Spousal Shop Concerns

When my father died in the mid '60s he left behind a plethora of ham radio gear including some military surplus obtained through his amateur radio club and the MARS program. Most of the equipment was sold with the assistance of fellow club members. The last remaining item was something called a "20A Exciter". My mother advertised it in the local classifieds and started receiving phone calls.

David Merrill

I'd much rather you got my guns than any of my libtard relatives...they'd destroy them to make the world safer.

I have a daughter like that. For some, guns are like lawyers: they'll hate them until they need one.

I have a not identical, but related problem that I can provide some insight. Our shop doesn't always revolve around the machinist, and so I have to prove and record the value and importance of the tools to those who don't know what they are used for. The next student machinist will learn or know, but in between someone is likely to come along and say "why do I need a 25 pound slab of granite?" and before we know it, they've just surplused the toolroom surface plate as tile. With new people coming and going every year, it become quite an issue. I am working on a written list of tooling in the form of a sheet of shop capabilities. My hope is that someone will say, "The list says that we can cut x type of profile or measure y type of shape" and then say "I haven't seen that x cutter or y type of micrometer, etc." and go look for it. I know this is really different from disbursing an entire shop, but it seemed rougly relevant. Ww88 Los Altos High School Robotics Team

Central Electronics 20-A Transmitter:

Uh,thanks Michael but this happened forty years ago. Those phone callls just wanted to know what it would excite :-)

David Merrill

What would Gunner do with your relatives?

Mark Rand (running) RTFM

This has been a concern raised a number of times at the local metalworking club. Nobody has a one size fits all answer. A lot depends on whether you have friends or relatives that can help or that you can give the equipment to.

The one thing I've done is to write up detailed instructions on how to disassemble and move my lathe, an Emco Maier Super 11. I wrote up some notes when I first got it, but then when I got married & moved, I took photos and fleshed out the notes a good bit more. I've got a kit up in the attic with a lifting sling, a pallet base that fits the lathe body, and a copy of the instructions.

At some point (before I forget what I did), I need to put together similar notes on my milling machine. It's a small Clausing, and a lot easier to deal with.

I also taught my wife how to do some basic machining, so she has an understanding of what they do & how useful they can be. I don't know if she'll ever decide to build something on her own, but they aren't a mystery to her and if I go first, she'll make sure they go to a good home if she has to get rid of them. Someday soon, I need to teach my two step-daughters the same lessons. With luck, one of them will want the equipment some day.

Doug White

Thanks for making us all think. My father left the his workshop (in the UK) to me in exchange for me being executor. With my (German) brother in law getting the workshop and the work if I declined. My plan (until I know if my youngest is interested in the toys, since his sisters aren't) is to try to put together a file with photos and descriptions suitable for Ebay listings. Then herself can identify the tools, stick the stuff up on Ebay and let some other fool cart them away. If young (14yo) Joseph shows an interest, or any additional sons in law (other than the first, who isn't interested) or grandchildren crop up, then we go back to the old man's system. Basically a way of keeping the stuff in the family if anyone wants it or raising a nominal sum and getting it cleared otherwise.

Planning ahead is good, after we have gone, the money may not be significant but just getting a saleable property might be more important. As I discovered to my surprise after father popped his clogs.

Mark Rand RTFM

Laugh!

When this body dies, it remains dead,

I'm coming back as a pair of black lace panties....

Jeff

I've Been on both sides of this as a comparative youngster (27) I'll share what i saw learned and experienced

With my grandfathers woodshop He loved it and did great work out of it My uncle and the eldest Grandson was (Me) were the only othe rpeople who used it My uncle got more use from the shop and had more of his own tools int he first place.

He went through and took what he needed and used most in that shop and what he has space for. (in some cases he skipped purchasing tools lieka tablesaw because it was readily available in the other shop) I used it less and was out of town and establishing myself out of town and would eventually have room for it all but i was just finishing THen I took everything i felt i could store or have a use for once i got more space.

the only things that were lost (And in hindsight i feel like a twit for turning them down) were a 14" bandsaw and a belt/disc sander

I bought my own table saw to fill in the single largest gap and right now i dont have the space to leave the radial arm saw setup (Should get space next year)

Having the shop earmarked, in this case to my Uncle then me, meant essentially nothing was lost and went to continue being used in the family, Also helped "seed" two workshops

The other experience i have is as a buyer

When i saw a well tooled lathe, Mill/drill and 7X12 bandsaw in the classifieds in great shape at a good price i jumped on it. I discovered it was a widow selling her husbands metalshop in the basement.

