2020 Garage Sale Thread

[Cruzan80]

Agreed. I check it all over, slow pull to see if it is seized, etc. But you would be surprised how many things dont start because of no gas (either empty tank, or shut off line).

I haven't found any good estate sales for tools or things like this in my area. There was a huge flea market where I use to live so never really searched out estate sales before. That "local ebay tool guy" is finding estate sales somewhere. I am sure I'll run into him at one some day

The Carb was dry so I don't think they had tried much in 3 years and it probably sat alot longer. The Carb was gunked up so needed the cleaning. Right, you get the better price by NOT checking things out first, increased risk with potential increased reward. I'd still give a slow pull on the cord and make sure the engine moves freely.

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[b.well]

Thanks gearhead! It was my first carb rebuild; I was quite proud of myself

 

[madison069]

I noticed this down the street, almost on the street, at the end of my neighbor's front yard. I knocked on the door (new to neighborhood, never met) and asked what they were doing with it. They said it wouldn't start, hasn't run in 3 years, and they wanted it gone. I took a look at it. The engine moved freely and it looked in decent shape so I walked it home .

Took me a couple weeks to get back to it. First was happy to see it had spark. Had bad gas but the gas valve was shut off (good sign). The carb was dirty. I replaced gas, changed the black oil, cleaned the carb..... this thing runs great!!!! Barely have to pull it to start it. Past two weekends I've been trimming/cutting bushes/trees and making fire wood, wood chips, and mulch. I believe these retail $400 and sell working for $250. Seems to be from the mid 90s. Yeehaa!!!

You ****!


I know the feeling on finding that kind of deal. Yesterday I picked up a lawnmower from trash. Got it home and looked it over, no issues seen just no gas and a loose cover on the self propeller belt. I cleaned it of the grass on the outside and then put some gas in the tank, 4 pulls and it fired right up! Self propeller even works! I don’t know why he put it out but I got a lawnmower to clean and sell now and nothing was really wrong with it to begin with!

 

[b.well]

madison, in that case I am happy to return, You ****!

 

[freudianfloyd]

Garage sales are still few and far between out here, but they are getting better. Went to an garage sale today. Old man died and his son was selling his stuff. He was a real nice guy, and we didn't even have to haggle, his prices were great.

This was my favorite type of garage sale. Nothing pulled out, just dig around and if you want it, make an offer. To top it off, the guy was a car guy and had alot of cool stuff in the garage for sale.

I tried to buy a real nice Prentiss vise, but the guy said that is going home with him.

However I did find some other gems.

Cool ratchet with Corvette engraved in it. Made in USA, I thought it had a torx bit stuck in it, but apparently this is a tool for removing the Targa top from C4 Corvettes. Either way, its a cool little ratchet.
View media item 104658
Another tool that I have been wanting for years, and I will probably gets lots of use out of it is this SAE and Metric thread checker set.
View media item 104657Also dug out lots of misc. tools, a few hatchets, old cardboard can of Stihl 2 stroke oil to put on my shelf, a tool bag full of chsinsaws chains, files, spark plugs, misc sockets, a Husky ratchet, some screwdrivers and a pair of Simplex pliers. I think it was the old man's chainsaw repair bag. And a slide hammer.
View media item 104660
Also picked up a set of Kravex heavy duty jumper cables in really good shape.
View media item 104661
And to top it all off, this cool old 59cc Remington chainsaw.
View media item 104659
Paid $32 for everything, so I'm pretty happy.

I may go back and see what else he has, I know he had an SK round head ratchet, and a Wizard ratchet, but I had to stop myself, I dont need anymore ratchets.

 

[freudianfloyd]

Oh I forgot a couple buys from last Saturday.
Picked up this Simpson 3000 psi pressure washer with Honda engine and hose along with another cool old chsinsaw, a Homelite Super EZ Automatic. Paid $55 total.

I was told the pressure washer engine needed rebuilt, they took it to a "tech", and that is what they were told. I took it home, pulled the carb and cleaned it, drained the old fuel and put new fuel in it, and it fired right up. I've used it 3 times already.

