Estate sale torque wrench

MarkB_MI

Well-known Member
Location
Motown USA
Stopped by an estate sale yesterday, even though most estate sales around here have nothing but junk. There was a Snap-On 1/4 inch drive N-m torque wrench with no price. I asked the lady running the sale "how much", and she says "ten bucks". Sold!

Looked it up online, that same wrench is listed on the Snap-On web site for $464!
 
Nice score. Did the same thing a couple years ago. 4' Rigid pipe wrench never used for $15, 24" Crescent brand adjustable wrench for $10. Pipe wrench was for a plumber friend as a gag. He loved it though and has used it several times. My wife was looking for a small table and wanted to stop. I really wasn't interested and stayed in the truck. She called me and said there were tools in the basement.
 
FYI..... If you are not sure if it may be torquing right on target, a SnapOn dealer might have a torque meter in his truck to test it( my dealer had one for testing) or any Speedco Truck Lube store would have a torque tester(they use the cheaper HarborFreight torque wrenches, and always test them in house and adjust when needed)
Good find! I bought mine years ago for $165!
 
Sometimes these things work out well. In your case, fantastic. I've found that often after the bidding starts at estate auctions as opposed to sales like in your case, the items go for more than they cost new. Sometimes not. Sometimes deals can be had, like in your case. Last auction I went to was on a Saturday and had nearly a hundred firearms. I went there to purchase both a .30-30 Winchester 94 and 1894. Turned out that late farmer was also a black smith and had at least three of very quality smithing everything and at least one barn full of it, all in great and clean shape. Where do you start? But by the time the auction got going the banks were closed, so no smithing tools. I left with the firearms I went for and a couple of more, but most went for more than they cost new. In the case of auctions, folks often get carried away once the bidding starts. It's fun, but can be expensive if you don't get out when you should.

Mark
 
I stopped at a small flea market in a parking lot in Clark Range Tn last summer. Almost didn't even get out of the car,just furniture and household junk was all I could see. I walked back to the back corner and there was a half inch drive ratcheting torque wrench with the calibration sticker still on it. I asked how much. "Ten bucks". SOLD!
 
I often work at coal fired power plants where they have explosion proof telephones, one model is the old Western Electric/AT&T Model 520 that is rotary because the coal dust doesn't get into them. The base mounts to the wall, but the phone screws onto the base like a huge fire hose. I'll bet one weighs a good 40 pounds. Anyway, with coal dust that gets wet, they get concreted on pretty good and the slimy coal gets into the hook switch, so have to take them off and apart to clean them. Sometimes to break them loose have to go and get pipe wrenches from the tool cribs, and they've got some serious pipe wrenches. 6', 8' with teeth on the end and 4' locking chains. You got a 4'er for as cheap as you did, Merry Christmas to your friend...grin.

Mark
Model 520 explosion proof telephone
 
> I left with the firearms I went for and a couple of more, but most went for more than they cost new.

It's been my experience that auctions are terrible places to buy firearms and they almost always go for much more than they're worth. But those same auctions can be good for picking up other items, as the bidders are so focused on the guns that they ignore everything else.
 
(quoted from post at 14:14:38 12/18/16) > I left with the firearms I went for and a couple of more, but most went for more than they cost new.

It's been my experience that auctions are terrible places to buy firearms and they almost always go for much more than they're worth. But those same auctions can be good for picking up other items, as the bidders are so focused on the guns that they ignore everything else.
lot of the time firearms sell for outrageous prices at auctions because the sales are not required to be registered as a dealer would have to. Many people do not want the Feds to know what firearms they have.
 
Where are you?

Here in Nebraska to buy a firearm at an auction you need a purchase permit and need to fill out the same forms as at a licensed dealer.
 

In Michigan, the auctioneers are FFL license holders. I do agree, auctions with guns on the bill, will be very well attended.
 
(quoted from post at 15:37:23 12/18/16) That size pipe wrench would be handy when you get a post hole auger stuck!

I got two 24" pipe wrenches near the end of an estate sale about a year ago for $10. Good for when you really have to move something that doesn't want to.
 
(quoted from post at 21:30:31 12/18/16) ]A lot of the time firearms sell for outrageous prices at auctions because the sales are not required to be registered as a dealer would have to. Many people do not want the Feds to know what firearms they have.

This! Not many gun auctions in our area and the one that has regular ones is a FFL dealer so he runs the check on every purchase. Never saw any real deals however anyway. One recent one done by another guy, the auctioneer just keeps a signed form for a couple of years then tosses them.
 
> the auctioneer just keeps a signed form for a couple of years then tosses them

If he's smart, that's just the story he tells buyers. The day he lets his FFL lapse, the ATF will pay him a visit and he better have his records in order.
 
KS & MO are the same way, the auctioneers will tell you, if you do not possess a valid state drivers license and can NOT pass the background check, DO NOT BID...i have not seen a firearm sell at a KS or MO auction that did not go through a call to the ATF to make sure you could legally own it. I have also seen auctioneers tell people they could not own the firearm they bought and they blacklisted said person(s) from future auctions. They dont screw around like that....
 
Got to have your permit to carry and another permit,cant remember its name, to buy at auction here. They MAKE Copy's Of your cards. Good buy on the torque wrench.
 

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