selling old tools

[bmk]

Do you ever have any old tools that you know that you will never use again but love.But you realize that the money you'll make selling them will afford you newer and better stuff. Question: sell or keep!

 

[Fretters]

You can buy new stuff anytime. Trying to replace old stuff like for like isn't that easy though. No brainer to keep, IMHO, provided you have room to store the stuff. Better to have and not need...

 

[dodge610]

Think about this When i was 16 bought my first 26in. craftsman top box loved that box. Fast forward 10 yrs. wanted a bigger nicer box traded the box for a snap-on stack with the invisible wrench on the front cover. I have kicked myself for 30yrs. that i let that box go wish i still had it. Hindsight is 20/20.

 

[jjjrmx5]

I'm sorry bmk, are you asking if selling old tools will make you a profit, or if you sell your old tools , do you have at times sellers remorse?

 

[Mohawk Dave]

You can buy new stuff anytime. Trying to replace old stuff like for like isn't that easy though. No brainer to keep, IMHO, provided you have room to store the stuff. Better to have and not need...

IF YOU HAVE THE ROOM!!!!!!!!!!

I am really learning that cleanliness is Godliness. I had so much cool ****, but I couldn't move around and do projects.

I fine tuned, and am still fine tuning, and as the redundancy goes away, more enjoyable time is spent in the garage.

I remember when Ben Franklin said, "A cluttered desk is a cluttered mind."

 

[ssdave]

I sort out redundancy in my tools all the time, and try to keep down the excess. It does no good for a person to be smothered in their possessions.

There is some joy to be had in owning and admiring nice tools. But, the real value is in what those tools allow you to accomplish. Excess beyond what is needed to do the work you do simply takes up space and time that could be best used somewhere else.

When you upgrade your tools, sell or donate the excess that you can't use in another location or for backup, and you'll be better off for it.

 

[anndel]

I kept all mine and will continue to do so. I just cleaned and greased my 30+ year old Craftsman ratchets. I was too lazy or kept putting off getting a snap ring plier to remove the snap ring to get inside until today. After 30 years of medium to heavy use, I cleaned them with WD40 then greased and they work fine. Keep them if you can.

 

[Here2Learn]

Do you ever have any old tools that you know that you will never use again but love.But you realize that the money you'll make selling them will afford you newer and better stuff. Question: sell or keep!

We might be a biased crowd.

I have a few of the 1988 time frame Craftsman rubber ring sockets. I don't see me ever using them again, but I don't ever see me selling them, either.

 

[Provincial]

I have a tool set in my service-bodied pickup, my service truck with crane, air compressor, O/A set, and welder, my old shop (which is now a dedicated machine shop), my new shop (where I do 75% of my work), and my Tree Farm shop (which is 15 miles away from my home base).

I have no problem with duplicate tools, since time wasted moving between shops/vehicles offsets the "clutter" of having multiple tool sets. This is most apparent when I am at the Tree Farm, as I usually am in the pickup, and keep enough tools at the shop there to suppliment my pickup set. At the Tree Farm, I can be three miles from the shop, but it sure beats going home for a tool. If I have the service truck at the Tree Farm, I am often welding or using the crane, but usually am using it to haul a three-axle trailer moving equipment, so having a good set of tools on board is a necessity.

I am the exception because of being so spread out.

 

[fatfillup]

If you can part with them and like the extra space, sell them or pass them on. Old tools don't bring a lot of $'s but they will sell.

 

[zkling]

IF YOU HAVE THE ROOM!!!!!!!!!!

I am really learning that cleanliness is Godliness. I had so much cool ****, but I couldn't move around and do projects.

I fine tuned, and am still fine tuning, and as the redundancy goes away, more enjoyable time is spent in the garage.

I remember when Ben Franklin said, "A cluttered desk is a cluttered mind."

This

 

[bcradio]

I am in the sell the excess crowd as well. I am having a hard time selling my full 3/8 & 1/2 Craftsman US impact socket set (since they don't make them anymore) that I replaced with all the Sunex master sets, but I know I need to soon.

 

[Tenex]

I use my duplicates to create tool kits for either the truck, basement, upstairs, or garage.

 

[Gidge]

Do you ever have any old tools that you know that you will never use again but love.But you realize that the money you'll make selling them will afford you newer and better stuff. Question: sell or keep!

Use the Ben Franklin balance sheet method -- draw a vertical line down the middle of a piece of notebook paper -- write pros on one side and cons on the other --whichever side has more reasons go with that sides reasons and make your decision accordingly.

 

[bob15]

I remember when Ben Franklin said, "A cluttered desk is a cluttered mind."

Einstein said this of empty desks (paraphrased):

 

[RatchetMan]

Sell the stuff. You won't miss it as much as you think you will.

 

[sleepy127]

I say sell it. I maintain a redundancy of 2 or 3 of each if possible but over that its time to go. Space is precious and we tend to find ourselves paying for space to just hold on to things we don't really need. By all means if you are wealthy and you can warehouse stuff to no end then keep it but if you are like a lot of us and barely make ends meet let it go.

 

[d.mcfarland]

I try to sell the stuff I have no use for any longer just because I don't have the space to hang on to everything. Sentimental stuff is an exception.

 

[My Old Tools]

I've been buying and selling for years. Paid for my shop and all of my tools by buying and selling off the ones I don't want to keep.

 

[Packard V8]

We'll never agree, because it's always a value judgement and always based upon how much the space utility costs.

When I first started buying tools, I bought everything which caught my eye and/or was a good deal, including old stuff just because it was neat. Finally, I decided I wasn't a collector, but a user. If I've got a newer tool which does the job better, most of the collectible stuff gradually went away and I didn't buy any more. I still have a few really old woodworking hand tools because they're better made than anything available today and get used when appropriate to the task.

Having said I don't collect, that again means tools which never get used. I have equipped the main shop, basement shop, storage garage shop and son's shop with fairly complete sets of tools. Used tools are so affordable, I want a set at hand wherever I am working. The utility is worth more than they cost or would bring when sold.

Your opinions and results may vary and there's no right answer. Your value judgment may change over time as well.

jack vines

 

[finn]

When the time comes, I'll offer them first to the kids, then the grandkids, BILs, and finally Habitat or Goodwill.

 

[woody 73]

I have yet to sell any old tools but it is getting to the point that what can a man do with 10,000 (you fill in the blank) of a certain tool ?

I have long ago run out of room so I am thinking that maybe in the spring I can start selling off some surplus tools. At least if I am a hoarder thank the good lord it is only hand tools and nothing else like other garbage I see on those tv shows where the poor guy/gal can not even walk into their own house.

 

[Empty Pockets]

My wife accuses me of being a hoarder of tools. Maybe I am. I rarely sell an old tool, they get passed down to my kids (and now my grandkids)