What to do with a garage full of Sears woodworking tools?

Question

A friend of mine who lost her husband recently finds herself dealing with a garage full of woodworking tools all purchased from Sears over the course of many years. It would be great if she could get some money for them but if not, would like to donate but does not know who would want such items. SHe is not interested in having a garage sale with folks coming to her home. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

i would buy them i love doing that kind of stuff when i get time.  it all would depend on where you live and if other people to but if they are in good shape the want be hard to sell.  just run in news paper.

Answer 2

e-bay baby!!!

ps. my sympathy to your friend

Answer 3

Find a vocational school or High School in the poorest section of town that offer's woodworking in its curriculum and donate the tools.  Maybe your friend's husbands spirit and love of woodworking will find embodiement in one of the youngsters and her husband's passions will live on.

Answer 4

Make Contact with your local Woodworkers Guild. Here is a

ready market for woodworking equipment. If you have difficulty locating them, check with local woodworker machine suppliers. Some of the guilds build and donate thousands of toys for kids.

Answer 5

How about Habitat for Humanity!

Answer 6

I second - ebay

Answer 7

Sears craftsman tools go for really good prices, almost new, at local auctions. They will sell very well if advertised, because they are lifetime warranty, and are the same as new.

Answer 8

Put them on ebay for money, as for donating, a church, boy scouts or any youth club in your area. Or run an ad in the paper...someone would love a donation of this type.

Answer 9

She should do some research about the prices of what tools she has, then figure used price (usually about 1/2 depending on condition) Run an ad in her local news paper. I have some Craftsman table saws that have been used almost daily for 40 years. Some of the older ones are worth more than the newer ones. She could e-mail [e-mail] if I could be of assistance.

Answer 10

I am going to guess that she knows about a local senior center.  Go there and ask some of the gentlemen if they know someone who is interested.  A lot of senior men do woodwork and would welcome the chance to get some tools.  I got my fathers when he died and started doing woodwork for the first time.  I have had a lot of enjoyment over the years with those tools.

Answer 11

auction them off...... get what there worth

     any good club  ,  like the scouts would really love them

Answer 12

sell it or use it

Answer 13

Check with a local auction house. They can get the highest prices for her tools. Garage sales are for bargain hunters...and usually not for the seller making any good money.

Answer 14

sell it on ebay but if she doesent want to deal with the hassle depending on where she lives I'd be willing to take em off her hands. i cant pay no where near they are worth but thought id offer i love woodworking i spend more time in my shop than i do my house lol  email me if intrested [e-mail]

Answer 15

Give them to me, I sure could use em!

Answer 16

She should master the art of woodworking.

Answer 17

Best choices... Donate  them to a senior center that would have a place to use them,or donate them to a local 4-H club, where the kids in the group would be able to use them, and learn on them, and gain the skills from using such tools. If planning to sell them, do research on each individual tool, and set fair prices.Although most of the older equipment was built heavy and solid, modern safety features and engineering make some of the older tools undesirable and unsafe for use, but they may still hold value as parts machines or collector pieces.I was also going to suggest craigslist, but its not a good choice for an elderly lady living alone, just to many wierdos out there now.Ebay would be a good choice for the smaller, shippable items if you have the time to help her out, and, some of the old books and jigs and fixtures can bring decent money.

Answer 18

She could sell the items (together or separately) on Craig's list and the buyer would come and pick up purchased items.

Answer 19

Woodworker.com  make a complete list of what is there and where she is and a way to contact her.  As a last resort, craigs list but that is like a garage sale.

Answer 20

Perhaps you, your friend, or other people you may know would be willing to help out.  If you could find someone who would be willing to have the tools at their house or place of business, then advertising the tools would be great.  Check local newspapers, eBay, on-line used tools for sale sites, etc. for pricing and offer the tools as a "lot" - selling them all together - or individually.  If she doesn't really need the money, she could donate the tools to a reputable charity or a trade school and be sure to get a receipt for the re-sale value of the tools and take the deduction of her taxes.  Another idea might be to check your local yellow pages for a woodworking shop in your area and see if they might be interested in purchasing them.  Do check out prices before offering them to a wood working business to help in making the deal fair to your friend.  In my area we have a great on-line advertising site that people can list items of almost all types.  Depending upon the amount you are asking most of the listings are free - but do offer upgrades to the ads for small fees to add photos and other things.  Our local site is called:

Gainesville4sale.com.

I have no idea what other cities are available, but it probably wouldn't be difficult to find out.