Upgrading tools...what do you do with your old stuff?

[Derek1387]

As I have been here for a few months now, I have seen myself upgrading my tools hear and there, and have realized that I now have a bunch of 2005-8 Craftsman USA tools just sitting in a box. I have replaced most of my stuff with Taiwan Gearwrench and some Snap On/Matco and Knipex, Milwaukee, etc.

I am the only one who uses my tools, and am not having/will never have children to hand stuff down to.

My question is...do you still hold on to these tools...or get rid of them? I have pretty much gotten a replacement in "better quality" tools for what I have in the box of Craftsman USA stuff so its just sitting here taking up space.

Thanks for any and all ideas

 

[General Geoff]

Unless it's unserviceable junk, I keep it around. I still have my 113-piece Craftsman mechanic's toolset that I bought when I was 17, It's long since been supplanted with other tools, but I keep that set on a basement shelf, because a spare serviceable, compact, mostly complete socket/driver set is always nice to have.

edit; I don't plan on having kids either, but there are always nieces & nephews, or the children of close friends, if I felt compelled to free up space.

 

[1970W-30]

Found a neighborhood kid working on his car when I was on a walk with my wife and started a conversation. While talking, I assessed his collection of tools. Boxed up all old stuff and dropped it off. Kid couldn't stop grinning...

 

[GeorgeFromPa]

ebay.. ya get good money for craftsman usa stuff

 

[greyjasper51]

Found a neighborhood kid working on his car when I was on a walk with my wife and started a conversation. While talking, I assessed his collection of tools. Boxed up all old stuff and dropped it off. Kid couldn't stop grinning...

TOP BLOKE!!

i normally keep my stuff, tend to modify it like welding things to it, or cutting it about for certain jobs that main dealers want £300 for a special tool where i made it out of old spanners that i thought were unuseable

 

[geartow]

Make a road box to keep in your ride

 

[christopher7390]

Goes into my tool bag in my car as a spare or in my boiler room.

 

[rapid robert]

EBay! You can make a few bucks selling USA craftsman to buy more top quality tools.

I am amazed by how much people will pay for USA craftsman on eBay.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Track tool box, truck tool bag, maybe into work at the FD (my personal stash) or into the house.

I prefer not to sell my tools or guns. I believe the only reason to sell them is to feed the family.

 

[martin666]

Majority of the time when I upgrade or end up with extras I'll give the old tools to a young family member that I know can use them

 

[John in OH]

.......... I don't plan on having kids either, but there are always nieces & nephews, or the children of close friends, if I felt compelled to free up space.

When I was a kid, I would have been thrilled if someone had offered me some decent tools .... even if the tools were cast-offs!

Found a neighborhood kid working on his car when I was on a walk with my wife and started a conversation. While talking, I assessed his collection of tools. Boxed up all old stuff and dropped it off. Kid couldn't stop grinning...

Most Excellent!!! That kid will never forget you or your generosity!

 

[Marcm157]

I prefer not to sell my tools or guns. I believe the only reason to sell them is to feed the family.

I have a hard time selling or getting rid of anything. I have a touch of the "Hoarder" thing going on. If I have to dispose of something that broke and can't be fixed, I will strip it down and save all usable parts before it goes in the trash.

I'm in the process of moving into my new garage space and have made considerable progress thinning out what I have but it's still very difficult.

 

[exmaxima1]

ebay.. ya get good money for craftsman usa stuff

I've been buying Craftsman sockets off ebay to UPGRADE my tools. Found new pre-2000 6-point set (made by Armstrong) for a fraction of any current USA sets. Old set goes to my neighbor to work on his race karts.

 

[Danglerb]

I have maybe six or eight sets of small sockets that came with a ratchet or as part of a larger set of sockets. I don't keep them real organized, some in the main tool box, but some in tool bags etc. so its easy to grab a tool bag and put together a quick set of everything I think I might need.

 

[Big Bad Dad]

I never sell tools! Keep them all, and its a good idea to have a small tool box with essentials in the vehicles!

