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Heartbreaking, workshop clear out

AndyP

AndyP

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Not mine, my father’s.
Nothing of great value, self and brother have all the tools we will ever need and have space for, and of better quality, I’ve a chap from local men’s shed coming and what he doesn’t need will go to a Tools for Ukraine charity. If they do not want the plethora of tins and jars of old screws, nails, nuts and bolts then they will go for scrap.
Have had to take 20+ opened tins of paint, rock hard polyfilla, and other decorating supplies to the tip already. You can imagine what the garden shed is like. I do not think they ever threw away a flower pot, plastic and china.

This has made us smile, 21 pairs of scissors found in the house so far:eek:
 
AndyP said:
Not mine, my father’s.
Nothing of great value, self and brother have all the tools we will ever need and have space for, and of better quality, I’ve a chap from local men’s shed coming and what he doesn’t need will go to a Tools for Ukraine charity. If they do not want the plethora of tins and jars of old screws, nails, nuts and bolts then they will go for scrap.
Have had to take 20+ opened tins of paint, rock hard polyfilla, and other decorating supplies to the tip already. You can imagine what the garden shed is like. I do not think they ever threw away a flower pot, plastic and china.

This has made us smile, 21 pairs of scissors found in the house so far:eek:
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It's a tough thing to have to do. When Carolyn's dad passed away we ended up taking a huge amount of stuff to the tip. One of his main hobbies was wandering around car boot sales looking for bargains. He always planned to repair things but as he got older he never quite got round to it. Having said that, I think he got a lot of pleasure out of browsing the car boot sales, so who am I to judge.

Among many (many, many) other things, there were about 8 strimmers, 5 lawn mowers (he only had a small garden), enough spare light bulbs to illuminate Buckingham Palace, two spare wash basins, more cameras, lenses and suchlike than we could fit in a pile on the dining table and the list goes on. There were a few gems in amongst all of that though, including some lovely bits of unidentified hardwood (which I've since used to make a few boxes), a Moore & Wright engineers tool cabinet, a nice old (but very rusty) vice and various other old tools.
 
Thoughts are with you on this one, I cleared out my dads workshop which I hadn't ventured into in a long time and the worst part was moving something on a bench and disturbing a pipe (he smoked it constantly) the smell of tobacco hit me and it felt like he was right behind me. Its teh small things that get you and unexpected that make you smile.

All the best with your clear out I decided to enjoy mine with the memories it was the best way for me.
 
I managed to get some of my dad’s stuff (he was a joiner)that my brother didn’t sell on an e bay frenzy. I was also given a massive amount of woodworking tools by my wife’s uncle when he moved to sheltered accommodation.
When I use these, I can feel them looking over my shoulder either approving or tutting.😀
 
Personally, I'd keep all the old screws which can be identified as 'users' were the slot hasn't been mangled by the wrong sized 'driver blade. The old brass ones were far better quality than their modern equivalent and old steel countersunk screws seem to me to be as rare as hens teeth (other expressions are appropriate 😁) I find them very handy for cutting threads in hardwood prior to fitting the brass screws, say when messing around with Brusso hinges - Rob
 
SamQ aka Ah! Q! said:
Ah yes, my Grandfather's box of rusty "used/extracted nails to be straightened" will remain with me to my dying day. "Make do, and mend". Them were the days.

Sam
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Problem is Sam I've already got two quality street tins full of my grandad's old screw and nails. I don't need anymore. That's on top of the dozens of jars of already sorted ones on my shelves.
 
Lurker said:
I managed to get some of my dad’s stuff (he was a joiner)that my brother didn’t sell on an e bay frenzy. I was also given a massive amount of woodworking tools by my wife’s uncle when he moved to sheltered accommodation.
When I use these, I can feel them looking over my shoulder either approving or tutting.😀
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Over the past few years I had already acquired everything worth keeping. And yes when the 405# gets an airing I can't but think of all the times grandfather used it and his Disston saws.
 
