Archived from the Tools In Action forum (In The Shop). This thread is read-only.
Backstory:
So, I had big plans for the weekend… or not, I was just going to cut the grass and maybe do some organizing. My wife was looking through Facebook Marketplace and found someone looking to have his trailer cleaned out for the low, low price of $200. Yes, he wanted someone to pay him to do the dirty work. I looked at the handful of pictures he posted, and knew it was well worth a few hours work and the price of a rental truck, and fortunately, we were the first people seriously interested. He called us when we were on the way to clarify a couple of things, though: first, that we were paying him $200 and not the other way around; and two, that we had a truck big enough to get everything in. He was concerned that someone would pick and choose what they wanted with a promise to empty their truck and come back, only to leave him stuck with a bunch of stuff that no one wanted. When we pulled in with a 16′ Penske, he thought it was too small. I reassured him that after two decades of do-it-yourself moves in 26′ trucks with all of my nonsense, it was plenty of big enough.
The Tools and Other Goods, Both There and Missing:
So, the pictures showed a few rooms crammed with stuff. What caught my eye was the Snap-On boxes and the Lowe’s buckets with lids and gas cans. I’m petty, I know, but I just bought a bucket from Home Depot a few days earlier when I realized that I had zero buckets around the house to use for various things. Probably 50 or more have come and gone and been left at various project houses or elsewhere over the past 10 years. Given the price of nearly $5 a bucket and $3 a lid, there was easily $150 worth of those. A modern version of the Snap-On top box is still sold for over $1600: 26″ Nine-Drawer Top Chest (Red) | KRA4059FPBO | Snap-on Store, and based on the manual and pictures online, I’d guess it to be an early-1970s vintage. It’s full of miscellaneous tools: a lot of taps, some Snap-On spinner handles and wrenches, Craftsman “V” sockets, Proto ratchets, and some Snap-On and Blue Point automotive tools like an overhead valve adjuster, piston groover cleaner, brake bleeder wrench, and so on.
One thing that surprised me was finding a Rockwell toolbox that wasn’t in the pictures. It had a bit of weight to it, and I was looking forward to seeing what kinds of tools were in it, especially as I’d never seen a Rockwell box like it. Lo and behold, it has a Made in the USA Skil 77 saw that probably dates from the 1970s. It’s dusty but looks like it’s seen little use and fits the Rockwell box perfectly. There’s a Rockwell worm-drive manual in there along with a tube of lubricant, but I have been unable to find any connection between Rockwell and Skil and the saw on the manual looks a little different. I can only guess that the Skil found its way into the Rockwell box at some point over the past 50 years. Besides those, there were plenty of other tools like Makita and Skill corded drills, a Craftsman belt sander, a Makita 9.6v cordless drill in a like-new case (albeit missing the charger for the long-dead battery), and a Fein MM250Q TOP still in the shipping box with an invoice for $399. There was a nice computer table between two filing cabinets as well. It looks like something that belongs in a workshop but has a keyboard and mouse tray underneath. It’s going to go in the garage and get set up for my Surface Pro… I’ve got to get this thing outside of the house and the reach of my Roblox-addicted nephew.
Some old electronics, furniture, and other stuff was there as well. One thing that I’ll be reselling is an antique secretary’s desk. The price tag of $650 is still on it, but I doubt I’d get that from a local private sale. Even so, it has the potential to recoup the $350 or so we have invested in the entire deal. Some stuff that might have originally been there were likely (and rightfully) taken by the family. The items were owned by a long-time tenant who passed away in February, and among the things I’ve found so far are a flawless Ruger Blackhawk box (no gun, but the box itself is worth something to a collector), some ammo and cleaning supplies, and receipts for various other guns. There’s also a Honda inverter generator box (but no generator) and other evidence of things that might have been picked over by the heirs. Why so many tools were left is beyond me, but not all of us are part of the TIA Crew or even Tool Guys. I’m about to head out there and do some digging while I’m cooking burgers for the night.
