Vintage Machine and Tool Desert

[Maui]

Occasionally I’ve seen people here say that they live in a vintage machine or tool desert, meaning they just don’t see much vintage equipment for sale in their area. Im trying to get a more accurate picture of what parts of the United States are like this. I’m in the northeast, and in the past it was flush with equipment but things in my part of the country are even getting thinner now. What state are you in and are there still plenty of vintage tools and machines around?

Maui

 

[BTL-A4]

I suspect areas with high humidity are hard on metal tools. I'm in SoCal and we have lots of older tools available. Plus, we still have a robust manufacturing presence here, so there are older machines up for sale all the time. I got my Rong-Fu mill at an auction house. I suspect it was from a shop that used it for some sort of 2nd operation, didn't need it anymore and got rid of it, since it's in pretty good shape.

 

[RTM]

I’d say look at the manufacturing base in your area, like the shops that would give you heavy vises. Also when the area was settled. With the Northeast being settled before Las Vegas, I expect older settled regions to have better access to older tools. And since Vegas was never a manufacturing center, they have a double whammy of no good old tools or machines.

Things near here are OK, with all the manufacturing of ships, and parts for those shipsBeing close to a major airport, especially one that used to be a major maintenance site as well..

I also feel that being near farmland is a mixed bag, where there are lots of tools, but they are used HARD, and often in horrible shape after a few years. Being on the edge of both the airplane mechanic’s homes, or retirement homes, and farmland galore, we have some tools available.

oh, and all that salt water around me is harder on tools than high humidity. Imagine farmers tools with rather added bonus of extra rust.

I used to think we were a desert wasteland of tools for about my first 8 years of looking. Then I met a few guys that had metric boatloads of vintage tools, and realized I wasn’t looking correctly. Wasn’t starting early, CL didn’t exist, didn’t know of auctions, didn’t know what an estate sale was. Turns out one of the guys with the tools would get to an estate sale early, and buy the ENTIRE garage contents.

I found the harder I looked, the luckier I got. I bought two wooden carpenters chest full of tools, and got a Stanley #1 plane included. All my buddies were jealous, but several admitted I was working harder, making slightly risky moves to score tools.

¢¢

 

[slowtwitch73]

Population=tools

 

[zendriver]

NE Indiana had a massive metalworking industry, that most of the equipment was probably either scrapped or sold overseas decades ago.

A Bridgeport Mill that is not huge will be snapped up quickly, some Lathes estate auctions can’t give away but they’re bulky in pretty rough shape, sitting unused for 30 years.

Often is not worth the effort to move them for the scrap metal

 

[RoninB4]

Not much in SE Tennessee, most machinery is either way overpriced or beat/neglected.

 

[BarrelRoll]

Southeast Alaska, there's almost never anything for sale. Anything decent is usually sold by word of mouth before it hits the open market. There's a fair amount of marine industry up here and some mining. Most stuff gets bought and shipped up from the lower 48.

 

[dutchgray]

Quite good for machines where I am in the south, but nothing like in the Midlands and North where the bulk of our industry was, the rural extremities of the country are quite sparse for machines.
Container loads of lathes and mills and other tools go out every day to India, Pakistan etc.

 

[TailGunner3000]

I personally see far less machinery for sale in this area than in the past. It makes sense though. As machine shops closed or transitioned to CNC equipment, the old stuff was dumped on the market. And since no more of it is being made, as it was scrapped or allowed to rust away, the supply dwindled.

More of what I see comes from the home workshops of retired or deceased boomers. It tends to be in better shape as it hasn't had the hard life of shop used tools, but it is also generally lighter duty equipment.

 

[Maui]

I am seeng far fewer quality vintage metal lathes, milling machines, bench vises, etc. available for sale in the northeast at estate sales, on craigslist, FB Marketplace, etc. And the prices placed on the ones that are available are much higher than what I would have seen in the past. For example, not that long ago it wasn’t all that uncommon to find a Wilton bullet vise in decent condition priced at $50 around here at an estate sale. That is no longer the case. This transition seems to have been happening over the past 5 years. And like what was said above, they are not making any more of this vintage equipment. I’m very glad that I bought the machines I own when I did. Otherwise, I may have simply been out of luck.

 

[slowtwitch73]

Quite good for machines where I am in the south, but nothing like in the Midlands and North where the bulk of our industry was, the rural extremities of the country are quite sparse for machines.
Container loads of lathes and mills and other tools go out every day to India, Pakistan etc.

I've been on a bit of a kick watching manufacturing vids from India and Pakistan.. many of which include lathe work and stamping. Real dingy shoe string stuff. None of the lathes have been from the US or England. Not proof positive but I was surprised...

 

[dutchgray]

I've been on a bit of a kick watching manufacturing vids from India and Pakistan.. many of which include lathe work and stamping. Real dingy shoe string stuff. None of the lathes have been from the US or England. Not proof positive but I was surprised...

You haven't watched enough of those videos yet, they use plenty of old English iron over there, although I suspect peak usage has long past, we haven't been a major machine tool manufacturer for over 40 years now.

