We are repeatedly asked if we have a physical shop, for people to browse around and have to explain why we don’t do this anymore. There are many reasons for this today and our business differs in so many ways from what came before and for a good reason.
Back in the day, my father sold his old used tools from a shop here in Norwich, it was a great place where mostly local craftsmen and hobbyists visited. It was a great place to be for visitors, where they could mill through various handy bits and bobs plus a range of old tools, where often there would be other like-minded people to have a good old yarn about various topics relating to the trades and tools themselves.
Over time it became busier but generally with the same regular faces where customers became friends which was great socially especially because of my father’s personal friends visiting and those from the local public house also seemed to visit an hour before opening times. Maybe it would have helped if my father wasn’t so personable and had been a more matter-of-fact type of character. The cycle repeated day after day where it seemed to become more of a coffee house and lunchtime escape for many visitors, usually leading to someone twisting my father’s arm into a pint at the end of the day, not that he needed much persuasion. The reality in the end was, that it became more of a lifestyle type of business where time was very limited on what would have made the business better with more emphasis on the products.
My father was a salesman through and through and not a tradesman like myself and this is where we differ. Nothing phases me where using my mind in conjunction with my hands is concerned, as I have a very diverse portfolio of extremely valuable and complex projects behind me. This is where we differ but also being a son of a salesman I likewise can engage in deep conversations and understand the principles involved but realise I have to focus on what I feel is more important and that is the product and services we provide and let the product speak for itself!
Why then have we altered our approach:
As we have stated our family has been involved with used tools since 1977 when being a used tool dealer was pretty unheard of as a career, let alone a business. We see what going on today and nothing new is being done by used tool sellers other than the most important factor of building reputations for honesty. This is why I have said before, that it’s important to use honest and reputable tool dealers, whom you can trust to put things right if mistakes are made. For too long there have been sharks that are solely interested in their gain and the reason so many tools get sold on places like eBay where sellers neglect to show important information “Sold as Used” to dupe potential customers into purchasing. It’s been happening for years to users who at first think they have picked up a bargain until closer inspection, it happens to us also, so it’s still a very prevalent practice.
So the plan with Tooltique on its reinvention after my father’s retirement was to learn and understand these old tools in detail, rather than living on the hearsay of “They don’t make them like they used to” or the ‘old steel is much better’. I wanted to learn the reasons behind these statements and it can’t be done whilst talking but instead by doing. I also wanted to be able to be able to discern differences, extra qualities, and where attention to detail was felt important by various historical makers.
Over the past 10 years, this has been our focus to continually improve methods both in quality and also focusing on duration, effort, and best materials to use to undertake the tasks. We have also undertaken refurbishment to thousands of different tools repeatedly, to refine these processes and to find and solve every possible problem. Knowledge as we can all agree is a very powerful thing and mastery of any practice takes repeated practice as any experienced craftsman will attest to as essential to becoming an expert. I feel we are at that stage of expertise and yes because of this I also know there is more to learn as we go further into the detail.
The Internet age:
This has brought advantages and disadvantages in the used tool business especially with so many proclaimed experts online that give advice which is often learned not from experience but from watching these other experts online. We have to understand the age of why these channels open and it’s usually financially beneficial for those producing video channels who earn through advertising and affiliate links, sometimes they are showing interesting things to do, but are often not commercially viable in the real world in our workshops.
Used vintage tools have never been easier to find as a result of online searches it has enabled us to find the rarest of tools which were once, a once in a lifetime opportunity but that’s the first hurdle. As they say, it’s in the details and all too often with people who don’t know what they are selling the important details are not available or conveniently avoided by those more unscrupulous types. The disadvantage is not being able to handle these old vintage tools to make a proper assessment and why I rarely buy from images alone.
This means ideally the seller will have the knowledge and the awareness to check and display what is important where tool maintenance and refurbishment are concerned, we all want the quickest, cheapest, and best results possible. Likewise, if people are to perform their own refurbishment needs they need to be able to accurately assess the work involved to bring them up to standard. This is important as it’s used here when buying old tools and why the same raw tool can vary in its true value. Time is money after all, even if it’s part of what’s required for a hobby!
The future of vintage tools:
Tooltique will always have its place for those who like to buy tools ready for use, but as I get older I also want to preserve the knowledge gained and release these techniques for users and others who want to provide the service Tooltique does today.
Technology will enable us to record in the same detail to show the finer details and something I need to work on. This will provide many aspects to help every workshop to lighten the load on those arduous tasks such as sharpening whilst reducing costs. It will also give a clear practical direction for solving many aspects commonly encountered as well as detailed videos on all types of tools from start to finish.
We are looking at this now but have to test whether a different environment is needed. This will take some time to get right and is a new learning curve but like all things, it will take some time to be brought to fruition.
Many will know a couple of years ago we launched a new website dedicated to the sale of old tools through our auction software but it soon became apparent that what we had built had issues regarding the stress caused to the server. It was back to the drawing board and although the server didn’t crash it was clear any extra traffic would have caused serious issues because of the coding we used. We are close now to finishing stage ‘1’ which is lightning-quick updating every computer regardless of the amount of traffic it has with limited server usage. Membership benefits and restrictions have also been updated so there are no fees involved in registering for an account. It’s all changed and will be an extremely useful tool going forward for everyone wanting to buy or sell generally used tools that require refurbishment for use.
We will invite all our customers when this is finalised.
A final word.
Over the years I have worked extremely hard to bring standards to an industry that had lost its way and challenge those who did their best to to undermine users’ confidence in buying vintage old tools. That was 10 years ago but since then we have converted many users’ opinions and tried our utmost to lead in a way that shows that with some hard work and attention to detail how good these tools can be. Refurbishment has often been left to the user and isn’t either understood or respected by sellers of old tools. Skills and effort are required for this job which is valuable to those buying old raw tools and not those selling them unless they want to provide a top-level used tool refurbishment service.
I’m getting closer to bringing the full circle needed to help those who need help, and maybe open the door to some new ideas and methods for those who are experienced with interesting tutorial videos. When this auction system is complete hopefully with support I can provide a service for those buying old raw tools based on true supply and demand.
It’s been a long slow long hard march to where we are today to find solutions that are viable in all trades, especially for the new world where quality over quantity will hold the most value due to carbon emissions and the drive towards an emphasis on the reduction of this throw-away age.
