Late FIL's mill and some other tools. What's it worth? how to sell?

I'm posting here, as these are not technically for sale yet, but I've no idea the value or how to go about it it.  My late Father in law just passed last weekend, so we now have the usual issues of the house, and various things to sort out.

One of the few things that may have some value is his mill, and various tools/bits for it.  On one hand I've love it, but I"m not sure I have the space or real need, as maturity is showing me my plans and ideas don't add up with my dedication, skill, or resources.

The family is looking at getting in one of those consignment sale/auction companies to get rid of most stuff, including the tools.  I'm not sure that's the best way to go about it.

What little I know, it's about 50 years old.  Here's some pics.

Here's some of the tools/bits

I'd put it on FB marketplace or the GRM classified. It's one of the older import bench top mills. The mill itself is probably $500-750, with tooling being the big unknown. Used endmills aren't worth selling individually, but a collection of endmills, drill chuck, bits, and other associated tooling could be worth as much or more than the mill.

For what it's worth, I think the smaller mills like this tend to sell faster since they're more approachable for someone looking to make metal chips in their garage.

Ninja edit now that I see the additional pics: I'd put it up for $1500 for the lot and take $1000-1250.

There's more tools.  The real question is, does it all have any value, if so how much, and where should I advertise?  the first machine is a two man post hole digger from the 60's.  Works, but hard to start, the augers bits are around as well.

There's thousands of other tools and things, but it's a mess, here's a couple of pics of the workshop area.  All those small draws are full of various fateners as well.

In reply to Brotus7 :

Thanks Brotus for the quick reply.  Good points

Condolences to your family.

There's probably enough decent stuff there to attract an auctioneer if you want an easy put. The mill, chop saw and band saw could be easily flogged on CL or FB, but the smaller stuff is kind of a pita to dig through and price. That said, a yard sale ad on CL with the word "tools" and the pics will draw a lot of interest. 

If I weren't gonna be looking at apartment living, I'd be interested in that mill. 

Hell, still might be interested. 

I think the proper auction might be the spot for that.  A company that does equipment auctions would be able to market that to the right buyers.

If you cherry pick and sell the good stuff, the rest of it is scrap.  An auction will sell boxes of junk, beside the good stuff, and some poor soul will buy the box, because they just have to...

~$750 for the mill. That's what I sold mine for a few years ago. 

~$50 for the chop saw.

~$75 for the band saw 

The tool boxes are probably worth more than the contents. Exceptions would be good measuring tools. Honestly though, if he had an import mill the tools are probably imports too and they aren't worth much. 
 

I'd hold an estate sale just for the contents of the garage. Take offers for everything. You will probably make more than if you hire an auctioneer. Frankly it's better than having to hire someone to take it to the dump. 

In reply to Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) :

I am in exactly that position myself.    I totaled up my wood working shop tools.   It came to a little over $15,000  list price.   Plus  another $4300 worth of accessories. 
     A buyer balked at my request  for $4500 for them.  Saying, " he'd let me know". ( sales speak for he'd check his request book for units sold at a profit compared to balance of equipment left).  
      I've already decided to donate the surplus  hardwood to Habitat  to Humanity  because the write off is enough.   Turns out the wood on hand has a market value of $36,000.   
     
  The one bit of advice I can give you is don't get greedy.   When I go by the used machine  tool places in town they retail for about 50-55% of original cost.  Some  seem to sit there for a very long time.  

   When I sold off the timber framing tools I had. I at first asked For 50% of new prices.   These tools were in perfect shape and included many spare cutting edges.    
  I only started to sell them when I lowered the prices to 35-40% of new cost.  
     My buddy Joe, has helped several friends widows out  selling MG and other vintage sports cars. 
   While he got above the "book" prices on the completed /running cars.  The parts and project cars took years of hauling them to swap meets and   Advertising to get really modest prices.   
  

I think the biggest issue is most of the buyers for these are dying off, and so are the owners so not much demand, and more supply everyday. Auctions will take a good percentage, so I'd just try a garage sale offering tools, worse case you burn a Saturday, then call the auction place. 

Whenever I've been to an estate sale that advertises tools and has a few pictures like you've posted, the workshop was crammed with guys pawing through all the drawers and boxes.  However, they were all looking for a deal.  I think the drawers and shelves full of nuts and bolts and cans and miscellaneous stuff will sell if you have low prices on them.  The alternate is it just gets tossed or scrapped, so getting a few bucks is still better than nothing.

i kinda want the mill

That is the Rong Fu 30 mill. A poorly thought of, low rung import, round column mill from the 80's to now.

