Garage Sale / Craigslist Finds

Brock Cutlery

Brock Cutlery

Joined
Jan 10, 2015
Messages
1,673
I can't be the only one who makes some pretty cool finds out there in Garage Sale land. Post your finds!

To kick it off, today's big find down in Apache Junction AZ. Ironwood from a desert pack rat garage sale!

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I don't have pictures handy, but I picked two things this morning, an old craftsman floor model drill press (model 150, 1950s vintage cool lookin thing) and a virtually unused delta 14" bandsaw just old enough to have been USA made. $300 for the pair. I already had 4 drill presses and 3 of those 14" bandsaws, but I couldn't pass that up.

Despite being on an island in a part of Canada where the only real industry has traditionally been logging, it seems to be a good area for deals.
14" delta drill press for $25, 15" Canadian blower and forge drill press for $110, 16" beaver drill press for $90, Rockwell/delta 14" wood saws were $30, 150, and 200. 14" delta vertical metal saw was $250. Beaver table saw and jointer for $65 for the pair, and a pair of surface grinders for $1500.

I really should stop buying. Instead of making me money, half this stuff is in a uhaul locker or my basement.

Oh yeah, picked up a good part of the estate of a former mold maker recently, some tools, mostly a lifetime supply of ejector pins, roll pins, tooling balls, springs, carbide rods, and various other unidentifiable stuff.


I honestly can't figure out where all this stuff comes from around here.
 
You just never know. I've done a few of those old Craftsman 150s and restored them. Man, that's a labor of love, but was a fun project.
You sound like a real picker! I've been picking for 35 years and it's been a ton of fun, and makes some pretty good side money to boot.
I've only picked one knife maker estate in all that time. From what I understand if you keep making knives you never pass on.
 
I rarely even go to garage or estate sales, almost all Craigslist. I've became quite good friends with a few pickers through that, so I normally let them know what I'm looking for and then wait patiently.
I could probably make better money reselling tools than I do making knives. I'm too much of a tool hoarder to do that though
 
Recently I’ve gotten the following.

Bridgeport J head clone knee mill- $1000
Brown and Sharp automatic surface grinder- $200
Delta manual surface grinder- chef knife
Two large ESAPI body armor plates- $100

In the past

Peter Wright 155lb anvil- $100
KMG 2x72 with small wheel, vfd, and a ton of belts- $1200
Delta 14” vertical wood/metal bandsaw- $80
Delta 15-220 large 15” drill press- $300
Propane forge and compound bow- beat up old canoe
3000lbs of scrap lead(for casting bullets)- $80
200lbs of 5160 leaf springs- free
Tons of lead wheel weights- a few dozen donuts
Samsung 56” 1080p flat screen dip tv- the cost of a new bulb

And really so much more. Ya gotta be in it to win it. I check CL religiously. I scored that big screen the other day from the free section. It was a dlp Samsung and the guy was too lazy to take 10mins to change out a $20 bulb. I put a new bulb in and it’s like a brand new TV.

Also, if you have a hankering for something, put a “wanting to buy” ad up in the section associated with the item. Have some money ready. You might be surprised how much things will come up. I recently was looking for a mill and some old machinists son saw my ad and I ended up getting his Bridgeport clone and surface grinder. For a damn good deal imo.

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wow you guys are good!

5' x 3' vent hood with welded steel frame - $60 plus $50 truck rental
dust collector - $39

I have many other things I scored but you guys would laugh at me for what I paid, even though I think they are good deals.
My general guideline is to get the item for a price that I know I can turn around and sell it for the same, or higher


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Kevin McGovern said:
14" Boice Crane band saw- $100 Facebook marketplace

View attachment 807636

Hardness tester- $200 Facebook marketplace

View attachment 807638

Buffalo forge 15" drill press- $100 from neighbor.
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Click to expand...
Those are great drill presses. I have one from their sister company, Canadian blower and forge. Same basic head, but mine is the production model with a large surface ground table as the base, and the whole head moving up and down on a rack and pinnion.

Mind has a good enough spindle that a tenths reading indicator won't even quiver when checking a gauge pin in the chuck. Really high quality machines. Good price too.
 
I bought 30 pairs of tongs for $100 last week of of FB market place. I'm keeping six pair plus some handled punches, am up to $295 so far, and still have ten pair left.

I got a Delta metal cutting band saw for 140, and a buffalo 4" vise for $25 from the same guy off of CL once.

Always looking!
 
Geoff Flato said:
Those are great drill presses. I have one from their sister company, Canadian blower and forge. Same basic head, but mine is the production model with a large surface ground table as the base, and the whole head moving up and down on a rack and pinnion.

Mind has a good enough spindle that a tenths reading indicator won't even quiver when checking a gauge pin in the chuck. Really high quality machines. Good price too.
Click to expand...
Yeah. I was previously using a borrowed HF press. I chucked up a 16" ss rod in the buffalo forge press, and the run out was almost imperceptible to the naked eye. I love old tools.
 
My first grinder (my old craftsman) was a garage sale find. I bought it, the stand, and about thirty belts for about fifty bucks. That grinder lasted me almost ten years before giving up the ghost this summer.
 
I get my best stuff at auctions. The crowd usually comes for a few big ticket items they think they will get for a good price, while I sit back and nab the stuff they don't even know what it they could use the stuff for.
Not always though. Sometimes, for whatever reasons, people drive the prices over new costs. You just have to move on and wait until the next one.
 
Saturday a friend called me up and said he was looking at a huge vise. He said the fellow wanted $300 for it. It was so heavy it took two strong men to lift it. I shut off the grinder and went to see it. Turns out the owner was a good friend of my son who died. After some chatting about the good old days and the crazy things my son used to do, he said if I wanted the vise I cold have it for $150. I thanked him and handed over the cash. I figure it weighs 200+ pounds. It is a blacksmith/machine shop type with the round notched locking base plate. I'll shoot some photos when I get a chance. I bet it sold for $1500-2000 new.
 
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