Went to preview the auction today.

What I saw reminds me of what I forgot. What employees can do to your
"stuff".

In all, there were a few pearls in the piles of shells, and we'll see how it
goes tomorrow.

Most everything was thoroughly used and abused. I only saw one new tool, a
DeWalt planer. A nice Dayton band saw, which we have marked to watch.

There was a ****load of stuff. All well worn. They musta seen it coming,
and just run everything into the ground.

I'm very glad that we went early. We dug and identified where our treasure
was, came home, found out prices, and have a marked list on just the things
we're going after. For the guys who didn't go today, they won't know.
There were about 12 3.5 ton NAPA floor jacks. We tried every one, and four
don't work. We know which four. There is also one that is a race jack,
going all the way up in 3 pumps. It's one of the last, and we hope by then,
they're selling cheap or two-fer. But we'll watch as guys buy dead jacks
.............

We also met two professional buyers, one a trailer manufacturer from Arizona
who gave us a heads up. My friend is looking for axles. The guy told us
that he will offer a lump sum for all, allowed by this auctioneer. He also
agreed to sell my friend the two or three he needs for cash. I imagine he
might be selling a few right after the auction if the guys can get ahold of
him quick. But at least we know who the guy is. We wouldn't have if we
hadn't gone today. He said that the big fish are not interested one whit in
the hand tools, so that should be good pickins unless the stupid locals bid
stuff up.

We asked about auctions nationwide, and he said everything's just about gone
from the Midwest, business-wise.

The welding stuff was C-R-A-P! I forgot just how much employees can mess
stuff up. All the Vise Grip clamps have something welded on, or the jaw
tips burnt off. All the regulators put up with the T handles cranked down,
needles stuck here and there. Everything looked like it had been in a
hammer fight. One Lincoln Precision TIG 275 that looks clean. It looks
like everyone MIGged, and only a few stick or TIG welded.

Two frickin HUGE pallets of air hoses, connectors and all, probably 1,000
feet each of 50 and 100' pieces. Too bad I'd have to buy so many, but if
the price is right ........... I could do my shop, and sell the rest.

Two nice clean Lincoln IdealArc 250s that are mounted high that are real
clean. I guess they didn't do a lot of stick.

Interested in what about 1,000# of E70S-6 .035 wire is going to sell for,
and about eight 4" x 6" x 36" boxes of aluminum TIG rods will go for.

There were many trailers in stages of production. The welds were visible.
Man, how can anyone weld MIG so bad? I can teach a monkey to do it in less
than an hour. For a quality name trailer, there's a lot of stuff under the
skin.

I have researched all prices of the items we want to bid on, and those of
just things we find curious so that as it goes, we can know how the bidders
are doing.

I have a 17 page list of 1329 lots that I am going to try to keep track of
what sells for what to get a feel for this.

Tomorrow is the auction. It is supposed to be a clear sunny calm day here.
Been blowing forty forever.

This is a major company with four plants nationwide. Things are getting
rocky.

Steve