This is the highest-end unused shop I have ever seen. Appears to have been for sale late last year.
TWG
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I saw the video. Unbelievable! So I wrote to the company who is doing the selling of the stuff. I asked if any of the hand planes were still available. He said that nothing was left. He had given the hand planes to his best customers as Christmas presents.
Mel
I guess the seller was a liquidator?
Do you think the original purchaser had prior woodworking experience, or just told a salesman they wanted the best of everything?
I would guess everything was bought and delivered all at once.
You're probably right. About
You're probably right. About 20 years or so ago I went to this huge liquidation sale of an estate. There was a pretty hefty and well equiped shop in the basement. Everything was new and nothing had a speck of dust on it the table surface were all clean and the Diefenbach bench with its pull out tool chest was completly stocked with planes and chisels. All top of the line stuff. My guess is the wealthy person saw a DIY show on television one day and thought he'd do woodworking when he retired. So as soon as the show was over he ran out and blew a wad of cash and had it all delivered and installed. When the moment of truth came he realized he didn't have a clue or the time to figure out what everything was or how it worked.
Ted,
You dont have to read many messages on Knots to find folks who are very much into expensive tools. Hey, its great for the tool sellers.
Mel
Got this from a friend who sells used equipment:
"the guy that bought the equipment and posted the video of it for sale, told me he got it from a retired gentleman who was wealthly to say the least.
he bought all the stuff to make cabinets fro his house and soon grew bored of it and moved on to other expensive hobbies.
no sad story in this deal whatsoever.
laurence sold it to another quirky rich guy who was going to use it as his "hobby" shop.
some folks have more money that most of us could every imagine.
for his troubles laurence pocketed some money and was able to keep that car so that ain't a bad deal for him at all.
pete
Pete,
Thanks for posting that information. It had to be a rich guy with more money than sense. I don't know how rich guys think. Here on Knots, we have people who own LOTS of expensive equipment. We have people who have hundreds of handplanes. We have people who have lots of handplanes costing thousands of dollars apiece.
I used to makes posts saying that there was no need to have handplanes costing thousands of dollars apiece because they don't do any better than LN or LV planes. I got two sets of responses. One from folks who don't have a lot of money and appreciated my remarks. BUT the other set was from folks who spend lots of money on tools and DON"T WANT TO HEAR ANYONE SAY ANYTHING NEGATIVE ABOUT THAT. A good example is Lataxe, who became so upset with me that he wrote dozens of nasty messages to and about me, and put me on his ignore list.
This idea of spending lots of money on tools, whether you are a woodworker or a collector or an afficianado of expensive tools, is a very interesting topic for those interested in the psychology of woodwork or the psychology of any hobby. I remember guys who were into photography who spent oodles of money to have the "BEST" camera equipment. Before that, I remember guys who spent oodles of money on audio equipment, but that was back in the 60s.
Don't get me wrong. I LOVE NICE TOOLS. It is just that if you can get a $300 tool that does the job beautifully, and is fun to use, why spend $2000 or $10,000. THere is a guy named Holtey who makes handplanes for over $10,000 apiece and he is so busy that he can't keep up with the orders.
I am a psychologist (retired) and have been very interested in how people get intrigued with spending money on tools and hobbies. My favorite group of money spenders are boat owners. If anyone thinks they can spend a lot of money on woodworking tools, they should try boats. Compared to boat owners, woodworking tool enthusiasts are pikers.
I don't think that spending money on hobbies really soothes the soul. The man who bought the set of tools that is the topic of this thread wasn't a woodworker. He was just a rich guy with a thought about making cabinets. I don't think that what he did was all that bad. Indeed, it gave him something to do and something to talk about for a few months, and it didn't hurt his pocketbook, and it did a lot of good for a lot of businessmen, and then other businessmen made money selling his stuff.
So I am in favor of people with too much money spending their money on tools and hobbies. It is good for the business world, and it keeps them occupied for a while. No one gets hurt.
Life is great. I am sorry that folks like Lataxe got upset with me for saying that expensive tools are not necessary, and don't make your woodwork any better. My belief is that getting angry never helps anything, but that getting angry about someone else having a different opinion on tools is not a good way to expend energy.
So let's hear it for the people who love to spend money on expensive tools. They are good for the world. I wish there were more of them.
Have fun.
Mel
I agree with what you're
I agree with what you're saying. I work full time in an amazingly well equipped, huge shop. I also work part time at home in my own small potatoes shop. I turn out very high quality work in both places it is just that I am able to do so much faster in the better equipped shop with plenty of room to maneuver. It proves to me that the tools definitely DO NOT make the craftsman they just make his job easier and faster.
Believe me if I could afford the tools in the video or a Holtey I would be all over it.
-Paul
Mel,
Could it be called compensation behaviour ?
