Used tool demmand declining?

[Skip J.]

For example, have you taken a look at what Mortise & Tenon Magazine has been doing lately?  Look at their staff page, especially.  I'm pretty sure that the only person there who isn't under 40 is Megan Fitzpatrick (though of course I would never presume to know a lady's exact age...).  And I don't think they're shipping most of their magazines to senior citizens living in retirement communities. 

Hello Steve;

I'm amazed that Megan hasn't commented about that yet....

[Bibliophile 13]

Hello Steve;

I'm amazed that Megan hasn't commented about that yet....

Let's hope she's busy teaching some millennials how to do traditional joinery instead of browsing forums...

[Admiral]

Let's hope she's busy teaching some millennials how to do traditional joinery instead of browsing forums...  

Megan's not a millenial?????!!!!!  

[EricU]

fwiw, the oldest millenials are 38

[tshiker]

I too have been buying and selling vintage woodworking hand tools for over 10 years and haven't seen a slowdown in sales or profit. The tools in highest demand change (router plane's are hot right now, I've sold 12+ this year) sometimes depending on what's written by a few individuals and that might explain why #3's were going for $50+ and now bring in +/- $35. All it takes is one well respected author to say they don't care for #3's cause it doesn't fit his big fat hand for the price to plummet! Althoughn tools in good shape that don't need to be cleaned up still command a good price! My supply of old tools seems to come in waves that have no pattern I can see other then seasonal, so I buy all I can when I can and try to ride the wave. All that being said, a woodworker looking to buy a quality hand tool today has many very good choices in new tools that we old-timers didn't have when we started.

[Skip J.]

I too have been buying and selling vintage woodworking hand tools for over 10 years and haven't seen a slowdown in sales or profit. The tools in highest demand change (router plane's are hot right now, I've sold 12+ this year) sometimes depending on what's written by a few individuals and that might explain why #3's were going for $50+ and now bring in +/- $35. All it takes is one well respected author to say they don't care for #3's cause it doesn't fit his big fat hand for the price to plummet! Althoughn tools in good shape that don't need to be cleaned up still command a good price! My supply of old tools seems to come in waves that have no pattern I can see other then seasonal, so I buy all I can when I can and try to ride the wave. All that being said, a woodworker looking to buy a quality hand tool today has many very good choices in new tools that we old-timers didn't have when we started.

This...

I have sat in Lynn Dowd's place for hours at a time and listened to him describe the process, and it's always this.... Sometimes it's the wife selling the husbands tools after he passes, sometimes it's guys cleaning out what they don't want... but it is not predictable over time he says.  You just have to wait for them to come along.  He would also trade old ww'ing books with me too, so I could trade some I was done with for some I didn't have.  Can't get that every day.

[Tony Z]

My purchase of tools has slowed dramatically over the past few years, though I still buy a few. 18 miter boxes were too many, even if bought cheap! Upwards of 3 to 400 plumbs was to many, even if there were few duplicates.

What I buy today is quality, and the quantity has been packed away, until
I figure out to disposal (has been packed since last winter and there hasn't been a thing I missed). Yeah, I still go to the Brown auctions, peruse Martin's sales, etc., but I'm looking for the Preston shave, in 100%, that I don't own, or another panther head, or #1 Stanley.

[Mike Brady]

Went to a MWTCA meet today (the only public one in the country).  Bought zero, but sold a few things to dealers because I didn't want to pack and ship).  The people I knew there not buying much, if anything.  My conclusion is that my friends and I would have bought a few planes each ten years ago but since the 1950's planes hadn't changed much 
  there was nothing that I needed.  The most interesting thing I saw was an LN 4-1/2 with the old Stanley-style chip breaker, but it had a walnut knob and tote.  He wanted $325 for it, exactly the price of the current one new.  I questioned the price and he said it was a rare collectible 
  that he had paid $315 for.  My conclusion is that if there is a down-turn in old hand tool sales, the sellers have not reacted to it.  Maybe they were wheeling/dealing if you wanted to haggle.  I did not want to waste their time.  One old guy was showing a #1 Stanley knockoff with beautiful engraving on the cheeks.  Said he bought it from a Russian source for $75.00  Collectible? Maybe.

[jgourlay]

The real estate markets are seeing fewer starter homes and there are fewer fixers on the market.  Millenials as a group, are not trying to buy homes the same way the older among us did.  They can't afford them anyway and many do not have either the skills or the desire to learn.  I see a downward trend coming.

The OTHER thing about this:  if you aren't in a home, you generally are not having room for tools in the garage you don't have.  Even if you do bring tools inside, unlikely you can sustain the mess indoors.