# Can I make a little extra money restoring tools



## maple man (Dec 21, 2012)

I have restored a couple differnt tools now and I really enjoy it almost as much as the use of them so enjoying it as much as I did I went ahead and bought every thing in need to do it (sand blaster, large air compressor, spray gun system, a good set of machinest tool shear puller, ect.) which poses my question to y'all.... Can I make a decent or profitable amount off of buying old or new tools that need work and restoring them back to new condition and then selling them. Have any of y'all tried to do this or even know anyone who does it. Any help and suggestions are greatly welcomed


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

It is all going to depend upon how good you are at buying. If you can buy very cheap and live in an area with a good market you can probably do well. Supply and demand is always king.

George


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

I think it would be a mistake to get into that business. You may be very good at restoring but the person buying would assume you missed something and not be willing to pay what it's worth. If you got the equipment in good working order cheap where it only needed paint you might come out alright however recently you had an issue moving old cast equipment. Without the space or a fork lift do you really want to go down that road?


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## hwebb99 (Nov 27, 2012)

Does your neighbors Kubota have forks on it?


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## FrankC (Aug 24, 2012)

It seems to me that there is more money in parting out machines than restoring them, many parts are small enough that they can be reasonably shipped across the country so you have a much greater customer base.

Where do you get the parts you need to restore an incomplete machine at a reasonable price?

In another life I sell parts for toy steam engines, quite often the total of the order to complete an Ebay bargain is worth more than what a complete unit would cost the customer.


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## Rebelwork (Jan 15, 2012)

It would be the same as restoring cars. There is a large market for restored cars but not for tools. People lose money on restoring cars.


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## Mort (Jan 4, 2014)

It seems to me that tool buyers fall into two categories, dudes that want brand new shiny ones, and dudes that want a screamin' deal. The first set don't want an old tool, and the second won't pay what you'll want.


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## woodchux (Jul 6, 2014)

Good advice from previous posts,. Not trying to discourage you, but also consider the safety issues on restoring ANY tool. IMO to help a neighbor get his shop running again is one thing, but to (try) making a profit could cause legal grief. At what price would you want to buy/use a restored machine tool? Consider talking with professional machine restorers for their take & ideas. Be safe.


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## GeneT (Feb 24, 2014)

IMHO the majority of people who buy older tools want to restore them themselves and not buy one already restored. Part of the reason is to save money and also to have a project to do. Just as you say you enjoyed restoring the tools they share that same feeling. Not based on any research-just my personal observation.


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## maple man (Dec 21, 2012)

hwebb99 said:


> Does your neighbors Kubota have forks on it?


No just chain or strap hooks on the bucket


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## Toolman50 (Mar 22, 2015)

There are a few that make a good living restoring old tools. Most got their start working for someone else until they had a complete understanding of the total restoration process before they went independent. 
As posted above, the number one thing is to buy the machines very cheap. 
Auctions, dispersal sales, fire and water damaged insurance claims etc. 
Number 2 is you need a source or several sources to sell the machines. 
The sources that can take multiple machines will be re-sellers. This means you will sell at wholesale rather than retail. IMO, only the high-end professional machines would offer a decent pay-back. Tools for professional shops. Homeowner tools would not be worth the time and trouble. You would need the knowledge to access the used machinery's worth in the as-is condition and the knowledge of what the potential is restored. 
Your turn-around time for a complete restoration would have to be quick if your going to make a profit.


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

Depends, how much is a little extra? Sure, you can make $20 profit here, maybe $100 there, but you won't be rolling in it. If you find an old contractor saw that's a little roughed up for $100, its pretty easy to clean that up, turn around and sell it for $200. You get a little profit, buyer gets a decent saw cheap. 

