Jump to content
I Forge Iron

When do you pass on buying tools?


Recommended Posts

When do you pass on buying tools? And why?

 

At the flea market there were a couple of hammers that I look at real close and passed up.

One cross pein sledge hammer for $20 (reduced to $10 during the conversation) that had a new handle. Handle said 8-12 pound 32 inches on the label so it was said to be a 10 pound hammer. Problem was that the pein end was modified to be almost a dull hot cut, thing 90* angle. The end had been ground severely to make it sharp instead of with a radius.

#2 hammer was a 2 pound hot cut with the hit end being severely mushroomed, that is to say about 1/3 to 1/2 of the hammer head was gone, being rolled over and mushroomed during use. The hot cut end was only about an inch long, as it has been sharpened many times. The handle was a rough cut piece of wood with sharp edges that hurt the hand just to hold it. Even though it was only $5 (reduced to $1during the conversation), I passed.

When do you pass on buying tools? And why?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

damaged/abused, duplicate; OVER PRICED, Too much work to get it back in using condition...

I usually do not count a handle as part of getting a hammer because even if it's a brand new handle I know I will probably have to remove it and put another on it.

So today I looked over some acetylene gauges---did not see for all fuel gasses and so passed

Looked at a 12# sledge in good condition; $15; short handled---but I already have a bunch of them and was mainly pricing as possible anvil for mew smith

Looked at a 10# Straight peen sledge; chipped face---breaking concrete and rocks I bet; peen was mint but was narrower than I like especially for a sledge!

Passed on dozens of ball peens in good to great shape and of various sizes.

I did pick up a small rounding hammer: one face flat, one face domed and smaller than any of my others: asking price US$5, buying price $3.  Handle can be used as is for at least a while.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since the accident put us on the line between red and black ink I pass on anything but sweet deals or really cheap. Like Thomas I don't buy hammer handles I change them out before I use them so I don't pay for them. I tell the sellers so and why, you'd be surprised how many will then dig out hammers with broken handles and give them to me. They don't want inexperienced people trying to use them with broken handles.

We rarely see blacksmithing tools or equipment at yard, garage, etc. sales for less than stupid expensive. Last summer a sale we hit had a so so anvil for about $8/lb. and a beautiful old Champion 200 post drill mounted on the (yard light pole !!:o and rusted into an immobile lump) he'd part with for $2,500. Funny how every hammer or . . . thing he couldn't ID was a precious antique.

Deb and I walked away empty handed.

Deb and I will do a little garage saling today but I'm only taking $20.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My favorite hammer handle story was at a fleamarket in Ohio; there was a decent hand forged hammer head for sale but the price was too high. I tried talking the dealer down on it but he kept  telling me how much time and effort he had into it as he had put a new handle in it well he had done such a bad job of it that I finally just pulled the handle out of the head just in my hands and handed it to him and said "How much for just the head?"

I see a lot of "interestingly" handled tools down here as people use pieces of old brooms or scrap wood to make "selling handles" as they sure won't be "using handles"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It used to be a lot harder to pass on stuff that was desirable.  I've learned to better erase the emotional aspects of "want" and lean toward "need".  That leaves the middle group of "I could probably use one" to fall into the "only if it's a superior deal" category.  

I also used to be MUCH more apt to think I could restore stuff (mostly machine tools) or roll my own:  Although there is some fun in the process, there seems to be little if any value other than that fun in it.  It's often a better value just to buy some things new or better quality used.

The above doesn't mean the treasures don't call to me...just that I don't listen to the cries of "buy me!" the way I used to.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I stopped going to yard sales all together.  Too many people, around here, watched those storage auctions and liked the prices they saw on them.  They price their item similarly, especially tools.  Old means antique and antique means high price.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I refuse to pay new prices for used equipment.

I really enjoy hammers that have an unusual line to them and will buy them even if I don't really need them.  And I'll pay for that because it's not just another ol' cross peen that has a bit of rust on it.  I almost bought a bundle of hammers from someone in Canada only because I wanted the one hammer in the bunch.  It matches my main hammer but looked to be in the 2lb range, and since I have only ever seen one other hammer like this..... I wanted it!  I wanted it really bad, but the bidding went up to around $60, which made it a $100 deal after shipping charges were tacked on.