AndyP said:
Problem is Sam I've already got two quality street tins full of my grandad's old screw and nails. I don't need anymore. That's on top of the dozens of jars of already sorted ones on my shelves.
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Proper large tins and not those plastic ones that are half full like we get these days 😀
 
No such luck Andy, here is t’other side
IMG_3954.jpeg
The local men’s shed came around earlier and took the bench drill and little Tyme band saw along with assorted other stuff. Couldn’t persuade them to take the old screw and nails :(.
 
I am increasingly aware of my own mortality and wonder what will happen to my stuff when I go. I know that my partner will not have a clue about any of it. That's not a critism of her, why should she? But some of what I have is, shall we say, esoteric.
I have a piece of bubinga, not huge, 500 x 250 x 50. Ish, I've not actually measured it. I keep meaning to do something with it. If it outlasts me, I'm pretty sure it will end up as firewood.
No relatives, I have left first bagsies to two of my woodie pals, but they will have to come to darkest Haute-Vienne to decide what they do and do not want. And then they will have to get it back to the UK. After that, I guess it's a fire sale. Not nice to think about.
S
 
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My grandfather's shop was so choked with stuff all he could use was the radial arm saw near the door and the grinder at the end of a narrow trail to a bench at the back. When we cleaned it out we found at least 50 little paper or plastic bags with leftover screws, extra brackets, finishing nails, and other stuff. Each was clearly the remains of a "honey-do" project from my grandmother. I did get my pick of tools but didn't take much.
 
My brother died in a road accident in 2003.

I had the misfortune of being the executor of the estate. Two of his useless kids live in the UK and one locally, so no help from them. Bear in mind I still worked full time and also still travelled for work to factories.

He had a shopfitting business on a smallholding, large factory building and smaller stores.

He was also a hoarder, big hoarder, a very big hoarder! Removed shopfitting’s were dumped next to the factory, as well as factory waste.

The one storeroom had tools and equipment, think car tuning machine, from the 70’s when he had his own motor repair shop. I tried to sell as much as possible, but people are greedy and want it for nothing or a few cents. Did manage to sell the large panel saw and other smaller machines.

It took 25 large 6 metre skips to clear the area. My eldest son helped on Saturdays and there was a ‘helper’ who lived on site, full of booze and dagga.

Eight months later the property was cleared and sold as well as two other properties. I still had to do a set of accounts (he chucked it all in a box) and sort out the tax people. Took another six months to finalise the estate. Did I get a thankyou from the useless kids? Ha, Ha.

The lesson learnt, is to not hoard stuff that is broken and will not be used. When we moved in 2015 from 320m2 to 194m2 ‘we’ were forced to clean out.

But again, after nearly 10 years I am doing a garage clean (ruthless) based on if I die tomorrow what will wife and son do with all the tools and containers of offcuts!:ROFLMAO:
I keep my nose out of the house, safer.
 
Phil said:
I had the misfortune of being the executor of the estate. Two of his useless kids live in the UK and one locally, so no help from them. Bear in mind I still worked full time and also still travelled for work to factories.
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In 2009 I received a registered letter from an attorney's office in North Carolina informing me that I was the executor of a distant relative's estate (fifth cousin three times removed, or something just as distant). I had never met the deceased or his immediate family, of which there were many, and didn't understand why I was named in his will instead of any of those who lived in his house.

I combined the flight back to NC with a personal business trip and met with the attorney. I never learned why I was named, but discovered I was one of two alternate executors named in the will. After reading the will and going over some of the pending legal notices against the estate, I learned the deceased was several years behind in property, state, and federal taxes as well as months of unpaid utility bills. The deceased wanted his entire estate to be divided equally amongst the living immediate relatives, but did not make any provisions for the executor's expenses.

We drove to the late relative's property so I could see what I was potentially working with. Within ten minutes, I told the attorney I was declining the executor duties and he could drive me back to his office. The property was a shambles, and every building was in such a poor condition that I didn't want to walk through them to take an inventory. I have no idea what business the deceased had other than a hoarder, but since I had no emotional, financial, or legal interest in the estate, I didn't see any point in getting involved. The attorney wasn't happy, but it wasn't my problem. The primary executor and other alternate declined for the same reason.
 