The chainsaw needed a new fuel line and the chain to be put on correctly, and it runs great too.
View media item 104662View media item 104626

 

[NeubCont]

Surplus military generators
My brother picked up these up for me, Free-o!!!
A couple of wires cut or damaged.
Hope to get them up and running in near future.
Am starting a new thread to see what info the GJ geniuses can supply about it.

 

[bmwrd0]

Its a beautiful day! The sun is shinning, people are out, and I had a few good sales!

The first was so good, I went back at the end of the day, and will put that last. So, after leaving that, I went to a farm/barn/estate sale that sucked. So I got nothing there, even though the ad said lots of tools (no pics, few tools) So after that I went to another estate sale, which had only a couple two man saws hanging on the wall (saw those in the pics) but I found a sporting goods catalog from the '20s and another bridge lamp!



$40 for the two of those. But the seller had these on the walls also, so I had to ask what they are:

Pretty cool, huh!

Anyway, here is what I picked up at the first sale, and you will see why I went back


so, lets see, we have a set of small thin wrenches, Stanley angle gauge, Stanley 100 plane, Dunlop driver, Vaco driver, Upland bit set, Starrett inside calipers, a really neat little bolt gauge, Unknown driver, Proto and Snap-on driver bits, Penens wrenches, an English handled awl, ratchet spinner, another driver, Armstrong tappet wrench, Proto flextension, Craftsman and WF ratchets, Plomb 1/4 flex, WF T-handle, another ratchet spinner, offset screwdrivers (Proto LA, Stanley, ???) Starrett level, Craftsman Fishtail, Wright and Moore screwpitch gauges (metric, Whitworth) W&M angel gauges (standard, Whitworth) lathe chuck wrench, Plomb, WF, SK and Huskey flex handles, and assorted APEX and Vaco bits (not all shown). All that, between the two stops, $8.

 

[Outlawmws]

Fish scales!

 

[bmwrd0]

Fish scales!

Close!

 

[b.well]

Nice finds everyone!

 

[wrenchguy]

scale beams and called beam scales.

 

[LesserSon]

Fish scales!

That’s funny.

 

[bmwrd0]

Well, as far as the guy told me those are buffalo hide scales. So, now you know!

 

[txlonghorn1989]

bmw, those buffalo hide scales are really cool in a very disgusting way. You know considering what the absence of the buffalo meant to a large group of people in this country. And the wrought iron (?) lamp is cool as heck too! Fyi, sent you a PM.

 

[Old Radar]

scale beams and called beam scales.

Hmmm. I'm with wrenchguy. A quick google search for "buffalo hide scale" pulls up images that all look like this:

 

[Provincial]

bmw *****, again!

 

[Manny]

There was a huge flea market where I use to live so never really searched out estate sales before. That "local ebay tool guy" is finding estate sales somewhere.

In case you don’t know where to find estate sales, here’s a website I use. Just input your zip code and it will give you a list of sales near you. Enjoy!

https://www.estatesales.net/

 

[Jack84]

Partner cut off saw, needs some works.



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[mitusa]

scale beams and called beam scales.

Yeah,.........if you look closer at the pictures, the bottom ones are labeled tobacco or cotton scales.

I don't know what they are; I have seen many examples of cotton scales and they look similar but not exactly like those.

 

[b.well]

In case you don’t know where to find estate sales, here’s a website I use. Just input your zip code and it will give you a list of sales near you. Enjoy!

https://www.estatesales.net/

Thank you. That does seem to be the best option. I did find some estate sales with tools. One was already two days in, only accepting online purchases and I saw this attached image as a sold item. Doh.

 

[wrenchguy]

Hmmm. I'm with wrenchguy. A quick google search for "buffalo hide scale" pulls up images that all look like this:

google images says the ones shown look 2b "antique hanging balance beam scales".

 

[BlueBomber]

Here's my recent freebie curb-side haul. Brace yourselves: it's a doozie!