If you're asking if you can be rolling in dough, no. Theoretically, you'd get the best profit from finding a rusted hunk of collectable crap, get it for a song, perfectly repair is and offload it to a collector who A) has the cash to throw at a tool and B) doesn't want to restore it himself. Finding somebody with both A and B is borderline impossible, leaving alone the issue with getting the old machinery


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## maple man (Dec 21, 2012)

epicfail48 said:


> Depends, how much is a little extra? Sure, you can make $20 profit here, maybe $100 there, but you won't be rolling in it. If you find an old contractor saw that's a little roughed up for $100, its pretty easy to clean that up, turn around and sell it for $200. You get a little profit, buyer gets a decent saw cheap.
> 
> If you're asking if you can be rolling in dough, no. Theoretically, you'd get the best profit from finding a rusted hunk of collectable crap, get it for a song, perfectly repair is and offload it to a collector who A) has the cash to throw at a tool and B) doesn't want to restore it himself. Finding somebody with both A and B is borderline impossible, leaving alone the issue with getting the old machinery


 that's really all I want to do every now and then table saws, radial arm saws, drill presses, ect. Come up for 50 dollers or less and I have played around with buying them cheap and doing nothing but wiping them clean and delisting it for just a little less than what most want and it worked so far the few times I tried it so I was just wondering if I buy them cheap and list them 10 dollars less than average is it a good way to make 50-100 dollars on a tool maybe every week or so?


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## WarnerConstInc. (Nov 25, 2008)

It's possible, but not with nick nack small stuff.


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## honesttjohn (Jan 27, 2015)

I would think that once word gets out you could pick up some xtra $$ by fixing other peoples stuff. Sort of like the gunsmith that works out of his house that everyone in the area goes to.

HJ

Good repair and fixit people are hard to find


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## NickB (Sep 24, 2013)

2nd hand stores buy used "stuff", do little to nothing to it, and resell it for "a little extra money" every day. I don't see how that model could fail here unless you put too much money into the restorations or set your expectations too high. You may get paid better for your time by handing smiley stickers to kids at walmart, but... hey, if you enjoy what you're doing...


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*old tool restoration*

Folks who buy old tools often want the "joy of restoring"
them to be in the process, not the end result. You may not have the market that you think, I donno? How many folks would buy an already restored older tool, rather than do it themselves? 

Smaller tools, like planes and saws, I think would have the same issue. :blink:

It's quite not like furniture where you can fix broken joints, refinish it, combine things together, repurposing stuff, and come up with different items. You may find that this would have a broader appeal for folks who don't have the skill themselves.

What ever you do, it's always about the marketing process. A successful business person has a marketing plan OR evolves into one by necessity. The social media, Face Book and others have changed they way smaller businesses get exposure. A single person who "likes" your post has now exposed it to all their friends, a great marketing tool..:yes:


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## NickB (Sep 24, 2013)

woodnthings said:


> Folks who buy old tools often want the "joy of restoring"
> them to be in the process, not the end result. You may not have the market that you think, I donno? *How many folks would buy an already restored older tool, rather than do it themselves?*


I would personally.
Because:
I have more money than time.
I recognize the value of quality older tools.
This is an area that I'm likely to trust somebody with experience further than myself.
I don't have the patience to make it as nice as a "professional" restorer probably would.

But:
I must sense that the seller knows what they're talking about.
I would expect a conversation at time of purchase with a brief "training" and Q&A - preferably over a beer 
I've extensive experience and training in negotiation and will demand a fair deal or will likely pass.

I'm all for somebody making a buck, but there's only so much value in a tool. I'm not willing to pay for nostalgia, so the price needs to be right. I don't see a whole lot of money on the table.


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## mikeswoods (May 18, 2009)

WarnerConstInc. said:


> It's possible, but not with nick nack small stuff.



If you are talking about the heavy old commercial equipment--
Perhaps---

I could use a 36" band saw. Fully restored, because I don't enjoy fixing things--just using them.


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## WarnerConstInc. (Nov 25, 2008)

mikeswoods said:


> If you are talking about the heavy old commercial equipment--
> Perhaps---
> 
> I could use a 36" band saw. Fully restored, because I don't enjoy fixing things--just using them.


How about a 30" 217D Oliver?


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## maple man (Dec 21, 2012)

WarnerConstInc. said:


> mikeswoods said:
> 
> 
> > If you are talking about the heavy old commercial equipment--
> ...


 how much are you asking for it I've been wanting a 18" inch bandsaw but bigger is better right


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