Thought I would ask the collective here for their advice and experience on such matters.

Unfortunately my wife's father has recently passed away and it is time for my Mother-in-law to clear out his workshop.

He was a Wheelwright, Builder and chippy through his working life and has obviously collected a huge amount of tools, from Old wood lathes, routers, old bench drill (hand wheel), some huge wood saws (tree felling) to Hand tools. His workshop is full of stuff.

I have been over to take some pictures of the larger bits and pieces today with a view of putting them up for sale.


I was wondering if there is a market for some of the older hand tools etc ? I guess we need a collector/enthusiast who would buy the things without ripping off the Mother-in-law.

I may pop a few pictures on here later to see if anyone can advise what they are.

Of they are good quality, contact an auction house. There is a big demand for old tools.

I sold a lot a couple of years ago. £35 for an old oak/brass spirit level, rest did really well.

A lot better than Ebay, even with the comission they take.

I dont know the size of the market but i do have a friend who has just started wood turning as a hobby and would probably be interested in any suitable tools for this. He's in Bedford. I would be happy to put him in touch with you.

We sold some old hand tools to a bloke who runs a website trading as "HackneyTools" who was good to deal with and is always looking out for unusual stuff in good order- even better with some history, other than that it is back to an auction.
You can advertise lathes on the www.lathes website which might pull in people from a specialist audience, big old wood cutting saws need to goto someone dealing in movie sets and shop /pub fitting, architectural salvage - some big place in west Yorks , I forget the name but they specialise in supplying ye olde worlde stuff for new developments, worth a bit of googling I think .
atb
Mike

Thanks for all the advice.

Will feed it back to the family