2025 Garage Sale Thread (14th Annual)

[mikeinri]

Some men do wish for the suit of armour medieval wedding, the no pants might be more eccentric though.

Only place I'd imagine it to be proper wedding attire would be very limited select communities in Florida, Washington, Nevada, Montana, Maryland, Michigan, and Ohio that avoid clothing for the most part.


The intended joke(welder wielding naught but a pair of boots, shin guards, an apron, and the welding machine) seems to fall flat unfortunately. Second attempt and it didn't get any bites. I need to stick with the dad, phonetic, and ambiguous medical jokes it seems.

Well, I completely missed it. But, if it makes you feel any better...

Given the location / placement of the tools, and the tiny ratchet with huge socket, I thought you were going for a new take on "throwing a hotdog down a hallway."

Mike

 

[GarageHobbyist]

I ended up with a few thousand matchbooks a while back and started slowly going through them. I found a few full feature books which are pretty neat.

 

[Jacobs976]

Well, I completely missed it. But, if it makes you feel any better...

Given the location / placement of the tools, and the tiny ratchet with huge socket, I thought you were going for a new take on "throwing a hotdog down a hallway."

Mike

Jokes are all about learning what works so it's just more experience.

The misdirection was too good. Next time I'll have to go with a bottle of baby oil to bring attention to the shining legs. I'm too eagle eyed and notice too much so subtle prop comedy just isn't a match.

Ratchet was convenient and just the standard odd config joke for misdirection, it'd be too weird to just post legs. 1-1/2 on 3/8 compact.

 

[mikeinri]

I ended up with a few thousand matchbooks a while back and started slowly going through them. I found a few full feature books which are pretty neat.

Wow, those are cool!

Back in the 80s-90s, restaurants around that wanted to be "fancy" used matchboxes instead of books. I was never a collector, but probably have at least one buried in storage in my basement.

Mike

 

[GarageHobbyist]

Wow, those are cool!

Back in the 80s-90s, restaurants around that wanted to be "fancy" used matchboxes instead of books. I was never a collector, but probably have at least one buried in storage in my basement.

Mike

I'm not a collector per se, but we got a couple hundred for almost nothing last year and sell packs of 5 or 6 for a few dollars in our booth.
While I was out of town my wife bought several thousand for like $20. We have been going through them while watching TV at night and at least put them into some broad categories. I've been saving the tool manufacturers and agriculture ones for myself to display somehow.

Matchbook's are kind of weird from a collecting/selling standpoint. There aren't really any values because almost every business had them, there isn't a real way to tell how many were made/exist of one design, etc.

There are some that are more valuable than others (like the feature books and Mickey Mantle Holiday Inn), but there isn't a value other than what someone is willing to pay for a particular book at a given time.

 

[four.cycle]

^ I had boxes and boxes full of paper matchbooks - all pristine, never used. Hundreds and hundreds. Mostly restaurants and motels.
Got a bit worried about them creating a fire hazard and gave them all away.

 

[d42jeep]

I still have this.
-Don

 

[GarageHobbyist]

I still have this.
-Don

THAT is cool! I was wondering what actual hand tool companies had match books. I have found some interesting tool/consumable ones, but not anything this cool. I'll make a separate post after I get through them of the ones I'm keeping.

 

[INSP380]

Found these over the weekend, been watching them for a bit on FBM. I’ve been laid up and not able to drive, so the Mrs was kind..It was hard to be sure of age & condition let alone if they were SAE or Metric… Seller was clearing an estate. I had 2 empty boxes… the two swivels & plug sockets were a bonus. $30 all in & all SAE..

Steve

 

[gleman]

ReStore today.

Proto 5285 t handle



Pick N Fix oiler.

 

[milkovich]

I've hit up a few auctions recently and got some cool stuff, but this was a good one even for me. It was about $150 total, a 2000 degree oven ($85), another (somewhat beat up but 80% complete) Emmert pattern maker's vise ($55), and a 30 inch crown logo c-man tool box full of cool old junk (including a VERY worn, very old (type 8) very customized Stanley #7 plane) ($13). It's also been requested by management that I get my hoarding and auction activities under control, so the fall/winter months will be spent restoring a lot of this junk and selling most of it hopefully .

 

[gleman]

I've hit up a few auctions recently and got some cool stuff, but this was a good one even for me. It was about $150 total, a 2000 degree oven ($85), another (somewhat beat up but 80% complete) Emmert pattern maker's vise ($55), and a 30 inch crown logo c-man tool box full of cool old junk (including a VERY worn, very old (type 8) very customized Stanley #7 plane) ($13). It's also been requested by management that I get my hoarding and auction activities under control, so the fall/winter months will be spent restoring a lot of this junk and selling most of it hopefully .

