What do you do with old tools? (i.e. I may have a problem letting go)

I've been slowly doing some garage cleaning/makeover just so I can have things better organized.  I've got a lot of tools, probably like most here, some I've bought, some I inherited from my dad who was an Air Force mechanic at work and a shade tree mechanic at home.  I have his torque wrench that's older than me with his name etched on it.

Where I'm struggling is deciding what I really need vs. getting rid of.  For example, I went through my sockets to start organizing them instead of 100's of them randomly tossed in a drawer.  I found that I have multiples of all kinds of sizes*.  How many 1/4" drive 3/8" sockets do I really need?  I think I have like 6.  Do I really need the multiple offsets of SAE wrenches?

I started a "give away" box of tools about a year ago, but can't bring myself to actually get rid of them.  I talk myself into, "It's always good to have a second set", which becomes, "well, if you have two sets, a third will help if you misplace one", etc. 

Part of me almost wants to just reduce down one of everything, but my lizard brain screams at me that as soon as I do that, I'll need it and will have lost it.

What's the over/under on tools?

-Rob

*NOTE, you cannot have too many 10mm sockets.  I'm currently at 14 of different drive sizes and lengths.

Yeah, but making a small set for the trunk of anything that is more of a project car status is a good bet before getting rid of stuff.  I wound up getting a cheap set of harbor freight wrenches that are just going to live in my bugeye for instance. 

New Years Game

Just toss them into a bucket and use them to make custom tooling if you need to. I have a gab bag of cheap sockets that I have cut up for one off jobs that have saved me. 

Grab a welder and make some challenge trophies. 

matthewmcl said:

New Years Game

Yup

A junkyard tool kit is always a good place for extra tools you don't need.  That way if you lose one at the yard, you don't care. 

I'm aiming to one day have a full duplicate set of tools I use on the racecar to make sure I'm never missing something at the track. And I'd like at least duplicates of the common sets per car/side of the garage

I did the following:

Full set in the camper van I use to tow the race cars with.

Small sets made up that go in the daily drivers to fix the things one might be able to to roadside (change a battery, belt or hose).

An extra set in the garden shed in the backyard to do things like fix sprinklers or patio furniture.

A small set in the kitchen draw to fix minor things.

After that I give them away or donate them.

I figure, once I run out of room, I stop buying tools. Problem is I keep getting bigger garages. It's gotten a little out of hand. How many impact wrenches does a man need? I'm at 3. No, 4.

I had multiple extras.

I brought one to work and used it there until I stopped mechanic-ing and more supervising then sold the lot to a friend for $50 when his daughter got hired.

Another set I assembled and gave to a dead friend's kid when he bought his first Jeep @15.

Last year I came off a very lucrative trip for work and looked at all of my mis-matched brand electric tools in their crappy injection molded cases. They were hogging up valuable real estate under the work bench and the batteries were all failed or failing. I snapped and bought a bunch of Milwaukee Fuel stuff to replace what I had. The rest I gave to a wood-booger type Mainer that had his own handyman and dump find reseller business that my MiL knows.

I know I can't keep the stuff forever, but I can't just toss the stuff. I go for the karma, if anything.

Caveat-I NEVER get rid of 10mm sockets.

dculberson said:

I figure, once I run out of room, I stop buying tools. Problem is I keep getting bigger garages. It's gotten a little out of hand. How many impact wrenches does a man need? I'm at 3. No, 4.

I'm kinda there in a different way.  Looking at maybe getting some new tool storage and wondering do I need the larger toolbox because I really need it or is it just an excuse to not get rid of anything?  I kinda knew I had a problem when looking at said boxes and told my wife that I'd like to also get some new tool sets and just donate all my old stuff and she just gave me that "look" and said, "Riiiiigggghtttt......"

BTW, giving me more reasons (junkyard kit, backyard kit, trophies, etc) to keep them isn't helping. 

-Rob

You lost me after the first paragraph. I tried to comprehend what you were saying but by the third paragraph all I saw was incoherent jibberish, perhaps just a language I am unfamiliar with.

I have tools that were my grandfather's and he died before I was born. I keep cheap tools for making custom tools and I've set up my 15y.o. with his first kit.  I spread them out to where they are used and have tool sets to do specific things all over town at my properties.

....getting rid of tools.... that's crazy talk...kids these days

If you do decide to get rid of them and don't want to go through the hassle of trying to sell them, you can donate them to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore near you.

Cleaning my dads house my brothers wanted none of my dads tools.  My baby brother told me he doesn't use tools - he hires it out (let that sink in).  

Payday!

Except 25% were crap that was crap when I was a teenager in the 70's using them.   Worn out tin snips, garbage pliers or needle nose.    Recycling bin.

Keep one full set in the garage, have a second set for traveling to junkyards or to bring on road trips in questionable vehicles, donate the rest to a hands-on charity group or to a young person who wants to get into wrenching but can't afford the initial investment.

I got rid of almost every tool I had when I sold my house in Wisconsin and moved to California this year. I let my friends come by and take anything they wanted in a "pay whatever you think it's worth" deal, then sold the remaining lot including my big rolling box to an eager younger dude who probably had the best day of his life getting so many tools for the $300 I let them go for.

My brother in law's mother recently passed away and left behind a house full of stuff. Dad was a "six sets of everything" kind of guy. Most of the tools ended up going to scrap because there was just way, way too much to go through and he couldn't find anyone to just take all of it. If there were only a couple of well organized sets it would have been a different story.

It's just stuff, keep what you really need and be rid of the rest, lest it become something your loved ones have to deal with in the future.

Any youngsters in the family or neighborhood interested in wrenching? Make up a starter tool kit, give it to them, and blow their mind.

matthewmcl said:

New Years Game

I may have done this.... ;)

Ranger50 said:

matthewmcl said:

New Years Game

I may have done this.... ;)

And they are getting used in addition to helping to fill out a foster kid's first tool kit. Awesomeness all around.

Hello my name is Frenchy I'm a tool addict

I have my master set of mostly high grade Snap-On level tools in Whitworth SAE and metric. 
   I have my boat set of SAE ( mostly Craftsman ) 

 A set for the truck of SAE & Metric. 
 A set for wood working. 
 A set for my wife, mostly homeowners quality. A set of antique ( pre 1900) intended for display but lack the round-to-it's 

  Then there is Jeff's (Vintage racing  teammates ) boxes of tools etc.    

Now that doesn't begin to talk about power tools  etc.  which take up at least 30% of the 1800 sq ft shop. 
  Hello my name is Frenchy and I'm a tool aholic. It's   Been 4 days since I last bought some tools. 

Keep them. 

I'll take a bunch 

I have a next door neighbor who had no tools at all and would constantly be borrowing tools. Two years ago I gave him multiples of almost any kind of hand tool needed for home maintenance and mechanical work. Not tool truck quality but Craftsman pro, Stanley type stuff. As an example probably 30 different different types of pliers small to large, needle nose, 45 degree needle, long needle, various sizes of linesman, etc. etc.    All different types of hammers, saws,  open end/box/adjustable wrench sets, shallow/medium/deep socket sets in standard and metric 1/4"-3/8"-1/2" drive, files, screwdrivers, and on and on and on. I saw the tools a couple months ago...... All sitting outside in the same cardboard boxes (falling apart) they were in when I gave them to him. He didn't even put them in the garage! I'm sure there was well over $1,000.00 of tools,  all rusty now and most aren't functional.

In reply to NOT A TA :

What a putz.

Changed from boxers to briefs.

Those 3/8" sockets are 10mm if they (or the bolts) are worn enough.