Monday, February 16, 2026

I just read a good write up about buying vintage Craftsman tools




it's a fact that if you're earning a living from tools, you must have some good ones that won't let you down, and Craftsman were those for sure, Snap On if you were making really good money, same goes for Proto.

But, for the past decade or so, it's been a waste of money to buy craftsman, because the warranty thing is done, over and gone. https://www.geekbobber.com/2017/01/craftsman-tools-sold.html is the write up. 

I've been buying a tool box of old Craftsman now and then, because estate sales sometimes have a mixed box of whatever

The above is the latest box I got last spring or summer, that's a good bunch for about 100. I'm pretty sure that's about what they charge now for tools that don't meet my standard for quality, and I doubt I'll ever be earning a living from them again. Plus, I don't have any one who is inheriting my tools. 

I do know I have to figure something out about that. I have to figure out who I want to give them to, so far, I'm undecided between the boy scouts, McPherson College students, Piston Foundation, or something on those lines. 

It's been on my mind for a long time. About 15 years ago I made the acquaintance of Jay, a reader that has a Superbird but no kids. He told me about his decision to give it to the kid in town that has been nuts about it for a long time, who comes over to wash it, and change the oil, and impressed Jay so much, he talked to his wife and they decided to give the kid the Superbird someday, or if the Jay dies unexpectedly. 



And that came on the heels of a friend of mine dying young of cancer. Younger than I am now. That's gut punch, and a sudden adulting moment which caused me to no longer ignore my bucket kicking someday in the future. So, the 35 years of tools collected, and the R/T, and the rest of my stuff, are things I need to figure out what will happen to them when I kick the bucket. Hopefully my nephew wants all of it, and handles the whole thing. I know my sister is my estate executor, and does not want to come to deal with my stuff in the chance I die before her. Specifically because having the 1st time being in California should not be to run a burial. I get that. But because her son, my nephew, has no such lifelong connection, lived together, talked on the phone for decades, etc, I think it'd be cool for him to just grab a flight, show up, grab the keys, and suddenly have a commuter, a couple garages full of stuff and a cool R/T, books, blu rays, tools, etc 

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