You ****! I'd love that vise.

 

[DetailSeeker]

I still have this.
-Don

...I don't suppose you have any ETF of St Catharines matchbooks?

(I'm not pushing to buy, I am just really hoping to find more examples of the logos that can be dated, even if it's only by counting the number of cities they claim to be based in.)

- Frances

 

[Old Radar]

Four pages behind--again. Honestly, I don't know what I'm doing with my time--not going to estate sales, that's for sure!
Finally found one worth going to today. I saw a CM Heritage badge sticking out from under a workbench in one of the pictures for the sale. Couldn't identify the case because of things in front of it, but I was the first in the shed to give it a look. I was actually torn between looking at the CM and another big box that was heavy and tagged "$40 for all". I pulled that one down to look through while blocking access to the CM box--what a ****! Turned out the other box was full of abused tools including a couple of S-K Tools socket sets that were sparsely populated and that had spent a portion of their lives in water--maybe salt water...

The heritage box turned out to be a #6517 Carpenter's Box with the knock-out for the carpenter's square still intact.
The tray had the usual detritus while the main compartment held a Dunlap level, a no-name brace, a no-name auto wrench, a Lufkin Rule Co. No. 566 100' black spring steel tape and a pen, complements of the Shiner Brewery.

I'm stumped by the wooden piece above the auto wrench. I know I've seen the like before and I think it has been in association with carpenter's boxes, to keep some tool from banging around, but this one has no hole by which to attach it to the box--and barring the hole drilled in the right side of the tray, there is no other unused hole in the box.
The wood piece is too long to be used in the tray. Anyone have an idea?


The exterior has some rust, but the interior is in fabulous condition.


Lining the removable tray were several layers of the Society pages from the Sunday edition
of the San Antonio Express, dated March 7, 1948.


Here's the Lufkin tape, that somehow failed to make the group shot. $17.54 out the door, including the wiper fluid, nearly full wet wipes (for future sales!) and DVDs of Guardians of the Galaxy 1&2.

 

[four.cycle]

^ Aunt Donna Mae called me one afternoon. She was looking for my mother. I told her "Mom isn't home now."
Auntie told me to tell Mom to "Check out the So ****** section in today's paper."
I was a bit puzzled, so she explained:
"Well, if we pronounce "S O C I A L" as "So-shul", then it only makes sense that we should pronounce "S O C I E T Y" as "So ******".

 

[bmwrd0]

I just got home from a mini- solo- vacation on the coast, and was able to hit a few thrift stores, an antique shop that focused on garage type things, and an interesting estate sale:

From the fist thrift, two WrightGrip metrics, Stanley sweethart driver and Blackhawk universal. The other thrift an Armstrong DBE and EBONITE SHOK PROF driver. The antique shop yielded a New Britain ratchet and Wright T-handle.


The estate sale is were I found a Goodell Pratt eggbeater, and a wooden box containing

a compete Greb gear puller set from the mid-twenties.

By the way, that estate sale was why I don't like family run sales a lot of the time. Because they have no idea what they are dealing with (grandpa's treasures) they put everything smallish into milk crates and then sold everything by crate. So, $20 per crate or whatever, but you had to buy a crate full of **** with maybe one or two items you were interested in. And, no, they wouldn't let you pick and choose.
Very frustrating.

 

[zanyad]

You ****! I'd love that vise.

on both!

 

[Levaughn]

I picked up this Hahn Vertical dethatcher today at an Estate Sale for $30. The metal sheets, vintage Amalie Wheel Bearing Grease Can and Craftsman 3/8 Breaker were $2.

 

[ecotec]

Snap-on, Plomb, Proto, Starrett, and a few other things $29.

I did not notice that the Vise-Grips and the 1/2” Snap-on 2”extension were inscribed.

 

[a6hux]

Found a Complete SK set today! $20

 

[pfaustus]

The freezing cold to the touch, even High School boys ******* around in shop class can't break it, cast aluminum replacement plane handle. Is the plane stamped Bd. of Ed. or something like that?

PS $50 for an Emmert is high volume sucking.

 

[ecotec]

I could not get this image to load.

 

[Beerhippie]

I could not get this image to load.

Looks good enough for a YOU ****!

