2026 Garage Sale Thread (15th Annual)

[3baygarage]

So last week I went on a trip to Buffalo. It worked out nicely that I was able to visit my old stomping grounds (flea market) two Saturdays in a row! As always I enjoyed seeing the old crew.

I also received a bunch of tools from my best friend who moved.

I'll post the Buffalo haul in three parts in the order I acquired things. Still waiting on part 3 to arrive.

PART 1: First flea trip. It was July 4th morning. Light day there, but still enough treasures to be found. I was happy it wasn’t overwhelming and I was able to socialize with lots of familiar faces. The guys are always happy to see me there.

-Adjustable wrenches: unbranded made in England, Proto Los Angeles 6”, Billings and Spencer
-My second E. EDELMANN nesting screwdriver in a brief period. This one has brass coat. Also complete.
-Snap-On chisel
-Craftsman 1/4 breaker bar
-Cornwell 3/8” open gear ratchet with lock button
-Walden 1/4 breaker
-sockets: Walden, Proto ext., Cornwell u-joint and deep, Snap-On, Williams hex sockets, Vulcan deep,
Armstrong 1/8” socket (haven’t found a use for one yet!)
-Vulcan Magna driver
-Williams chisels and punch
-United brand stubby screwdriver
-Simplex ratcheting wrench
-Blue-Point small doe

Part 2: Tools from my buddy in Buffalo. Previously his grandpa’s. My friend doesn’t use tools and was getting rid of them all! There were a bunch of good usable tools, I just had to be selective due to space.

-Ushco Buffalo ball pein hammer
-Lufkin boxwood ruler
-Ryerson Steel rebar letter opener (his grandfather worked there)
-unbranded twisted box wrench
-Proto 8” black adjustable
-Williams 3/4” six pt socket and S-52 1/2” ratchet, both nice.
-Gunslick tube in box
-Vaporole Aromatic Ammonia tin
-Pexto long nose pliers
-Klein Lineman pliers

 

[3baygarage]

dupe post

 

[Outlawmws]

-Simplex ratcheting wrench

Is that a ratcheting wrench, or a "one size fits most" wrench?

 

[3baygarage]

Is that a ratcheting wrench, or a "one size fits most" wrench?

I think they’re for both

 

[bluebolt]

I went through the Armstrong top and Craftsman bottom stack I got. I mainly got it because I collect the Craftsman gray with red drawers series of toolboxes and this one is much in much better condition than the identical 9 drawer bottom I currently have. A decent amount of USA and other good stuff. Craftsman, S-K, Snap On and a few other pieces. Electric testers will go in the Sell pile. A drawer full of small engine parts, a drawer full of Honda 50 parts. The last photo is all the import stuff that will go in the dirt cheap stuff at my next yard sale. I'll be selling the Armstrong top box too. The other Craftsman 9 drawer bottom will get sold eventually too.

 

[Stubby1743]

A 30min early visit to my local small car boot sale gained me these pieces from two sellers.

A 105mm Smallwood level with UK Govt property mark ᗑ and 1989 date.
Bahco "ergo" made in Sweden 8" adjustable.
CK branded made in Germany 4" adjustable.
King **** 7x8mm offset DBE. Marked with ᗑ but no date. The 7mm end is 6 point and the 8mm end is 12 point.
CK branded needle small nose pliers and cutters. Marked CK on outside of handles and German Made on the inside.
A home made ice pick type tool.
Acesa made in Spain pliers.
Elora West Germany 150mm 3/8" drive extension.
Draper Tools branded 19mm combo.
Moore and Wright stainless 300mm/12" vernier caliper.
Not shown, but I also got a British made O ring selection box.

I paid £4.50 all in. Very happy with that, especially as the vernier caliper would be £50 to £60 new depending on vendor.

 

[bmwrd0]

A 30min early visit to my local small car boot sale gained me these pieces from two sellers.

