Clearing a garage of tools and stuff

Just after a bit of advice. We’re trying to clear out dad’s garage and it’s fair to say he was a bit/lot of a tool hoarder. Eg there are at least 6 planes, plus 2 electric planes in there. Two bench grinders. Enough pliers to sink a ship, saws, screws, several drills, circular saws etc.

Mum just wants rid, but I’d like her to get some value out of all of it.

She’s in West Yorks, nearish Denby Dale. My current thinking is car boot sale. But I’m not from round there and a bit short of ideas.

Anyone got any suggestions about how to shift the stuff?

Ta

Love an old tool me, and I’m not alone. So there is a market for this stuff, but there’s not a huge amount of value in it.

with hand tools it’s definitely a case of “they don’t make them like they used to”. Portable power tools are probably worthless though.

we used to have an excellent second hand tool shop round here, but even they’ve gone out of business. The place for me to buy now is a car boot.

so yes, car boots a reasonable idea but you will not shift much at all on one day. Middle ground is pop out to the local car boot, find a seller of tools and discuss having them round to offer on the job lot. I wouldn’t expect much, but something.

Stealth ad on STW?

Seeing as you helped me shift a whole load of bike stuff how about I help you shift this stuff as I have a large estate car & lots of contacts in the engineering world. Will WhatsApp you tomorrow.

We did my Dads garage last year. Mostly tools of his trade from the 70’ and 80’s, he was a carpenter. The tools would be of no use at all to tradesmen, only DIYers would be interested in a few things. We rang up a guy who has a stall in the local antique market, who sold polished old chisels/planes/hammers etc. He took virtually the whole lot, gave us around £150, which I thought was very generous. The rest went on a table outside near the road, and again, nearly everything went in a couple of days.

We offloaded my father’s tools to a charity which refurbished them and shipped them out to Africa. I get the feeling there are quite a few in different parts of the country which do this so a bit of Googling might help you

The local ‘Men’s Shed’ might take donations of those things you can’t sell

Any whitworth spanners or sockets?  I’ll have them

Any long clamps? I inherited 3 from my FIL, rusted as anything, polished up really nicely, now my pride and joy.

Tools for self reliance https://www.tfsr.org/

Ukworkshop.co.uk older Stanley and Record planes have value.

Dare I ask @tjagain what on earth you want whitworth spanners for? Only time in the last 35 years or so Ive needed whitworth was working on RR Avon turbines (long time ago but I’m sure it was RR that used them)

Some great ideas in there, thanks folks. We’ve found a mans shed locally from that and will give them a shout.

There’s lots of unopened mini toolkits as well. I’ve counted the saws and he had 6 brand new 1st/2nd fix saws. And 6 old ones (one of which was £43 in c.1990 as I remember buying it on the way home from school with him. Disston Philadelphia fwiw. Barely used!)

I know there is some whitworth stuff in there too. But it’ll take a while to get to it ?

charity which refurbished them and shipped them out to Africa.

Myself and a neighbour did this. He was moving and had a load of tools from his father and grandfather that were carpenters. My neighbour is in his 70s and came to the realisation that he wasn’t going to need them plus downsizing meant space was at a premium.

I had tools from my dad (mechanic) & grandfather (a builder). Most were sentimental- passed to me when died. Obviously having had my own place for c30 years I had my own tools. A few choice pieces I’ve kept.

As my neighbour had contacted the charity to arrange collection of his gear, I just added mine. Decided it was less hassle than trying to arrange a boot fair.

Great idea on the tools to Africa thing. Found one who has a reasonably local rep.

https://www.twam.uk/

It’s also given us some ideas of where to send several million old pairs of specs!

Disston saws are sought after and worth good money

It’s worth doing enough research on each item to check the values as Disston saws are very popular and if your dad was collecting that type of tool there may well be some gems around that warrant a proper eBay sale  . Some planes are extremely valuable , and yes you do end up with several if you actually envisage using them. Power tools are far from worthless when they are from classic makers including Mafell Mafell , Inca, Eli etc

Another thing to look out for would be manual router planes I bet he had some an easy £80 each when complete .

