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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
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    lower eyre peninsular
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    74
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    3,578

    Default the usual 'I have my fathers old stuff can u help'

    Have just been asked what one friend should do with their fathers woodwork stuff now that he is stuffed 6' under, (He would have enjoyed that comment)
    Years ago I bought some old saws and hand drills to restore...20 years later they are still in the same crate, wrapped in cloth and very dry. So should I get involved in this families cleanout and possibly help remove/cleanout the shed or should I walk away.

    Part of my head is saying 'You will find a treasure in there amongst a load of junk', another part of my head is saying 'something about a bottle of red', while another is saying 'dont be so flamin stupid, they will dump all the crap on you to dispose of.'

    thoughts
    I would love to grow my own food, but I can not find bacon seeds

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Perth
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    27,757

    Default

    My experience in dealing with a dozen or so cases, mainly via the mens shed, varies from families thinking dad's stuff is really worth something, to can you come and get rid of it including all the crap in his shed. One thing you need to be very clear about is expectations as makings suggestions may lead to "can you do that for us?"

    Of the cases I have been involved with via the mens shed only one had something worthwhile and that was a HD CI wood lathe and tooling which the family was happy to donate to the mens shed. The rest were old power tools, rusty hand tool, lots of glass jar full of rusting fixings and apart from the lathe tooling, I haven't seen one half decent plane or chisel.

    If they give you the stuff for free I think you are sort of bound to help clear everything out and if everything is rubbish then this becomes a chore but I guess you can chalk it down to helping a friend. Don't offer to sell anything for them. I made a mistake of suggesting some of the gear was worth something and the family then asked me if I would sell it. When I tried to sell it I could not find a buyer and even though they did not say anything I could tell they were not happy. Another time I was only able to get about half the price I initially advertised it for and again the family were not happy. The hardest ones to deal with are families who dug up dads receipt for something dad paid $5000 for 25 years ago and can now be bought for less than half that. When I said its now not even worth 1/10th of that they are disappointed and some of it can reflect onto you.

    I used to recommend giving old shed stuff to mens shed but my understanding is that they are now chokka with old hand tools and materials and are not interested in old power tools or older unsafe machinery and this stuff just ends up taking up space until they are ultimately chucked out. It's one reason why I stopped going to my shed - having a van meant I was always in the scrounging or pick up party and I eventually got sick of bringing more crap back to the shed and then being the one who took most of it to the dump. I get the impression that a significant number of new members joined our shed just to get rid of their own shed crap.

    One thought I have had is to offer hand tools for free to a young bloke just setting up a shed. Finding these is not easy, advertising on places like gum tree attracts hoarders and wanna be on sellers.

    FIL shed stuff was interesting from the families perspective. We found a box of his (WWII) and his fathers (Boer and WWI) war memorabilia that we did not know existed. There were about a dozen old handsaws (oldest one dated abut 1860) some of which I have restored, and a hammer with 1790 stamped on it. But the most useful thing has been a set of BSP dies which I have used to thread pie clamp ends and to set up my reticulated compressed air system.

    Before you can do much you really need to do some sort of inventory
    a) stuff that might be worth something and can be sold - don't put any sort of $ on it just yet.
    b) stuff that might be useful given away to a mens shed or young bloke setting up
    c) rubbish

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    383

    Default

    BobL,
    this is the best set of advice I've seen on this topic.
    Judging by the rubbish that's in the Tools section of the Antiques & Collectables part of the NZ TradeMe (=eBay) website the world is full of families trying to flog off at high prices their dead grand-dad's borer-eaten wooden planes, rusty braces and buggered tatty chisels. For some reason, NZers seem to think that tools are only valuable antiques if they are rusty and incomplete (There, vented my spleen now!)
    New Zealand

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    27,757

    Default

    One of the saddest cases was a call from an elderly (~85 years old) woman who said she was moving into a care facility and could come around and "value" the contents of "her" shed - I assumed hubby had passed away. When I went around the woman was all business and asked to go and look in the shed to see what it all was worth. What I found was a partially disabled Hubby in the shed trying valiantly to do a bit of woodwork. He looked at me with a "who are you and what do you want"? I started to explain what I was doing and very quickly realised he no clue his wife had set this up and I felt like a real idiot. A quick glance around showed nothing but rusty low end old hand tools and lots of rusty fittings and a few bits and pieces of materials. I apologised for disturbing him and went back into the house and said there is nothing there of any value and walked out. I felt so sorry for the hubby - after that I asked a lot more questions before turning up to these sorts of situations.