I'm not saying all people suffer from this, but it's a sign of the times i think. Lots of people spend their life making others rich and in return they gain a comparativly small amount of money. So when they do have some cash lots of folks tend to buy expensive stuff or stuff that catches other people's eye to create an image of how well they must be doing in life and to pat themselves on the back. Again, not all folks are alike, but i believe it's a big tendency in modern society.
I also like nice tools and personally i don't have enough of good quality tools. In my personal case i'm in the market for a new block plane (coming from a stock big store bought stanley 60 1/2) and i like LV DX60 very much, but i wouldn't be relaxed using it as an everyday plane so i'll be getting the woodriver equivalent over here in Europe and with a 'sharp' blade i'm sure it won't be far behind of the higher-end planes.
Beware : not an native English speaker...
Charlemagne,
What is your native language? I will communicate with you in your native language, whatever it is.
I have the LN block plane but I also have an old Stanley low angle block plane, and I use both. It takes longer to fettle the old Stanley, but it works great.
Ciao,
A piu tardi.
A bientot
Wiedersehen.
Hasta la vista.
I can make lots of errors in different languages. Give me a challenge. Let's have some fun.
Mel
Ik denk niet dat je Nederlands/Vlaams spreekt... lol
I'm Flemish/Belgian.
Charlemange,
Ik spreek Nederlands, maar mijn accent is niet erg goed. Ik denk dat je spreekt Nederlands, Frans, Duits en Engels en waarschijnlijk Vlaamse en een paar andere talen. Hier in de Verenigde Staten, de meeste mensen spreken zo veel als een taal. Veel Amerikanen kunnen niet spreken een taal goed. Gelukkig, ik woon in een bepaald dorp in Virginia, waar we spreken alle talen. Schrijf me in elke taal die je spreekt.
Succes.
Dank u voor uw bericht.
Mel
Mel,
Excuse me for underestimating you...your Dutch is quite ok, apart from the misplacing of the verbs.
It seem's your Virginia town is a world of it's own.
Tu sais, le Flamand et le Néerlandais sont les même langues mais on est des gens complétement différent. Heureusement..
But i actually prefer English over Dutch or French. It's just a 'softer' language for me and it's good practice for when i'll do some backpacking in your amazing country, hopefully this year or next (and buy some tools as well, you Americans are very lucky to live in a country that has so many good tools to offer and at reasonable prices compared to Europe).
George
George,
"Tu sais, le Flamand et le Néerlandais sont les même langues mais on est des gens complétement différent. Heureusement.."
Mais oui. Certainment!
I am glad you got a kick out of my attempt at Dutch.
I am very glad to make your acquaintance. You and your family are invited to my home for dinner and conversation if you ever get near Washington, DC. If you see DC on the map, you will find Springfield, Virginia about six miles to the southwest. If you go six miles west of Springfield, you are in my town of Burke, VA.
Avrei preferito conversare in italiano, ma parleremo in inglese.
Ciao,
Mel
PS glad to see you are a good sport.
I second the comment that "he decided woodworking would be a good hobby', told somebody (lucky fellow) to "get me the best of everything" but then found out that he really didn't have any interest woodworking.
It reminds me of Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle if I remember correctly. He had LOTS of money and later said,
"You can't spend it all. I know. I've tried."
That's one of the best
That's one of the best equipped shops I have ever seen.. it just ain't a working shop until you at least build a birdhouse or paper towel holder. That ain't a working shop but a tool museum and the owner got tired of seeing tools. ha.. ha... ha..ha..ha..
Well, I won't guess what
Well, I won't guess what happened in that case but my FIL's wood shop has a lot of similarities. The equipment is not as big or fancy but it all looks exactly like new and dust is an endangered species in the place. However, I know first hand of the stuff that has come out of there, and it is substantial to say the least. So, the story could be anything?
Brent
I agree, the psychology is interesting. I've had very little exposure to the rich, but what little I've had has left me dumbfounded with the difference in point of view. For example, I had a sister-in-law who shacked-up with a wealthy accountant for a while. He was increadibly generous to the family, hosted holiday dinners that I know must have cost several hundred dollars per head. Flew her neices and nephews to St. Barts and later to New York with them, so she wouldn't be board or lonely for a few hours while he attended a buisiness meeting, during a week-long trip. It was the trip of a lifetime for her and the kids. He would get on his computer, read about the daydreams of others, then go live them. For example, an African Saffari is the lifelong dream of most outdoorsmen. For him, it was just something to do, during Spring Break. It's easy for us mortals to envy such extravigance, but it makes me think of a line from the movie Achillese, "The gods envy us, because we are mortal. Each day could be our last, so every breath smells sweater, every risk is more thrilling, and we will never be any more beautifull or alive than we are at this moment!"
Pretty funny, I wish I had that kind of excess money problem. On a side note did any of you watch the other video clips of the Martin Jointer and planners in operation. Those are some amazing machines.
Troy
Those machines are from outer space, wicked.
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