 

[slowtwitch73]

You haven't watched enough of those videos yet, they use plenty of old English iron over there, although I suspect peak usage has long past, we haven't been a major machine tool manufacturer for over 40 years now.

Eh I've watched many... running out of them truth be told. Maybe they are in nicer settings and not 'in the trenches'.

The lathes I see are beat to ****, old and from China, Pakistan, India, Russia etc.

 

[rmack898]

I’ve living in NE Florida for 4 years now and have yet to find a used machinery dealer.
I miss spending an afternoon crawling through Cooks machinery in just outside of Philly.

 

[engineer2]

The Chicago area tends to be pricey for used machinery. You'll always find an assortment of Bridgeports, but you better know how to check one out.

 

[sk farmer]

the northern plains are pretty sparce. nd, sd mt, western mn. this area never had a lot of mfg until into the 60s. yes there always was some but mostly small time and surely nothing that ran 24/7. there is a fair amount of mfg now but it is larger newer stuff. hard to find when it never really was here.

the same kind of goes for tools and tool storage. there really is very little excess. i scrounge auction sales. flea markets, rummage sales and pawn shops. the pickins are pretty slim. it exists but vintage iron of any kind is hard to come by.

 

[Lucid Moments]

Not squat down here.

 

[PoorUB]

Nothing here!
I watch Facebook and eBay often for tools in may area and it is all cheap home center stuff, and when you do run across something they know what they want for it.

I looked for a good drill press for maybe ten years, Clausing or Powermatic variable speed were tops on my list. The imports, Jet and the other Taiwan units never made my list.
I bought a PowerMatic 1200 drill press years ago. I couldn't get a hold of the seller, but I hopped in the truck and headed his way, 300 miles one way. About half way there he called and we set up a time. The sale went smoothly and I have a great drill press.

I have since added a new VFD and controls.

I have been searching for a cabinet style table saw, 3 to 5 HP. 75 year old Unisaws with no fence go for $750. Nice newer Unisaws can be upwards of $2500. I looked at one with a bad arbor the guy was asking $2600, He sold it shortly after I looked at it. I know he didn't get $2600, but pretty sure it was over $2000. There are a few project saws, but by the time you piece on together it is way too much. I also so some Powermatic and Jet saws, but not many and again, they know what they want for them.

I was visiting relatives in the Denver area and found a decent Unisaw for $900! I about crapped when the guy still had it. He said I was the first guy to come look at it. In my area it would have sold for $1500 easily. I never argued about the price. Just pealed out the $900 and loaded it up. It needed some work, but I was planning on my own modifications to it anyway so it didn't matter. The saw itself was in great shape, the laminate extension tale was shot and needed work, but I tossed it all anyway.
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/my-new-to-me-tablesaw.490880/

 

[nadogail]

I suspect that a lot of things from local sources find their way to Mexico.

 

[slowtwitch73]

Everyone is a 'maker' now.

 

[Ton ton]

Quality stuff moves fairly quickly where I am.

 

[Ton ton]

I'm hoping to find a decent table saw at some point in my life. USA made and decent working condition .

 

[Ton ton]

Great thread by the way, OP. Hopefully you can find what you need without driving too far with the gas prices the way they are.

 

[ecotec]

There is tons of it around here (Detroit metro area). Enough that I would suggest being extremely picky about what you buy.

 

[redragoon]

Southeast US is usually not as common for older tools. Between lack of manufacturing and the wet weather, a lot of stuff rusts or is lost on a farm.

 

[tool_scrounge]

In So Cal, there used to be a larger mfg. base of smaller shops so there was a good selection of quality machinery and related tools available at very reasonable prices. Now it is harder to find.

Reasons:

A lot of the quality machines folks like are now 50+ years old. Less survive each year.

Less small machine shops.

Most shops have gone to CNC to survive.

More information available on the internet of quality machines to look for

Maker movement

A lot of folks are buying and selling smaller machines and tools. Just look at the vise market where most of the ads are for spray bomb "restored" vises for top dollar.

 

[ATC]

SW Virginia.

Not much here. Anything remotely functional that turns up is either priced in the stratosphere, or it's priced reasonably and gone in a day. Most things are word-of-mouth, or snatched out of the company's scrap pile/dumpster by the employees. The bigger the company, the more secure they are with the scrap. Meaning do not pass go. Go directly to scrap yard.

Took me almost a year of looking to find a skid steer worth buying for a decent price. Still had to drive 1.5hrs away to get it.
Took 6 months to find a Wilton vise that wasn't $700
Took 6 months to find an arbor press that wasn't a HF special that wasn't $800+. Anything Dake was $1500. And the one I ended up settling on is bigger than what I wanted.
Took several months to find a nice drill press. Got it at an estate auction of all places for $150. Lightly used older Craftsman 17" model.


Here's an idea of what I deal with. Local auction for a 12' 5/16 chain. $86 + sales tax + 12% commission. Over $101 for a used chain. And keep in mind, this was pre-covid.









And if that doesn't get ya....how about some HF cotter pins? Sells for $4.99 today in the store. Auction price was $20 + sales tax + 12%