Well, I got a hatchet, a maul, plus a oil filter wrench I'd (honestly) been meaning to buy - for $30. The extra 18 is from the handles.
I also got to take one last walk through one of the best hardware stores on earth before it turns into a zoo as they liquidate inventory and close. That's where I got my handles from. I've been going to Seven Corner's since the ripe age of 5. My dad used to take me there Saturday mornings when he was building projects, and I hated it most of the time because I wanted to watch cartoons. As I got older, I learned the value of the place though, as they didn't always have the best price, but they usually had the odd stuff no one else carried. So you might pay a little extra, but you could get it that day if you needed it. Stuff like fine thread taps, and they had a sweet tool repair department for drill variable speed switches, and the planetary gears I used to be real good at breaking. The owners are all in CA these days and the development money is too great to resist, so they're shuttering it and the wrecking ball will come soon after I'm sure. 20 full time employees who didn't look at you like you had a dink sticking out of your head if you asked if they had a "dohicky with a thingamabob on it that fit a whatchamacallit?" They were old school and knew exactly what you meant. I'm going to miss that place.
The maul and hatchet are assembled now. Since I'm still supposed to be pretending I'm one handed (from elbow surgery last week), I didn't play around too much, but from what I can tell the maul is going to work nicely (took an edge easily, and falls in line with the bit when swung - that's all I ask for). The hatchet head doesn't sit quite right on the cheap handle I got for it (partly due to my shaping of the insert, and partly due to the angle of the hole), but I'll probably only use that thing for splitting rings off black ash anyway. I'm not going to bother welding up the striking face on it. The shake one is in the trash.
Hinges are added to some others I've been collecting for deer stands and sheds.
I've done worse at auctions before, but I've also done a lot better.
Having seen the state of the other stuff at this place, I'm quite pleased with how little I came home with.
I don't smoke unless I'm on fire. I try to avoid that.