4fingers wrote:
Ok -- rigth offI NEVER go to sales. However this one advertised
"woodworking tools". Went in to look on Friday and was amazed. On a
1/2 acre lot the family had dragged out this guys 'stuff'. There were
pallets and pallets of mechanical / electical stuff motors of all
types, parts of motors, parts of parts. Enough for a tinkerer to keep
occupied for 40 years.

He also had a 50 x 80 shop that had a monster 30" 3 phase
surfacer/planer, a 28" band saw, a stroke sander, table saw, and every
other major power tool you could ever want.

He must've also been a hoarder because he had commercial quanities of
any kind of fastener and abrasive you could imangine, boxes and boxes
of wood and metal rasps and files. It took two auctioneers the
majority of the afternoon to sell off all this stuff -- even though
they were going whole lots based on the type of material.

The best was ~17 stacks of mostly walnut, some oak, and a bit of pecan
and hickory that he had cut, dried, and stored in sheds for over 20
years. Each stack had a minimum of 200 bd. ft. of wood. The stacks
were covered by tarps and I couldn't really look at it Fri. but
decided that on Sat. I'd be there.

So I go back on Saturday and now it gets fun.

Tarps are off the lumber - 1 stack had 6 pieces of 5/4 oak, 28 - 36"
wide (yes I did measure it) 12' long. After I picked up my eyes and
put my tounge back in my mouth I realized that if I bought it: 1.
Where would I store them? My puny lumber rack is 13" wide max. They'd
have to go on the garage floor. 2. What in the world would I actually
do with boards that wide?and 3. how exactly would I cut it? I'm sure
I could've found something. But those boards were monsters.

I went to look at the walnut and decided that I could use some of
that. They finally got around to them. Score #1 - 2 stacks of 4/4 and
5/4 x 6- 15" x 12' long black walnut some S3S but mostly S2s for $400
($1 bd.ft.)

There was a 7 shelf unit inside with mostly molding, scraps, thin
stock, cutoffs... On the bottom shelf 6 pieces of red oak full 5/4
thick, 13 - 15" wide, 10-12'long. 2nd score $40!

Other stuff: 1 box-o-files (probably ~50 files and rasps in it mostly
new) $10, 12 deep throat Jorgensen bar clamps 18"-36" long $8 a piece,
24 drawer 8' long shop chest-$25 (I cut off the top row of drawers,
and put in a chop saw station in the middle of it).

I am still jazzed by what I got andvI'll pay more attention to
'woodworking' sales from now on.
Thanks for putting up with this long post.

Outstanding!

I've found an auction site where I score something every week (the Salvation
Army). Last week I got a $1,245.00 Kenmore dishwasher, in perfect shape, for
thirty lousy bucks. The dishwasher was used, but the dishes don't know that.

I had to buy two large, um, "buckets" of lamps to get the two I wanted ($15
and $20). I'm having a driveway sale this week-end to move the 42 (no
kidding) OTHER lamps in the containers. I figure if I can sell half of them
at $5 each, I'll come out ahead. I got a Teak, slatted, bathroom bench (the
female in the family wanted it) for ten dollars (retail $159). Some are
mediocre, some are superb. Then, too, there are the 17 lined shades that
I'll try to get three bucks a pop.

Here's another example: One dude bought eleven king-sized mattresses (all
name brands) for $900. He's either pulling a Princess and the Pea routine,
or has a mattress store where he can get $750 each.

Inspired, I'm trying to discover where UPS and FedEx auction off their
undeliverable stuff. Ought to be interesting...