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[LesserSon]

I think some of you might be overthinking those scales. Mechanically, they’re beam scales (or rod scales, or cantilever scales, or whatever).
Trying to name them by what they could be used to weigh seems a bit open-ended. They could be used to weigh anything within their ranges. They only have to weigh one buffalo hide in eternity to be buffalo hide scales, but they could just as well be used to weigh iron spikes or elephant testicles.

 

[Arne73]

Here's my recent freebie curb-side haul. Brace yourselves: it's a doozie!





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Are you keeping it or

flipping it?

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[BlueBomber]

Are you keeping it or

flipping it?

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It might be too hot to flip...

 

[BlueBomber]

I think some of you might be overthinking those scales. Mechanically, they’re beam scales (or rod scales, or cantilever scales, or whatever).
Trying to name them by what they could be used to weigh seems a bit open-ended. They could be used to weigh anything within their ranges. They only have to weigh one buffalo hide in eternity to be buffalo hide scales, but they could just as well be used to weigh iron spikes or elephant testicles.

That may be a first for those two words together in a Garage Sale thread post.....

 

[Outlawmws]

That may be a first for those two words together in a Garage Sale thread post.....

Nope! In one other post! in 2014!

Ironically the year I hosted!

 

[SignalZero]

I’ve been missing out on sales since the whole COVID thing started. Good to see everyone is still finding deals.

This evening my buddy texted me saying there was a “tool cart” sitting by the road in our neighborhood. My wife was bored and talked me into taking the ride around the block. My buddy saw us leaving and jumped in the bed of the truck.
We drug home this Harloff medical cart. It’s pretty dirty but seems like it’ll clean up ok. Wheels and drawers still work great, but the door magnets aren’t holding things shut.

 

[bmwrd0]

I think some of you might be overthinking those scales. Mechanically, they’re beam scales (or rod scales, or cantilever scales, or whatever).
Trying to name them by what they could be used to weigh seems a bit open-ended. They could be used to weigh anything within their ranges. They only have to weigh one buffalo hide in eternity to be buffalo hide scales, but they could just as well be used to weigh iron spikes or elephant testicles.

elephant testicles?

Well, I guess the balls are in your court.

 

[tym]

Nope! In one other post! in 2014!

Ironically the year I hosted!

That's the pachyderm's ********!

 

[mikeinri]

In case you don’t know where to find estate sales, here’s a website I use. Just input your zip code and it will give you a list of sales near you. Enjoy!

https://www.estatesales.net/

Found one near me tomorrow. It's listed as an in-person estate sale (not an auction), and it's supposed to last for 5 hours.

I've never been to anything like this. Any advice?

My thoughts are: Go early if there's anything I see that I "must have" (there really isn't). Go late to get best pricing on whatever is left.

Is that basically it?

The estate company's website is really geared towards sellers (we'll get you the best value for the items in your estate, etc.). And they've hosted some very high-end estates.

But, they've also done some houses that look straight off the TV show "American Pickers." Piles of dirty, rusty junk. I'd really like to know what they do with the stuff that doesn't sell within the given hours.

Mike

 

[hitthewall79]

Found one near me tomorrow. It's listed as an in-person estate sale (not an auction), and it's supposed to last for 5 hours.



I've never been to anything like this. Any advice?



My thoughts are: Go early if there's anything I see that I "must have" (there really isn't). Go late to get best pricing on whatever is left.



Is that basically it?



The estate company's website is really geared towards sellers (we'll get you the best value for the items in your estate, etc.). And they've hosted some very high-end estates.



But, they've also done some houses that look straight off the TV show "American Pickers." Piles of dirty, rusty junk. I'd really like to know what they do with the stuff that doesn't sell within the given hours.



Mike

Some of these estate sale "companies" have people in the crowd that help bid up items so that the sellers get more for their item. If you notice one guy bidding all the time but never winning anything, it's that guy

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[Motorman55]

Got the following for 'FREE' today from a lady's garage up the road from me.

1) Large 4 drawer, all chrome metal cabinet. Measures 31-1/2"W x 22-1/4"T x 21-1/4"D. Cleaned it up and will use it in the shop office to store some of my original vintage/old motorcycle literature, posters, ads, etc.

