cabinetman

I follow the garage/yard sales and flea market ads in the paper regularly. I went to one home where the grandfather had died and he had woodworking tools. He had worked in a cabinet shop most all his life.

I looked around and didn't see anything I had to have. Then I noticed on the floor in the corner a few tool boxes. They were mostly the portable type with a lift out tray and a locking lid. A few Craftsman, and one that he had made. As I opened them up, it was like opening up someone's life. Here was his personal tools. A feeling came over me about my own death and some guy off the street strolling in looking in my toolbox.

I actually felt like I was invading his privacy, and those tools were sacrosanct. I also realized that he didn't put a price on them, and if they didn't get sold, they would keep dropping the price until they did. How sad, that what meant so much to him was really just a commodity to get rid of. I wonder if he ever thought about this happening.

Anyway, at first I didn't even want to look through the boxes. Then I thought, if I bought them all, I would be preserving some working longevity with the due respect that he might have appreciated. I still have all those tools, and maybe it's like keeping a spirit alive.

Daren

I had a similar feeling you described when I went to an estate sale last (?) year. The guy was a watchmaker and had what seemed to me to be a small fortune in precision tools. His surviving family was literally giving it all away, just to be rid of it so they could sell the house. Kinda made me sad the attitude they had and displayed.

__________________
Sawmill and tool sharpening

Facebook page

Rob

I think the best anyone can hope for is that most of our cherished tools end up in the hands of someone who is going to give a little thought and honor to the craftsman who owned them. It sounds like you do and the original owner would probably be pleased.

__________________
Never lick a steak knife.

drcollins804

I went to a yard sale a couple of weeks ago and ended up coming away with out buying anything. They were pricing the tools like they were new and unused when they had been used for in some cases a lifetime. Found a few that I would have liked to have but for that price I can buy new ones. Went to two auctions a couple of years ago and ended up buying the mantle clock at both because they were almost giving them away and both were from families and craftsmen that I knew and greatly respected. They sit beside the family mantle clock that I inherited years ago. Wonder what will happen to them when I'm gone?
David

Tweegs

When I bought my current home a year ago, “the boys” left behind a fair number of their fathers’ woodworking tools. Hand saws, planes, a lathe, turning tools, a B&D router still in the box (It’s still in the box ) and a boat load of wood, not to mention sockets, wrenches et all.

Now the old man wasn’t a perfectionist, judging by some of the crafts that were also left behind and the trim work he did, but he was obviously dedicated to woodworking.

I had the same sentiment most everyone here has already posted: How could they show so little respect for their fathers’ tools?

It was odd that my wife and I were required to meet the family members prior to them accepting our offer, they wanted to be sure the home was going to people they liked and would take care of it in much the same manner their parents had, yet they had little or no regard for what gave their father such obvious joy. I thanked them politely when they said they were going to leave those things behind, I didn’t understand but kept my opinion to myself. Hey, who’s gonna bark at free tools eh?

It occurred to me then that those tools were probably better left to me anyway. I will take care of them, keep them sharp, even use them from time to time.

In our little meeting, “the boys” discovered I too was a woodworker. Perhaps they didn’t have such little regard after all?

oldgoat49

I would hope that they felt like you would have better use and respect for their fathers tools. Maybe they just didn't have room or just didn't have the urge to do woodworking. Who knows. I know of some that don't hardly touch a tool. They have a small toolbox for little things around the house maybe, but that is all. When I am gone I don't know what will happen with my stuff. The youngest is into electronics more than woodworking, the son in law and the daughter like the wood tools but don't have a place for them. The oldest, well he likes it, but I don't know if he will be in a position to use them either. Hopefully someobody will pick them up, even for a song, and get a start.

Tweegs

Kind of my point.

Two kinds of people out there, some that are interested in whatever money the tools will fetch and others that would rather see them put to use regardless the monetary value.

I think all we can hope for is to raise a protégé that will take care of what we have when it is our time to go. None of my own kids have an interest in woodworking, but my Son-in-law does. He will get the tools.

As for the rest of my stuff, I keep telling the kids, “There can be only one.”
My money is on the SIL.

SailorCharon

Personally, more than anything I hate seeing waste. If a family member died and left behind tools I had no use for, I would want to see nothing more than someone using them. Likewise, if I died I'd want my tools to be used. Donate them to a poor family in Lyberia, just make sure they're used, please. In many ways I think I'd rather have my tools be given to a good home than sold for whatever someone can get, then it's really about the tools being used instead of profit.