What will happen to your tools when you die?

[goaliedad]

When I assume room temperature I hope my son has some interest in my tools, or at least some of them. He hasn’t shown any interest in woodworking, but they own a house, and he talks about renovating some things. My son in law has his father’s shop, and my dad’s vintage table saw.

When my brother in law passed he left us a ton of stuff- very little of it was of interest to me. We ended up having a massive rummage sale. I assume my wife will do the same after the kids take what they want

[Admiral]

I'm sort of in the camp of being happy to use them as long as I can and after I'm dead, I really don't care. Vast majority were acquired at garage and estate sales mostly bought at very reasonable prices, so I'm ok with an auction/estate sale as its sort of poetic that they get recycled in the same way. The higher end Veritas and LN pieces I've got will always bring a good price at auction, or close enough to a good price. But then, I'm dead, so god bless anyone who got a bargain! Sort of a weird 'pay it forward' thing . . .

[briman87]

35 years old here. I think about my mortality just about every day.  I will probably be gone far earlier then others that I know.  I have told my wife that when ever the time comes to give what one of our friends wants to take.  What they don't want they can help figure out a price and get a good price so she has some money and take a vacation to where ever the money will take her.

[iublue]

Die?  Who is planning on that!!
 

I have done it in the past and probably need to do it again and that is take my phone and make a video of all my tools, what a paid for them and an approximate value I would attach today.
My son and daughter are, of course, internet savvy so they could sell everything.
My bigger problem is how they would sell all the lumber I have and I have a BUNCH!  Says the wood addict!!

[Handplanesandmore]

Unless I drop dead out of the blue, most of my machines and tools will have been sold by the time I am in my late 70s. I have had a good run with my hobby, and I'll sell my quailty tools at very reasonable prices so people can afford them, something like 35% to 40% of their current retail prices, lower if necessary. Like they say, priced to sell. The last thing I want to see is leaving a shop full of things for my surviving family to worry about.

Unlike some woodworkers, I'm never attached to any tools emotionally.

Simon

[Woodenfish]

All of the younger generation in my family wouldn’t know what to do with a hammer let alone a router that doesn’t work with a laptop. I guess my stuff will be either found by a lucky craftsman or some winning auction bidder.

[lincmercguy]

"All of the younger generation in my family wouldn’t know what to do with a hammer let alone a router that doesn’t work with a laptop. I guess my stuff will be either found by a lucky craftsman or some winning auction bidder."

I spend my workday on a laptop, so the last thing I want to do after work is touch a computer, lol.

[lincmercguy]

"Unlike some woodworkers, I'm never attached to any tools emotionally."

I do have a handful. I have a set of Snap-On wrenches that I won in the Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills competition in high school. I have a Craftsman tool box that my Mom gave me for graduation. I also have a simple, but sturdy workbench that I made my Mom years ago that I kept when she passed away. Those are items I'll never get rid of, but they also get plenty of use. But those wouldn't have any sentimental value beyond myself.

I have a bunch of US-made Craftsman Pro tools from my wrenching days that you simply can't buy anymore. Two of those impact sockets probably saw several thousand lug nuts on an impact through five years as a mechanic and don't have a hint of mushrooming.

I hope my kids end up wanting to maintain a tool collection for some type of hobby that can use them. They're still pretty young, but like dabbling in some woodworking and mechanic work. It's more that I want them to know how to work with their hands, so I'm teaching them now.

[Turner52]

My trust has all of my tools. boat and fishing stuff goingto 1 of my grandsons. Heis the only one who has an interest in it.The trust will pay for professional movers to packit up and bring it wherever. He is 18. I have given his mother $5000 in cash to pay for storage if he doesn't have a place to put it. He is aware of this and was overwelmed when he was told. I cleared that with his mother first. My wife passed Sept of 2021. I have given all of my wifes jewelery to his sister. A lot of costume stuff bt also a fair amount of gold, silver, and diamonds. One ring especially was gold and very heavy, so with todays gold prices worth quite a bit. She is 12, so I have no idea what she will do when she is of age. She certainly loved her grandmother and I am pretty sure she will keep quite a bit of it.

[Yetloh]

Thank you all for taking the trouble to reply.  Some useful ideas there.  

The most valuable things in my 'shop are my seven Holtey planes which are a joy to contemplate and to use.  I have given a lot of thought about what shpuld happen to them.

A few miles from us there is a workshop which is a charitable trust set up by the last working descendant of one of the great English Arts and Crafts furnoture workshops.  Before he died he turned his business into a charitable trust whose objective is to continue making very high end furniture and to use the business to provide tradional apprenticeships to train young cabinet makers who can ssubsequently go out into the wider furniture making world, whether through other workshops or by establishing their own businesses, to maintain the tradition of fine furniture making in this country.  As part of their wider educational remit they also encourage group visits by woodworkers and other interested group as well as taking occasional paying students.  I visit them on open days and also take my Holteys there every year or so to talk about fine tools and also allow the apprentices to try them - something they always seem to be inspired by.  I plan to leave the planes to the workshop.

I don't know whether there are similar trusts in the US, but if so, I can thoughly recommend making contact with them if you have fine tools without a home.  It is always inspiring to me to meet these incredibly talented and dedicated young people who are aiming to ensure the continuation of a craft that is very dear to me.

That just leaves the rest of my stuff but this thread has certainly been a useful source of ideas.  I will continue to watch for more.

Jim

Jim