So the other day my wife is in the shop and looking around says ” My God, if you died what would I ever do with all this stuff ?” After 40 whatever years I guess in a reversal in this case she’s willing to open the car door for me! But it’s a fair question. She could sell the stuff have a hard time getting fair prices and then still be stuck with a lot of junk to get rid of somehow at the end. She wouldn’t know that a Stanley #1 plane is worth a hell of a lot more than a # 7 for example. So I came up with a novel idea. Every tool a buck —but you have to buy every tool! So, Powermatic table saw $1, paint can opener $1. Drawer full of sockets a buck a piece,18″ bandsaw$1. She would probably do better this way then trying to move the stuff individually. In fairness of those thousands of items, with the exception of the paint can openers, which the paint store threw in when I bought the paint I can’t think of anything that only cost a dollar. I have a box of drill bits that I can hardly lift! A buck a piece. Some of those bits cost me $20 or more. There would a couple of days of counting and she might need some help counting as well.
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Replies
Sounds like she's developing a plan. Watch your six.
Take care buddy. If she starts asking you to build garden planters then watch out.
Seriously though, I'd have to pay more than $1 to buy a socket or a screwdriver so I reckon I'd take you up on that.
Even if I charged that for each screw in my collection, I'd end up charging less for my shop than the table saw alone is worth. Screws etc look like there are thousands, but usually it's just a few hundred.
That is an interesting approach. I might try to run an estimate on what I have for comparison. I'm north of 68, and my wife asked me the same question a few years ago, so I have developed a detailed inventory of what I have in a spreadsheet. I have separate tabs set up for power tools, hand tools, routers and bits, and so on. I try to be fairly descriptive with my listing and provide the cost at the time of purchase. If I bought an item used, like my Powermatic PM2000 that I stole at a govt auction for $300, I'll list the purchase price along with an estimate of current price and the cost of all that I put into it to bring it up to its current condition. I plan to take pictures of everything and tie them to the listings in the spreadsheet, but have to admit that I haven't had the stomach to do this yet. All this is no guarantee that my wife would get a fair price for it all if I depart before she does. So, I'm hoping one of my friends will give her a hand with this chore. I am very interested in what others do, aside from estate sales. That might be the easiest on her.
I started a shop inventory, using what I think are fair prices that would enable easy sales. I plan to walk my son through the list when I finish.
I'm nowhere near finished, just the larger stuff.
One of the issues I see coming are the accessories; i.e., the attachments for various items that are stored in different places, some where I need to look for hours when I need them. For instance, all the belts for the Rigid oscillation belt/drum sander are located in a cabinet at the other end of the shop along with the belts for the portable belt sander. The box with brads, pins staples is in that cabinet, while the nailers, etc are in the closet. Not a problem for me; any other woodworker could go through it all in a day and sort it out.
Just some thoughts.......... my clock is ticking and the odometer just rolled over to 77.
Then come all the little stuff. A
You'd be looking for one fool with a big-A truck to haul all that away at once. An auction company would be better at grouping things together and setting fair prices for it.
But I have wondered the same things about this situation, and I do have a goal of getting rid of most of the stuff before I go. Then its the son's job to help his mother dispose of it.
“[Deleted]”
Another option may be to see if there is a woodworking club or group near you who would like to take some of the stuff. I'd much rather my gear went to somewhere that would use it rather than it get picked over by vultures.
I'm in a woodworking club and we do this as needed for community members or other folks who contact us. Generally club members will show up in large numbers to the estate sale. We make sure the family gets a fair price for the used gear. Set your S.O. up with a contact in a nearby club and hope for the best.
Another option is to have it in your Will that an auction company will organize and sell your stuff. Your Widow might come away much better off than a dollar apiece and she won't hafta deal with those fifty-cent hagglers.