Anyway, the job got done beyond the expectations of the homeowner. He just needed his place ready to put on the market, and there were no legal or personal issues involved with the sale: it was his property and the family seemed to have already gotten what they wanted. I found one of the daughters had looked for an estate seller on Facebook back in late February, so they either got all they wanted and/or decided it wasn’t worth the hassle of getting everything moved to a warehouse or auction site. Who knows? Maybe the guy had some storage units full of other stuff. It definitely looks like he had a lot of knowledge and projects going on, so it’s possible he crammed everything possible in the trailer after moving from a house that had a shop or garage.
So, here are a few pictures, I’ll try to post more as time permits (any regular here knows I’m bad about posting photos, though). I plan to keep a lot of the tools, including the Skil saw. I have the FlexVolt worm drive-style saw and a few other cordless ones (M18 Fuel, M12 Fuel, Ridgid, MetaboHPT MultiVolt), but I’ve always wanted a Skil 77 for some reason. We should easily be able to sell the other stuff and get 2-3x or more what we invested, while I’d have an excellent condition Snap-On stack to go with the beat-up old Mac stack I used to use professionally and the various Kobalt and Craftsman 26″ boxes/cabinets. Eventually, I’ll get something wider, likely a US General box, because frankly, I have the tools to fill them all.
The question is, what happens to all of this stuff when I’m gone? My guns will be snatched up by at least two of my kids–my son and my now-16-year-old daughter (the other three don’t have much interest in firearms)–much like the guns that were once in the trailer. But the tools? Will any of my kids or eventual grandkids be interested? Will they simply take $200 for someone to come clear it all out? Does it really matter to me? I’ll be gone, and all of the trinkets and material things I’ve amassed mean little to anyone else. Military uniforms and medals will be trashed or at most dumped into a box, tools will be sold off or at best kept by someone who knows or wants to learn how to use them, and even the memory of me will fade within a generation or two.
Here are a few more pictures. The magazine is from ’94, 10 years before Porter Cable was bought by SB&D, and when Made in the USA Craftsman and Sears both seemed like they’d be around forever. There are a number of Disston saws, including the D-23 and D-25 in the picture and a No. 15 coping saw. The toolbox drawers are from the bottom chest, with some Klein flare nut wrenches and Klein Grip-It strap wrench, and more Snap-On auto tools. The soldering gun looks well used, but there’s at least one other still new in the box somewhere.
For now, though, it’s time to wind down. Another day of transferring cash tomorrow, close out the week Friday, and maybe I’ll finally get the grass cut over the weekend.
VERY cool.
There are many entries / submissions I’ve made into this Vintage Machinery website, for manuals and such, that could be a great permanent repository for some of that cool old documentation. I’ve also found / downloaded some stuff that is useful for me.
wingless wrote:
15 minutes ago, wingless said:VERY cool.
There are many entries / submissions I’ve made into this Vintage Machinery website, for manuals and such, that could be a great permanent repository for some of that cool old documentation. I’ve also found / downloaded some stuff that is useful for me.
Thanks for the recommendation. I’ve got a scanner, so I’ll see about compiling whatever manuals I find into it.
Sweet, a lot of good stuff. I think those hand saws are worth a pretty penny also. I searched a couple of year back as I wanted a nice old one like my grandfather had and it was over $100 for something good.
Eric – TIA wrote:
On 4/10/2025 at 10:55 AM, Eric – TIA said:Sweet, a lot of good stuff. I think those hand saws are worth a pretty penny also. I searched a couple of year back as I wanted a nice old one like my grandfather had and it was over $100 for something good.
I’m learning a fair amount about Disston, there’s even a website devoted to the brand: Disstonian Institute.com — Online Reference of Disston Saws. The saw that’s new in the box is a D-95-S Masterpiece, not a “D-23” as I originally stated. There are some in similar condition listed for $75-$150 on Ebay. The D-23 and D-95 have Danville, VA markings and were made when the company was owned by H.K. Porter, who bought it in 1955 and sold it to Sandvik Saw in 1978.
I haven’t really used a hand saw since shop class back in middle school. Before last weekend, I owned a couple of Stanley and Kobalt saws I’d picked up for cheap, and I like the aesthetics of having them hanging in the workshop, but like many, I’ve been spoiled by power tools. Regardless, I’m going to consolidate all of the hand saws out there today. In the toolbox alone there’s a Blue Point hacksaw and another brand.