Loads of Old Tools

[Philip]

I have to help clear out the garage of an aunt who died. Her garage is full of tools that belonged to her late husband, and his father.

Can anyone suggest a way of seeing that these tools find a good home.

There seems to be quite a mix but there is an 8 drawer unit filler with chisels, and other wood carving tools. One drawer contains 16 chisles, all pretty sharp, nice wooden handles and no rust in sight.

Hope someone can give me a pointer because it seems a waste to take them down the tip (my father in laws idea).

Thanks

Phil

[Paper2002AD]

Specialist auction?

[Des Higgins]

I used to live in Saffron Walden (somewhere in Essex) and there was a bloke who set up an outdoor stall every saturday as part of a market. He bought and sold tools (all manner of chisels, hammers etc.; no power tools). There must be more of these guys around. You would not gte much for the tools but they would get a home. If you google second hand tools uk you get a list of some places that look like they might buy stuff but mainly it looks like they want nice collectable stuff or shiny looking specialist tools. Here is one anyway

them?

Des

[Jerry Built]

Some old tools are worth money. Is there anything else but chisels? If you have the time to inventory what's there, and write descriptions, it might be worth while. Where are you, roughly?

J.B.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Ebay. Lots of tools sell on there.

[Victoria Clare]

philip_a [e-mail] (Philip) wrote in news:3edf618.0409030716.160b3619 @posting.google.com:

If you do end up taking them to the tip, you should find that there's a convenient recycling place there where you can leave such items so people can come and buy them for a token fee.

Around here they only let you throw away things that really are badly broken: anything useable is snatched lovingly away and arranged neatly in what I think of as the 'Bagpuss section'.

Worth trying the local market first though to see if you have a local 'tool man'.

Or car boot?

Victoria

[The Natural Philosopher]

Auction either n ebay or at auction.

I know some round here -0 a model makers tool chest I had my eye on went for 95 squid. I reckoned on getting it for 24....:-(

[Mary Fisher]

Tools for Self Reliance

is an excellent solution, your tools would be very well received and used. We used to make collections for them and I know how valuable your tools would be - far better than people in UK getting a bargain, we can afford new ones.

Mary

[Jimbo]

You would do really well at a "car boot" at a Sunday market. Those tools have a real value to us old farts. Just don't settle for the first price offered--ask them to come back later in the day to see if you still have it. The bid may suddenly go UP--and so on. Besides that you will have a real fun day. Jim

[RichardS]

and not just "old farts" either - us young farts have similar desire for some of these tools!

why buy a brand new hand plane when in many cases there are loads of (better) early C20 Bailey examples around? Often for less than the cost of new... (proud owner of, amongst others, a beautifully performing bailey #4 with sweetheart iron, cost less than new)

[Jimbo]

And if you are able to identify a set of "hand held" wood carving chisels please make me an offer. (Those are the one's whose handles haven't been hammered) Thanks --Jim

[Cicero]

================ Barnados (the charity) have a standing request in my local 'Bargain Pages' paper for donations of tools - mainly motoring I think but worth a look if you're in a charitable mood.

Cic.

[Andy Dingley]

eBay - Collectable / Tools

Old post of mine

[e-mail]&lr=&hl=en

Wood carving stuff always goes for a good price (few quid a chisel)

The rest of it depends very much on what it is. Not how useful it is, but how rare it was when first made. There's a serious collector market in this stuff. Details like patent dates and handle shapes can make a huge difference, in some cases. OTOH, most of the collectors are American, so they're only after US stuff.

Rust isn't that much of a problem - hammered handles are far worse. _Don't_ clean, polish or sharpen anything.

I suggest putting a couple of photos on the web, or even to alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking, then post a link to them. I'm sure plenty of people would be happy to identify what you have, and to point out if anything there might be interesting or especially valuable.

Photo quality will give you at least a fourfold variation in eBay selling price.

[sPONiX]

you are willing to donate them to a good cause, then "Tools for self reliance" is worth a call. They refurbish tools that then get sent to African villages. The idea is that the locals can use the tools to build up businesses and become less reliant on donations from first world counntries:

sPoNiX

[Paul King]

Where are you? An inventory (of as close as possible - if you don't know what the exact description should be) would do. I'll visit and buy if you agree. e-mail me off-group.

[Terry]

What a great suggestion. I accessed that site and found it very interesting. Another suggestion if I may; contact the chief wood working instructor at a 'Trades College', or whatever they call them these days. I would suggest it be a somewhat informal approach, don't get all messed up with the 'Front Office' bureaucracy and/or "Official Donations to Non Charitable Institutions of Higher Learning" etc. The tax man cometh! Discuss with that individual are there any deserving students or ex students who would really appreciate and understand the value of the tools. The instructor would probably know who has certain interests and who would really make use of them in a craft manner. And might even make an 'unofficial award' to some student/s who should be recognised? A professional person such as that might even be interested in helping dispose of them. Realizing that constructive and useful disposal, in this throw away age, rather than just chucking them on the tip will take someone's time I compliment the OP for asking here. My admirable regards to the original poster for their thoughtfulness. I still cherish tools I bought in the early post-war 1950s and trust my son will wish to inherit and use some of them. Cheers.

[Andrew Gabriel]

This has always seemed like a good idea to me, but the two tips I use explicitly forbid this.

[Peter Parry]

Contact your local REMAP (address via the "panels" link on

They will probably be able to put them to good use.

[Michael Mcneil]

Probably for the same reason that civil engineers are ordered by local authorities or public services to destroy all tools left over after the job. This includes wood scraps as well as the gianormous cement mixers they use in making dams and motorways etc.

It is to stop local small firms being hurt by too many freebies floating around for years and years.

The best bet is to go around workshops and ask permission to show them to the workforce when they are on tea-break.

Next best is a car boot where some one or two will snatch the best for buttons and try beating you down at that.

The next is to give them away at a local tech or somesuch.

Last but by all means least is to advertise them. You will be troubled for ages especially with one of those advertisers papers who repeat-post sold stock for months just to fill pages.

[Michael Mcneil]

Actually if a few would-be vendors could hold a meat it would be a good reason to go to one. (Might even turn up myself.)

One might hold such an event at a pub that hosts car-boots. A stock of sustaining liquor always goes down well. And if the well gets blocked there would be no shortage of volunteers to offer advice about it.