Another thing – brass screws  – properly made are hardy made any more and sought after.

Enough pliers to sink a ship, saws, screws, several drills, circular saws etc.

The drills are probably better than the pliers for sinking ships?

Sounds like we’re talking proper tools here if he’s got a Philadelphia disston in the pile.

in which case my advice changes to carefully researching what you’ve got and either:

a) learn to use it

b) list it on eBay.

Hmm. Just re-read your OP, and whilst I got excited about the fact you’ve probably got some very nice tools there… on balance as mum wants rid and you don’t really know what you’ve got in your hands. So go speak to a dealer, find one at a car boot, armed with the knowledge you’ve got some decent saws that should still be worth about £40. Don’t expect too much but expect something decent.

Join a woodworking type forum and ask there. ukworkshop is one

Like every interest, people acquire pretty expensive tools, so best to find out whats what. If you sell them you can donate the proceeds as a lump sum if you intend their parting to be charitable.

daviek
Full Member

Dare I ask @tjagain what on earth you want whitworth spanners for? Only time in the last 35 years or so Ive needed whitworth was working on RR Avon turbines (long time ago but I’m sure it was RR that used them)

For fixing his battlemech obviously

https://scottsgameroom.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/whitworth-wth-1.jpg?w=1024

If there are any, Record vices go for good money. Make sure you keep at least one!

If there are any, Record vices go for good money. Make sure you keep at least one!

Yep, there is one. And it’s bigger than mine! So some swappage is going to happen. And he’s got some brand new soft jaws kicking about that will also be mine…

My FIL sold his (and his dad’s) accumulated collection of tools at a specialist car boot sale somewhere in Yorkshire (he’s in Knaresborough). Unfortunately I don’t know where it is, but I know he sold all of it pretty quickly.

If there are any, Record vices go for good money. Make sure you keep at least one!

I think there might be a thread on that subject somewhere…

Any whitworth spanners or sockets? I’ll have them

@tjagain found the spanners at any rate. Not sockets. Any idea what size(s) you want?

Dare I ask @tjagain what on earth you want whitworth spanners for? Only time in the last 35 years or so Ive needed whitworth was working on RR Avon turbines (long time ago but I’m sure it was RR that used them)

For his vintage BSA 650 twin I suspect. @tjagain I have some Whitworth spanners, possibly some sockets too I don’t use much.  Had them when I was working on my A65 which I sold a while back.  They’d be a bit heavy to post, but if you are stuck for some we could probably sort something out.

@tjagain I had a check, there aren’t that many so you can have them for the cost of postage and a fiver to charity if you like. Prob best to take up @Rich_s first, as his need to clear out is greater than mine. But if after that you still need some, pm me.

Spanners: 9/16″; ½”; 7/16″; ⅜”; 5/16″; ¼”; 3/16″; ⅛”.

Sockets: as above, less 9/16″.

Dare I ask @tjagain what on earth you want whitworth spanners for? Only time in the last 35 years or so Ive needed whitworth was working on RR Avon turbines (long time ago but I’m sure it was RR that used them)

sorry I had forgotton about this and ended up buying some.  Yes its for the BSA but I”ll still have some if you can be bothered.  small sizes.

Edit – that looks exactly like the set I bought .  🙂

OK, I’m hesitant to step on @Rich_s’ toes as he is sorting his dad’s estate, whilst I’m just having a garage tidy up.  Take up his offer first then PM me your address if you still need mine.  They are here if you need them.

It’s quite alright @blokeuptheroad if you crack on dealing with @tjagain

Had a quite hard work, emotional afternoon sorting through much of the garage and ended up leaving the whitworth spanners there rather than bringing them home. There’s a man cave nearby who’d expressed an interest in the AF spanners, and the rest will be sent to Africa anyway so it’s not stepping on my toes at all.

Car boot sale tomorrow for a big chunk of the stuff. Found another bench grinder today – that makes 3 he had! ?