As bad as I'd have liked to add another of these hammers to the arsenal, I'm not paying that kind of money for it.  The other hammers were your basic ball-peens, cross-peens and punches in various sizes, nothing special and certainly nothing I could have sold on to make a dent in the cost.  I hate that I lost out on that one hammer, but that's how the cookie crumbles. :(

Tongs are pretty much the same way.  Unless they're in fantastic condition, it's ludicrous to ask me to pay more than $5 for a pair of them.  I know they sell for mad money on eBay, but I'm not going to buy an old rusty pair for the same money I can buy brand new.    I had thought about buying new tongs and letting them sit outside in the mud for a month or three to develop some patina.... just so I could list them on eBay and have the decorators and designers clamoring for them. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I rarely go to yard sales etc but I do occasionally go to flea markets and I do frequent a local auction. Yard sales etc have gotten ridiculous on all the prices especially tools. When I find something at the flea market it's usually abused or just worn out. I'll buy worn out files if they're cheap enough and a good brand so that I'll use to either make knives or small and specific chisels. I recently passed on several tools that were in great useable shape at the auction because there was a man there at least twice my age (I'm 31) that refused to quit bidding. I asked him later what kind of work he was going to use the big heavy chisels and handled punches for and he replies with, 'I just wanted to have them, I don't actually use them and I don't resale what I buy, I just buy and keep.' Needless to say I was more than a little frustrated that day.

In short I pass because of price and condition and want vs need.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Amazing how cheap you can find stuff when you don't really *need* it.

I've noticed too that it takes a while for folks at a "new" fleamarket to realize that you won't overpay for any or their items; and of course down here bargaining in spanish is a must. I used to drive some folks crazy at the fleamarkets in Ohio; because for certain items I have a "buy point" and I will cheerfully buy a bucketload at or below that point; but won't buy even one for a nickel over that point.  These were generally items I used to make things out of and so would pick up "stock" whenever the price was good and just use what I had on hand when prices were higher. (One fellow had "cornered"  the market for one such item and let me know that I'd be paying his price from here on out---I told him I had a 10 to 15 year supply of them and he would just be eating his inventory...)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It depends on what it is. Sometimes it depends on the seller's attitude. It may be something I need, but if they have too much attitude I'll walk. 

I like to find the screaming deals because I have tons of tools as it is. If it is just a so-so deal  I usually pass unless I really need it bad. I recently bought a Richardson Brothers miter saw for $5 at a local thrift shop. I thought it was made in the 1950s but it turns out it was made between 1878 in 1906. My $5 purchase is worth more like $50. Did I need a miter saw? Nope, but I have always wanted one, now I have to find a vintage Millers Falls or Stanley miter box to go with it.......

Condition is a big factor now. I was big on, I can fix that, but I ended up with a pile of projects that I have yet to fix. Although if the fixed value is far above the purchase price I'll still get it. Here I am unemployed at the moment, and I go look at a Hobart A200 20qt mixer missing the bowl on Craigslist for $399 obo. So even with a used $150 bowl that is still a good buy since they are usually over $1,000. I go look at it and it had been tipped over at some point and cracked the back motor housing. The motor sounds smooth, but there is no mixing action going on in the head. When I pointed it out to the owner he apologized for having me drive all the way into Las Vegas when it was broke. That is when I asked him, how much in this condition? He says $100? and goes inside to check a cake. When he comes out I ask , how about $80? He agrees and I load it up along with the two accessories he had for it. I'm hoping to be able to press the housing back into shape and TIG weld it, then hope to find a broken shear pin on the worm gear that drives the head. 

Then again I have passed on certain items that I am kicking myself today for not buying, but they are mostly cars that I should have bought because they would have paid for my house today. They were mine for the buying, but I got cold feet for a few different reasons. A certain 66 Hemi Charger with a 4 SPD and 1,000 original miles for $22,000 still haunts me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Greetings ,

Never pass on a great deal.. You may not need more tools but they make great gifts for worthy students .. I do not go out of my way to find things I guess I'm just lucky..!  Below the whole pile for under 20 bucks.. 

