Woodworking tools -

[Lisa Wiser]

My 93 year old father is looking to "rehome" his woodworking tools. He hasn't worked his shop for at least 10 years, but prior to that he was a very active woodworker. He built beautiful oak cabinets for mom's kitchen. A breakfront (in 6 pieces that looks like a solid unit) that takes up the entire wall off the dining room. He built cabinets for an architect friend who was redoing a bathroom. I have several pieces of furniture Dad made. Even his "quicky, knocked together" pieces were works of art. So, these tools are not "lightweights" -- and a LOT of them are vintage. And there's the problem. Where do I look to put the tools up for sale? How do I price them for him? All of these tools have been cared for and, went last shut down, worked better than a lot of the new stuff.

And there are all the hand tools - sanders, drills, routers.

So -- anyone know of forums, Facebook groups anything that would help me price and advertize these tools?

[Andrew Hughes]

Craigslist is what a lot of woodworker use including me.

[Prashun Patel]

Lisa-
Welcome.

For a $6 contribution to the running of this site, you can become a 'Contributor'. This will allow you to post on our Classified forum. I can tell you from personal experience it's a wonderful way to go; you'll get only serious inquiries.

You'll need to take pictures of each item and try to id the model/make.

Ebay is a good place to search for similar valued items.

When I have to sell things, I start here on SMC. If it doesn't move fast, I go to Craigslist. If it doesn't move there, I resort last to ebay, where it almost always goes.

You'll also have to figure out what items you will ship. I find buyers are more inclined to purchase if you build shipping into the cost.

[Matt Day]

A mod will have to chime in on what's policy for helping price tools, but nothing sounds too expensive to be honest. Common 9" Dewalt round arm RAS's can be had on CL for $100, larger saws are more. Atlas bandsaw $200 depending. You need to do some research yourself and figure it out. I simply googled "craigslist atlas bandsaw " and you'll get an idea for the market asking price.

There are lots of buyers here, but local would best for you if you want to unload it all.

Remember your father the craftsman made to furniture, not the tools.

[Brian Holcombe]

I hope that you keep some of it in your family. I have a plane from four generations before me, and while it is not a famous piece it is important to me and speaks to the concerns of craftsmen at the time. It's an inexpensive laminated plane with a high quality blade and chip breaker. I rehabbed it and it cuts nice clean shavings. I don't use it at all, but I like to think my ancestor would appreciate that the tools that helped him earn his living are well kept, capable and in the hands of a family member who picked up where he left off after more than a century.

[Mike Wilkins]

You didn't state if you are a woodworker yourself. If not, consider experiencing the same joy yourself that your father had when using these tools to produce some fine projects. There are classes to be had, lessons to be learned, sites like this one to encourage you.
Otherwise, Craigslist, local or state-centered woodworking sites, and the regular newspaper classified ads to list your items for sale.

[Mike Heidrick]

host some picture of the tools on a site like photbucket and make them easily linkable on a forum with a header and footer around the image's url and post them on woodnet and here on sawmillcreek. Make sure to include your location. Don't be upset if what you consider industrial is not - understand skilled craftsman can make beautiful pieces with common tools and what you consider heavy might be very light in the tool world. Googling the tools will most likely get you to sold and unsold tools so you will know what works.

I am hoping you have some made in USA cast iron for sale to local members.

Don't discount ebay as a source for sales as well. Price accordingly knowing you will have fees. Craigslist really works too. Include keywords in your post to have interested parties include in their reply. It will help cut down on spam and phishing attempts.

[Mark W Pugh]

If they are old, try this forum also owwm . org

[Steve Peterson]

Also, don't ignore hand tools like planes and chisels. They may look small, but some of them might have quite a bit of value.

Steve

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Lisa,

You do not say where you live, but based on location, some others may be able to make some other suggestions as well.

I know that I was recently helping someone in a similar situation here in Columbus Ohio. You are lucky in that your Father is alive so he likely has a good idea what some of the tools might be worth. For the guy that I helped, he did not know the difference between a well known top end brand and the cheapest bottom of the barrel; and he had both.

In Columbus, there is a woodworking club. For large items, you might have some luck on this forum, but, depending on location, may need to resort to Craig's list for larger items where things cannot be easily mailed. For mailable items, you can use the forum here, craigs list, or ebay as some options.