    Another one was - Dad's passed away and we can have everything that's in the shed for nothing. I go around and its clear that someone has already been through the shed and removed a lot of stuff - turns out it was the family - understandable enough, but what was left was just junk. Warped sheets of MDF, small timber offcuts, rusty pipe and general junk. More for charity's sake than anything else I took away a few pieces of timber and the family member who let me in was most disappointed I did not take more. I said if it was OK with them I would let a few other people know about it and they might come and take some stuff. I never told anyone about it.

    My favourite was - lots of good jarrah, 50 x 150 and 50 x 100mm up to 12 ft long. I go around and it was a a large pergola still standing, weathered, bent, bowed and cracked to billie-o. Of course they were getting a new pergola and they were being charged to take the old one down so were trying to get it taken down for free. Their noses were right out of joint when I said no.

    Another one was a call from a little old lady, - "loads of good timber on the verge ready to pick up". The mens shed manager took the call and agreed that we would collect it and I volunteered to do it - it was rubbish but there was not much of it so I picked it up and took it straight to the dump which fortunately was just a couple of km away. Our men's shed is associated with the council so we can dump stuff whenever we like at no charge.

    There have been a few good ones in terms of materials. One deceased estate shed we were asked to take a look at had very few tools left because it they had already been taken away. The family wanted to know what the rest, mainly materials was worth and as there heaps of decent ply sheets, timber, ally, steel, plastic sheet, threaded rod, etc I said it was worth something if someone else (not me) was prepared to sell it on say gumtree. Well they were not interested in doing that and said we could just take whatever we wanted. The mens shed did OK out of that as we took away 3 van loads of stuff. There was also a tiny home made (wheel barrow size wheels) sail boat trailer which we were allowed to take. It was still registered. I said it was not worth it, but the mens shed guys took it anyway as they reckoned we could sell it. What a right PITA it turned out to be, bent drawbar and the hitch was smaller than the standard small ball size so nobody could use it and it was hanging around the shed taking up space for some time. I occasionally left it outside the shed in hope someone would steal it. A couple of the mens shed guys spent a fair bit of time tidying it up and replaced the hitch and eventually advertised it on GT for $400 - they're dreaming I said. It hung around the shed for a couple of years and of course the rego had to be renewed every year - in the end it sold but I don't think they covered the cost of the rego and hitch.
    Last edited by BobL; 2nd November 2018 at 07:02 PM.

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    back in Alberta for a while
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    68
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    12,006

    Default

    6 years ago I went through the emotional turmoil of clearing out my father's shed in Sydney.
    He had a fair number of hand tools in good condition and a wall of assorted screws.
    The biggest conflict was with my sister as to whether metal went into the recycle bin or garbage. Sister's view was that metal in the garbage would be extracted from the waste stream at the "recycling centre" -- the place the local garbage trucks go for the waste to be consolidated into bigger loads for transport to Queensland !


    best I can suggest is, if you feel so inclined, offer to help.
    be brutal
    Wood / MDF / Ply -- send to composting unless you are dealing with obviously recoverable boards. If it's recycled hardwood -- firewood -- it's not worth de-nailing.
    If it looks like junk -- toss it in the recycling
    if it's miscellaneous nuts, bolts and washes -- recycling
    If you don't recognise the object -- put it to one side as it might be part of something else.
    Power tools -- use discretion, but the wise choice will often be to cut the cord both ends and send it to recycling.

    Wear a dust mask and keep an eye open for asbestos -- especially things like old heat mats.
    regards from Alberta, Canada

    ian

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    2,205

    Default

    I’ve posted elsewhere on a few expieriences I’ve had over the past 5 years clearing out mates sheds.
    Im at it again except this time he’s still there but was a professional restorer whose has to vacate his workshop quickly. He has serious health and other issues.
    He has a huge amount of priceless stuff (for a restorer) but buried under this has disassembled customers jobs plus tools etc.
    Makes it near impossible to proceed clearing stuff up as bits can’t be lost and “tomorrow or next week or next year” he’ll get back onto and finish that job.
    Ive a nasty feeling a lot of valuable stuff will end up at the recyclers at the last minute and a lot of very nice smaller pieces of exotic timber will go to a men’s shed for pen making.
    Ill put a few items on the For sales here but it’ll have to be pick up only from Sydney.
    Another mate and his wife are involved and she’s handling him and laying down the law a bit.
    We find if we do it together we can slowly get things done but you really feel like you’re bashing your head up against a brick wall.
    The worst of these clear out efforts for me is I always find a few treasures which go in the ute and then clutter up the entrance to my shed until I find a home amongst my huge hoard.
    Plus of course a machine or bench etc I volunteer to deliver next time I’m off to Brisbane or wherever.
    H.
    Jimcracks for the rich and/or wealthy. (aka GKB '88)

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