I had one for a few years while I was making space for my full sized mill. While the work envelope is small, It did every thing I asked of it and consistently surprised me with the results. It is one of the most common beginners mills world wide and being so popular it has a huge global knowledge base and a good sized aftermarket.  You can even buy a bolt on cnc retrofit kit for it.

They are small enough for the average garage and are usually 120V so no need for 3 phase converters.

Im just saying these are the PERFECT beginners machine.

The prices are all over the place but I haven't seen one sell around here for under a thousand since I sold mine. 

Thanks for the feedback.  It's not a bad little unit, I've used it a lot, and it made many parts for various projects over the years, both for his business and around the house.

Non of the consignment / auction companies are interested for the total volume of what we have.

We will probably have a big clean up, sort out, trash, weigh in scrap over the next few weeks, then we can catalog what tools and parts there are then either have a sale, and/or advertise on CraigsFacel  Don't worry, details will appear here, although I'll start a new post in the for sale section when ready.

Thanks

Since I bought my mill ~5 yrs, I've not paid attention.  Have prices gone up for old, manual mills?  I'm amazed at the suggestions of $800+ for an import benchtop mill.  Nothing against those, but I got my 2200#, 9"x48", Made in USA mill for $850.  I just assumed something like this one would be more like $350.

Selling the tooling as a package is the way to go if you don't include it with the mill.  Good way to go from "I got a mill but have nothing for it" to having a decent set instantly.  Selling by-the-piece would be insanity. 

NorseDave said:

Since I bought my mill ~5 yrs, I've not paid attention.  Have prices gone up for old, manual mills?  I'm amazed at the suggestions of $800+ for an import benchtop mill.  Nothing against those, but I got my 2200#, 9"x48", Made in USA mill for $850.  I just assumed something like this one would be more like $350.

Selling the tooling as a package is the way to go if you don't include it with the mill.  Good way to go from "I got a mill but have nothing for it" to having a decent set instantly.  Selling by-the-piece would be insanity. 

Location has a lot to do with valuation of machines, and honestly smaller mills hold their value better than larger machines, especially machines that can run on household current.

In places that are near the old manufacturing hubs, manual machines are much more plentiful and cheap than in places that don't have the manufacturing history.

I got a 9x36 mill-rite machine a few years ago, and I paid a premium for it because it sits at a crossroads, being large enough to do "real work" but also small enough that it doesn't eat up an entire corner of the garage, It runs on 120, is a legit knee mill, and I can even move the thing across the shop by myself if I get angry enough.

On a separate note regarding taking pics:  one of those pics shows 3 countersink sets in red cases, the newest one he (I assume) wrote "do NOT screw this set up". That's funny, and maybe it's assumed but it's those kind of pics that should be as important as the pics required for selling his stuff.  Those pics that show the little tidbits of who he was, what he was working on, that bring to life a story that someone might tell about him.

Yes, it's kind of a big mess, but any of the traces left that give a direct glimpse of the person that spent so much time in there are worth capturing if you notice them. 

I check FB every day for a Mill and tooling package like that. $2000 or less and it would be in my shop.

The value proposition besides tooling is that it is not a huge 3 phase mill and yet it is also not a busy-bee toy quality machine.  Also, it can be transported without hiring a mover.

I would put the Mill and tools on FB for 1500 and see what bites.

In reply to NOHOME :

Well, you're less than 3 hours away!!

I'll post pics and an ad here before I post on FB when the time comes

Consider me an interested party

So today we're stuck in cleaning up and putting stuff in the dumpster. First item, old Oxygen, acetylene welding set up. Has probably sat underneath the house semi-exposed to the weather for at least 40 years. I called Linde gas, they wont take it, I can take it to the hazardous drop off at the dump, which is what we'll do if nobody wants it. Not sure I trust the tanks even, but free to good home if anybody wants it metro Detroit area.

Air Con gauges.  Free

I'd cut those oxy/acet hoses off and toss them.  You don't need the headache given our litigious society.  

Late notice, sorry.  After weeks of clean up and sorting we're having an estate sale tomorrow Sat 17th, then again next weekend 24th / 25th for whatever left.

Details on Facebook Marketplace, or DM me for directions.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1973054189703224/

Thanks