Advice Needed on Leather Working Tools!

O

Ouananiche

Joined
Jan 18, 2017
Messages
9
Long story short. I have been hoping to get into leatherwork for quite a long time. i love creating and working with my hands. i'm a master carpenter, rod builder (fly fishing), bow maker, fly tyer, and come from a family of net makers... I love the idea of a hobby that is also a practical skill... so i am always looking for a new one (i'm learning to knit currently, no laughing, it's a great skill) aside from guiding, and trapping, these are my breadwinners.
I put out some feelers locally and someone i don't know said a family member passed away, and left this. they want to sell it.
what would you offer? would it be comprehensive enough for a starter? (i would likely be starting with sheaths and so forth if possible) He is local, so shipping is not an issue.

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Tilley Knife said:
Please disregard, I misread your post.
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I didn't see your original, i'm assuming you thought i was trying to sell maybe? If so, ya... I screwed up the title of the thread, i should have worded it better... Amateur move on my part.

these are not mine. and are not for sale here. they are simply something being offered to me locally, and i was hoping for some advice. I can add up the tools and know what they'd cost me new, but i have no sense of what they'd cost as they sit here. i want to make an honest and informed offer to the gentleman
 
That looks like a really large kit. I don't have a ton of experience pricing something like that out, and I know this is a very wide range, but its hard to tell by the photos. I'd say At least several hundred to $1000? Are there large cuts of leather there as well?
 
There are a lot of "odds and ends" in that grouping. A lot may not be useable for your specific use (sheath making). If I were bidding on it, and I'm glad I'm not, I would say about one hundred dollars would be all I would bid, and for my specific use that would be generous. There are certain vintage tools in the mix that would justify a total of that much, but you would still be missing tools you need and have other tools a items for which you would have little use. The loose hardware and snaps from the standpoint of lot purchase are virtually worthless mostly because of mis matched sets etc.

Good luck, but I don't see it as a Golden opportunity. By the Way, welcome to Blade forums!

Paul
 
No leather that i was informed about. simply what is in the photographs. It sounds like this is stuff "getting in the way" at this point. as you can see in the background, the gentleman has a spotless garage and beautiful cars, and has mentioned on several occasions that the tools have been "sitting in his shed" but he'll "pull them out for pictures if i want." then after he took the pictures and sent them, he messaged me asking if i wanted to come get them, or if he should put them back in the shed.
i politely said that i would need some time to decide, and that i appreciated the photos very much, and that i am interested, but need to figure out a price.

He also mentioned that he thought the same tools "new" would run around 400$

PS i'm talking canadian dollars here, so that would be about 305 USD... that was his impression at least. I honestly have no clue. I had posted locally that i was looking for a kit (like a tandy kit, or something off amazon, if someone had one they didn't end up using or liking) and i ended up with this response.
 
I am hoping to lean more heavily into the hobby. But when you are starting something new, you never know. So my initial idea was to try some sheathwork for my own personal tools and see how it catches my fancy. the excess tools may or may not become a need of mine int he future. Regardless, i do prefer the idea of starting with old tools over new, but that's just a preference of mine, and is largely, impractical, which i concede.
 
sheathmaker said:
There are a lot of "odds and ends" in that grouping. A lot may not be useable for your specific use (sheath making). If I were bidding on it, and I'm glad I'm not, I would say about one hundred dollars would be all I would bid, and for my specific use that would be generous. There are certain vintage tools in the mix that would justify a total of that much, but you would still be missing tools you need and have other tools a items for which you would have little use. The loose hardware and snaps from the standpoint of lot purchase are virtually worthless mostly because of mis matched sets etc.

Good luck, but I don't see it as a Golden opportunity. By the Way, welcome to Blade forums!

Paul
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Thank you for the welcome. i was here ages ago (5 years ago or so, and was contributing more, but i drifted away.) i was never a big contributor but had a thousand posts or so
 
Welcome To BF!! I changed your title to reflect something that wont draw unwanted attention.

Looks like a nifty set, but yea, as others have said there's a few things in there you wont exactly need. But there are plenty of people and venues to rid yourself of the unneeded materials. Get a Gold membership here and put them on the exchange at a good price and watch them go. :)

Oh Edit to add: is that Corvette back there for sale as well!? I wanna see more of that classic!
 
leatherman said:
Welcome To BF!! I changed your title to reflect something that wont draw unwanted attention.

Looks like a nifty set, but yea, as others have said there's a few things in there you wont exactly need. But there are plenty of people and venues to rid yourself of the unneeded materials. Get a Gold membership here and put them on the exchange at a good price and watch them go. :)

Oh Edit to add: is that Corvette back there for sale as well!? I wanna see more of that classic!
Click to expand...
Thank you for the change of title. i butchered that...
i'm not a "car guy" enough to tell from the photo what exactly it is, but i hope to see it.
I hope to come to a deal with him, he seems enthusiastic about moving it along, and he likes that i want to use the tools (i get the impression, he feels that would matter to his family member that passed, and obviously loved this hobby)
I'm not great at selling tools, haha, i tend to love them, and keep them somehwere in my workhouse where they can be seen and used, but i'll consider it....

So... here's the real question... he said he felt they were worth 400 new, what do i offer for a slight mishmash of used tools? i don't want to insult him of course, and i don't want to gouge him either. a fair offer is my intent. and if i don't end up making him a deal, (since me and him have chatted back and forth a bit) i will send him this thread to help him understand what he's got.
 
Its really difficult to ascertain the value of tools from the pictures, but a good rule of thumb on used tools is start at about half the new value and go from there. Unless, and I dont see any here right off, some are valuable rare collectable tools.

A friendly offer in that direction, with the firm word that you dont intend to offend him by "lowballing" but in negotiations of any type its good to start low and meet in the middle.

In the pics, that these bad eyes can see, your missing a few key items for sheath making like Paul said, but you can snag those as you go along, also used will help get you going without spending a flipping fortune.
 
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