2018 Garage Sale Thread

[stonesfan68]

I found this old Petersen Vise Grip for $3.00.





After a quick bath in the ultra sonic cleaner it looked like this:



After a 24-hour soaking in Evaporust and a quick polish on the wire wheel it is ready for another run!

 

[bmwrd0]

Although I've had good luck at flea markets, it seems that in the SF Bay Area the best vintage tool finds are at estate sales. Pricing can be all over the place, although I've found the flea prices to generally be a bit higher. Garage sales around here are mostly drive by, with a few exceptions.
-Don

I always found the Oakland Collusium and Concord fleas to be fantastic, with not so much luck on estates when I lived there.

 

[JABgj]

I have not been at this very long, but I have found luck at pawn shops and estate sales. I think part of the learning process is knowing what you are looking for in contrast to what you are looking at. A lead balloon for a buck is still a lead balloon unless you need one or know somebody that does. This thread and its participants have helped me a lot. The deals are out there and if it is too expensive or junky, back up and try again later.

 

[Outlawmws]

The deals are out there and if it is too expensive or junky, back up and try again later.

Worth repeating!

For me its estate and yard sales neck and neck, then small and/or periodic Fleas; the big ones and the constantly going Fleas used to be pretty good, but not for 20+ years for me. Once in a while CL. Rarely go to Pawns anymore, because they seem to think everything is gold. I've done surprisingly well off of Freecycle, but that is also hit or miss.

 

[Outlawmws]

TX, those dominoes are COOL!

 

[protegeV]

I need to get out more....

 

[txlonghorn1989]

Just got back from picking up a very nice vintage (?) B&D Workmate 79-001 I spotted on CL for $20. When I went to the door the guy said something about another guy coming for another item so before I left I asked what else he was selling. I can't recall what he said but he mentioned he'd been getting rid of his larger tools. I asked if he still had any. He pointed to the off-brand lunch box planer which I wasn't interested in. I was trying to identify a small toolbox he had on a shelf when he said he had "that" pointing to the corner where an Asian made Delta 6" jointer stood. He then said "you can take that with you". He did say that he wasn't sure if it worked or not. Let him know I didn't care. I'd take it for the stand and the Delta mobile base. He helped me break it down and put it in the Forester with the workmate.

It is a 37-190 6" jointer. No blade guard. I plugged the motor in when I got it home and nothing. I noticed the ground prong is broken off the electric plug. Are these motors smart enough to detect when the ground is gone and not start? Be nice if all I need to do is replace the cord. The bed on this jointer is certainly a lot longer than the bed on my 1940 Delta 6" jointer. But that is no where near enough for me to take it over my OWWM!

Regardless, always fun to be in the right place at the right time!

 

[rmalkow2]

Around me Estate sales are the best. Many times they contain the whole contents of an estate and no family has picked through it. Or even if they have many times the vintage stuff gets overlooked in favor of something newer.

 

[txlonghorn1989]

TX, those dominoes are COOL!

Thanks Outlaw! I grew up with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc all playing dominoes (game of 42) and they all played with Puremco dominoes which is still in business in Texas. Not sure if their dominoes are still made here. I can't stop myself from buying these older sets whenever I see them for a good price.

Just looking at 'em or holding 'em brings back lots of great memories.

 

[protegeV]

Around me Estate sales are the best. Many times they contain the whole contents of an estate and no family has picked through it. Or even if they have many times the vintage stuff gets overlooked in favor of something newer.

Been to a few estate sales with my father in law last year. Tons of stuff to pick through, but largely unreasonable "I dont really want to sell" prices...

 

[txlonghorn1989]

Never found a damn thing at a pawn shop and why I never even consider going to them. CL is often good for me and recently I've had some luck with estate sales and garage sales. But definitely pawn shops are so far down the list that it may as well not even be on the list. My $0.02.

 

[TheCraneGuy]

THAT is what it's about!!!! Well done, CraneGuy!

Thank you. Did some research and found out they were made between 1939-1944. They are 6v, so I have no way to test if they work.


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[Outlawmws]

CG, you can often find s bulb that will interchange, and the light is instantly 12V. Possibly even an LED option...

 

[BlueBomber]

In my semi-"retired" state, I usually only hit up estate sales that advertise "tools" in the listings. And then, only if the pictures look promising. I've found my best deals at estate sales--especially on the last day when the folks running the sale would rather sell something than move it themselves.

I've been into pawn shops a half-dozen times and have had 50-50 luck. Even when I was going out regularly, I wasn't hitting many garage sales.

