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Getting too old and tired of cleaning up sawdust

3669 Views 28 Replies 15 Participants Last post by  mtlakejim
Just moaning about getting too old for this hobby. Bought all the gadgets and gizmos when I was working and had some spare change. Now I have to give it away to get rid of it. Woodworking does not seem to interest many younger adults. That includes my three grown sons who have no interest in free tools. Cell phones and the internet have turned people off to working with their hands.
Thanks to anyone who bothered to read my rant.
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A lot of us will face that day.
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Yes, as we get older the closer that day becomes.

I may advise my executor to give all my tools to a local Mens Shed..... If sold will probably only get "pennies in the dollar" as you yankees might say.....
There are people out there who would kill to have our tools. I know of one who'd build a shop just to house what I have.

Maybe a contest?

Meanwhile, I've started assembling a binder broken into sections for sanding, drilling, carving, copper plating, sawing and so on. It contains photos of the table, band, scroll, saber and other saws, including hand saws.

Details are give regarding the table saw accessories, like dado blades, the over arm dust collection-guard, the box joint jig, the Merlin Splitter, the Shop Fox kick down extension, the mortising jig and so on. It shows the calipers that would cost $120 to replace, the Narex chisels, the draw knife, the mallets and hammers, the fortune in bits, the letter and other templates and so on. It describes the variable speed, four wheel grinder with CBN wheels.

Included are retail prices and replacement prices. In the end, it's a way of insuring some ass doesn't convince my wife to sell my cabinet saw for five hundred bucks, with a warning that it may not happen overnight.
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Unfortunately, I'm nearing the same situation. When each of my kids (1 boy, 3 girls) got married, I went to one of the big box stores and filled up a large tool box with a variety of hand tools, hardware and a drill, to get them started in taking care of their various residences. What happened? Each time I visited they had a list of jobs for me to do and, oh yeah, that tool box is around here somewhere. When I found it, it was always in terrible condition.

In terms of my wood shop, everything will have to go, either when I can no longer do the work, or when I'm no longer around. In terms of "no longer around", I've been working on a "survivor's book" for either my wife or kids depending on the situation. Pricing out the larger tools in my shop will be part of that. My brother did that before he passed and it made life much easier for his widow. None of it is a pleasant task but part of life.
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My stuff is I my garage. At some point if will disappear my daughter and her husband remodelled their first housd but there done. Only doing small projects around the new house..they want want the main or portable tools, but non of the other crap...

Once you really look at what you have , you find others don't see all that stuff as valuable..
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Yes and no. It depends on who sees it. Many would kill to have my shop and everything in it. One even said he'd build a shop just to house it. So to it would go for the shops of others on this and other woodworking sites. If people weren't interested in the kinds of toys we have, this site would not exist.

On the other hand, my will says my rent-a-sister is not allowed anywhere in the shop. She'd toss have the stuff out, because she doesn't know what it is. The rest, she sell for pennies on a dime. A Festool sander for five bucks anyone?


Once you really look at what you have , you find others don't see all that stuff as valuable..
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I'm not concerned. I'm just not going!
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Now that's a plan.

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I'm taking mine with me. They will be melted down to a ledger/slab size of 2'-6" by 6'-6"
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Gosh, some options I hadn't considered. Thanks Thomas and Marco. I'll look into that.
Yes and no. It depends on who sees it. Many would kill to have my shop and everything in it. One even said he'd build a shop just to house it. So to it would go for the shops of others on this and other woodworking sites. If people weren't interested in the kinds of toys we have, this site would not exist.

On the other hand, my will says my rent-a-sister is not allowed anywhere in the shop. She'd toss have the stuff out, because she doesn't know what it is. The rest, she sell for pennies on a dime. A Festool sander for five bucks anyone?
Own a woodworking business?
.
Own a woodworking business?
.
Did, but retired now. I didn't want to work, so I did what I enjoyed. I still have three dust collectors, two bandsaws, a copper plating station, a carving machine, an over-arm pin router, a sandblast station, a few granite working and metal working tools, etc. To many, they have little value, to someone with knowledge, they represent one hell of a vacation, a remodel project, a new car or what have you.