 

[6 & 7/8]

VINTAGE GERSTNER & SONS DAYTON OHIO 12
DRAWER LOCKING
DENTAL CHEST / CABINET
I bought this at a sale today and someone was carrying the one with the drawer cover.
The first Gerstner I ever bought. All the drawers have tin bottoms.
It cost me $25 I hope I didn’t pay to much of it.

 

[Outlawmws]

It cost me $25 I hope I didn’t pay to much of it.

Nope you didn't; But you do ****!

 

[mikeinri]

Nope you didn't; But you do ****!

Ditto!!!

Mike

 

[d42jeep]

We were wanting to hit some sales since it had been a couple of weeks but there weren’t many that looked promising. Since no sales were listed in the Tahoe basin we went over the hill to Minden, NV. The first sale was the only decent one and produced all of today’s tools.
My fourth SO Torqometer. This one in the box with paperwork.

Looks to be a pretty early postwar Jeep dash plate.
A Ford DOE wrench.
Sales # 2 and 3 featured no tools, but my wife grabbed a puzzle for the granddaughter. Sale # 4 was put on by the Carson City Kiwanis Club and I grabbed a dusty Revere Ware pot with the early patent.
Filled up the car with less expensive NV Costco gas, grabbed burgers and headed for home.
-Don

 

[Patrickm82]

VINTAGE GERSTNER & SONS DAYTON OHIO 12
DRAWER LOCKING
DENTAL CHEST / CABINET
I bought this at a sale today and someone was carrying the one with the drawer cover.
The first Gerstner I ever bought. All the drawers have tin bottoms.
It cost me $25 I hope I didn’t pay to much of it.

You **** big time for that score!! Very nice.

 

[Stubby1743]

Yesterday I went the the "Euro Jumble" motorcycle jumble (swap meet) near Southampton. Despite saying to myself that i wasn't going to buy any tools, I couldn't resist these.



Campagnolo Bottom Bracket tool. Looks unused £1. I already have one but at the price it had to go with me.
Williams Super slim 19 x 17 mm DOE.
Par-X 18mm BOM19 combo. Looks unused. Pleased to find this. £2.
Pexto snips in nice unmolested condition.
Wera 1/2" drive 12 x2mm screwdriver bit. No signs of use. Knipex 50-100 pincers. Unused. £2.
Eclipse 2" Engineers clamp. Appears unused and has UK Govt. property mark and 1973 date.
Rabone Chesterman stainless 6"/150mm rule.
Toledo made in Japan stainless 6"/150mm rule.



Dormer drill and reamer data book. Full of useful info.
Aviation Developments Ltd of London "Chobert Rivet Selector Gauge" in brass. I've no use for this but couldn't resist it at one of four tools for £1.
A bit of a strange one this. RS Components branded (almost certainly made by Spiralux) quick release tool handle. The bit below it was in it. The bit is 5mm in dia. and has a halfmoon end and may not be complete. Wera make similar bits but theirs are 4mm dia.
Not pictured is a Geigy aluminum screw top pills container.

All in just about £10 spent. I'm happy with that.

 

[ecotec]

I just noticed this on the shorter of the two 1” brass drifts that I bought yesterday. I wonder if Little Charlie was the name of the owner or the drift itself.

Both 1” drifts look like they were used hundreds, if not thousands, of times.

 

[Old Radar]

Union B-20 Machinist Chest 1933-41.

VINTAGE GERSTNER & SONS DAYTON OHIO 12
DRAWER LOCKING
DENTAL CHEST / CABINET

You both ****!

 

[Patrickm82]

Pretty good morning today with a nice estate sale and 2 YS’s. I got there early and grabbed #14 for a tool heavy sale. A nice detached 2 car garage. The pictures looked promising with 4 Easco tool boards and a couple of tool boxes. Here’s a couple of pics of the left behinds.



Here’s what I got for $60
Craftsman grinder stand and cooling tray.
2 Mac wrenches, long 9/16 & 5/8 6 point
2 snap on double box 5/8 x 3/4 and 11/16 x 13/16
Snap on 5/8 6 point
Blue point 9/16 DBE
Craftsman tappet wrench nos
2 Easco combos 10mm and 3/8
7 Snap on 6 point sockets, mixed
6 SAE Snap on torque adapters
Herbrand sockets SAE
Craftsman and Cornwell 1/4” spinner handles
Herbrand S19 1/2 speeder
Craftsman circle H ratchet with the square bit
Utica jewelers pliers


Then from the yard sales, $3 for all
Stanley 2 oz. ball peen hammer
Snap on 3/8 ferret extension 1941
Klein 7” linesman pliers with good chompers

 

[LesserSon]

MrsLS & I headed into Emmaus this morning for a community-wide yard sale. First stop was an ES in a weird single-story house with a labyrinthian basement that yielded nothing. Several onesie sale drive-bys, two church sales, and several promising but overall lackluster YSs. I spent $1 on a camo folding 3-leg chair w backrest and cupholder, $1 on an open but mostly complete TV powercord cover kit, $3 on an Ames flat shovel.

