Going once, going twice … buying shop equipment at an auction

Table of portabands ready to be auctioned off.

When my dad came across the opportunity to purchase Barnes MetalCrafters nearly 20 years ago, he had a good idea of how much time and money he would have to invest to make the business successful. Not only did he purchase the business, he purchased the tools and machinery that were under the roof. With any metal fabrication business, the ability to adapt to incoming jobs with the necessary tools is essential to success.

When I recently had the opportunity to attend an auction with my father, I started thinking about all the tools that we had in the shop. Many were purchased because they were needed for a job, and others were obtained along the way from auctions or sales. We have a ton of tools, and some may go several years before they are needed again; but the important thing to remember is that they will be needed, and we do have them.

The auction was for a guy who wanted to get out of the business and decided that he was going to sell all of his stuff. He had a small shop and employed several people that did mostly field work—shutdown work, millwright work, and onesie, twosie kinds of jobs. The shop stayed away from production work and served as a place to bend, cut, weld, and machine anything that needed to be done as it came along.

A lot of the hand tools were well-used, but many of the machines had barely been used and were practically brand-new. The auctioneer had sold several of the machines to the owner, so he gave us a brief history before the auction. Our shop already had most of the larger machines in-house, so we weren’t too interested in them. Well, I shouldn’t say we weren’t interested, because sometimes you can never tell what you are going to do until the bidding war starts.

Like at any auction, some tools went for pennies on the dollar and others went to the buyer who just had to have it, not knowing that the same thing could be bought brand-new for a little extra money. I always get a kick out of that. Sitting back and people-watching at auctions is also entertaining. Their expressions and one-liners get interesting when a little money is involved.

We had a chance to mingle with other shop owners and workers in the crowd. It’s funny how some things come full circle in the metal fabrication world. One of my favorite things about the day was when my dad noticed a guy’s welding shirt. He said, “You see that guy over there?” I said, “Yeah.” He said, “He stiffed me.” I laughed and carried on with the day. It got even better when the guy made eye contact with me and quickly turned his head the other way. People are funny.

When it comes to shop tools, “nice” is relative. On one hand, a cheap, no-name tool may be all it takes to finish a job and make some money. Auctions are a great place to find them, whether you are starting out or are a veteran in the business. On the other hand, a cheap tool has no place in a production environment. Our shop goes through grinders like candy bars, but we abuse the heck out of them. Each guy has two or three at his table so he doesn’t have to change out wheels as often.

I guess you have to start somewhere when it comes to tools and machines. Some older machines beat the hell out of newer ones. Equipment in our shop that is two or three times older than I am still gets used on a weekly basis.

We are always on the lookout for a deal on some tools; it’s second nature for my dad and me. We ended up with a nice car jack, a portaband, bench vise, and a pipe threading machine with a bucketful of dies. I’m not sure when we will use the pipe threading machine, but we have it now if we need it. I’ll be able to look at this thing and have a new story to tell of how we obtained it. I’m just curious as to what some of the older tools in our shop would say if they could tell the story of where they came from.

All images courtesy of Barnes MetalCrafters.

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