Thread: Selling your tools before age defeats you.

FIL (a clever amateur furniture retire) passed away 13 years ago and all his personal stuff was left to BIL but being a non-tool person and a very busy fellow (animal epidemiologist) BIL did nothing about the tools and they may have stayed that way for some time but I quickly noticed they were rusting away being located in a beachside property. With MILs and BILs permission I collected up the better tools and took them home and derusted and stored them until last year when I suggested to BIL that I organise a "select what tools you want" out amongst the grandies and great grandies. I photographed them, added numbers to the photos and email them out. BIL, and some of the grandies and great grandies just took a memento tool or 2, only my niece and son took tools that I believe will be used. That worked pretty well and most amicably. I ended up with the remainder - the best of which was a set of 100+ year old BSP dies, a set of BSW dies, couple of nice hammers and 7 hand saws. The few power tools were all well past their use by date so got tossed out and the some of the remaining hand tools went to a mens shed, but the bulk ended up in the metal scrap bin at the local recycling centre. Several trips were made to the local recycling centre to dispose of rusty fixings, pipe, rusty metal shelving, white anted wooden shelves, unprepared furniture etc.

As for the rest (the over stuffed content of two houses and beach house) - when MIL passed away last year the Grandies and great grandies took some of the pieces of furniture, and a few other kitchen things. The considerable cellar contents were divided up by raffle between the family members. I started to sell a few small items on GT but that became a PITA real quick. The remainder which included most of the books, clothing, linen, geegaws and furniture was donated to Vinnies and Red Cross. I put a few items up as FREE on GT but that also wore thin real quick. About 5 skips worth of stuff (mostly junk) was put on the front lawn and a free notice put on GT and about 4.5 skips worth of the stuff went. There were still endless trips to the tip and recycling centre. I'm still stumbling across boxes of "stuff" in our house the SWMBO has brought home to sort out. Last December the back veranda of our place became storage for boxes of, antiquarian books, boxes unused laundry and cleaning chemicals and equipment, several sheep fleeces, a wooden box full of rusty metal chains etc and 3 wooden ladders, that still need sorting by SWMBO.

Meanwhile SWMBO has started using her spinning wheels again!

I speak to this from the other side. My father passed somewhat rapidly, having only had a chance to divest himself of about 1/2 of his tools and vintage car collection. As a son, I had absolutely no idea what any of it it was, what it was worth, etc. I suspect that other people in his car club just began pilfering all his hard-worked pieces from a shed he used to lease, and I ended up giving/long-term-loaning most of it to another son-of-a-vintage-guy round the corner, who was actually in the hobby (I live in a different country!). There was probably $50k of tools and parts, from a lifetime of engineering and car building/collecting; plus the one vintage car he didn't manager to sell.

So don't underestimate the value of at least a ledger, or downsizing tools.

As others have mentioned it 's a task not easily given to sort out deceased estates ,my main reason initially for posting this was because for others to have to dispose of my collective gains from over the years, it definitely would not be easy as we are distant from any relatives.
What has to said that it could be your partner in life left with the task as we know they all get on our case about this or downsizing ad nauseum.

I am thinking that perhaps re-enrolling my better half in weightlifting at the gym to be able to move stuff after I know longer can might be the go LOL.

I reckon by easing the burden to be left to others to sort out then why not .If as age progress's to a point where the difficulty in using what you have then becomes an issue then surely the decision to clear what you can whilst you still have the energy to apply yourself.
There's still no reason why you have to clear away all that you enjoy using, just leave enough that still gives you purpose for enjoyment.

About 25 years ago my FIL then aged 76, had radical stomach cancer surgery, where his stomach and other parts of his intestines were removed. The tough old fella was balancing on a knife edge and very close to falling off for a long time. He and MIL sold the house and bought a small unit, sold all his tools and concentrated on his recovery. Miraculously, he gradually got fitter and fitter, got out of the unit and moved to a house with a shed but he had no tools! He then had to go through the ordeal of reequipping himself with cheap rubbish tools that he wouldn't have considered in his working days. He lasted 15 years after his operation and often warned me against prematurely disposing of my tools.
Cheers,
Geoff.

I will be dead I won't care

Originally Posted by China

I will be dead I won't care

The people who have to deal with it will wish you had cared, I have been through this problem several times over the years and I won't subject my family having to do it for me if it can be avoided.

Been through it myself 4 times, most relies will enjoy the process, they will learn more about you that they did when you were alive.

Dealing with both my Dads and FILs tools was the easy bit of the process. It was the non-tool stuff like the 156 (mostly empty) rusty coffee cans that we though we should open to check what was in there - mostly fixings and bits of wire or string, and the disposing of junk and unusable furniture that gave us some irrits. But China's right we learned a lot about the families this way.

Originally Posted by BobL

Dealing with both my Dads and FILs tools was the easy bit of the process. It was the non-tool stuff like the 156 (mostly empty) rusty coffee cans that we though we should open to check what was in there - mostly fixings and bits of wire or string, and the disposing of junk and unusable furniture that gave us some irrits. But China's right we learned a lot about the families this way.

I can't imagine that.

I remember reading on this forum, some years ago, a formite saying that when he passes he hopes his wife will sell his tools for what their worth, not what he told her he paid for them.

This is a great topic.
Pretty sure an entertaining book could be written about it.

Originally Posted by artful bodger

This is a great topic.
Pretty sure an entertaining book could be written about it.

I could write a few chapters on the deceased estates I attended on behalf of the mens shed and others.
Not sure about the entertainment value - some were pretty sad and sorry setups.
This was one of the saddest
Under the sander on the RHS - the metal bowl on that stool was his ash tray.
Workshopdust.jpg

Originally Posted by BobL

I could write a few chapters on the deceased estates I attended on behalf of the mens shed and others.
Not sure about the entertainment value - some were pretty sad and sorry setups.
This was one of the saddest
Under the sander on the RHS - the metal bowl on that stool was his ash tray.
Workshopdust.jpg

Judging by the saw dust he got plenty of work done.

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The deceased may have thought his particular shed was just ACE.
You know, there are ear muffs, a fan, and a dust collector.
Plus he was smart enough not to throw his butts in the sawdust. That might start a fire.