 

[KCarGuy]

I put together a basic toolbox for both my Son and my Nephew, when they turned 16 and got their first Car.
Since then, they both have greatly expanded on those sets and have become quite good with using said tools.

 

[Jake C]

I have all my pro line lone at work and keep a bunch of regular craftsman stuff at the house.

 

[SMKS]

If it's something I really don't need it goes on eBay or to the Habitat Restore.

 

[velillen01]

Ive been keeping all my old stuff in a box for my brother. When he finally buys his house (sometime in the next 6 months) they will be his. Most of it is cheap stuff like harbor freight stuff but is in good shape. Ive just since upgraded to nicer stuff.

Both my car and truck have pretty good toolkits already

 

[cliftonbros89]

Tools from my main box I've been moving to my service truck box. Then I move the tools from the service truck to my personal truck box. If something gets moved from there it's getting put in a box for now. I figure I'll keep it around for now. Maybe to keep for extra. Also thought I may hold on to some things for my nephew when he gets older.

 

[Gotcha640]

I'm with the give it away side, I have a tool bag with the cheapo spare screwdrivers and wrenches and pliers I always seem to have to buy to fix a friend's house/car/boat. Every couple years I'll find someone who's actually interested and leave them the bag. I usually call it long term loan, if I'm ever back there and they've been saving work to get me to do, I'll take the tools back and give them the number of a handyman. I gave you the pole and taught you to fish. Don't tell me you're hungry.

 

[sberry]

I really dont upgrade and never have, I have bought more.

 

[unslow1]

I put together a basic toolbox for both my Son and my Nephew, when they turned 16 and got their first Car.
Since then, they both have greatly expanded on those sets and have become quite good with using said tools.

I did that for my nephew last year. The really cheap stuff I put in one drawer as loaner/giveaway.

 

[Rosso]

I have a big tool bag in the boot of my car, i put any older stuff that's been upgraded in that so if I'm out and about and need something i can use that, or help friends etc in need.

 

[mrbtd]

Recently went through and got rid of my duplicates and other stuff I didn't need after buying the craftsman 299 piece socket set. I decided eBay...What a mistake it was. Total sales was about $175 and most people paid more than they should have.

I paid about $30 in fees and then another $65 in shipping. By the time I packed everything, took pictures and went to post office I had about 4 hours into it all......I wish I would of just donated them or given them to a neighborhood kid.

 

[drink]

As I was assembling a new set of tools years ago I decided to round up the tools I had in a disorganized set and I assembled a nicer looking set from them. A few pieces were added but I am enjoying the appearance of the set I assembled. I would recommend hanging on to the USA Craftsman tools you have and I don't think they will wear out any time soon.

 

[Yourfired]

Ebay is pretty simple if done right. Don't spend too much time on it, there might even be stores that sell your stuff online for you in your area. Try to find one, bring your stuff by after you document all of it, and then collect and go shopping!

 

[langss]

Over my working years I accumulated a lot of odds and ends of tools. I don't normally loan anything, but if I get asked to borrow something, I have an old tool box full of "Loaner" tools. If they don't make it back, I usually never see who borrowed it again. So no big deal. If I get asked to borrow something and its gone, I just say sorry, the last guy that borrowed that didn't bring it back. That seems to solve the problem. So if you want to be nice, donate them to a needy kid with nothing in his tool box, or keep them for "Loaners". Just my.02

 

[bczygan]

OP,
You only use tools in one location?

I have multiples everywhere.

How many free HF tape measures and sets of screwdrivers do you need?

Enough so that you are never more than a step away from them.

Bill

 

[egnorant]

I tend to give old tools away.

I still have the SK set that an old mechanic gave me when I was 11 and I remember the impact it had on my confidence. I took him for a ride in my 67 Mustang years later that I had rebuilt from a $50 hulk.

I had a 9 year old that helped me sort sockets one day while his Dad haggled with my brother for some old truck parts. We discussed fractions and why 9/16th was smaller than 10/16th and why that is really a 5/8th and he put together a couple of 1/4" sets of decent sockets that I was just putting in a bucket because they were not Craftsman, Snap-On or some other name brand. I gave him decent set with one of my 6 craftsman ratchets, an extension, a couple of screwdrivers, a Crescent wrench, a few combo wrenches in a small plastic tool box.

