The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop advice needed for used autobody tools

I found a guy locally that is selling some old autobody tools his uncle gave him, and I was just wondering if I should consider getting these or not:

Autobody Tools

Currently I only have one body dolly and a ball-pien hammer and would eventually like to get more autobody tools. I honestly don't know what most of the tools in the pictures are used for (or at least their correct use). He's asking $200 for all of them - what's your thoughts? Should I get them, talk him down on the price, or wait and look elsewhere?

It looks like a great deal to me.

Figure $25-$40 for darn near every piece you see there then make up your mind.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Keep what you use and sell the rest on ebay. You should be able to make your money back and have a nice set of tools. Good to see you spell your name right.

Neil

Check the price of one hammer or dolly from Snap On and then decide!!
Good deal!

Go for it. I paid $100 for a small hammer and dolly set from Eastwood that isn't very good quality... $200 for all those old, sturdy tools is a good deal.

I concur with everyone above.Maybe try talking him down. Thats a dam good deal,,buy a "basic bodywork" book, and maybe stop at a local bodyshop and ask them.keep the ones you think you'll use,and evil-bay the rest.
Youll end up with a nice set of tools for not much $$$

There's a lot of good stuff there. I would grab it before he changes his mind or someone else grabs it.

$200? WHAT are you waiting for?

If you want to make a quick C-note, I'll give you $300 for the lot.

i would be scared to even try to talk him down. you are lookin at some pretty big money. i likey the sale what you don't need idea, you will come out ahead!!

Well after a bunch of good advice from all of you I agreed to purchase the tools from the guy for the $200. Woody, as much as I could use the money to help finish my truck I know I would regret not having these tools down the road as I work on future projects.

Thanks again for all of the wonderful advice! Now, can you tell me what all of those tools do??? Especially those wood pieces? I do have a metal working book in the mail as I type, so I'm sure many of my questions will be answered in there.

The wood pieces I belive are paddles for working lead.
Cleon

The hammers are obvious.

The six wooden things in THIS PICTURE are paddles for shaping and spreading hot body solder. The hammer in the lower left corner is what's known as a shrinking hammer. The serrated face of the hammer is used to shrink stretched metal. The thing in th lower right corner is either a sanding block if it's rubber or a dolly if it's steel.

The things in the lower right corner of THIS PICTURE (and other similar flat things) are called spoons. The upper one I believe would be a slapping spoon used like a hammer for shaping metal. The one in the extreme lower right corner is used between the hammer and sheetmetal to spread the affect of the hammer blow.

This collection is indeed a treasure. You will probably only wind up using a couple pieces - this is a working man's lifetime collection of tools that could be used to metal finish anything that would come through the shop.

Great find.

I picked the tools up this weekend and they all seem to be in great shape, with a few needing new handles. The tools themselves are probably about as old as my truck - the guy I bought them from (in his late 50s) got them from his late uncle years ago.

Thank you for all the help, and thank you for clarifying the tools Woody! I can't wait to start using them on the truck!

Congratulations on a great find. Take care of them and they will last another lifetime. Check out metalmeet.com if you want to learn more about metal shaping.

Jim