What did you do today?

[Mark J]

John G,  mostly the big electric items and associated accessories, things that would typically resell for half the original cost.  

Consumable items like a lathe gouge I didn't include, but those typically sell for a smaller fraction of cost.  

From an insurace perspective maybe I should have saved every receipt, but I didn't.

[legenddc]

9 hours ago, JohnG said:

I’ve been meaning to keep similar records as well, but currently just have partial records of my power tool purchases.

@Coop @Mick S @Mark J what’s your threshold for what gets recorded vs what doesn’t? The accountant in me wants to track all woodworking related expenses, but I know that I won’t actually keep up with that. 

I've been meaning to do this as well. In fact, I started talking to my insurance company the week before we went into lockdown. I'll have to schedule a call with them.

How do you all manage used tools? Equal new equivalent? I.E. my Ridgid 4512 would be equivalent to the new Ridgid 4520 even though I bought it used?

[Mark J]

My project started as cleaning up my office. I had a box full of accumulated receipts, so my initial goal was to march up existing receipts to equipment with an eye toward the eventual estate sale.  I don't have receipts or much of any recollection of what I paid for used items.  

For insurance purposes I don't know if the insurance companies care what you paid, they're going to cover the present used value.  So I'm thinking that a photo of each item with the manual or packaging showing the model # and maybe a Post-it or receipt showing the date of purchase might be the best and easiest way to keep a log.

[Llama]

On 5/31/2020 at 4:40 PM, treeslayer said:

I’m guessing that the Mustang costs more, but they both make you smile 

Close to 3x... Yes, they both make me smile  

On 5/31/2020 at 4:41 PM, Woodenskye said:

Mel both have blue paint, a match made in heaven in your garage.

Indeed! 

On 5/31/2020 at 4:57 PM, Mark J said:

Moght be a good idea to roll up that window.  Just saying.

Mustang sits outside while any work is done. It's amazing how I seem to not have any space in my shop despite having close to 900SF. I really need to move things around again... Anyone want to help push the Felder?  

[Chet]

1 hour ago, Llama said:

Anyone want to help push the Felder?

I am asking because I am not totally familiar with the Felder jointer/planer but wouldn't that be a machine that could sit more or less against the wall.  You appear to have it so you can walk around it.

 

[Mark J]

1 hour ago, Llama said:

Anyone want to help push the Felder?  

How 'bout I back out the Mustang, you know, to give you room to move the Felder.

[Chet]

14 hours ago, Coop said:

Do you guys use this trim bit mainly for pattern work? 

Yea, I do.  It has a really clean cut.  If you were a person that did some edge jointing on your router table it would be a great bit for that.  You are supposed t one able to go with or against the grain with it but I haven't tried that so can't say.

[pkinneb]

1 hour ago, Chet said:

I am asking because I am not totally familiar with the Felder jointer/planer but wouldn't that be a machine that could sit more or less against the wall.  You appear to have it so you can walk around it.

 

Its a sweet machine, and while big, it flips up square unlike my A3/31 which has bat wings. I was able to see it in person when Mel picked it up and its been on my wish list ever since.

[pkinneb]

4 hours ago, Mark J said:

For insurance purposes I don't know if the insurance companies care what you paid, they're going to cover the present used value.  So I'm thinking that a photo of each item with the manual or packaging showing the model # and maybe a Post-it or receipt showing the date of purchase might be the best and easiest way to keep a log.

I would agree. For insurance I take photo's once year just so I can remember everything if I ever have to but figure I will most likely be alive to deal with it.

For EOL I have a spreadsheet that lists what I paid and a pic # of the item then another folder has all the pics. This is more for when I die and my family has to sell stuff they will know what its worth. Having said that if she finds it while i'm alive it may have adverse effects LOL

[Llama]

1 hour ago, Chet said:

I am asking because I am not totally familiar with the Felder jointer/planer but wouldn't that be a machine that could sit more or less against the wall.  You appear to have it so you can walk around it.

 

It has to be I think 10" off the wall or something for the guard to have room to fold out of the way. The current location works very well since it's the longest run in my shop. I've needed to process boards 12' long before and wouldn't have been able to do that if it were against a wall. Would be close... perhaps I could... but not ideal.

The original layout had the tablesaw where the Mustang is now, but I moved it to the other side of the shop so I could get my wife's car in incase of hail. I plan on selling the TS and using that spot for the Mustang perhaps... or a giant Shaker style workbench. 

[JohnG]

26 minutes ago, pkinneb said:

This is more for when I die and my family has to sell stuff they will know what its worth. Having said that if she finds it while i'm alive it may have adverse effects LOL

The latter may lead to the former. 

[Chestnut]

4 hours ago, Mark J said:

For insurance purposes I don't know if the insurance companies care what you paid, they're going to cover the present used value.  So I'm thinking that a photo of each item with the manual or packaging showing the model # and maybe a Post-it or receipt showing the date of purchase might be the best and easiest way to keep a log.

I'm not entirely sure about that. A close friend of mine bought an item used and when it was stolen the insurance company covered new replacement value. I asked this specifically of my insurance company and for scheduled items at least i declare the value and they insure that value despite any depreciation. For items that don't have a well documented used market it's difficult for them to look in a book to determine the used value for say a Laguna 14/12 bandsaw from 2006 in fair to good condition. My policy is for replacement cost so that covers new value of the item but there are also cash value policies.

