As my 77th birthday approaches, every time I go in the workshop I see bits and pieces I have accumulated over 60 years working in various engineering companies. I also realise that I will never get round to using some of this stuff, but it is too good to throw away, and all it needs is to find a good home. Most of it is not worth much and not worth the trouble of selling it.
I am proposing that there be a thread on this site where folks like me can list our surplus stuff, available for free, with the postage being paid by the recipient. This would avoid clogging up the classifieds with odds and ends.
Also there could be another thread where folks can list special, or oddball tools or tooling for loan.
For example, many years ago I aquired an old lathe that was reputedly made in quantity by the company I worked for during WW1. The crosslide leadscrew nut was worn out, and I was able to find a set of taps in the toolroom, which had been there for 50 years, to make a new nut. I was given these taps, and made my nut. I have had these ever since and will never ever need them again, but somebody might. The taps are 9/16" diameter Acme, 8TPI, LH. Out there somewhere there probably still some of these lathes working.
I cannot throw these away, hence the suggestion of the loan list, so maybe they will come in handy for someone else.
I suspect there are a few folks who bought taps and dies to make faceplates and the like for lathes they no longer own, who could add to such a list.
Chris Gunn