Advice on disposal of complete workshop etc.

[johnbs]

A friend has sadly recently died and left his life-time collection of timber, hand tools, power tools and wood-turning blanks which his elderly partner now needs to re-home. I'm sure this situation has cropped up before, so I'm asking for advice as to how best to proceed. His partner is not in the best of health and she will need to release the capital tied up in this collection.

The heavy equipment includes a Wadkin AGS table-saw, a substantial cast James Gibbs scroll saw on stand, an Inca band-saw, Taylor-Hobbs model G? cutter grinder, Axminster 6" cast-iron jointer O/H planer, ditto small mortiser, Meddings floor-standing 1/2" pillar drill, and a couple of wood-turning lathes: Coronet + substantial Denford-Viceroy bowl-turning.

Stacked around the room which houses the lathes are about 150 bowl-blanks varying in size from c 5" up to 18" . There is also a quantity of timber (mixed sheet, softwood & hardwood sections).

I've not yet had chance to produce an inventory of the hand-tools, but there will be a lot of high-quality "Classic British" stuff.

A local dealer has offered £500 "for the lot", and whilst a dealer or dealers would be the least-hassle route to disposal, if they are all in the same mould as this example it would clearly be worth splitting and selling items off individually.

So, to summarise, all advice / experience welcomed, and especially guidance as to how best to find a good home for the turning blanks.

John

NB everything is single-phase.

 

[houtslager]

Well the best and quickest way would be to post photos of what needs getting shot of, with a price list of want you want for each.

For the timber I reckon on 50% of retail price would be a fair starting point.

Tools and machinery, well I will not open a pandora's box on pricing - you'll have to research that yourself. There are enough websites that give realistic selling prices [ not puke bay ] too many idiots there.

All the best, and my condolences to your friends' partner.

hth.

Karl

 

[paulm]

The dealer's offer is derisory, don't go there.

It will take some time and effort to liquidate it, but I would be pretty sure the value is many times that amount.

Needs to all be listed and photographed and the big stuff sold individually.

Don't be tempted to "give stuff away" like the woodturning blanks or turning tools or blanks, if somebody buys a lathe or similar, they are all likely to have a meaningful value.

Cheers, Paul

 

[Paul Chapman]

The dealer's offer is derisory, don't go there.

+1.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[DIY Stew]

The dealer's offer is derisory, don't go there.

+1.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

+1 dealer is having a laugh.

Stew

 

[Louise-Paisley]

My father was offered an equally insulting amount for his classic bike collection when he decided to sell due to illness http://www.hhcphotography.co.uk/photos/ ... Key=dqHnJF

At auction one bike brought more than the entire offer!

 

[zb1]

You may be able to find a local auctioneers that will take it on, at a price of course. I believe they usually take a percentage commission know as the sellers premium. Phone a few and see if they are interested they may even be able to remove the items to the place of auction as part of the price.

 

[devonwoody]

I would be interested in the Meddings pillar drill if items are put up for sale.

I have asked a member here to sell my workshop when I am in that better place and told him he can charge my wife 10% handling charge to avoid her getting involved. Perhaps the unfortunate widow might avail herself of your help. There sounds to be some good tools there.

 

[MARK.B.]

Was the dealer called dick and riding a horse called bess, steer well clear of that one. I have no problem with people making a fair profit but i hate those that try to take advantage especially when someone close has passed away. take your time with the sale do a little research and your friends wife will reap the dividends.

 

[johnbs]

Thanks guys: I thought the offer derisory, but we'll have to work out some hygienic transport arrangements for the heavy stuff in order to sell individually. The workshop is near Shrewsbury. And thanks too for the expressions of interest!

John

 

[=Adam=]

I would be interested in the bowl blanks, possibly not all of them but if the price was right then it would be worth it!

Also I can collect them, I could borrow my dads van so delivery wouldn't be an issue!

 

[mac1012]

a quick look on ebay for a ags table saw range from 700 to over 3000 , dont assume you will get offered a fair price on here do your research you may get offered something sensible then again you may not.

