Bought a small tool shop

Yes, I bought a small tool shop. And I don’t mean a building or structure. I mean the entire content of a tool shop. Now, why and how did I do that?

Why and how?

So here is the “Why”: For a while, I was looking for a table saw, as I would need one for the tool shed build and other projects. Therefore I did a lot of research and comparison. Endless amount of hours. But then I stumbled over an online bankruptcy auction of a print house. In particular one part of it: The entire content of a tool shop. And all common sense went out of the window. What did I do? Yes, I bid on it and WON.

So you bought a small tool shop, but what did it contain?

To show what it contained, I let the pictures talk first. These are few of the photos on that online auction:

After arranging a pick-up date, I went there yesterday and filled up the van as much as I could. Also, I wasn’t bound to take all the stuff. In light of that, I took only what I really wanted. But still, the whole trip took some seven hours (Including two hours driving time).

The inventory (roughly)

• First and foremost: A drill press (that was much larger than what I expected)
• And of course, the table saw
• Next: Two Dewalt power drills (and two dead batteries)
• In addition to the power drills came about 60 different sizes of drill bits for all kinds of materials
• One Metabo POWER hammer drill <- That beast weights 7kg!
• A tool sharpener, which I also would have needed already various times
• 50 or so different size of wrenches (going all from size 8mm up to 27! mm)
• A tool and spare part cabinet
• Various types of hand saws
• About half a million (feels like) nails, screws, nuts, bots any kind of fastening solution you could think of, in various materials, shapes and sizes
• A vice
• One heat gun
• Three ratchets with a set drives from 4mm up to 80! mm <-INSANE! including all kinds of adapters, sockets, and extensions
• A couple threat handles and tapping wrenches, with a ton of tapers and plugs. (You can make screws, nuts them or make screw holes.)
• One “air pressure painting system” <- At least I think that’s what that is 😉
• Two motors (of some sorts)
• A fire extinguisher
• Half a dozen extension cords and cables
• Metal rods and pipes
• Not to forget: A collection of tools like pliers, screwdrivers, crowbars, wire stripper, clamps, rasps and bunch of tools I can’t even guess their purpose.

Conclusion

As previously mentioned under the “Tool buying tips” section in my post “My 10+ tips on DIY and woodworking” I wrote NOT to buy tools when you don’t need them.
I wrote, “Don’t buy tools just for the heck of it!” And I broke that rule. Why?

Well, there is no excuse. I mean how often do you hear the sentence “I bought a small tool shop today”. But besides that, most of the tools listed above, I will need at some point or would have needed already in previous projects.
All things considered, I am very very happy about the outcome: I am sure that all these items and tools will be used. Not to mention that I got them for a fraction of the costs if I would buy them in the store.
Furthermore: Anything I won’t use I can sell online.

Also, I have done something crazy. I can say “Yeah, I bought a small tool shop” . How many people can say that? And yes, I took a risk. But I gained some experience, and a lot of new tools that will make my DIY and woodworking projects easier…

There is just one question: Where the heck do I store them..?