Galoots … an update regarding disposal of Jim’s tools

First off … the volume involved is larger than nearly all of you may have
imagined, except perhaps Scott G as I think he had an inkling.  I honestly have
never seen Jim’s workshop or tool storage except in a handful of pictures he
sent me over a dozen years, even though MLW and I did visit with Jim and his
wife for two days in 2011.  We did not go to their home, because Jim and his
wife raised and trained dogs and I have a severe allergy to dogs, so couldn’t
get near the house to Jim’s disappointment.  But over the past fifteen years he
described many of the things he had and things that he thought he had stored
somewhere but had not yet found again in our phone conversations and email
exchanges.  Jim had a fairly large shop space and he had a larger than typical
storage building behind his home that was packed to the doors with stuff.  For a
while, he even had a (unplugged) large size horizontal / chest-type freezer
filled with tool items, at least until one day he did a dive and discovered he
had forgotten he even had some valuable items in the bottom layer.  He was a
happy guy in our conversations that day.  Jim’s wife tells me there is quite a
bit more within the house, which Jim never mentioned.  I know that a minor but
significant chunk of his tool collection has little to do with woodworking and
carving, as he was also a very highly skilled welding instructor, a very
experienced layout man for large fabrications, and proprietor of a photography
(portrait type) studio on the side for a long time (and still had much of the
photography equipment).  For those who have been on the Porch for years, you may
recall that Jim has mentioned some of these activities in his postings, plus his
stained glass work over the last decade.  He also used some of his woodworking
tools and some new specialist items for his gourd carving work.  Only his wife
knows what else he had done over his working lifetime and retirement years.
When Jim sent me a photo of a few storage drawers in the workshop some five
years ago and said he had stopped counting at 100 screwdrivers and 50 hammers,
with many left to count of each, it confirmed that there was a serious magnetic
disturbance in that vicinity.  Jim had also mentioned that he didn’t have much
invested in those items compared to his other tools.  Jim was candid that he
only liked to buy the very best tools for whatever job the tool was meant for.
When you and your wife seek regular weekly entertainment by visiting 1-4 estate
sales each Friday or Saturday in a region where aircraft and other skilled
fabrication industries are well represented, followed by a meal at a favorite
restaurant, and you are buying whatever you find that you know is excellent
quality and worth having, you can acquire a lot of tools and supplies.  Being on
the west coast, he wasn’t able to find many eighteenth or early nineteenth
century woodworking tools, especially woodies, but late nineteenth and early-to-
mid twentieth century items were in abundance.

I persuaded Jim to start an inventory over the last several years as part of our
long discussions about how we might go about disposing of our tools for our
wives' benefit.  He held off with starting the inventory until he was no longer
able to do the kind of projects he most enjoyed, and began documenting what he
had around the same time he started selling some of his tools.  Jim quickly
concluded there were so many items, so much physical work involved and not
enough space available to lay them all out that he would just discover what he
had as and when he had a high energy day to tackle excavation & discovery.  He
would then decide to keep or sell each item as he went along.  Jim soon became
quite weakened by his medical problems and the extra effort involved, and he
didn’t get very far over his last twelve months.  Some of you may have been the
lucky bidders in his eBay sales, but I doubt there are very many people in that
circle.

There is a lesson here for all of us.  What you read above is an indication of
the magnitude of the task his widow faces, and his daughter and son either live
too far away or are uninterested in helping their mother obtain an optimum
recovery of the monetary value locked up in Jim’s possessions.  She has known
for years the amount of space all of it takes up, but never had any real idea
what it might be worth.  The prospect of doing it all herself scares her.  I
gave his wife an inkling of what might be involved in the task this week, so
that she can realize the importance of doing the next step properly.  Jim love
of his life also assures me that Jim didn’t tell me about everything he had as
he admitted to her that he couldn’t remember where many items, some very
valuable, were located or whether he still had them, and he also couldn’t
remember even having some very nice items that he did find and sent pictures of
to me.  The task of identifying and inventorying all of it will be a major
effort that must be undertaken before an auction of any kind.  At least it is
required if she is to realize the kind of money from their sale to keep her in
her home for as long as she wishes to stay there.  The alternative of
entertaining a lump sum buyout offer also requires getting it all out in the
open if she is to get a fair price, as there is likely to be a very nice dollar
amount involved.

So, yes, I sent Jim's widow a letter with my recommendations on how to proceed
early this week, and I expect that she and I will talk further about it in the
next few days.  The recommendations did reflect the input I had received from
nineteen of you who sent your thoughts by Monday night (thank you very much, if
I missed responding to anybody), and in that letter I did ask that she consider
trying to hold a Galoot-exclusive auction prior to full release of her property
to others for either an auction or a buyout.  I gave her the names of people I
thought could handle the magnitude of work involved and either had (or had
access to) the working capital required, and described to her why I made the
recommendations I offered.  I haven’t written many eight page letters lately,
and this one took some time and careful thought on how to explain the task in a
way that would be clear and easy to understand.  Jim was too good a friend for
me to do anything less.

I will update you all on his wife’s preferences once she makes them known.  In
the meantime, if you can refine your thoughts on just how we might hold an
OldTools members-only auction given the verbal description of the situation
above, it will help me sell the concept to her and to anyone else she wants to
get engaged in this process.  Fair warning: the idea may be a difficult sell if
a third party is involved, so let’s make a reasonable and fair proposal.  I will
tell you that I prefer the version of this idea that includes reserve prices, so
proceed from there.

Charlie 

….. and if any of my fellow Galoots think maybe you need to start thinking about
this problem too, maybe you (and I) should have started sooner.  Who are you
going to ask to help YOUR widow or children when the time comes?



On Apr 18, 2015, at 3:27 PM, Gary Katsanis  wrote:

I would prefer the silent auction because it's most likely to be the best for
Jim's wife.

We would need to separate tools into lots, take pictures, then post the whole
thing.  We would need a way to coordinate and post bids. I'm guessing email to
submit bids, a web site to post pictures and bids, and a handful of volunteers
to make things workable at the end.

Then we need boxes and bubble-wrap.  Lots and lots of boxes and bubble wrap.

But that way, we can share what's available with everyone and ensure that tools
bring a reasonable return.

There's a simplistic overview of a silent auction at http://www.wikihow.com/Run-a-Silent-Auction">http://www.wikihow.com/Run-a
-Silent-Auction .  Our would be more complex, given that we would need to
ship them when we're done.

The most critical piece would be to have someone on site to deal with the
operation.  What do people think?

Gary Katsanis
Albion NY, USA


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Re: [OldTools] update -- Jim Thompson
Date: 	Sat, 18 Apr 2015 14:11:14 -0500
From: 	Roy 
Reply-To: 	rp77469@c...
Organization: 	Dysfunctional Buckskinner Society
To: 	Gary Katsanis 



Both of these are good ideas.  I prefer the silent auction, or even not-silent
auction.  I know I often miss a chance at on of Josh's sales because I am not
online when it occurs.  Something that runs over 24 hours so everyone could have
a chance at bidding would be nice.