Tynee
Well-known member
Good afternoon. I’m visiting family in the PNW this week. Any fun tool shops or hardware joints I need to visit? I’m thinking of Epstein’s type joints.
Any good recommendations?
Any good recommendations?
Tool shops in Seattle
- Thread starter Tynee
- Start date
drivesitfar
Well-known member
my storage unit (hee hee). seriously second hand use (I think that's the name) and it's on 6th ave South around 3800 block. ballard reuse i think is still in business.
good luck and welcome!!
good luck and welcome!!
four.cycle
Well-known member
it was Hardwick's but I believe they're closed now. 
drivesitfar
Well-known member
i've never heard of Hardwick's, but I just googled Ballard reuse and they have a website. i've only talked to people that have found stuff there and I've never been there yet.
ballardreuse.com
here's website for second use in Seattle
www.seconduse.com
Home - Ballard Reuse
ballardreuse.com
here's website for second use in Seattle
Second Use Building Materials and Salvage
Reclaiming Building Materials in the Puget Sound, with Retail Locations in Seattle and Tacoma.
www.seconduse.com
Rusted Nut
Well-known member
Hardwicks is gone, moved to Idaho. Interesting old place when it was on Roosevelt Ave. Ballard Industrial is about it, old building; but I wouldn’t make special trip there. Limback Lumber is old, but again probably not worth a special trip.
drivesitfar
Well-known member
Sadly I think high rents and high property values in Western Washington had many of the old antique shops away and in almost 70 years I can't recall any cool tool shops. Grizzly tools in Bellingham is mostly Chinese made stuff.
if there is cool shops I'd like to know so I could take a drive and visit them too.
if there is cool shops I'd like to know so I could take a drive and visit them too.
montanafordman
Well-known member
There used to be a place in Kent that had purchased closeouts of many brands and lots like epstiens, but he retired and closed. I'm mostly thinking of quality tool companies that are probably more expensive, and more limited compared to what you have in mind - but here would be places I'd check out:
Tacoma Screw - they have a location in Georgetown right off the north end of Boeing Field. They carry lots of Proto tools, and there is a harbor freight just a couple blocks from there also.
Further south is AMB tools and equipment in Tacoma. I havent been there in a while but they were planning on clearing out their SK displays and stocks in favor of Wright I belive since SK's buyout and supply issues. They probably have some SK left, and now Wright for high quality american industrial stuff, they also have Performance tool and other import stuff for their more budget friendly lines, wilton vises, champion compressors, lots of stuff.
Tacoma Screw - they have a location in Georgetown right off the north end of Boeing Field. They carry lots of Proto tools, and there is a harbor freight just a couple blocks from there also.
Further south is AMB tools and equipment in Tacoma. I havent been there in a while but they were planning on clearing out their SK displays and stocks in favor of Wright I belive since SK's buyout and supply issues. They probably have some SK left, and now Wright for high quality american industrial stuff, they also have Performance tool and other import stuff for their more budget friendly lines, wilton vises, champion compressors, lots of stuff.
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johnre
Well-known member
It's not what you asked for, but the Museum of Flight might be of interest to you:
www.museumofflight.org
Exhibits | The Museum of Flight
Explore the permanent and temporary exhibits that enhance the visitor experience and detail aerospace arts and culture.
www.museumofflight.org
MrFreeze
Active member
If you are going to be in the area, Arlington Hardware and Lumber is worth a look. https://arlingtonhardware.com/pages/about
If you get as far north as Bellingham, try Hardware Sales: https://hardwaresales.net/
MrFreeze
If you get as far north as Bellingham, try Hardware Sales: https://hardwaresales.net/
MrFreeze
four.cycle
Well-known member
^ McLendon's was sold to a Japanese-owned multinational and is nothing like the McLendon's of the past. They are also higher than Home Depot, Lowes, or ACE.
AMB Tools & Equipment is where you go if you need parts for your pressure washer. I don't recall seeing any kind of "vintage" stuff in there.
As @drivesitfar noted: rent prices here have driven most of the "thrift shops" and close-out stores out of the area. The Life Center Thrift Shop up on 6th Avenue recently closed, which kind of surprised me.
Last "deals" I saw on any tools around here was right after Smoky sold off his "Tool Town" locations, but even those are gone now.
AMB Tools & Equipment is where you go if you need parts for your pressure washer. I don't recall seeing any kind of "vintage" stuff in there.
As @drivesitfar noted: rent prices here have driven most of the "thrift shops" and close-out stores out of the area. The Life Center Thrift Shop up on 6th Avenue recently closed, which kind of surprised me.
Last "deals" I saw on any tools around here was right after Smoky sold off his "Tool Town" locations, but even those are gone now.
jabberwoki
Well-known member
Yep screw mclendons over priced chinese ****.
I never go there anymore.
I never go there anymore.
jabberwoki
Well-known member
Yep good plan
four.cycle
Well-known member
^ There just aren't any of those kind of places left around here, unfortunately.... at least not in the greater Tacoma area. Rather odd, considering the history of the area.
Jayman17
Well-known member
I went to Boeing surplus a few times over the years for items and was sorry to see it close. I live close to Ballard Reuse and it doesn't have many tools that I can remember seeing. Just beat up, overpriced building materials.
Sad to say but I don't know of any retail shops for tools that are worth making a special trip to.
1Garageman
Well-known member
I will be in Seattle Washington Later on this year. Are there any good discount tool stores or woodworking stores, or some awesome places to go there?
Tim_with_a_T
Well-known member
I always try to stop at Earthwise Architectural Salvage when I'm in town.
four.cycle
Well-known member
WHEN is "later on"?
The local joke here is "Summer starts on July 5th".