I'll never miss them and he may never forget!

Bruce

 

[Rileysan]

Ive been keeping all my old stuff in a box for my brother. When he finally buys his house (sometime in the next 6 months) they will be his. Most of it is cheap stuff like harbor freight stuff but is in good shape. Ive just since upgraded to nicer stuff.

Both my car and truck have pretty good toolkits already

I really like this idea as my brother has been borrowing tools from me for some time. Maybe I'll do that for Christmas this year.

I have occasionally given tools away to friends but not very often.

As a rule, I don't get rid of tools unless it's abosolutely necessary or they are no longer serviceable - and even then, it's hard for me to do. I'm more likely to turn a broken tool into a specialty tool than to throw it out.

Brian

 

[ijroorda]

I tend to do a fair amount of work in places other than my own garage, so I've got a pretty complete second set of tools that lives in a couple of portable toolboxes. I've also got a set of the basics that lives in the truck toolbox. As I upgrade stuff in the main set, the old stuff trickles down to the road set and the truck toolbox. Anything that's still extra at that point goes into the "spare" collection for when I lose/break a tool or need to customize one for a specific task. I'm also happy to give away tools from the spare collection when the opportunity arises.

 

[shockwave]

Either my road bag or my tool cart at home saves time transferring back and forth

 

[66354dream]

I keep them and throw them in my truck tool bag.

 

[rlitman]

Track tool box, truck tool bag, maybe into work at the FD (my personal stash) or into the house.

I prefer not to sell my tools or guns. I believe the only reason to sell them is to feed the family.

As for what to do with extra tools, I too bring extras into work. I've got a box at work of all sorts of stuff that comes in handy regularly.
In a situation where I need something at work, and I don't have an extra to bring in, I ask them to buy it (the issue popped up last week with a pozi-driver for example), but if I have it, I'm glad to bring it in.

Extras also make up the pool of tools I'm happy to lend out.

But I'm not above selling tools, and I can think of a couple more reasons to sell tools aside from just feeding the family.

1) Space. I don't have infinite space, and sometimes bulky things have to go. I just bought a new tablesaw, the old one's got to go soon. I'm on my 5th plasma cutter. When I find a good deal on a better plasma than what I have now, I'll upgrade, and sell the previous one. For a brief time I'll have two, but I quickly get sick of tripping over excess stuff I don't have room for. I need to consider the "cost" of having the space available for a tool that I do use, vs using up the space with a tool I do not use.

2) Perish-ability. Quality hand tools, when stored properly, age like a fine wine, and I'm ok with making a place for them. Cordless tools do not. If it's not something I use, I'd rather sell it now while it still has value, than hold it until it is trash. I can always put the money into new tools. Gasoline power tools also age poorly. Corded electric power tools age well, but then I need to consider space.

 

[woody 73]

Some time back I gave away a boat load of tools to a nice young man with dreams of becoming an auto mechanic, darn he is a natural and loves cars; but now he tells me he wants to give it all up and work at sign spinning and one day be the boss.

Oh well at least I tried my best maybe I can find someone else that has that strong passion for car work and get them started also.

 

[zer0cell]

i sold some tools i didn't need anymore or had bought an upgraded model for on craigslist and amazon. Some other things l loaned (gave) to friends.

 

[WhiskeyRanger]

Work stuff at work, a set in the garage, a set in the basement, a large toolbag on the first floor, a smaller toolbag upstairs, and anything else gets sold/donated/given away.

 

[Mark in Indiana]

Found a neighborhood kid working on his car when I was on a walk with my wife and started a conversation. While talking, I assessed his collection of tools. Boxed up all old stuff and dropped it off. Kid couldn't stop grinning...

That's very honorable. I wish there was a kid in the neighborhood who would benefit from my excess tools.

 

[byoungblood]

Some of it has gone into my camper/road box, the rest into a set of tools I'm putting together for my son before all the only options remaining are truck brands or made in China junk.