Thread: Disposal of a lifetimes aggregation of tools

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

A few tips on how to efficiently "renovate" and restore tools and chucks showing light surface rust would also be appreciated.

A great way to remove rust is with phosphoric acid. Its sold under various brands at car stores like Super Cheap Auto or Repco. One brand I know is "Rust Converter". Small stuff you can just soak in a tub of it, larger stuff like cast iron machinery tables you can wipe it on liberally.

Have a chat to Flidersia, he has been disposing of tools & supplies of a fellow woodturner over the past year or so. He will have advice abd tips plus what he found difficult about the process.

I wouldn't make any committment to "restore" tools. Its very time consuming and you may not get any return for it anyway.

I think I would make logical "packages" and put as much as possible on Ebay. Make it go away as fast as possible. The only caveat is to avoid competing with yourself... Dont offer 2 of the same thing in the same period. Wait a week or 2 and run the next lot.

Often - there is a very small local following for specialized stuff like this. Doing it on Ebay can give you a huge market... Even bigger if you are willing to ship international.

I agree with bulk quotes they do not take into account individual pieces worth and or quality. My experience is that such quotes driven by the 'quick buck'. The real issue is setting a price on each piece. The Ebay option although slow it will give a better return, but it is time consuming.

Gumtree is a decent alternative to eBay these days also - ebay+PayPal have become very greedy with their fees.

I've dealt with about a dozen of these situations usually as a favour to friends and family, plus a similar number of deceased estate circumstances though the mens shed.

I agree about the following
- "for tools & sets in generally good condition with soiled packaging - about 50% of current RRP, then discounting for wear & condition for used tools."
- "I wouldn't make any committment to "restore" tools [or machines]. Its very time consuming and you may not get any return for it anyway."

The later often raises unrealistic expectations and then disappointment when/if returns are not envisaged.
A certain mens shed got caught out with this after making a commitment to a deceased estate situation. The shedders involved invested a large amount of time for very low returns to the estate.

Light surface rust can be taken off with steel wool and then the items can be lightly oiled and wrapped in cloth. I wouldn't be getting into Phosphoric acid level restoration as this would require "full disassembly-treatment-careful washing", which would not be worth the trouble.

One area of difficulty is if the person or relatives knows what the items cost (i.e. prices on boxes)and then expect unrealistic returns.
After a couple of sour events I began to generally play down expectations and if better than expected returns were obtained then it's a much nicer outcome.
Make it clear that although you will try for the "50% of current RRP, then discounting for wear & condition for used tools", but this may not happen.

I've cut right down on doing this sort of thing because I find selling stuff on gumtree and eBay a general PITA.

Good luck.

For my restorations, I use the kaatcher power blaster, a soak in SupaCheapAuto degreaser (buy in 5L bottles, it's amazing) then soak overnight in EvapoRust.

The results are amazing. By not washing the EvapoRust off, leaving it to simply dry, leaves a film that protects against future rust.

I agree with BobL though. Pre-restoration before sale is a lot of work. I did a few planes for a friend and I don't think it added a cent to their sales. It may have made them *sell* however, but it was just my guess that it didn't help the price. I saw the same with a train set collection.

Personally, I collect antique tin robots and restoration absolutely kills the price.

If I were to sell, I'd DEFINATELY give this forum first crack at it. I'm amazed the forum owners don't soup the sales section up. Then I'd sell on Gumtree. eBay is a hideous waste of time.

Originally Posted by woodPixel

If I were to sell, I'd DEFINATELY give this forum first crack at it. I'm amazed the forum owners don't soup the sales section up. Then I'd sell on Gumtree. eBay is a hideous waste of time.

To be honest I have been a bit disappointed with selling, or even giving things away, through the forum. Some of this is it's WA with a small population base. I find gumtree has lot of time wasters too.

The argument about whether de-rusting increase the value of the tools is a bit like if renovations increase the value of a property. The common wisdom is that renovations increase the value of the property by the cost of materials but not the labour that is involved. What hasn't been mentioned is the marketability. What cleaning up/renovation does is it increases the reach of the tools/house to the potential buyers who are a bit new to the market place and who would be drawn to the purchase because of the better perception.

For de-rusting, I'd definitely recommend electrolysis. It's minimal cost and minimal involvement of your own time and its very easy to setup. The only thing to watch out for is hydrogen embrittlement which can be taken care of by baking it in the oven for a little while.

Having said that, cleaning up tools doesn't seem to be all that popular among ebay or gumtree advertisers. I think that's because of the inability of the buyer to clearly see the actual condition of the items for sale other than a rough idea and so it doesn't seem to make much difference in price.

But on any HPTAA sales, I notice the professionals always have their items nicely fettled and displayed.

It might be a good idea to list them on the market place, then gumtree and then ebay. And finally at swap meets.

Re de rusting if it is only surface rust you will not gain anything re sale by cleaning things up, if the rust severe i.e. pitted the the same applies the time you spend soaking brushing and cleaning will not reflect in increased price, better off just to sell them as they are, as mentioned above be realistic in pricing

Thanks guys, your thoughts pretty much reflect mine. The chucks I will probably service but the tools will get a light going over only. My time is valuable to me & offering to sell the stuff will consume enough of it without looking for more work.

The family do know its purchase price, well some do, so I have been saying that 50% of RRP is the max they could hope for.

May not apply here but bumped into an old friend today in town who has started collecting and cleaning old tool with a 1:9 or 1:10 solution of Molasses and water bring the steel back to almost original condition and all the rust gone.

He even commented that the old company etching became clearly visible.

To remove rust from tools without using caustic chemicals, mix 1 part molasses with 9 parts water in a container, then soak the rusty items in it for between several days and two weeks.
The solution breaks down the rust and holds it in suspension.

Molasses will also remove paint and galvanizing very successfully.

Just my thoughts on the bulk offer option as I don't believe that this will bring a fair price. It limits the number of people who might be interested in all the tools.