2) An old Vornado propane torch with original literature and box. The box is in mint condition. Garfield, NJ

3) 6" Brink & Cotton No. 146

4) 1/2" x 9/16 Bridgeport wrench

5) Port Austin, Mich. red wood level

6) 2 each 2" and 3" small clamps JAPAN

7) Nice blue Brevettato oiler can, Made in Italy

 

[Manny]

Found one near me tomorrow. It's listed as an in-person estate sale (not an auction), and it's supposed to last for 5 hours.



I've never been to anything like this. Any advice?



My thoughts are: Go early if there's anything I see that I "must have" (there really isn't). Go late to get best pricing on whatever is left.



Is that basically it?



The estate company's website is really geared towards sellers (we'll get you the best value for the items in your estate, etc.). And they've hosted some very high-end estates.



But, they've also done some houses that look straight off the TV show "American Pickers." Piles of dirty, rusty junk. I'd really like to know what they do with the stuff that doesn't sell within the given hours.



Mike

Mike, that’s the basic idea.

My experience with estate sales is that some sellers price high and some price low. And some sellers will make deals with you and some won’t.

Most of them won’t budge on prices the first day of the sale. Usually, by the second or last day of the sale, prices will come down by 50% or more. Again, it depends on the sellers.

I’m in Los Angeles, CA and I go to estate sales all the time. Because of that, I’ve gotten to know which sellers I like and which I will completely avoid.

When to go? Because I don’t ‘need’ anything, I usually go later in the day, or on the second day of the sale. You’d be surprised how much good stuff is still there a day or two into the sale. But, if you see something you really want, get there as early as possible, on the first day. Don’t be surprised to see a line of people at 6am or earlier!

As for what happens to all the stuff that doesn’t sell? Most estate sellers are hired to clear all items from the property. When stuff doesn’t sell, some sellers will haul everything to their thrift stores and sell it there (I think this is a conflict of interest, but that’s another story). And some will sell, donate or pay other thrift store or swap meet sellers to remove the remaining items.

Some sellers, like a friend of mine, who owns an estate sale business, has a list of people she will call at the end of a sale and she will donate everything to them. Sometimes, if there isn’t anything good left at the end of a sale, she will pay them to haul the remaining items away.

Having a friend who is an estate sale seller is awesome! When I have time, I volunteer and help her set up sales before they open to the public. That way, if I see anything I want, I buy it from her, before the sale!

Also, every sale I’ve been to has accepted cash and credit cards. I like dealing in cash. It helps when you’re trying to make a deal. It’s kinda hard to tell someone you only have a certain amount of money to pay for something, when you’re gonna be paying with a credit card.

Hope this helped!

Manny

 

[bmwrd0]

Manny pretty much has it covered, but one thing I want to note. The estates sale complany was hired to settle an estate. And by that I mean it is a legal contract, with very set parameters. They are required to sell by such and such a time, with a framework of how they can price things. Every company is different on this, so it helps to know the company and how they operate. I used to go to some run by a woman who would have several sales over several weekends and never drop prices. I also know another one that would bargain on the first day but not more than half. It all depends.

Also, something to keep in the back of your mind, is that they don't work for you. And they aren't there to give you a screaming deal.

So, have fun.

 

[mikeinri]

Thanks guys, very helpful!

Mike

 

[mikeinri]

Whoa, that ain't happening...

Just drove by out of curiosity. Cars, trucks and trailers parked for a solid quarter mile. Police car / detail out front. Line in the driveway to get in.

This was over an hour after the start time...

Maybe I'll try again later.

Mike

 

[txlonghorn1989]

M55, you **** this morning! That's a nice haul and free!!

 

[mikeinri]

Stopped by at about the midway point (of the advertised hours), the place was picked pretty well clean. I don't know how much haggling they do early, but wasn't impressed with price tags on a few of the items still there:

HF 20 ton press, $225 (brand new today $189 at HF).

Very old Craftsman lawn tractor, $150 (obviously hadsn't moved in years (4 flat tires and covered in mildew, etc).

There were a handful of tools left, similarly overpriced.

Maybe I'll go back at closing time? It's 15 minutes away.

Mike