A 105mm Smallwood level with UK Govt property mark ᗑ and 1989 date.
Bahco "ergo" made in Sweden 8" adjustable.
CK branded made in Germany 4" adjustable.
King **** 7x8mm offset DBE. Marked with ᗑ but no date. The 7mm end is 6 point and the 8mm end is 12 point.
CK branded needle small nose pliers and cutters. Marked CK on outside of handles and German Made on the inside.
A home made ice pick type tool.
Acesa made in Spain pliers.
Elora West Germany 150mm 3/8" drive extension.
Draper Tools branded 19mm combo.
Moore and Wright stainless 300mm/12" vernier caliper.
Not shown, but I also got a British made O ring selection box.

I paid £4.50 all in. Very happy with that, especially as the vernier caliper would be £50 to £60 new depending on vendor.

Very nice. The CK tools I have, Whitworth nut drivers, are quite nice.

 

[LesserSon]

H on handle Harold?

Looks Harrold from here.

 

[bmwrd0]

Due to the county fair being held across the way from my local dog park, I went to one in the next little town over, and along the way I stopped at an interesting Sunday yard sale. Lots of "man" stuff: reloading, tools, Coleman, but not much I need or can use with the following exceptions

Makita cut off saw, in need of a new cord. So I couldn't test it, but at $5 I couldn't pass it up, either.

small velveteen box of shooting/reloading misc: rear sight, front sight ramp, primer pocket cleaners, shell holder, etc. $3

 

[Outlawmws]

Then an Estates sale 2nd and final 1/2 off day (I missed the first half off day) $12 for a 2 drawer intermediate same size as a 20" Kennedy - partially full and I found the keys! Very happy at $12

So I finally paid attention to the keys for this "unknown" intermediate box I got a week ago Sat. Clearly marked Kennedy! I also looked closer at the paint and while it looks factory, the case is smooth but the drawer fronts are wrinkle? Certainly the drawer pulls look Kennedy...

 

[bmwrd0]

I would say that it is a Kennedy that has been repainted. I have one, although they chose pea soup green for some reason...

 

[LesserSon]

MrsLS had packed up a few cubic feet of basement clutter, so at 04:30 we took it to Jake’s Flea Mkt to sell. After we set up, I did a recon of the field and picked up a few things to refill the void.
My first purchase was some SS flatware reminiscent of my grandmother’s Impassa Japan atomic starburst set (which I have… somewhere), partially addressing one of two problems. ALL the knives (even ones I’ve seen on eBay) have a crack in the blade between the logo stamp and the handle, which I take to be a manufacturing issue. These knives don’t share that flaw. (The unaddressed problem is that the ice tea spoons, of which she was inordinately proud, and her three sisters inordinately jealous, were missing from her home when we emptied it.)
I could make out “cast steel” on the hack saw frame, so I knew it was old. As I hoped, turned out to be Henry Disston & Sons Philada USA.
Champion quilt frame clamp. Craftsman 1/4dr deep. Unmarked brick pointer. Challenger 1/4dr spinner. Wm Hjorth Jamestown NY “AUTO” bent nose pliers, Easco stubby Phillips. Vacuum-Grip Newport battery pliers, Snap-on tiny dikes, Utica slipjoints, France duckbill box joint pliers (with more mfr stamps I haven’t deciphered). Unbranded No1 concrete seamer. Bonney 6” Stillson and 31/32” 6pt socket. $12 for everything, plus we netted ten times that on stuff we sold.

While derusting my Henry Disston & Sons No1 hacksaw frame, I noticed the steel pin holding the handle assembly together (resembling a finish nail) was mangled near failing and the hole through the wood had become a slot, so I drilled the head off and pulled.
The tapered square steel rod that grips the saw blade is captured by the turnip-shaped hole it passes through, so there’s no further disassembly, which was my goal for getting the rust out of the turnip hole. And the heavy brass ferrule was a bit out of round, so I managed to put a few more scratches into it fixing that. Oh well.
What is most interesting to me is the inner wood peg, which has a tapered sqaure hollow to receive the steel. That hollow could have been made directly in the outer wood handle, resulting in a simpler assembly and less total work. But it probably reduces wasted work when there’s an error in making the hollow, from discarding only that little peg, instead of a whole turned handle. It may also help snug into the brass ferrule by slightly wedging the outer handle.
Well, now I can repair and treat the wood parts separately from the steel, which generally gets better finished results.