Ebay has its pros and cons yes there are some idiots but there is a lot of interest and plenty of buyers for quality machinery like yours there are loads of guys on here who use ebay plus you got a very big audience on ebay yes they take ten percent when you sell and you have a listing fee but there are going to be costs if you take it to auction and ebay buyer will collect and there are plenty people able to do that

have a look on there even if just to get an idea of prices and i bet there would be a spit between what price you can achieve on here and on ebay as guys on here including myself have bought stuff of ebay

mark

 

[dickm]

It all depends on how much time and hassle you, or the widow, wants/needs to invest. The Ebay route should give the real market price, but it's probably the most hassle. Looking at prices on Ebay, then offering the stuff on this site would probably be less hassle, and would at least clear some of the stuff at a fair price (presumably the mods would make an exception to the "selling your own items only" rule if they knew this was a genuine situation of need?)
Least effort is to get a genuine machinery dealer to come in and make an offer for the lot, but first find your genuine dealer and whoever he is, he has to make a living so will probably give the lowest total.
A halfway position might be to offer the lot via one of the auction houses - don't know if McCartneys, Knock and Deighton or any of Shrewsbury area auctioneers have occasional machinery sales? Shrewsbury is in a pretty agricultural area, and most agricultural auctioneers have machinery sales. Shrewsbury is also not that far from Ledbury and Pugh's auctions, which are often mentioned on here. From memory, they don't do much really big stuff, and if they do, you'd have to get it to Ledbury - quite costly and all the haulage guys I used to know in the area are either dead or retired .

Comes to all of us in time - maybe if we can produce recommendations for survivors, that could be on a sticky on the forum

 

[johnbs]

Thanks for the feedback. it was not my intention to elicit offers here, although it's nice to see there is healthy interest.

I've put some photos here* , but please bear in mind that these were "snapped" quickly during a brief visit!

I live in Purley, and will probably be back in Shropshire for a visit later in October. I'll try to catalogue some of the hand-tools and take more comprehensive photos.

Anyone with specific interests / requests should PM me with an email address if possible.

John

* www.flickr.com/photos/jaybs/sets/72157631660505169/

 

[deserter]

Hi there, I live in Shrewsbury so if there is anything at all you need a hand with just shout. I'll pm my mobile number to you.


~Nil carborundum illegitemi~

 

[RogerS]

It all depends on how much time and hassle you, or the widow, wants/needs to invest. The Ebay route should give the real market price, but it's probably the most hassle. Looking at prices on Ebay, then offering the stuff on this site would probably be less hassle, and would at least clear some of the stuff at a fair price (presumably the mods would make an exception to the "selling your own items only" rule if they knew this was a genuine situation of need?)
Least effort is to get a genuine machinery dealer to come in and make an offer for the lot, but first find your genuine dealer and whoever he is, he has to make a living so will probably give the lowest total.
A halfway position might be to offer the lot via one of the auction houses - don't know if McCartneys, Knock and Deighton or any of Shrewsbury area auctioneers have occasional machinery sales? Shrewsbury is in a pretty agricultural area, and most agricultural auctioneers have machinery sales. Shrewsbury is also not that far from Ledbury and Pugh's auctions, which are often mentioned on here. From memory, they don't do much really big stuff, and if they do, you'd have to get it to Ledbury - quite costly and all the haulage guys I used to know in the area are either dead or retired .

Comes to all of us in time - maybe if we can produce recommendations for survivors, that could be on a sticky on the forum

Pugh's will organise onsite auctions. Well worth giving Howard Pugh a call. They will sell the machinery as well.

 

[tomatwark]

Hi John

I made a post earlier today and suggested that you should sell the goods on here, but forgot you are not allowed to as you are trying to help a friend and it breaks the rules to do so.

I guess your friend will either have register on here and sell the stuff herself or go down the auction route

Chas

It would have been nice for you to have reminded me of this in open forum, instead of deleting my post and sending a pm, as it was an honest mistake.

Tom

 

[CHJ]

Hi John

I made a post earlier today and suggested that you should sell the goods on here, but forgot you are not allowed to as you are trying to help a friend and it breaks the rules to do so.

I guess your friend will either have register on here and sell the stuff herself or go down the auction route

Chas

It would have been nice for you to have reminded me of this in open forum, instead of deleting my post and sending a pm, as it was an honest mistake.

Tom

There is no way erroneous advice in a post that contravenes the guidelines will be left on open forum if it is spotted by a mod, others may read it out of context with any following posts.

I had the courtesy to PM you and suggest you read the forum guidelines rather than leave you to be challenged and possibly embarrassed by another member for giving incorrect advice.

But as you deem it more correct to communicate on PM matters on open forum I will in this instance reply in the same medium.

 

[tomatwark]

Chas

I understand why you did it that way and accept that I was wrong in my advice.

But the other way of looking at it is, if you had pulled me up in an open forum over this others would not have made the same mistake.

Tom