Planning for our Estate Sale

Another thing I've been doing in the spreadsheet is attaching links to photographs or threads on forums. And I note whether there is dirty paper in the files. Usually keep hard copies in addition to pdfs.

Good point on taking pics of drawer contents.

I have some much younger knowledgeable freinds I hope will help when needed.

But honestly for me it's not primarily about the money. I have no objection to wanting to get a fair price for things, but I almost never paid one- looking at my list. More about getting things into good hands, and not having things go to scrap. And most of all minimize the work of it all for those left to deal with it.

Tim
 
The old joke goes, "If my wife sells my tools and machines for what I told her I paid for them, the buyers are going to get incredible bargains."

I'm at the same juncture and should be selling instead of being unable to resist another "too good to pass up" deal.

jack vines
 
craniac said:
But honestly for me it's not primarily about the money. I have no objection to wanting to get a fair price for things, but I almost never paid one- looking at my list. More about getting things into good hands, and not having things go to scrap. And most of all minimize the work of it all for those left to deal with it.

Tim
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I know they are inanimate objects but I feel the same way. I'd much rather have my machines go somewhere to be used, with all their accessories rather than sold piecemeal or worse just left to rust.
 
I agree with the thought that I don’t want to prolong the pain of loss.

My wife has taken quite an interest in what I’m doing and has actually said she wants to learn how to use the machines. So she has also been in on how much I paid for stuff and what the machines are called and what they do. It’s also why I’ve not gone for the big machines and stayed with hobby sized machines, easier to move and easier to sell.

I almost never buy new and most things are a fraction of what most would think they’re worth. I’m trying not to get carried away and get rid of stuff as I don’t use them anymore. The biggest heartbreak is neither of my kids have any interest in any of my stuff that meant so much to me. But most of my machines were bargains I fixed up and it’s ok that they go into some other individuals garage to carry on making and keeping the manual arts alive when I’m gone. I’m hoping my clan can get something for them and not suffer to much in the process. Whether we want to admit it or not all good stuff is part of the great catch and release system and the trick is not letting it get turned into junk by hoarding and end up in the scrap heap.
 
I am in the unfortunate position of not being able to do anymore work in my workshop since the end of last year. It is due to very bad breathing problems (COPD), caused by smoking and lack of mask wearing over the years. At least I have had 15-years of enjoyable retirement. At present, I am managing to keep myself amused by selling the tooling I have not used for a long while on eBay. The problem I have is, that with more time on my hands looking at the computer, I seem to be finding things that seem a bargain, putting a bid on them, and then finding I've won the item! I then end up with even more stuff to sell. My cars and motorcycles I am selling while I am still here. Although being very frustrated at not being able to enjoy my workshop and toys, I am still happy spending time writing good 'blurb' for the eBay adverts and including some decent photographs.
 
I’ve also been really lucky to have the son of a neighbor who is a mech and has a young family. As I’ve run onto deals and also cleaning out the sheds etc I’ve been donating all kinds of stuff to his shop. That is satisfying on so many levels as often just trying to put a price on something triggers stuff in me that is not even rational. And many things like an old HF HD drill press I got given to me, I passed on to him when I got my UniDrill. Made both of us happy.
 
While this subject is of concern for me as well. I am only two years away from retirement and trying to purchase a lot of equipment that I had to give up after 2008.

It saddens me to see what people are charging for tools and equipment now, when I know how much (little) I paid for them back when I first purchased them. My hope is to put together enough equipment to make my shop viable to bring in additional funds during retirement to help subsidize other forms of income that I have put together since 2008.

I am only 64 years of age and while I know that I should have lots of time, the subject of this thread is also on my mind. We just don't know when our time will come. I want my wife to have as much from my tools as possible to help her, but not to deal with long term issues of organizing it and selling it.

Not making much of a point here I know, just rambling.
 
It all depends on what your kids are into. If they like machines and making stuff then there is the potential that your stuff will continue to get used for another generation by a family member. I am going to tell my kids that if they don't want my stuff to have one of the local auction houses handle the sale and be done with it. There are several in my area that routinely auction off home machine shops along with the rest of the stuff in the house and seem to get ok prices. I don't know how much the auction house takes as their cut. I was at one of these auctions and happened to talk to a member of the family that was auctioning off Grandpa's stuff. The lady told me that they tried having some yards sales/estates sales with very little to show for it after all of the work and effort they put into it. So they finally went with an auction. Everything sold the day of the auction and was gone by the following week.
 
Having no children of my own and only a step-daughter and a her son over a thousand miles away leaves me with no recourse in that direction. Most of my "old" friends were just that, old(er than me). And with no interest in either machining or electronics. And quite frankly, not enough knowledge or interest to follow in my footsteps. They're not dumb, one is a farmer and the other lives in an apartment, somewhat disabled. The rest are in the ground. . . And my wife(3rd) of 30 years has no interest in either my hobby or metal working. And only very little in woodworking.

Add to that, my lifelong hobby of model building is rare, and my use of machines in that hobby is even more so. To be more specific, what I consider important or "valuable" would be essentially worthless to the average machinist. Or more likely, the sort of thing that "looks interesting, but. . ." and spend the next 50 years in the back of a drawer of a "junque" buyer. Further, having been a practising electrical engineer and electronics circuit designer, there are tons of test instruments for old school electrical usage. Who now-a-days knows how to "phase" a 9 wire motor using an analog meter, a lantern battery, and a compass? Or even knows how to use them, for that matter. I'm good, very good, at what I do but there's no call these days for what I know how to do.

Facing that reality is actually more difficult than taking a serious inventory. I have accepted, so far, that perspective and don't expect Wife to get any appreciable gain on my stuff, much of which pre-dates her, depending on her few friends to help with disposal of the shop(s). Likely, most of it will go to a scrapyard or "junque" dealer. All told, probably not enough to buy a simple "meat and three" at the local diner.

I offer my apologies for coming off sounding so negative. I am thinking as I write this about my own perspective and trying to see an alternative to getting literally pennies for archaic metalworking and electronic test equipment. We won't even discuss my railroading interest or old(and rare) books. Or, most of all, my penchant to grab something when I see it come up from someone with no idea what it is, or does.

Bill Hudson​
 
Recenty a house in my neighborhood went up for an estate sale. The family did not want to deal with moving machinery out of the basement and listed the hose as a handyman special with included shop tools, fully furnished. It sold real fast. They just went thru the house and removed obvious junk and all private paperwork type stuff and anything else that a family member wanted. The rest went with the house. They got top dollar for the house and no moving or selling required. My family has already decided that is the plan for when I kick the bucket.
 
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