[Mike Schuch]

Craigslist is definitely the place to advertise wood working tools in my opinion! I check the tools section on Craigslist every morning and usually evening too. Even with my diligence in checking Craigslist when a good deal comes along it is almost always gone by the time I call/email so I know I am not the only woodworker that watches Craigslist closely. National sites like Ebay are generally not very productive for large tools like radial arm saws and table saws because of shipping costs. Ebay used to be good for smaller easily shipped tools but I haven't bought anything off ebay for a couple of years. They kind of blew their core market with their high fees and the proliferation of tons of Chinese junk.

As for pricing I think going with your fathers gut feeling is a good place to start. The center of my shop is a 1947 16" Redstar radial arm saw. The saw I learned woodworking on was my fathers 1950's 10" Delta Turret arm Radial arm saw. Unfortunately for sellers radial arm saws are not in high demand. I believe that most woodworkers were taught in a table saw centric environment instead of a RAS centric environment. I remember my Highschool shop teacher saying radial arm saws were basically evil and only used for rough dimensioning of rough stock.

I have seen 50's cast iron RAS's advertised between $50 - $500 and even the inexpensive ones don't seem to sell well. On the other hand jointers in the 8" and over category always command a premium price! When I buy an used hand power tool I generally look for about 25% of retail... give or take depending on its popularity and quality. A track saw will easily fetch 75%+ of retail currently... in 10 years they will be more like 40%-60% when the used supply increases and the buzz has worn off. A good modern router will generally fetch in the 40%-60% of retail range as some nuts have a half dozen or more routers (guilty!). Old routers generally don't do nearly as well as youngsters don't appreciate the durability of these old gems that don't have all the latest flash (All 5 of my old Stanley routers put together cost less than half of my first Porter Cable 690... which was the latest flashiest router at the time). In my experience hand tools don't usually fetch a lot of money unless they are something like a old Stanley or Lee Nelson hand plane.

[Lisa Wiser]

Remember your father the craftsman made to furniture, not the tools.

Oh, I'm well aware that my father was the artist -- he knocked together a lovely coffee table for me in my first apartment with a handsaw, a hammer and a hand drill. I got more compliments on that table than on the one good piece of commercial furniture I started out with.

[Lisa Wiser]

Lisa,

You do not say where you live, but based on location, some others may be able to make some other suggestions as well.


We're not far from you -- Indianapolis, IN

[Earl McLain]

There are several regulars on here within an hour or so of Indy. I'm 3 hours north, but during racing season i'm down there at least 8 or 9 weekends. (actually supposed to be there Saturday morning for a meeting, but i'm calling in instead--though it would have been great to have breakfast at Charlie Brown's in Speedway with the rest of our crew!!)
earl

[John T Barker]

Lisa-I just want to echo what many of the people here are saying which I think is: don't overvalue the tools because they were your dads. I hung on to a shop apron and one chisel that belonged to my grandfather and I did it because he was my grandfather, he worked wood, and I was named for him. I would advise against trying to sell a 50+ year old saw at a price based on who used it. I have a table saw and jointer from that era and if someone in my family needed to sell them I'd tell them to get a fair price. In my area there is a fellow who deals in old tools on craigslist and that would be my fastest way to get a price.

The most important thing would be to make sure you don't sell a Stanley #2 handplane for $25. Find a woodworker in your area who might come to the shop and identify and help you price any collectibles or tools that still hold good value. I put it this way because many of have tools we use all the time that don't have much resale value but are good tools none the less. Why spend time trying to get a price for an average chisel that just isn't there?

It sounds like you have many good memories of the years your father spent working wood and putting a lot of love in to many of the pieces. You are both very lucky to have that.

[Brad Barnhart]

Miss Lisa, first & foremost, you're very lucky to have your Father yet, & enjoy every second with him you can! That's great to hear. Might I suggest that you try to keep what you can of your Father's tools & equipment. Learn woodworking yourself.�� You won't be sorry.�� There are no possessions like those of our elders. Trust me. When my Father passed, I didn't get so much as a picture of him. The greed bug bit my brother, & everything Dad owned was sold. So, in short, the equipment & tools may have some experience, but, I can assure you, you cannot buy tools as well built as they are in todays market. Just my .02 worth.

[Jerry Olexa]

Craigs List good place to start to get a general idea....Use Search function for tool you are evaluating.

[David Samp]

I have one or two (maybe 4 or 5) old hand woodworking things. One of these days I might even use them. In the meantime, I have a going on 3 grandson. Thing I'll hang on to those. May not be worth a penny, but think he will be impressed to see a old hand drill make a hole in wood. Kinda like fishing. Start out small...

[Dave Arnett]

I think you're on the right track using woodworking forums...to find values and to sell.

I'm in Tipton (1 hour north). I need to make a trip to Indianapolis soon. I would be happy help out any way I can.