 

[bmwrd0]

One other thing, my wife and I have a deal where at least one weekend morning I leave her alone. She is an only child who grew up in the country and needs a lot of time to herself, so I try to plan my tool/stuff hunting around that, but otherwise, I just drive around to see what is what.

 

[Davefr]

Around me Estate sales are the best. Many times they contain the whole contents of an estate and no family has picked through it. Or even if they have many times the vintage stuff gets overlooked in favor of something newer.

Around here there are two types of estate sales:

1. Professionally run and they make Ebay prices look cheap. Sometimes there's a sleeper but usually they're a huge waste of time. In prime sailing season we can usually hit 10 g-sales in the time in takes to hit one pro estate sale. (wasted time in line, numbers, lists, etc).

We usually only go to them off season when there's not much else going on.

2. Estate sales run by the immediate family. These are to die for. The family usually wants stuff gone ASAP so they can put the property on the market. Make a pile, make an offer.

It's getting harder to separate #1 from #2 because the pros rarely fess up in their CL ads that they're professionals.

What are everyone else's experiences?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

The family usually wants stuff gone ASAP so they can put the property on the market. Make a pile, make an offer.

I've talked about this before, but around here we have house liquidators, otherwise known as house clear-out or close-out guys. They buy (edit: the contents of) a house out for a flat price and then they haul it to the flea market and sell it. There are usually a dozen or so of them, sometimes with more than one property each. They don't set up on the tables, but around the outskirts of the flea market lot. Their trailers are part of the landscape.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I finally got around to posting the NOS c. 1930's-40's Lufkin No. 77C radius gage set down on the vintage board. Link here.

 

[timbitca]

Just to add my 2 cents to the discussion...

Around here I'm mostly reliant on Garage Sales/Yard Sales.

Proper Estate Sales are almost non-existant and the few Pawn Shops that have tools will charge you 10$ for an imported combo. We do have 2 indoor flea markets, although they are rather small and 95% of the stuff there is just junk. We do however have 2 giant outdoor ones (one in July the other in August) but even there pickings are slim.

 

[EOC_Jason]

All the estate sale companies around here have mailing lists you can be on. But their posts also they will say their company name that is hosting it. Most also have FB pages with tons of pics.

I also check estatesales.org for the few that don't have FB pages as that site allows tons of pictures.

Different companies price things different. Some go high and even on the last day at half-price things can be questionable (which I will make an offer on a bundle if I find some things I want). There's a couple here that price things ridiculously low, and if you don't show up before they open, then you will miss out on 90% of the stuff as it gets cleared out within an hour or so.

Sometimes too it depends on the family. Some just want it gone, others want the most money and think everything is gold.

Yes, "estate" sales run by the family *can* be a good score too, but again just depends on the situation.

At all times it's important to be respectful, until you pay for it, it's someone else's stuff. I hate when I go to sales and see people just tossing stuff around and calling things 'junk' or 'garbage'... Even if it is, you should just keep your mouth shut and be polite... It's someone's life you are digging through...

Around here there are two types of estate sales:
.....
It's getting harder to separate #1 from #2 because the pros rarely fess up in their CL ads that they're professionals.

What are everyone else's experiences?

 

[rmalkow2]

Different companies price things different. Some go high and even on the last day at half-price things can be questionable (which I will make an offer on a bundle if I find some things I want). There's a couple here that price things ridiculously low, and if you don't show up before they open, then you will miss out on 90% of the stuff as it gets cleared out within an hour or so.

Good comments from all around the country and beyond. This has been an enjoyable question with interesting answers. Not sure who first asked it anymore but good discussion .

 

[bmwrd0]

I want to add, professional estate companies are contracted with the executor of the estate to dispose of the contents. How it is done is a contractual issue, the company can be sued if they don't follow the terms of that contract. They all have different methods, some will have the sale at an almost full price for several weekends, some will guarantee it cleaned out in two days. Just depends on what the executor wanted.

When my wife and I dealt with her father's estate, we weren't worried about time issues due to when Sun City houses tend to sell, but we did want to clear as much as we could financially. So we chose accordingly.

 

[bluebolt]

Some more pictures of my Friday finds. I also updated the description.

Pic 1 and 2: Sylvania TV repair kit with a bunch of XCelite and Vaco tools. I have never bothered picking up one of these before but this one was cheap. The Zenith case was empty but was just a cool little case.

Pic 3 and 4: Close ups of the Helko Hunter made in Germany hatchet Harbor Freight used to sell. New price was $9.99, they now sell on EBay for $20 or more !

 

[pfaustus]

I've talked about this before, but around here we have house liquidators, otherwise known as house clear-out or close-out guys. They buy (edit: the contents of) a house out for a flat price and then they haul it to the flea market and sell it. There are usually a dozen or so of them, sometimes with more than one property each. They don't set up on the tables, but around the outskirts of the flea market lot. Their trailers are part of the landscape.

