Bespoke Joinery/Cabinet Making items

[Mainman]

Sorry if this is in the wrong place but I thought other members may be interested in this. Eddisons auctions are selling The Assets of a Bespoke Joinery/Cabinet Making Business. Lots of good items for sale. its unfortunate that I'm away on holiday when its time to collect or I may have kept it secret (haha) Look them up online.

 

[Glynne]

Thanks for the post. I always have mixed emotions about a business closing down and the opportunity for a bargain, but I am also on holiday so..........

 

[StevieB]

Says it is due to retirement on the auction, so no need to feel too bad about grabbing something. No nice timber however. A couple of festool items, big panel saw but apart from that unless you are very local then not a lot of interest.

Steve

 

[bugbear]

In the old days, it was traditional for a retiring maker to sell his tools. The buyers would have multiple motivations; the tools may well have been good, but there was also a tradition of actually paying over the odds, as a way of showing respect, and basically funding the retirement.

(there's a further complication with carver's chisels, where the tools were traditionally sold in a "raw" state, so a carver's chisel tuned by a skilled man was a better tool than a new one)

BugBear

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I'm surprised this post has been allowed to stay up. A little consistency wouldn't go amiss. :?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Referring to BB's post - my b.i.l. about 40yrs ago bought as an apprentice many of his tools from a retiring tradesman's THIRD set, and often said they were better than anything else he owned.

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

In one of Jim Kingshott's books, I remember him relating to such sales, where bidding/offering too low was frowned upon as the sale was for the retirement fund of the craftsman or his widow. It was like an unwritten law, that no one would offer too low a price. This makes sense, as it was going to happen to every craftsmen sooner or later, so there was a little protectionism too. I wonder if the bargain hunters will realise that getting too much of a knock down price is going to make someone's retirement a bit poorer!

Mike.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

From what I've read there was an element of protectionism in some specialist trades as well, in that the tradesman only took an apprentice in his final working years so the apprentice could not only have a chance of the tools, but walk into his job as well.

 

[RobinBHM]

Lot 37 looks like Wadkin's version of a router table!

 

[CHJ]

Where I worked Tool kits were often Raffled by one of the shop seniors for the benefit of the Widow.
The Raffle had the added benefit that younger folks with lower income or resources stood a chance of getting higher value items, which the older generation usually had anyway.

I have several pieces such as Moore & Wright set squares in their original well worn wooden boxes and with the original corrugated cardboard packing (oiled), that carry the original owners etched initials that I acquired this way.
They bring back memories of the era and the individual every time I use them.

It was not unknown for the more senior folks or those in a differing trade group to pass on their unwanted winnings to someone else more in need of them as well. (Or as in my case in one instance to make up the set for me)