Spent an hour in the sun cleaning the brass on the caliper gauge and on a folding rule I rescued. The brass is much shinier than in the image.
how best to clean the wood is vexing me a bit. Is it worth it do you think? It would be nice to get them back to what I consider the normal light colour of boxwood.
20250407_150114_resized.jpeg
 
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That boxwood on the folding rule looks as clean and light as any that I have seen. I’d leave it alone if it was mine.
 
Cleaning old boxwood rules is quite hard to do well.
You are probably aware that there are some old/obscure/specialised rules where the values run into thousands. For example:

An extremely rare 2' two fold boxwood and brass rule by J PARKES & Son Reg'd June 28 1853 with brass

An extremely rare 2' two fold boxwood and brass rule by J PARKES & Son Reg'd June 28 1853 wit... in Auction of Antique and Modern Woodwo (30 Sep 2021)
www.davidstanley.com www.davidstanley.com

You certainly don't want to do anything too rash with a rule like that, if there is any possibility that you or your grieving family might ever want to turn it into cash. Collectors really care about condition but also have strong views on restoration, and some won't touch anything they see as over-cleaned.

But with your examples you are in a different zone - old, but not specially rare, but dirty enough to make them unattractive or annoying to use.

I suggest being very cautious. Bear in mind that the old method of making the markings was to score the lines, then rub over a mixture of oil/fat and "lamp black" (ie pure carbon) and wipe it off the main surfaces, leaving it in the bottoms of the scored lines. After that, apply a coat of french polish to protect it.

So I would suggest nothing more serious than a damp cloth - a bit of an old white T-shirt or tea towel is good. Rub gently to lift off the loose dirt, then stop. Don't use any solvents or abrasives that would remove any remaining shellac. Accept that the clearer markings will be on the inside of a folding rule and the outside may be unreadable. Old box wood will have darkened as most pale woods do, by action of UV light. Cleaned-up brass will settle down again quite quickly.
 
AndyT said:
Cleaning old boxwood rules is quite hard to do well.
You are probably aware that there are some old/obscure/specialised rules where the values run into thousands. For example:

An extremely rare 2' two fold boxwood and brass rule by J PARKES & Son Reg'd June 28 1853 with brass

An extremely rare 2' two fold boxwood and brass rule by J PARKES & Son Reg'd June 28 1853 wit... in Auction of Antique and Modern Woodwo (30 Sep 2021)
www.davidstanley.com www.davidstanley.com

You certainly don't want to do anything too rash with a rule like that, if there is any possibility that you or your grieving family might ever want to turn it into cash. Collectors really care about condition but also have strong views on restoration, and some won't touch anything they see as over-cleaned.

But with your examples you are in a different zone - old, but not specially rare, but dirty enough to make them unattractive or annoying to use.

I suggest being very cautious. Bear in mind that the old method of making the markings was to score the lines, then rub over a mixture of oil/fat and "lamp black" (ie pure carbon) and wipe it off the main surfaces, leaving it in the bottoms of the scored lines. After that, apply a coat of french polish to protect it.

So I would suggest nothing more serious than a damp cloth - a bit of an old white T-shirt or tea towel is good. Rub gently to lift off the loose dirt, then stop. Don't use any solvents or abrasives that would remove any remaining shellac. Accept that the clearer markings will be on the inside of a folding rule and the outside may be unreadable. Old box wood will have darkened as most pale woods do, by action of UV light. Cleaned-up brass will settle down again quite quickly.
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That is just about all I have done while cleaning the Brasso residue off the wood. These will sit in my carry everywhere toolbox much as they did for my father for many many years. I don’t have any shellac/french polish. Was wondering if the melamine lacquer I use on pens would be Ok.
 
I wouldn't attempt to re-apply any finish. If you are keeping it clean in a toolbox most of the time, I would expect it to stay readable until it becomes someone else's problem!
 
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