You can generally be assured the weather will be really crappy - or absolutely fabulous - during May and June. It's always a **** shoot.
There are a couple big "events": SeaFair is the first week of August (not sure on dates I always make it a point to stay far away.)
Bumbershoot is Labor Day weekend. (Was fun when I was in my 20s. Not fun for an old man - crowded, noisy, and REALLY spendy now.)
We don't have anything here along the lines of Harry Epstein.
Avoid the "duck boats" down on the waterfront - they kill people.
The museum at Volunteer Park has the largest and most extensive collection of Chinese jade artifacts on the planet outside of mainland China. (The Chinese Ambassador made his home in Seattle, Washington and donated his entire collection upon his death.)
There are also a boatload of other Chinese objects as well.
The University of Washington arboretum is interesting if you're into plants and trees.
South Seattle Community College Arboretum is pretty fabulous:
Yes, that is indeed a four-ton bronze carp.
Lincoln Park is overrun with dogs. Discovery Park is usually pretty crowded on nice days, but not so many dogs.
Seahurst Park (Burien, Washington - immediately south of the City Limits of Seattle) is the second-largest municipal park on Puget Sound and offers a couple options for "loop trails" through some fairly fabulous second-growth and a nice piece of northwest-facing beach.
There is some BIG money locally which supports Seattle Opera, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and the Seattle Symphony. There is also a Seattle Youth Symphony. The acoustics at McCaw Hall are as good as you will find anywhere on the planet.
It's been years since I've set foot in the Seattle Art Museum, but it might be worth looking at.
The "International District" is one of the largest "Chinatowns" in the continental U.S. outside of San Francisco. I always liked "Tai Tung" (655 So. King) because they stayed open really late - after the opera or ballet - and they have 19 million items on the menu. DO NOT order off the menu! Walk up to the counter and read all the paper signs on the wall and order THAT stuff instead. The mens room is as bad as it gets. Piss in the alley - it's cleaner.
"Kau Kau Barbecue" (656 So. King) is right across the street from Tai Tung. Fabulous. Not open as late, but they used to have "Chi Chi Chicken Hot Pot" and "Sweet and Sour Ginger Duck" - both of which were fabulous and neither of which are on the menu at Tai Tung.
The bathrooms don't smell as bad as at Tai Tung.
AVOID the Space Needle unless you can finagle a free ride up and down the elevator. The restaurant at the top is obscenely overpriced and the food is lousy, per the last oral report I heard.
There are hundreds of really fabulous places to eat in metro Seattle. AVOID the chains - there is NO reason to eat crappy food here.
30 miles south (and almost an HOUR drive, depending on traffic) is beautiful downtown Tacoma. TACOMA is host to the largest car collection on the planet: the LeMay Car Museum ( 2702 East D Street). MOST of the collection is actually out in Spanaway on the old Marymount Military Academy campus - they rotate cars in and out of the collection.
ALSO in Tacoma: Tacoma Glass Museum. Tacoma Art Museum (both well funded and always fabulous.)
And Pt. Defiance Park - second-largest municipal park in the continental U.S. next to Central Park in NYC. (762 acres, the outer end of which is old, uncompromised, low-elevation temperate rain forest. (Pretty fabulous and well-funded zoo and aquarium. We have polar bears and musk oxen!)(Okay, okay... Woodland Park Zoo in the north end of Seattle has a "butterfly house", but nothing says "cool" like Musk Ox.)
Snoqualmie Pass is a 45-minute drive (at 70 mph) up I-90.
Mt Rainier National Park is about a two-and-a-half hour drive from metro Seattle, and you have to make a reservation to get in unless you get there before 7:00 am.
Reservations for a national park? There must be a few Clark Griswold Wally World reactions when they are turned away
four.cycle
Well-known member
^ I'm not exactly sure how the system works. You need to make a reservation to enter Mt. Rainier National Park at the Nisqually Gate unless you arrive there before 7:00 AM.
Wait times of up to four hours have been recorded up there, and you do NOT want to be sitting in a car on WA706 in Ashford, Washington for four hours.
on the other hand....
The Upper Hoh River Road (which is currently closed due to a washout) has been seeing four-hour wait times the last few seasons. (Documented in a journal and in several anecdotal reports.) For reasons that defy explanation, out-of-state tourists are willing to sit in a car on a two-lane asphalt road for four hours so they can have a chance to go look at trees covered with moss. Go figure, huh?
This is the new paradigm.
Wait times of up to four hours have been recorded up there, and you do NOT want to be sitting in a car on WA706 in Ashford, Washington for four hours.
on the other hand....
The Upper Hoh River Road (which is currently closed due to a washout) has been seeing four-hour wait times the last few seasons. (Documented in a journal and in several anecdotal reports.) For reasons that defy explanation, out-of-state tourists are willing to sit in a car on a two-lane asphalt road for four hours so they can have a chance to go look at trees covered with moss. Go figure, huh?
This is the new paradigm.
1Garageman
Well-known member
four.cycle
Well-known member
^ Interesting... never heard of 'em!
Tim_with_a_T
Well-known member
They've got a Tacoma location, too!^ Interesting... never heard of 'em!
four.cycle
Well-known member
^ I just scrolled through all of their listings and just called them and had them set an item out for pickup.
I never heard of them before. The Tacoma location is about 6 blocks from my Grandmother's old house, so I won't have any issues finding the place.
I never heard of them before. The Tacoma location is about 6 blocks from my Grandmother's old house, so I won't have any issues finding the place.
RTM
Well-known member
Since the start of Covid, our beachside town has just been bat$#it crazy with tourists year round. Unless it is absolutely pouring rain, they are here. But it can be a two hour drive to go 10 miles on a big weekend.