And they are all there in the same spots every weekend. The good thing is that they tend not to think all of their, ah, stuff is golden (except the Russian guy whose Mom isn't permitted to give a price for tools), although Mohammed can be a pita to negotiate with. As a group, however, sanity is in somewhat short supply.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

And they are all there in the same spots every weekend. The good thing is that they tend not to think all of their, ah, stuff is golden (except the Russian guy whose Mom isn't permitted to give a price for tools), although Mohammed can be a pita to negotiate with. As a group, however, sanity is in somewhat short supply.

I keep forgetting I have secret company!

Close-Out guys at Collingwood, in my order of preference (based on a mix of everything - prices, stuff, attitude, but maybe especially attitude, etc)...

(1) "Jules" (Not sure if it's Julia or Julie, she's often with a dog, sometimes a daughter, usually in the corner, by Keith, the guy with the red hair and beard)

(2) Keith

(3) Dependable Don (missed a 1920's black Plomb LA roller for $35 from him a few years ago, and he never let's me forget it... He watched me offer the guy who bought it from him 3 x that, after I helped him load it into his truck, who clearly had NO CLUE what it really was, never heard of Plomb, just needed a roller!)

(4) Frank (right behind the back door to the building)

(5) Vic (Born Again burn victim)

(6) Mort (next to Vic, Don, and Frank behind the building)

(7) Jimmy and Gigi (addicts, sadly, who may have succumbed - I haven't seen them in weeks and I heard they got the boot for leaving scrap behind...)

(8) JoJo (black guy, thick glasses, still sets up on the other side of the lot, where they all used to set up).
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(24) Mo
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(67) the guy who Mo works for

(68) the short-haired son of the guy who Mo works for
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(99) the long-haired son of the guy who Mo works for
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(199) "Bish"/Mark (the Russian) I wonder if anyone else out there at any flea market has someone as comparably loud, insulting, and offensive.

EDIT: Excuse me for having to ask this again - but are you the guy who visits his daughter from PA? Or is that someone else?

EDIT2: Believe it or not, Margaret, the poor hapless white-haired woman with Mark/Bish, is NOT Mark's/Bish's mother! She works for Mark/Bish!

 

[pfaustus]

I didn't think Margaret was his mother until I misunderstood something you wrote a awhile ago. At the time, I thought "No way. My mother would have killed me if I treated her like that." Glad to find I out I misunderstood.

The other Mark, the older guy with white hair, is a true gentleman. Unfortunately, he was letting the Russian help him price his lot of Proto a few weeks ago.

My girlfriend wanted to bring back the auto da fe after listening to Vic and Mort? (the one who always used to be next to Don but teams up with Vic recently) one weekend.

I didn't realize Mo works for the people sometimes next to him. I don't even slow down for them anymore. Thoroughly unpleasant people.

The place really is a collection of characters.

I live in Monmouth. So, that is someone else.

 

[RagTopTA]

I got a little score from the Bay in today! $2.25 winning bid plus shipping, around $14. not too bad a deal.

Plomb 1" Combo Pebble
SnapOn 71-M 1/2 ratchet
Calif Tools 15/16 special wrench... factory or shop made... no clue... anyone ?
SnapOn 1/2 - 9/16 DBE

 

[sickws6]

5 bucks for all. Bought the box for 5 with a “few junk tools” included.



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[Private Lugnutz]

Calif Tools 15/16 special wrench... factory or shop made... no clue... anyone ?

You know that's an Alphonse Plomb tool after he left the company that he gave his name to, right?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I didn't think Margaret was his mother until I misunderstood something you wrote a awhile ago. At the time, I thought "No way. My mother would have killed me if I treated her like that." Glad to find I out I misunderstood.

It was probably my fault! I just found out she wasn't his mother recently, and I had the same sense of relief.

Unfortunately, he was letting the Russian help him price his lot of Proto a few weeks ago.

Did you see the huge load that he was helping the new guy (Dwayne?) sell last week? It had a little of everything in it, lots of antique garage/service station stuff (signs, cans, license plates, etc), special equipment, toy cars, and some tools. It also included the rocking dog in the thumbnail below. Hand-made, hand-carved, of solid oak. Two-man lift heavy. Has a crack in it, which only adds to its charm. It might supposed to be a boxer, but it sort of looks like a bulldog in the face. My kids have all gone to RFH, which, as you probably know, is the Bulldogs, and I bought it and already re-painted the sweater purple. It's going to be a gift for whoever has the first grandkid! Anyway, I let it sit two days hoping and praying it wouldn't go (he had it priced at $250 with Bish whispering in his ear!), and I drove out there late on Sunday, Bish was gone, and I snagged it for a much more decent price.

