Agreed. We don't get to choose when we go, but if we do see the end coming, to give your stuff to some one(s) that will really appreciate it, could be one of the most meaningful things you can do in your life.
At the very least, think about who has envied your xyz tool, and take the time to set it all down in a will.
I bought a almost new Crapsman's Dado, a try square, 5 lbs. of stainless steel safety wire and other woodworking items. I did not buy the Sears radial saw as I do not need them. In the garage there is a Troy Bilt tiller, a motor cycle, a new stroll saw and many well-cared machines and tools in excellent conditions. My wife bought a Singer sawing machine a few kitchen items.
As we walked away from the house, I feel very sad. We might have been great-friend. We have many things in common. I too was an A&P mechanic (and a degree ) from Northrop in LA. He was also an A&P mechanic with TWA in Denver Colorado. Everything he owned is well kept. In the bookshelves beside the fireplace were old training manuals; B707, DC9, Convair 880, L1011 and the P&W pocket handbook (1961). I have also worked on many of these aircrafts including Convair 990.
I do not go to many estate sales, but this one make me thinks. Once you are gone, it is only a matter of days, the living will dispose everything you really love while you are still alive. I love good tools, especially if you are once an A&P mechanic. It is a crime to dispose them so cheaply what you have collected during your lifetime.
What do you think?
It's _STUFF_.
When I leave this life, I have a feeling that I won't care about "stuff" anymore.
As far as in this life, stuff is still stuff. Nice to have and nice to use, but if I had to give it all up, it's still only stuff. I would survive.
Who you really are, especially when no one is looking, is more important than what you have.
Barry
If I could no longer use my tools, I'd not sell them cheaply. I'd give them away. (I may change my mind if I was eating cat food to survive, or course)
I've had tools that I no longer used. I've had the opportunity to sell them, but I found a person that needed the tools more than me so I gave them away. Yard sales? Nah, put the stuff at the end of the driveway with a sign that says "free" and let others have them. Desk, TV, sofa, -- all gone. If a stranger is better off for it, good for them.
There is some sentimental value in my tools. Does that add to the cash value? No, but it adds to the satisfaction of letting someone else get use from them whether to earn an income or as a hobby. I guess it depends on what gives you more satisfaction; a twenty dollar bill in your pocket or an acquaintance saying "look what I made with the router you gave me!" Ed
easy come...easy go.
In moving and downsizing, I no longer had room for the vacuum tube ham gear I had built/bought in the early sixties. A fellow from halfway across the country wanted to put together a "vintage" station and took the stuff off my hands for the shipping costs. Sure made me feel better than putting the stuff in the dumpster.
-Doug
Wife and I do allot of auctioning. It can be a cost effective form of entertainment. She buys to resale and i buy to use.
And where else could I get a #7 Stanley for $20?
I don't go to Estate sales or Auctions - they depress the hell out'a me. Auctions especially - grew up in Farm Country and saw too many family farms sold off one bolt at a time.
I think the original owner would be pleased that some one like you received them. Treat them with the same care that he did. Think about him from time to time when you pick one up.
Who could ask for more than that?
WD I'm 63, retired and have a model shop, my wife has joked about the great vacation she'll have from the sell of my tools after I'm gone. My shop has given me a great deal of pleasure and while I'm still able I'll continue to enjoy my hobby and share the fruites of my labors with family, friends, and charities. I'm certainly not in any rush to die, but die I will. I would hope that some of my shop treasures will be passed down to family, beyond that I could care less. It really isn't about what happens to my stuff when I'm gone it's about what I'm doing with it while I still live. I know the gifts from my shop are appreciated, the tools and what skills I've gained are important to me but have little value to most people unless I use them. Naturally I take good care of my tools and have enjoyed restoring a number of old deralict tools to display and use, and I've even made replicas of old hand tools just for the pleasure of having something I couldn't otherwise afford. The tools are for my enjoyment and the sense of accomplishment gained from using them to the best of my ability to make something that sombody else can take pleasure in. So if you want some of my tools when I die more power to you, I will already gotten everything I could hope to get from them. Gary
My dad was an A&P too and just about anything else he wanted to try his hand at, masonry, cabinet work, etc. He passed when I was 20 and my sibs and I scrapped over his tools, it really sucked. Now that I've established a solid collection of tools and my woodworking has surpassed the sorts of thing my dad ever attempted, my sibs want me to have his things again and make use of them again. Oddly enough my Dad's tools don't mean as much to me now, my own tools mean more and many of them were bought at estate sales. What's sad is that I can't share with my younger sibs the memories of using those great old tools with my Dad while working on people's homes in our community.
Basically I just hope that I don't own anything anyone will fight over when I'm gone.
David
Leave the tools and stuff to a youth club, school, inner city training centre, charitable group... that will ensure that they are put to good use. Let the relatives squabble over the stuff you don't care about.
Mike
Well said. You been taking lessons from Tom Watson ?
-Phil Crow
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