I Wonder What To Do With My Shop When I Am Gone

My wife thinks about Senna (Ken Umpires) wife.
She has two fears.
1) She will have several tons of old iron to deal with.
2) I live past retirement and plague her 24hours a day. Read: go to the shop!!!

My full time job is as a Paramedic Instructor.
Our students are assigned a single Mentor for nearly a year.
Hundreds of hours.
Our hand selected Mentors know and understand that for better or worse their Student will imprint on them.
What they do well or poorly will be repeated.
Likely on to future Paramedics for several generations.

Please know and understand that your work here and with your protege will live on in multiple generations of full time and hobby machinists.
I sincerely look forward to your posts for as long as you are able to make them.

And God willing, some day far into the future we will be able to talk about the merits of handwheels vs DRO on a cloud some day.
I look forward to actually meeting you.

Daryl
MN
 
We have taken care of what will happen with the dogs. We set up something for the cat, if he out lives us. I haven't gotten to what to do with the firearms and tools. The real problem with stuff that's worth more than a few dollars is finding someone that you can trust to do the right thing. I have been witness to a couple of estate messes where the executor didn't lock everything up quick enough and all the valuable stuff disappeared. I am leaning towards just letting the greedy ones try to haul off the big chunks of iron. I have a sneaky suspicion that I won't care, but if for some reason I actually get to see what goes on after I'm gone, It may be amusing to watch my worthless in-laws fight over it.

If you really want the stuff donated to deserving apprentices, and have someone that will do it, then I'd sell it to him ahead of time. That way it is his and not part of the estate, even if its still in your shop when you croak. Then I'd put up a sign. Something like - Everything in this shop has already been sold by me. To be delivered upon my death. There is an inventory. Take something and you will go to prison for grand theft.

They'll probably try to steal it any way.
 
I am at an age where I potentially have a couple decades of productivity left and am the last of my line as a machinist. Besides the complete shop I'd already built for myself I inherited the entirety of my Uncles shop which also included my grandfathers tools. No one else in the family has an appreciation for anything passed down that they can't turn into cash and immediately spend, so the rest of the older relatives keep giving me stuff to hold onto to "keep it in the family". Antiques, firearms, tools etc. waiting for a future generation that cares to be born. I've asked nieces if they wanted my grandmothers (now highly collectible) items only to be turned down cold or asked "what's it worth?". What to do...
 
Holescreek said:
I am at an age where I potentially have a couple decades of productivity left and am the last of my line as a machinist. Besides the complete shop I'd already built for myself I inherited the entirety of my Uncles shop which also included my grandfathers tools. No one else in the family has an appreciation for anything passed down that they can't turn into cash and immediately spend, so the rest of the older relatives keep giving me stuff to hold onto to "keep it in the family". Antiques, firearms, tools etc. waiting for a future generation that cares to be born. I've asked nieces if they wanted my grandmothers (now highly collectible) items only to be turned down cold or asked "what's it worth?". What to do...
Click to expand...

it is a sad situation we struggle with. it was said " I'll be gone and won't care". Maybe and maybe not. I just know, there is no one after me, I am the last and my remaining time is being spent passing this knowledge on to anyone I can.
 
Don't care.

The missus can deal with it as she sees fit.

I would prefer she got some decent money for my stuff (she deserves it), but If it goes for scrap weight then so be it.

No one else in my family like me or has my interests anyways (ie: tools and mechanical abilities)

In have my fathers shipwright tools, but no one wants those either.

I watched my mother struggle with just clearing out my dads stuff when he passed. Was a major pita. I was a couple thousand kms away at the time and couldn't help.

Don't want my missus to go through the same hassle....
 
I think of it often (am I'm relatively young and in moderately good health), and for all things like machinery, guns, tools, etc., etc. I've actually got a Word file on my computer that's titled, "In the event of my death" and it has ALL the details. Things like identification, value (what I paid vs. what it could/might be worth), who might use it, where to sell it/give it to, etc.

Most of my stuff would go to my son; I purposely gave him the same initials as mine (but not the same first name) as I tend to engrave or otherwise mark my things with "WRM". It's spelled out that the important stuff should be given to him if he's 21 or older or kept for him until that time. If at 21 he doesn't want any/part of it, the notes will let them know how to liquidate it, and the money is split between him and my wife. Certain things are noted for immediate sale (if nobody wants them), others are "hold only."

I know that they're just possessions, but I hate to think that everything I've worked so hard for and passionate about might be given away for pennies on the dollar at an estate sale because someone just didn't know any better.

Also on the list are a long list of names of people to contact upon my demise (friends, forums, etc.), that way everyone that might have lusted over any of my items might have enough notice to be at the sale.

Another notion I've toyed with is having a table piled high with tasers at my wake; last person standing gets my stuff...lol.

-WRM
 
I, too, am blessed with a son who grew up in my shop and shares most of the passions in my life. I cherish every second I was able to spend with him and someday everything will go to him. The love, the time and the lessons have already been given; the shop will go to him when I pass and I couldn't hope for a better man than he.
 
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