dthomas731

I have been buying second hand tools for 20 years. Yes, mostly from pawn shops and the only bad experience I had was because I wasn’t paying attention to the condition of the tool. I normally do not by tools like compressors second hand, just too much can be hidden and not show during a quick demonstration in a pawn shop.

I just recently purchased a used Shopsmith off Craigslist.com. They guy said it had been his father’s before he passed away. I purchased the system (main unit built in 1988) for $1,000. When I picked it up he kept loading more and more stuff into the truck. After four weekends of sorting, cleaning, setting up, and tuning I added everything up as if I had purchased it new and it came to $6,000. Everything worked great.

This brings up something else about used tools especially if you have their history. I have many of my father’s had tools and I visualize him every time I use them. While loading the above mentioned Shopsmith I learned a good bit about the original owner, who had made models for the Smithsonian. I hope I make both proud when using “their” tools.

Oh, and I turned my wife on to “pawn shopping”. We once bought a citrine ring that I later discovered was a 12 carat flawless yellow sapphire.