Leftbehinds included a Craftsman crowntop jackplane with plastic grips. I handled it for a while, but it just didn’t move me to inquire a price.

 

[neharr41]

Pretty good morning today with a nice estate sale and 2 YS’s. I got there early and grabbed #14 for a tool heavy sale. A nice detached 2 car garage. The pictures looked promising with 4 Easco tool boards and a couple of tool boxes. Here’s a couple of pics of the left behinds.



Here’s what I got for $60
Craftsman grinder stand and cooling tray.
2 Mac wrenches, long 9/16 & 5/8 6 point
2 snap on double box 5/8 x 3/4 and 11/16 x 13/16
Snap on 5/8 6 point
Blue point 9/16 DBE
Craftsman tappet wrench nos
2 Easco combos 10mm and 3/8
7 Snap on 6 point sockets, mixed
6 SAE Snap on torque adapters
Herbrand sockets SAE
Craftsman and Cornwell 1/4” spinner handles
Herbrand S19 1/2 speeder
Craftsman circle H ratchet with the square bit
Utica jewelers pliers


Then from the yard sales, $3 for all
Stanley 2 oz. ball peen hammer
Snap on 3/8 ferret extension 1941
Klein 7” linesman pliers with good chompers

You **** for the torque adapters!

 

[bmwrd0]

Friday I made it to an estate sale, and today I hit a couple sales.

At the ES, I found a Norbar torque wrench that reads both metric and imperial, a Fairmont 2oz BP, dual marked Proto/Plomb DOE (earmarked for Smokeshow), and a Matco combo. $10

Today, I started at a dig-through junk sale in the country, found a couple things, headed of to a few other sales, and then decided I go bake to the first stop.

All told at that digger sale I found at first a Blue Point line wrench and Walden speeder that I had been looking for. When I came back, at first I only found the Armstrong DOE and M8 sheath. As I was getting ready to head out, the woman having the sale asked me if I had been in the shop. No, as it looked closed off, so she preceded to show me in, and I found the Craftsman flex 3/8" rat, HKP wire cutters, Cleveland wrench, and Winchester book, which is signed. Pretty happy about all that, as she charged me $12 altogether.

At the one other stop that had anything of interest, I found a magnifying Dazor for $3.


And you might have noticed that I took all of the pics in my truck, as my wife has been giving me the side eye about how much junk I am bringing home lately, so I have to be doing this on the sly.

 

[Marsim]

The cheap ceiling fan in our TV stopped working last week. Lucked out at a yardsale today and got this for $12.

 

[Outlawmws]

A decent day, not many sales 3 planned adn 2 were Estate sales, one of those was my second time there, dn my last stop:

YS's first, a "tee" lug wrench with a hub cap pry bar. i this wil go in the T-van:




Then a couple of toy cannon, I knew one was damaged, I didn't notice the bigger one was also, bit its fine for my "artillery park". Also not shown was a pair of sunglasses, spares for the rig, as I lose/bust then routinely.



ES 1 and the bigger score for the day - $30 all in:

Barcalo tack puller, Swiss file set, 4 brass tubes, security Bit set, and a Knapp 1" blade block plane. Just 3 3/16ths long. Aluminum, I'm guessing from a "toy" or "first" wood working set? but have not found any leads





Same sale - Craftsman RHFT, Long C DBE, Indestro Tappet, Diamallo 4" adjustable, PROTO -> LA Tappet, 4 std combos 1 long combo, 4" adjustable



and the last Estate sale, 16 books:

3 local history:



Audel's Masonry and an old Formulas book publised in 1912, but originally from 1895. and a couple of recreational books




More recreational books






wood working and tools:

 

[jeffmoss26]

This week’s restore haul. SK, Stanley, Corsair (made by Vaco), Stevens Walden, and Xcelite.

 

[RTM]

I had a tiny haul for a not gloatable price, but I needed a distraction today. Stanley 36-1/2 folding rule with caliper, and a larger tri square file for saw sharpening. Stack of Ryobi tools and a GMTK type box left behind.

 

[zanyad]

It cost me $25 I hope I didn’t pay to much of it.

Not at all. You ****!

magnifying Dazor for $3.

Nice! You ****!