That is why I have a manual explaining, for example, that little set of calipers is worth a lot more than a Harbor Freight set, those green and black sanders are worth more than twenty dollars, and so on.
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I'm a one man shop right at 75 yrs and still cranking out cabinets (laboratory machine enclosures). Been investing in tools, wood working and machining equipment (also a 20 yr old 4x4 home built cnc) all my life. I tell friends my shop is my 401K, and has kept me fit and alert. My two daughters and son were all started out early on old craftsman scroll saws. My son worked with me on my crew setting residential cabinets while he was young. Now he is always coming over to have sheet goods and lumber ripped/planed. I approached this subject with him considering my death. His reply was him or my son in laws, and the growing up dozen grand kids will be happy to keep the shop in use. As we all live in the country on the same acreage, access to the shop is regular. The house and shop will remain within the family, so I feel the investment in tools will remain useful. (I still have several OWWMs yet to be restored - maybe when I retire:)
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There are people out there who would kill to have our tools. I know of one who'd build a shop just to house what I have.

Maybe a contest?

Meanwhile, I've started assembling a binder broken into sections for sanding, drilling, carving, copper plating, sawing and so on. It contains photos of the table, band, scroll, saber and other saws, including hand saws.

Details are give regarding the table saw accessories, like dado blades, the over arm dust collection-guard, the box joint jig, the Merlin Splitter, the Shop Fox kick down extension, the mortising jig and so on. It shows the calipers that would cost $120 to replace, the Narex chisels, the draw knife, the mallets and hammers, the fortune in bits, the letter and other templates and so on. It describes the variable speed, four wheel grinder with CBN wheels.

Included are retail prices and replacement prices. In the end, it's a way of insuring some ass doesn't convince my wife to sell my cabinet saw for five hundred bucks, with a nice Dewalt pro cabinet saw and 6” jointer1/2 t hp dust collection Only keeping and planner cnc machine and bandsaw. All else goes
I’m right there with you. Headed to 80 and back surgery yesterday made my mind up for me. Got a nice(big) Powermatic lath with all the bells and
Yep. A Powermatic lathe doesn't stay for sale long, if it can be got for a few hundred off and with a few toys.

In fact, I had five lathes for a while (it was that "when it rains, thing) and sold four for the floor space. None of them lasted more than a week.
Yep. A Powermatic lathe doesn't stay for sale long, if it can be got for a few hundred off and with a few toys.

In fact, I had five lathes for a while (it was that "when it rains, thing) and sold four for the floor space. None of them lasted more than a week.
Did you use Craigslist? Or some other venu.
Phil
I ran mine on both FAKEbook and craigslist.

People can claim you can't get squat out of tools all they want. The truth is, where you are and when you are can make a difference.

I'd just bought a NOVA from a friend at a good price. I added a couple things, decided I didn't like NOVA's, and sold it for enough to cover what I had into it and make fifty bucks.

I sold a 1014 Jet, my first lathe [and the first one I ever touched] for what I paid for it used four years after I bought it.

I sold a big old Delta 450 (Reeves Drive) I bought for $100.00, running, for three.

The sale of the lathes was inspired by that one of the guys at the turning club asked if I wanted a big Jet from a local school. I did. I spent fifty on a new speed control and it's now my main lathe (I'll, probably, put a 3 phase motor and frequency drive on it).

So, I got an almost free, working lathe with 40 plus inches of bed, and could sell it in a week for four hundred. More if I change it to a digital speed control.
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I understand the thoughts. I've changed the type of woodworking projects I've been doing several times. Each time I get more tools and equipment for that type of work. Now I'm down the woodturning rabbit hole. But, I have two son-in-laws that wood like all my tools & equipment when the time comes.
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Welcome to the forum @Pj25707
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