Punch line they may care and may reimburse that amount if the item no longer is available new. At least you'd have good information if they tried to give you $5 for a $1,000 table saw.

The big question and i never got a clear answer is how would insurance company cover handmade items.... like my Morris Chairs or dining set. Or alternately how would it cover lumber? I probably have as much value in lumber as i do equipment but it's hard to document.

[legenddc]

I think a lot of it depends on what insurance policy you have. Covering handmade items would be tricky, maybe less so with an item available online like a Maloof rocker or one of Darrel Peart's nightstand.

One thing I might do moving forward is either send every receipt to a specific email/dropbox/evernote/whatever every time I order something.

How old are you guys who are planning your future estate sales and do you want to adopt any grown grandchildren? 

[Mark J]

Chestnut, that's very interesting.  I have home owners insurance, but no idea what it covers and how it pays out.  Gee, you think I should ask my agent?   

This conversation triggered my memory, I actually did take pictures of everything in my shop a year or two ago.  Sure enough they're in my computer.  I went through and deleted a couple of sold items and added some missing pictures (and this time backed it up to flash).  Something similar to pkinneb's spreadsheet idea has crossed my mind and would definitely be an upscale solution.  It would take some time, though, so I'm saving it for the next pandemic.  

Having some pictures is at least something, I mean better than holding out your upturned hands to the Allstate agent and saying, "you know I had workshop.  It was all, like, Felder stuff.  Worth a million, well two million, really".  At least with pictures you can remind yourself what you owned and submit some documentation. 

I didn't spend a lot of time on the photo project.  I took a few wide angle shots of the shop as a whole then took pictures of every face plate or name plate of everything I thought worth recording.  I didn't shoot pictures of every hand tool, but I did get like a drawer full of screw drivers or turning tools.  It's certainly not perfect, but better than nothing.  Of course it's of zero value if you forget that you did it.  

[legenddc]

@Mark J Make sure you store those pictures somewhere else besides in your house. You can upload them to Dropbox, OneNote, Evernote, Google Drive, send yourself or your insurance agent an email, etc. but somewhere offsite.

[pkinneb]

31 minutes ago, Mark J said:

I have home owners insurance, but no idea what it covers and how it pays out.  Gee, you think I should ask my agent?   

Definitely want to do that before you need it   

[Chip Sawdust]

3 hours ago, legenddc said:

How old are you guys who are planning your future estate sales and do you want to adopt any grown grandchildren? 

I have no kids of my own and no grandchildren on the way unless my stepdaughter starts dating men. Send one or two of the handy ones this way I'll teach them how to make all the mistakes I know! Er, avoid them, yeah that's what I meant.

[RichardA]

No kids, no siblings left, parents dead and gone, the only thing I could use grand children for is a bar b que... As the main course.  Young is tender.

[Chip Sawdust]

I stuff receipts into a plastic sleeve for all my tool and wood purchases. I've never counted them up; kinda scared to! But it's routine for me; buy wood, a tool, or hardware, it goes into the sleeve. Need a new sleeve now.

I didn't post this before but completed it in April.

[legenddc]

Too bad I'm not closer to you both, I'd come hang out. Years ago my parent's neighbor became close to us, helped my dad wire the basement, helped him wire the basement again when the neighbor realized he told my dad the wrong way to do it, etc. When they moved away we would go to visit 2x a year and see them anytime they came up. Over the year's we essentially became adopted family despite them having 5 children and loads of grandchildren. They came to our graduations, spoke at my wedding and when they passed away we've become close with their children/grandchildren.

Learned a lot from them. I'm sitting at my desk looking at the 3 trees I turned on vacation when I was a kid and 2 bowls my "grandfather" turned. His truck is out back and my son's got his middle name from my "grandfather".

Time to get back to work though, watching two kids all day means I don't get enough done during the day.

[wtnhighlander]

You guys worry too much. My plan is to use my tools up BEFORE the estate sale! 

In all seriousness, several of my hand tools were inherited from my grandfather and my FIL. Both men believed tools were meant to be used, so very few powered tools owned by either had any life left.

[Tom King]

I would need to dig up 46 years of Schedule C's to see how much I've spent on tools.  They're (the tools) almost all still around here somewhere.  I've only very rarely ever sold any, and don't tear up much.

[wtnhighlander]

I miss working in the garage with 12 ft. ceilings. I set this sheet up to rabbet on edge for a locked rabbet drawer joint.

I never thought about the saw table being at an angle. Imagine my chagrin when the piece wedged against the ceiling, half way through the cut.

Doh!  

Had to shut down, un-wedge the piece, and remove the leveling feet from the saw to finish the cut...

[RichardA]

59 minutes ago, wtnhighlander said:

I miss working in the garage with 12 ft. ceilings. I set this sheet up to rabbet on edge for a locked rabbet drawer joint.

I never thought about the saw table being at an angle. Imagine my chagrin when the piece wedged against the ceiling, half way through the cut.

Doh!  

Had to shut down, un-wedge the piece, and remove the leveling feet from the saw to finish the cut...

That'll draw your cohones into a knot.  Yikes!

[Mark J]

Now that the board is un-jammed, you need a u-channel on the ceiling to hold the other end of the board.