Boy did time fly these past 2-3 weeks for me, but I have lots of goodies to share! I'm going to split these past 2 weeks into a
three part series since there is so much that happened! The first set of images here are from 2 weeks ago, after weeks of having all the estate sales on the other side of the city and nearly all of the yardsales coming up with nothing, I started browsing craigslist to see if anything I wanted might be up on there. I came across an ad for a tool sale starting the next morning on that Friday and to text for an address. I text the guy and he gets back to me within 5 minutes on how to get to the sale, which would be any guys dream with a shop jam packed with 80's and older shop equipment that looked like it had been abandoned for a decade.
The sale started at 8:30AM and I got there at 8:32, excited like a kid on ice cream Friday at school. Already the items were placed on makeshift tables made of ripped scraps of chip board. Most of that stuff was contractor type items from Harbor Freight, however, the first thing I picked up was a Hilti dry wall gun for $15. After looking over all the power equipment I went to the hand tool boxes and started picking through those. The first thing I picked up was a set of like new -V- Craftsman double box end set and a double open end set both from 1/4" to 1-1/4" for $20 each to complete my wrench sets. I then started digging into the wrench box and picked up all the USA Craftsman, Williams, and some Proto wrenches for $1 each, totaling around $25 for all the loose wrenches which I'm happy to be able to fill in my road box as well!
Next to the loose wrench boxes was a box filled with ratchets, a lot were harbor freight and taiwan but I was able to find a 1/2" Craftsman breaker bar for $4, Proto and Williams breaker bars for $2 each, a brand new SK round head ratchet for $2, Craftsman 1/2" ratchet for $4, and a Williams ratchet for $3.
At this point, I get to talking with the guy and his wife, very nice people, that were running the sale finding out that the garage/shop was used as an "overflow" storage of this 40-50 year old couples grandfather and the man's father for both construction and mechanic businesses that the father and grandfather had ran. The man, his brother, and brother-in-law had already taken what they wanted from the shop, but this started giving me hope since the house was supposedly in the family since the early 50's, could this mean that there is a hidden treasure in a crate on a shelf stacked high?
I then started sorting through the pliers and picked up some nice Craftsman, Utica, and channellock for $2 a piece (except the ********* handled Cman which was $6). Then looking through the "misc" box, while joking around with the couple about the local estate sale companies and them wanting to charge $6 for an item that had a price sticker on it for $2.99, I find some rawhide mallets, $2 each, and a small dished swage block for $1! I've been wanting one of these things for my vise restorations when I remake the handles, sweet!
The husband then offered to let me look around in the shop while they were still clearing out, If I remember correctly, it was around 9:30 AM-ish at this point. I start looking around, and its a mess, tons of materials, nails, screws, and machines sitting around. I think the oldest machine there was a 70's radial arm saw. There was also things like a 12" Craftsman bandsaw they were willing to sell for $40 but I had already had one, but I WAS tempted to buy it so I didnt have to change blades as much!
To paint a better picture, imagine and old shop with shelves with milk crates filled with hardware, nails, screws, and the center and walls filled with hammers, saws, woodworking, and all of it covered in a thick layer of wood dust. Unfortunately, there wasnt much in there that I could find that I wanted after a couple of walk throughs so I started really digging into the crates and under the benches, albeit VERY carefully not to get surprised by any critters or black widows. There was a old beaten up craftsman red and gray stack in one of the corners. There I picked up both a =V= and a circle-H Craftsman stud remover for $3 each (I couldn't decide which one I wanted so I bought both
) as well as some older New Britain and Craftsman BE 1/2" Sockets for $3 for all. At this point I realized I had both already racked up a lot of money as well as needed to go to a final that started at noon that day, I look down at my watch and it was already 10 AM and I've barely dug into any of this treasure trove of a shop! I then open one of the corner drawers in the chest and find this really cool Plomb 1/4" ratchet with "war finish" on it. I dug around some more but had to cut it off at 10:30AM since I had about an hour drive through the city from this house to get to the University, when I got out of the shop the entire back yard was jam packed with people almost shoulder to shoulder grabbing whatever they could. Notably, I was able to pick out about 4 out of the 20+ people as known resellers at the antique malls and at the antique fair that happens once a month so it was definitely a good thing I showed up nice and early!
Nice find on that Proto. I have only ever seen that online.