 

[coachwash]

I won 3 lots from an online estate sale auction, had to drive a bit to pick it up. On the way back home, we hit a few antique shops and thrift stores. We did not find anything that we could not do without. So my only haul is from the estate sale. 3 lots $47 total. I will go through it in the next few days since we got home so late, and post it.

part 1

 

[Stubby1743]

I took a trip to my local tip this morning with some garden waste. Of course I had to check out the items put aside for potential purchase. £1 gained me these three items.



A pair of Elliot Lucas Ltd of Cannock England pincers.
A wooden handled small 7" Record pipe wrench. All steel Record pipe wrenches are very common finds at car boot sales here in the UK, but wooden handled ones are much rarer.
The paperback book speaks for itself.

 

[coachwash]

I won 3 lots from an online estate sale auction, had to drive a bit to pick it up. On the way back home, we hit a few antique shops and thrift stores. We did not find anything that we could not do without. So my only haul is from the estate sale. 3 lots $47 total. I will go through it in the next few days since we got home so late, and post it.

part 2

 

[coachwash]

I won 3 lots from an online estate sale auction, had to drive a bit to pick it up. On the way back home, we hit a few antique shops and thrift stores. We did not find anything that we could not do without. So my only haul is from the estate sale. 3 lots $47 total. I will go through it in the next few days since we got home so late, and post it.

Part 3. I thinned out the Asian sockets and wrenches.

Craftsman model 65334 toolbox. Should I do a restoration? Maybe back to its original gray?


Bottom rail is snap-on with one Mac and one Matco

 

[LesserSon]

Craftsman model 65334 toolbox. Should I do a restoration? Maybe back to its original gray?

Maybe you’re kidding. If so, ha-ha. Otherwise, if you have the time and talent to restore something that gone, I’d rather see it applied to a heritage or long-C era box!

 

[Fred Knox]

Over the last few weekends, I was traveling and picked up a smorgasbord of hand tools along the way:
small Craftsman cold chisel and four punches
two Plomb punches
Crescent 4" adjustable
Craftsman V series 1/4"-drive ratchet
Vlchek Chrome Moly DBE
Barcalo-Buffalo combo
Long C Craftsman Vanadium short offset DBE
Blue Point Chicago and Williams ignition wrenches (and one combo)
Blackhawk Baldy (great shape)
Thorsen 77 ratchet
Williams S50 ratchet with push-through plug
early 1/2" to 1/2" male plug adaptor, and 5/8" to 7/8" male plug adaptor (any ideas on manufacturers?)
Circle U sliding tee
Plomb 9684 Phillips screwdriver, and #1147 DBE wrench
Bonney Chrome-Vanadium Circle CV 11/16" DBE, and Zenel 9/16" DBE
Plomb 5532 and 5530 3/4"-drive sockets
Plomb 3532 and 3536 single open-end wrenches
Williams and None Better sockets
Walden Worcester sockets (one is Chrome Nickel)
Craftsman C series 1/4" socket; 9/32"-drive
offset double-end screwdriver (not marked)
A. Plomb and Plomb LA brake adjusting wrenches and two screwdrivers

 

[coachwash]

Maybe you’re kidding. If so, ha-ha. Otherwise, if you have the time and talent to restore something that gone, I’d rather see it applied to a heritage or long-C era box!

I wish I had the talent, but I definitely do not. I did clean it up some. The date code on it is 12/67 it is pitted pretty bad.

 

[NoahG]

Seemed like slim pickings in western Michigan last weekend. Good clean tip on the Blue Point tho, and I do like the vintage hole punch too.

 

[road ruiner]

man you guys find so many nice tools what do you guys do try to make complete sets of tools from each manufacturer and sort of display the stuff? i see guys asking for tool boards and the such or is there a market for that old style stuff that makes it worth collecting? i like tools but usually buy things that are more automotive related brake bleeders and tools for bolts and such that want to escape removal but i have no need for double open ends and vintage machinery tools is why i wonder what you do with that kind of hand tools

 

[four.cycle]

^ Yes, until you reach a tipping point when you have so many mis-matched sockets you finally say "to hell with all this" and dump them all out in one lot.
And then start all over.

