Does anyone buy the rusty old spanners from auto jumbles.

[teaky]

Hi.

I've just started hosting a table at an Auto jumble selling tools. A friend cleared out their tools, and gave me a couple of boxes of large spanners to sell on. I think they are mostly Whitworth? Do you think there will be any interest in them, or should I take them to the recycling centre? It's not about making money on these, just want them in the hands of someone who will use them. If I had a van, I would take them and see what happens, but I have a car with limited space. Thanks.

 

[jerrytug]

Welcome on board!
Clean off the maker's name and jaw sizes with wire wool and some oil, take pics and put them on here in the For Sale section. Somebody will have a genuine use for them. Large English spanners will always get used.

 

[8ob]

My mate buys old spanners and makes horse heads out of them.

 

[Parm]

Call me a cynic, but your a new member, first post on the forum and your discussing sale of stuff?

There are seasoned veterans on here that (somehow) have evaded the attention of the moderators

 

[brightspark]

the only ones that sell are in good condition and a recognized quality make .larger ones are collectable and sell easy / not for much mind

 

[keithski122]

I was given a load of rusty old imperial spanners 34 years ago when I first started my apprenticeship................I've only ever used one of them.Funnily enough I used it today for the first time in 15 years, it was just the right size to use the ring end to slip over a bar as I bent it.

 

[Olderisbetter]

I have used old spanners cleaned up ad drawer and door handles with a bit of conduit as a spacer

 

[bourbon]

agree with @Parm on this one.

 

[optima21]

Call me a cynic, but your a new member, first post on the forum and your discussing sale of stuff?

There are seasoned veterans on here that (somehow) have evaded the attention of the moderators

could be with you on that too and look, you've thrown a spanner in the works

you'l have a very limited market with old spanners unless someone has a decorative use for them, there were always loads of old spanners available when I went to autojumbles pre-covid.

 

[Mikes]

Unfortunately there seems to be a never ending supply of old spanners all around us. I've a few old tool boxes full of these that I keep just for the odd occasion that I need to 'amend' one to suit a particular task. Generally anything wich is very splayed goes in the metal skip. Having said that, only last week I pulled out two old spanners both of which will be opened out to suit a collet chuck and therefore be dedicated to their task. Much better than having to reach for an adjustable. I would certainly think twice about dragging boxes of them to a boot sale. Used to frequent a few autojumbles and often thought how sole destroying it must be to drag all those bits around on the off chance of selling a few spanners for 50p. Perhaps just try it once which might make your mind up.
Wish I had the artistic talent to do do something like 8ob's mate.

 

[DAPPH]

I have four or five old open jawed spanners that I've ground out to fit somethings ,it's much cheaper than doing a 30 mile round trip and buying the correct metric size one that costs half a years pension . Same goes for one old Whitworth spanner that went on a diet & lost a few mm of fatness so I could get it between two faces.

 

[cardiffrob]

We destroy quite a few Whit and BSF spanners because we dismantle vintage aircraft and often have to grind down spanners to suit specific purposes. I've never snapped an unmodified old spanner but quite a few new ones have died dramatically.
Dip old spanners into a tub of hot water and citric acid for a week to clean off the rust, then oil them.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Yes.
But the tools have to be clean.
Compete sets.
Or sold as a mix to make a compete sets.
Be a good name.

A 1/2" spanner can sell from 10P to £1.

 

[droopsnoot]

I've bought plenty of old spanners from car boot sales, and still have a quick look through boxes. Don't just dump a box that's full of old rusty spanners on the ground though - spread them out so people can see what there is if you're selling individually, or sell the whole box / bag cheap.

I recently spent a few pounds on this selection, and immediately regretted it:

That is, until I had to do the lambda sensor on my modern car, and found that the only spanner that would go on was the pipe spanner one in from the top right of the photo, even though it's 7/8" and my daily car is all metric. All of a sudden I hadn't wasted £7 on a bag of duplicate spanners. And those adjustables aren't bad quality, either. Whitworth spanners are often a bit less useful, but at the right price they can be used as sacrificial spanners as @cardiffrob mentioned - some whitworth sizes are close enough either to AF or metric that they'll do a job. And spares are sometimes useful - the bent 17mm combi is now the one that sits on my flypress to undo the tool fixing bolt.

 

[zzr1200]

Good quality spanners are always sort after, from old style Snail brand right up to modern style BSF/Whitworth, just depend on what your into, steam engine, stationery engine, old tractors, for me it's BSF/Whit for my old lathe, mill and various other machines.

My milling machine, even though it's early far eastern model it still uses a mix of imperial and unf/unc threads, yes years ago they just plain copied every thing on a machine.

 

[rtcosic]

I'm now in the market for good-quality brand Whitworth/BSF spanners, after getting rid of them all decades ago!

I've just spent c.£30 on new spanners and sockets because I needed them NOW.

British cars well into the '50s are Whitworth/BSF (amongst other threads just for fun).

 

[gt6s]

I buy old Whitworth spanners at times. I need them for my Lister CS generator & my big old lathe

 

[brightspark]

I buy old Whitworth spanners at times. I need them for my Lister CS generator & my big old lathe

got a nice set open ended williams superslim whitworth spanners of the tool dealer at autojumble for 20 quid /either he felt sorry for me or he had a funny turn because he is normally expensive

 

[teaky]

Some pics.

The horse head is awesome.

I understand a bit of scepticism about my post, but I'm not looking to sell the spanners on here. It's not about money at all. If someone at the auto jumble offers me £1 for the lot and is willing to take them away and use them, I will happily take it. Problem is that I don't know if there will be any interest at all, even for free. Thanks for the replies.

 

[Barking Mat]

Some pics.

View attachment 355212

View attachment 355213

View attachment 355214

View attachment 355215

The horse head is awesome.

I understand a bit of scepticism about my post, but I'm not looking to sell the spanners on here. It's not about money at all. If someone at the auto jumble offers me £1 for the lot and is willing to take them away and use them, I will happily take it. Problem is that I don't know if there will be any interest at all, even for free. Thanks for the replies.

Too good to chuck.

Wire brush / citric acid them, they'll make you beer tokens.