Her son who has been taught to run the tools but had not in years was looking after the sale and that basic knowledge couples with a sense of what the stuff was worth helped greatly he even was with me to pack and move it and helped to get it to my place.

In that case a semi knowledgeable family member handling the dispersal made it painless

Essentially 2/2 for that issue resolv> I have a modest sized shop (14x20'). It is compact, but in it I have a 12"

"Jeff Wisnia" wrote: I'm coming back as a pair of black lace panties.... ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ So someone can throw you aside, and then do what it was you really had in mind?

I talked to the wife - and I have the same problem with all of her 'stuff'.

Consider 1000 colors of cross stitch threads - multiple skeenes - I built a tallboy for just the threads... I think I could have yard sales for years. - Well - that might be a sociable thing to do - pick up on some lady that way :-)

Martin

Martin H. Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH & Endowment Member NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder IHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member

Mart> It is an issue - I have it as well..

I think that a sensible thing to do would be to create a computer file or just notes stuck to machines, with descriptions.

A couple of things I do not think have been mentioned:

To second what Too Many Tools said, I wouldn't count on a local club to have anything in mind but looting. Some clubs have a much stronger honor among members, but I would like to pass along an account of what happened to my relative.

My great grandfather was a major rock collector. He had a collection that could have put a small geological museum in business. After he passed some of the members of his local club came to the estate auction and were seen doing things like hiding particular rocks of interest in box lots of worthless nicknacks. Making deals with each other "I really want this one Joe, don't bid against me and I won't bid on that next thing you want" in the middle of the auction for all to hear. And on and on. It was sickening to see this collection that had taken over a half century to assemble cut to pieces.

He had taken extreme care to classify and catalog Every Single Thing in his whole house (*lots* of spare time and a penchant for organization). Didn't do a bit of good, partly because his widow had Alzheimer's, and partly because the auctioneer wouldn't be bothered with such a thing. Not speedy enough to waste the time going through the list. Perhaps it was too detailed and contained too much data to sort out the particularly-of-interest items. Everything that went up for bid was what you see is what we are selling.

All that to say, our wives might be better served by a specialty auction house that specifically handles metalworking machinery. They could include the items in a larger shop closing auction and keep the proceeds separate. Hoff-Hilk comes to mind. I am only 29 but have put some thought into what would happen in "what if" situations. Removal costs for my bedmill would vastly exceed it's worth to most non-hsm types to make it a permanent 6600 pound garage ornament if it were sold at general auction and not advertised for what it is by someone who knew.

You have put me to thinking again about shop organization. It's time I did something about the chaos.

I haven't read the rest of the thread yet, but I'm sure the rest of the group is saddened by the thought of our loved ones getting the difficult task of dealing with grief at the same time as determining how to deal with the shop we've invested so much in. I was a lurker on rcm when Teenut passed and his widow had to deal with exactly this. My hat is off to you for broaching the topic.

Best, StaticsJason

I have been on the other end once or twice as I am a reseller of used machines. I hate to take advantage of a survivor but also find it very difficult to make an offer on a large lot. If the original owner had costed most of the items over $100. his survivor might have a ballpark idea of what the lot should sell for. One thing to do is be very clear whether the costing is for quick sale or a drawn out process to maximize the selling price. There is roughly a 1:2 ratio between the two. If you can sell the shop at 50% of suggested retail and have it all gone in a day this may mean far more then mazimizing the return. My mother-in-law just passed away and her daughters took all her clothing and personel items to Goodwill a week or two later. This eliminated the constant reminders of her every time they went into her bedroom. The house, with which we wish to maximize the dollars returned, is still on the market because there is thousands of dollars differential between high and low values. Your workshop possesions lie somewhere between the clothing and the house in value and length of time required for disposal. If you are in SoCal put my name in some kind of message. I am actually a pretty honest reseller and will offer several options for disposing of a shop. My favorite is to price the good items fairly, hold a well advertised sale and then buy all the remnants at wholesale. Leigh at MarMachine