 

[mikeinri]

I wish I had the talent, but I definitely do not. I did clean it up some. The date code on it is 12/67 it is pitted pretty bad.

Might be a good candidate to learn on?

Mike

 

[Outlawmws]

Might be a good candidate to learn on?

Mike

Learning is good!

I wish I had the talent, but I definitely do not.

If I can recover this 3/4" socket box - most anything is recoverable -

Before:




After:

 

[WisJim]

I picked up my winnings at the local online auction. Four Jacobs 59B headstock chucks, a Chinese 5 inch chuck with no backplate, and an odd chuck thing that I haven't figured out yet. I've been wanting a headstock chuck to fit my Atlas or South Bend lathes and now I have 4 of them. But I didn't bid high enough on 2 lots of Hot Wheels cars in unopened packages to get them for my grandson. At least a hundred of them, would have covered Christmas and birthday for awile.

 

[knock knock]

Stopped by an estate sale $5 for the Gerber and tools. Then hopped in to a thrift store and $6 for the knife.

 

[Outlawmws]

and an odd chuck thing that I haven't figured out yet.

Looks like part of a key-less chuck? Missing the nose at least?

$5 for the Gerber and tools.

Sweet! you ****!

I think that Gerber is the smaller civilian issue of the military MP600?

 

[knock knock]

Think so have a handful of them. Like them for fishing slick one hand deployment and small needle nose pliers.

 

[bmwrd0]

On Tuesday it was going to be extra hot, so I headed over to the coast for the day, and hit a thrift store and a Restore while out that way

From the thrift store, Mossberg Ell, Blackhawk knock-off, and Schrade (no COO) and from the restore a Tivoli radio and two crime novels.
The Tivoli is a high end tuner, and you can feel the quality by the fine adjusting tuning dial, and I couldn't pass on the ratchet being as ugly as it is. The knife, on the other hand, is in bad need of a sharpening, and will do for a glove box keeper.

 

[RTM]

here, from the free to me category, are two wooden boxes that will get repurposed. Found on the curb at a neighbor's house, went back later in the day to pick them up.

I had never heard of Phase II tools, was surprised it was a US based company (not sure where the tools are made), established since 1980s. Searching here put them in he Enco thread. I will never have a 3-4" mike to put on the box, so repurposing will be in order

The other box look like it originally held a rotary tool of some type, again, will be repurposing this.

 

[INSP380]

Been after a Workmate for a while now. Usually priced pretty cheap, but never an early model. Found this Type.2 at a local sale for $15… Seller also had a vintage Federal test indicator, (3) Starrett calipers, a 11/16 SK-Wayne 6 point and a sweet pair of screw jacks. The red Simplex is NOS..Walked out spending $26 total.

Steve

 

[zanyad]

You ****, @INSP380! I never seem to find those sales 'round here.

 

[INSP380]

You ****, @INSP380! I never seem to find those sales 'round here.

It was a weird set-up for sure. The Workmate and indicator were listed on FBM, but I could see stuff in the background. I head out there and see signs leading to the house. They just closed up and went in when I arrived, on a Monday at 5pm… Weird day for a sale. I figured the Man of the house had passed, turns out they were downsizing. Great guy, walked me around and showed me everything. I could have spent more, had I brought more. Figured on picking my two items and leaving. He wasn’t out in BFE, but he was close. Not worth returning with more cash. I keep digging, I’ve scored more from checking out the background in photos then buying the actual items listed. The pics get me “in the door” … then the “Shopping” starts…

Steve

 

[ctuai]

Estate sales ($45): Set of 12 Millers Falls No. 3 carving tools; CE Potter, Sapulpa, OK nut cracker; Sargent VBM 4" drawknife; Set of 4 Double Cherry chip carving knives; Takara Pocket Critter, Cat (kitty kitty) key chain; Thorsen ratchet, extension and 1/4" sockets; 2 - Bear Norton CS44 course round-edge slip sharpening stones; Plumb hatchet.