Forge on and make beautiful things

Jim

 

image.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't pass on good deal, price is the only thing that turns me away. I buy tools that I need or to upgrade. I also buy to flip mostly old tools I use the money I make to fund my blacksmith addiction. I have payed for 98% of my blacksmith equipment threw buying, trading and selling stuff.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Deb and I passed on everything we saw yardsaling today. A couple sales seem to be folk trying to sell the same things for a couple years now. Obviously too precious to mark reasonable. One sale had a couple tool boxes for reasonable but I have plenty of tool boxes. I didn't need or want the 71 Chevelle project car, parts and all.

Really dead day saling.

Frosty The Lucky.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, turbo7 said:

Bought an 8" shifter, pair if tinsnips and a very small ball pein with a broken handle yesterday, 50 cents a piece, thats my kinda price range.

That 8" shifter would make a great 'shifty lizard', mate.

I chase those things all the time for my junk art. Then you get the guy who wants $10 for a sloppy shifter with a dodgy adjuster. Pass.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On ‎4‎/‎18‎/‎2016 at 7:13 PM, BIGGUNDOCTOR said:

Then again I have passed on certain items that I am kicking myself today for not buying

I do that a lot at the scrap yard, and then the next time I go it's gone. I have learned that if I want it I should probably get (if it is at the scrap yard, and paying scrap prices). I don't bother buying old tools at antique stores, almost always to overpriced. if it is under 5 dollars I almost always get it evan if it is worn to death, just to look at how it was made and try you mimick it.

                                                                                                            Littleblacksmith

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If we're talking about blacksmithing tools I generally pass whenever someone knows (or thinks...) that a particular item is a blacksmithing tool. The price ends up way too high in that case. I've seen damaged hammers priced higher than new ones you could buy at a local hardware store because the hammer in question was a rusty cross peen and therefore an antique blacksmithing tool.

For other types of tools I normally steer clear of the gimmicky stuff that seems to end up at thrift stores a few seasons after it's advertized on TV. While I usually buy hand saws if the price is $5 or less I toss the newer models back in the pile as they can't be sharpened reasonably. Pliers I will go for if a brand is visible and I can look it up, the knock offs stay where I find them. I don't buy used screwdrivers unless it's something I'm reallllly set on getting like the old SnapOns with the nice handles. Sockets and wrenches are usually priced smilarly to new, so it'd have to be something interesting like an SK, Wright, Proto, or Armstrong to get my attention. 

Power tools get purchased if it's a really good deal. I've found that older corded drills can be had for $5 or less and having a supply comes in handy. I'll pay six if the chuck key is part of the deal. Bench grinders, drill presses, table and miter saws etc., tend to be out of my price range but I keep my eyes open for other folks and might just be convinced to fork over some of my own cash if the deal is too good to pass up. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Collecting really is part of this craft, isn't it? I pass on large cold chisels if they are over $5, small chisels over $1. Don't want to pay over $10 for a good hammer head or top tool. I don't buy anything from someone who is selling fancy bike parts or fancy bikes, and usually won't buy from someone who doesn't know the value of what they have - e.g. quality USA tools at China junk prices - I usually figure they are just fencing stuff that they or someone else stole. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 18/04/2016 at 1:32 AM, Jim Coke said:

Greetings ,

Never pass on a great deal.. You may not need more tools but they make great gifts for worthy students .. I do not go out of my way to find things I guess I'm just lucky..!  Below the whole pile for under 20 bucks.. 

Forge on and make beautiful things

Jim

 

image.jpeg

Jim, WOW, what a buy.Those handled punches are worth way more than that alone and those 4 bottom pointy things, not the podgers, (cannot remember the proper name) are ideal for splicing ropes..... The name will come back to me when I least expect it. Well done.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, David Edgar said:

 those 4 bottom pointy things(cannot remember the proper name) are ideal for splicing ropes..... The name will come back to me when I least expect it. Well done.

Marlinspike.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...