I had a small very well tooled shop after years and years of auctions long before the internet age existed . I worked it and my buddy worked part time for me . When my 3rd was born , we outgrew the house . I sold my equipment , RPCs , blast cabinets , compressor , anything large . I packed up all the tooling which I considered the hard stuff to replace .
I clubbed the basement and we stayed in that house for 2 more years . I bought another house 100 feet away and that's where we are now . I went 20 years without machines , did tractor restorations which was pretty fun . Maybe 6 years ago I get a call from the guy who was working for me . He wanted to know if I wanted any equipment . I told him no but ended up with 3 mills , a couple lathes , saws etc . I was a supervisor at the company and brought him in and he ended up being the plant manager after I switched jobs .
So I got the equipment , didn't really want to get back into machining , and sold it all ( for a very small profit )
I kept all my tooling though . Machines seem to fall into my lap these days , knowing so many in the trade . They are small , 12" lathes , a BP , surface grinder , other small stuff . I still own the other house with the nice basement , and it's a very hard decision as to what I want to do . Get a small hobby shop going again ? Stick to the Kubota to make a few side bucks ? Get back into Cub Cadets ? Who knows .
Right now , I'm trying to get rid of doubles , triples , exotic tooling etc . If I do decide to keep a lathe and mill , it'll be for very basic stuff , but I'm leaning the way of clearing out the house . I've stored this stuff for too many years .