Never come across a 4" drawknife, I'll have to put that into my carving kit. Thorsen, my soft spot. I'm even leaving SK behind as I'm just not doing sockets, but for some reason can't help but drop Thorsen into the bag. Pulled the cat key chain for one of the daughters and it turns out it animates, but was broken. Repaired the gear box and voila a $50 keychain. Oh the cost of buying affection.​

 

[RTM]

Never come across a 4" drawknife, I'll have to put that into my carving kit.

Those are great. Many different attributions on them, Pony is a frequent one, Jennings another. Under any name, a great tool.

 

[Davefr]

So rebuilding our deck was on my "to do" list this summer. Once it was time to demo the substructure I decided to tough it out with my corded Sawzall. It was about 20% cutting and 80% threading/untangling/managing extension cords thru posts, beams and joists. At the end of that phase I regretting not running into town and buying a Li-Ion Sawzall.

The following day we were comming back from looking at hardwood decking options and spotted a garage sale. It was a contractor's going out of business sale loaded with Makita.

I picked up a 40V XGT recip saw, 10-1/4" rear handle circ saw, charger and 40V XGT battery for $85. I sure could have used the recip saw earlier but the 10-1/4" circ saw came in handy cutting thru 4X material in a single pass and is lighter then a Skill 77. A year earlier I found a Makita impact driver w/18V LXT battery in a free pile. The impact driver was a godsend doing decking work.

 

[Beerhippie]

So rebuilding our deck was on my "to do" list this summer. Once it was time to demo the substructure I decided to tough it out with my corded Sawzall. It was about 20% cutting and 80% threading/untangling/managing extension cords thru posts, beams and joists. At the end of that phase I regretting not running into town and buying a Li-Ion Sawzall.

The following day we were comming back from looking at hardwood decking options and spotted a garage sale. It was a contractor's going out of business sale loaded with Makita.

I picked up a 40V XGT recip saw, 10-1/4" rear handle circ saw, charger and 40V XGT battery for $85. I sure could have used the recip saw earlier but the 10-1/4" circ saw came in handy cutting thru 4X material in a single pass and is lighter then a Skill 77. A year earlier I found a Makita impact driver w/18V LXT battery in a free pile. The impact driver was a godsend doing decking work.

The suckage is powerful in this one.

 

[Patrickm82]

Nice score @Davefr you **** for that deal!

 

[Beerhippie]

Hit one TOO on the way back from lunch today. Might go back tomorrow to see what I can dig out when I have the leisure. This is a shop clean-out. Unfortunately, the pricing is steep and anything not priced, the gal running the sale takes a pic of and looks up the value online--which means someone's asking price on Eprey.

Thirty bucks out the door:



The vise was priced at $20. No-brand Asium, but a tilting DP vise, which I don't have and might use once in a blue moon. The dikes and circlip pliers are Vacuum Grip--my first and still usable.

A friend dropped by a couple of hours ago. He'd been up to the dump, which had just reopened after being shut down for a week due to a grass fire that swept through. He dumped these on my bench and asked if I wanted them:



Price? Free!

The vise is pure Asium, with flaking Bondo and all. It may just go right into the scrap metal bin. The wrenches are, L-R, S-K, Mac, Challenger and Proto Professional--all SAE. Those I'll keep. A bunch of craptacious end wrenches went right to the bin. I think the S-K came from his clean-out of his father's shop and the rest were found at the (now weed-free) scrap metal pile at the dump.

I need to mix up some more of the You tube rust remover--gotta find the ratios again and remember to keep copper and copper alloys out of it.

 

[bmwrd0]

I was able to make it out yesterday afternoon, hitting a couple sales (one good, one bad) and a restore

from the good sale: a little light reading, partial Xcelite bit set, Klein knife, Snap-on folding hex set, Xcelite nut driver, (working) pen light, oddball wrench, Plomb (not WF) ratchet, flare tool with odd nose, Mossberg socket, Bog socket (blued), NOS contacts, NOS GE brushes, and

This Fiber Products Mfg. radio tube case, that folds out to four levels

and is full of old tubes, all of that for $20.

the next stop, which I rushed to, was a bust as far as interesting things go, so off to the Restore, where I picked up

all of this, a cantilever tool box, Wright socket, Thorsen extension, Bondhus hex driver, and Toyota screw driver, for $8.