (and a couple of boxes of nails, etc).

The thing that really caught my eye was the depth mic:






An Ambrose Shardlow (Sheffield England).  With the various rods, it can measure from 0 to 8 inches.  Turns freely and no obvious damage to the working bits.  "P. Zuch" proudly marked his name on it.  A little internet research says that Armbrose Shardlow was bought out in 1963.  I can't imagine that the mic is that old.  They must have continued to use the name for considerable time afterwards.  Also a little confused about the box.  The mic fits but does not fill the cutout shape.  The rods, however, fit nicely.

Craig


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## trlvn (Jun 21, 2020)

There were a couple of HSS tool blanks and two other bits of steel that I'm not sure about.  






The HSS blanks are 1/2" square (approx.) and 6 inches long.  (Oddly, one is somewhat magnetized?!)  The other two pieces of steel look very similar and the four pieces were together in a can (with a bunch of hex keys.  All four are attracted to a magnet.

The smaller one is 0.375 by 0.312 by about 7 inches long.  It appears to have milling marks down one face is slightly bowed 

The bigger piece is about 0.288 by 1.020 by 6 inches long.  It has marks on it like it was squeezed very hard by ribbed vise jaws.  

I'm curious about the two odd-shaped pieces.  Any guesses what they might be?  I probably should try a spark test to see if I can narrow down what kind of steel they are.

Craig


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## trlvn (Jun 21, 2020)

The other little curiosity from the auction are these sticks:






They are about 0.2 by 0.5 by 5 inches and feel sort of waxy.  Or like soapstone.  They were together with a variety of grinding and polishing sticks.  See the lower left corner of the first picture I posted.  Hope somebody can tell me what these are and where they are used.

Thanks,

Craig


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## Brent H (Jun 21, 2020)

Hey Craig,

Those look like soap stone markers for laying out stuff on steel Welders use them all the time.   Here is mine in the holder.


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## Brent H (Jun 21, 2020)

You can also rub them into a file to reduce its cutting and obtain a finer finish when filing on the lathe etc.


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## trlvn (Jun 27, 2020)

This week, I snagged a lot of corner-rounding end mills:






They seem to be in decent shape and the price was very gloat-worthy!  They cut from 1/8 inch radius to 1/2 inch.

There was also a couple of 1 inch taps in the lot:






Zooming in on the markings:






They are 14 threads per inch which is a pretty odd pitch.  I believe the marking means it is Whitworth thread form (55º) so I guess these are going to go into my drawer of oddballs.

Craig


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## David_R8 (Jun 27, 2020)

Nice score Craig!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Hruul (Jun 29, 2020)

nice finds!!


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