My girlfriend wanted to bring back the auto da fe after listening to Vic and Mort? (the one who always used to be next to Don but teams up with Vic recently) one weekend.

Haha. Yeah, they're funny when they get going. Usually it's just the music and the scripture scrawled on the big white board.

I didn't realize Mo works for the people sometimes next to him. I don't even slow down for them anymore. Thoroughly unpleasant people.

Perfect word for them. I slow down but keep my eyes fixed dead ahead literally begging with all my body language for one of them to say something to me, so I could tell them, "I wouldn't buy something from you asshats if you were paying ME to take it away."

I remembered who the other GJer is. bill300d. He's not active on this thread. He comes over from the Lehigh Valley, PA.

 

[bmwrd0]

You know, my son lives in Philly, next time I visit him I will have to look you up Lugz!

 

[3baygarage]

I got a little score from the Bay in today! $2.25 winning bid plus shipping, around $14. not too bad a deal.

Plomb 1" Combo Pebble
SnapOn 71-M 1/2 ratchet
Calif Tools 15/16 special wrench... factory or shop made... no clue... anyone ?
SnapOn 1/2 - 9/16 DBE

Nice buy. You ****!
Sorry I have nothing to add on the wrench.

5 bucks for all. Bought the box for 5 with a “few junk tools” included.



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Awesome deal. You ****!

 

[RagTopTA]

You know that's an Alphonse Plomb tool after he left the company that he gave his name to, right?

Yes sir, I have three or four Cali-tools now! I need to look and see if there's a Cali-tool catalog. I think it may be factory made that way with the bends.

Nice buy. You ****!
Sorry I have nothing to add on the wrench.

thanks! I like to look at oddball stuff on Ebay late at night and sometimes find a score that way!

Awesome deal. You ****!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

You know, my son lives in Philly, next time I visit him I will have to look you up Lugz!

Sure thing. The more the merrier. Todd and thehorse13 keep threatening the same thing. Finders keepers, though. Or we can all go in different directions.

 

[Boofer]

5 bucks for all. Bought the box for 5 with a “few junk tools” included.



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You son-of-a-b*tch.

You ****!

 

[Mr_P]

That's probably a little better than our typical "You ****", but probably a little borderline offensive. Lol.

 

[bmwrd0]

Swung by a thift store I hadn't been in for a long time, picked up a few things
how to do a screenshot on a pc
Small Cornwell screwdriver, Starrett jewelers driver, and a Snap-on spark plug socket. But whats in the box I hear you say?
upload images free
A complete, unused Keuter 1/4" socket set, with extra SK extension and universal.

 

[3baygarage]

Thrift store! Sure beats the usual thrift store junk. Nice set!



Today I went to the mid week flea market. Got to the last vendor and he said everything is FREE!

Well, luckily I think the vendor next to him and myself were the first ones to get in on that. There were several tables and a whole suitcase of junk to dig through.

The following was all free.

Pic1 I took two envelopes of old photos, and it all looks like student work other than one surprise, an official White House photo of President Ford and Mrs. Ford, Kansas City, Missouri, 1976.

Also, a tube with a beat up print of President Truman which also contains a COA.

pic2 - Box of rusty tools, mostly Thorsen sockets, a Cman,some no name, a junk ratchet, Bkackhawk u joint.
-misc. hardware and junk
-I unwrapped the bubble wrap to uncover none other than Larry Bird! I added that to my pile.
- a Fontanini Bible figure. Seems to be more valuable than the Bird ornament,lol.
- book on Oil terms
-fish hooks
-Bell letter opener
-elec. tester
-made in USA thumb tacks, hardly see them around anymore. From Woolworths.

Pic 3,4- 1/2” drill with chuck key by PET, Portable Electric Tools. Chuck needs some cleanup but it works like a champ!

If anyone wants to fill me in on PET and the drill’s age be my guest.

 

[BlueBomber]

I know some folks find the "You ****" phrase offensive, but I kinda like that we keep this thread otherwise decent WRT language.

BTW, all those tools, especially, the Mac wrenches, certainly warrant a declaration of subnormal atmospheric pressure.

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[sickws6]

I know some folks find the "You ****" phrase offensive, but I kinda like that we keep this thread otherwise decent WRT language.

BTW, all those tools, especially, the Mac wrenches, certainly warrant a declaration of subnormal atmospheric pressure.

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No offense takin I enjoy the jealousy


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