Take inventory??? or not??

[Varidrivegt14]

i have been a diesel mechanic for 20 years. have a large set of "in service" tools. i have been collecting tools for a long time. mostly tools i have inherited for relatives, grandpanrents, my father etc. i also collect from yard sales, garage sales and flea markets. and trading with a friend who shares the same hobby. what my question is ....do you guy inventory your collections?? or just continue to buy what you find?? and if you do how do you inventory?? just curious .....

[kxxr]

I keep inventory in my steel trap mind :) I have a lot of duplicates.

[Varidrivegt14]

lol Kxxr thats how i am... some times dont find out for months that i already had the same item LOL

[amertrac]

I keep a real good paper inventory of my collection(old tools) but my working tools i keep track by holes in my tool chests. when a wrench or socket is missing there is a hole bob w.

[Ken W.]

I had to take an inventory of my working tools in the tool box for my insurance co..It's an overwhelming job.The collectable stuff would take a year to go thru.It would be nice to have an inventory of the collectables plus a pic too.

[Papaw]

When I started out, I kept paper and digital records of all my old tools, but soon it became overwhelming. I've tried to do it again at least 3 times.

[scottg]

The Library of Congress couldn't inventory my life. Too much junk, too many categories.
I started to just take pictures once, and ran short of film so quick it was silly. Hugh Hefner couldn't photograph my life either.
 Ahhh, whatta I care? I keep enough in memory and the rest is probably going to get passed along eventually anyway. 
  I try not to count small change either.   
 yours Scott

[stormking]

kxxr, That made me chuckle, I'll find a old socket at an estate sale or swap and think ya I really need one of these. Get it home to find out I already have 3 of them, an inventory would help but that will be too much like work and this is a hobby.

[Branson]

I keep inventory in my steel trap mind :) I have a lot of duplicates.

Now that sounds familiar.   Then there's the squirrel factor.  You know, when you squirrel something away, forget about it, and then find it years later?  "Wow!  I didn't know I had one of these..."  Kinda like Alzheimers; always meeting new tools.

[bonneyman]

I keep a real good paper inventory of my collection(old tools) but my working tools i keep track by holes in my tool chests. when a wrench or socket is missing there is a hole bob w.

lol There's probably an electronic gizmo that can do that job for you, Bob!

[dimwittedmoose51]

I was using Tool Talk as my inventory until it crashed.  I had posted most everything I'd collected on TT, so there was my "stash".  Now I just take photos and label the files by month of acquisition and go from there.  My regular working tools, I just shot photos of what was in the drawers and eventually I'll get around to writing text or whatever.  I don't take into account what I've sold off, so it likely wouldn't be accurate for insurance purposes, but Insurance adjuster wold just laugh at me anyway...."$20 for a Plomb 3/8"Drive socket from pre WWII??(laughing uncontrollably)"  Not sure the ebay BIN ads would convince him either.....

DM&FS

[RedVise]

And another good thread...
 
organizationally, I feel much better having read this thread.

Brian L.

[lauver]

Gang,

I have an inventory that started out on with big chief tablet and no. 2 pencil about 35 years ago.  Later, I converted it to IBM punch cards.  Still later, I converted it to a PC based spreadsheet.  Since then I have made numerous changes to the format to accommodate changing tool interests and research interests.  At present, I have two inventories, one for modern working tools and one for vintage collector tools.  I run off updated paper copies of both inventories about 4 times a year and keep them in a 3 ring binder.  I take the binder with me whenever I'm out looking for tools; it saves a lot of needless duplicate purchases.

I have found that it takes about 30 minutes a week to keep the two inventories up to date;  it takes much longer to research the tools (date range, OEM, replacement value, etc) than it does to enter them in the inventory.

For insurance purposes only, I also do a quicky video inventory at the end of each year.  This takes about an hour and is really easy to do.

That said, I would be hesitant to build an inventory from scratch today.  It would be overwelming.  There have been guys who have done this, they took it drawer by drawer (i.e. drivers, wrenches, pliers, sockets, etc), and gradually built up their inventory as time allowed.  Still, I wonder how they came up with purchase dates and purchase prices. Perhaps they just estimated these items.  YMMV   

[john k]

There is a favorite quote from a fellow Nebraskan, and writer, Roger Welsch,  Never ever line up all your old tractors so the wife can see them,  or a list there of!   He wrote some pretty amusing books on old tractor restoration, Busted Tractors and Rusty Knuckles, and his introduction to tools and wrenching.   I'll gather some tools together,  but only if I know the wife will be gone for awhile! 

[Stoney]

Amen John K.  Nothing written down.  If I buy a tool and find that I already have it, I keep the best and the extra becomes trading stock.

I keep a real good paper inventory of my collection(old tools) but my working tools i keep track by holes in my tool chests. when a wrench or socket is missing there is a hole bob w.

All my tools are working tools.