Years ago I asked the late Gene Landon ,the famous woodworker and teacher,what his family would do with the wall of moulding planes when he died. He said "thats not my problem"
This is only one part (and a difficult one) of the challenge. The second part is how do we pass on 0ur accumulated knowledge before we go? How do we find a younger person with the deep commitment to make use of what we can offer?
I have willed my nephew anything he wants, and after that, probably the best would be to contact the people at OldWoodworkingMachinery.com with fair prices. Then an auction to get rid of the rest. The small stuff we accumulate can have significant value beyond just the machinery.
No easy answers that fit for everyone.
Harvey
Inclined to agree. I use an ancient lathe even though I could easily afford a modern one but it does the job very well and has massive sentimental value having been owned by a patient for whom I cared a great deal. I bought it from the estate and enjoy thinking of him whilst I use it.
Oldwoodworkingmachinery.com is a domain that doesn't exist. What does exist is owwm.org. They will not appraise any machine - Rule #10 -"Do not ask for or give appraisals. Without seeing a machine in person, there are too many unknowns. In addition, prices vary considerably by location, condition, age, ease of pick up or delivery, and so on. Your best option is to search for available sale prices, such as completed sales on eBay (as opposed to listing prices with no bids), listings on our own "Bring Out Your Dead" forum, and other sale sites."
Fair price for your items? I will be in the same situation when I move off to the Great Festool Shop in the Sky. What I payed for my tools has no impact on what I would get when they sell. It is what someone else will pay.
My father-in-law had a 6000-sf barn/shop and we were VERY relieved that he managed the disposal himself before moving to a retirement community. The kindest thing would be to do what you can now to make it easier later, whether that's doing a shop inventory or getting the name of a good auction house. Otherwise, as a likely future shop widow, my main goal AD would be to get rid of the stuff, fair price be damned. Garage sale, donation, haul away junk guys, whatever's easiest.
I should do that for my poor husband. He would not know the names or value of the equipment and tools that I have. At 68 that is
something I should do. Thanks for
bringing this to my attention.
As a possible alternative, in my post-death instructions, I identified two friends who were knowledgeable woodworkers and asked my kids to hire them (perhaps with first picks of shop) to sell off the equipment.
Luckily, I have a son who's in the business.... He'll take what he wants, then help his mom move the rest.
But, I'm also a guitar player and musician. I have one amp that's ridiculously rare and very, very valuable. I have a few guitar playing buddies who will help her with the myriad of pedals....
I was on a jobsite the other day and was using my jigsaw. I have a pouch full of jigsaw blades, and I was digging through to get a certain style blade when it hit me....
There is easily a couple hundred dollars worth of jigsaw blades in this one little pouch!
Then, I started thinking about all the blades I had for all the other saws... then drill bits.
I was quickly overwhelmed and changed the subject in my brain real fast! LOL
Understand that problem. I just looked at the router table; 5 drawers with bits, maybe 100. Then the captive router, with the base stored in a drawer. Then 2 more routers, with extra bases stored separate from the routers. How to price all?
Then I looked in the closet; a metal cabinet with finishing stuff. I hate to even think of what I paid for all that stuff, and most people would have no idea what most of it is used for. Fortunately, I have a neighbor who would know about much of it.
There is a wall cabinet that holds nothing but screws. How would that be priced; there's a lot of $ there.
And then there are all the antiques. Over a dozen vintage planes, only a couple that might be collectible, but all excellent users. If I include a half dozen scraper planes, and a #45..... I still have and use a 12 oz hammer and coping saw that I received for Christmas at age 6 - 71 years ago, and used both today.
So, every time I start to seriously address inventorying everything, I run ino these roadblocks and turn to something else - I suppose I do't want to think about negative things.
At 77, I feel that I am finally hitting my stride in woodworking and certainly don't want to slow down or stop. We will downsize - again - in a couple of years. That is unless, as I told the wife 4 years ago when we made this move, "my next move will be done by the guys with the shovels" No more. But..........the wife brought it up again today.
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