You guys need to see this dream shop!

[Dev Emch]

O.K. I hope I am not breaking any more rules as i am so good at doing this. But boy do I have a treat for you guys tonight! Hop on over to your favorate online auction source whoose name starts with an E and has four letters. See, keith, I didnt say it. But then do a search for vintage delta rockwell. Check out what pops up. Caution, I am not responsible for the resulting heart attacks, keyboard druel accidents or any other medical mishap that happens from checking out this tool porno. Should you purchase this package and your wife leaves you, once again, I am not responsible for this mid life accident.

[Tim Marks]

I could be wrong, but I think this is the same "dream workshop" that this guy has been advertising for almost a year.

There is some sort of scam involved here. My guess is:
1. advertising gimmick to draw people to his ebay store, they drool on the workshop, which nobody can afford (since he refuses to "split it up") and then click on his store, and buy a collection of chisels or what not (I think this is the truth).
2. he actually is selling his tools individually even though he says he won't split it up, and he is cheating ebay by making private individual sales of one tool at a time, and not paying auction fees (I doubt #2 is the truth).

The bottom line; those people who are really interested in quality machinery like this already have alot of what he is selling, so won't buy it. Those starting out would never spend this much dough to begin with. I think it is an advertising gimmick.

[Bill Simmeth]

Yes, you are wrong. This is the fourth shop that the gentleman has assembled and is selling. The previous three sold.

[Allen Grimes]

I dont believe it either.

It just doesnt make sense that someone would go through all that trouble to restore all of those machines and then just sell it off. I could understand if the guy needed the money and urgently, but if that was the case the logical thing to do would be to sell it piece by piece.

That has to be a scam.

That said, that is one hell of a shop.

[Dev Emch]

I plead guilty. I actually know this guy. He is a hard core OWWMer who is anal about restoration. This is the third or fourth shop Tim has done and each time he has a central theme. He actually helped me with an ekstrom carlson 112 problem regarding the line boring of a bushing for the oscillation shafts. No, he is for real. I think his hobby is the hunt and restoration of a complete shop following a central theme. I do recall seeing one of the drill presses completely apart on the bench following painting, machine work and bearings and polishing. It looked like a brain surgen at work. Every part neatly staged and dealt with. What puzzles me is if he actually does wood work. Where is the dust? Or is it that the grizzly collector is so good that it sucks down every morscle of stray wood fiber.

[Allen Grimes]

Ok Dev, I believe you.

I have some questions now. Why build such a complete shop, just to sell it? I mean I can understand restoring tools, but he also has Jorgy bar clamps included. Why buy those to sell? That doesnt make sense.

[Jarrod Nelson]

I wouldn't trust anyone with a shop that messy.

[Roger Los]

I bet it would be a lot of fun to assemble a shop time and again, doing it a little bit different each time.

Dunno who the customer would be, though. Maybe me, if I had another $44,500 to spend, as most of that stuff is nicer than anything I own. :P The car restoration hobby has a number of businesses that sell complete shops from cabinets to lifts to wrenches, etc., for $six-figures to guys who will probably not use them much but just want one, and can afford it.

[Dev Emch]

I dont get it either. It makes my head hurt just thinking about inventorying the small stuff. But its a package deal delievered to your door. And its a collection of already finished vintage delta rockwell machines. I am sure that there are a number of corporate execs who love woodworking and would drop 45K on a package deal like this. Or maybe some aspen or vail types. Stranger things have happened! Barbra Striesand droped way more than this amount on a single turn of the century Stickley furniture piece. Stickley was always about using power stationary tools along with hand tools to finish so its not like buying a goddard or townsend or chippendale. Heck, it may be just shy of 100 years old even today. So who knows. But who ever buys this shop will have one major difference over most OWWMers..... they may actually do wood work.

[Allen Grimes]

I guess its really no different than building a bedroom or diningroom set and including all the hardware. The more I think about it the more reasonable it seems, but it still baffels me at the same time.

Maybe he likes the way it feels to sell sombody a shop that they dont need to add anything to (exept more clamps).

[Vaughn McMillan]

Quite the shop, Dev. Thanks for sharing it, and for the backstory that goes with it. Like you, I don't fully understand his motivation, but then again he probably doesn't understand mine, either.

- Vaughn

[Howard Barlow]

I bid $7 cash. I think I'm gonna win.

[Randy Meijer]

I think the guy owns stock in a paint company and is trying to drive the price up by purchasing 8,000 gallans of gray paint!!

[Dev Emch]

I think the guy owns stock in a paint company and is trying to drive the price up by purchasing 8,000 gallans of gray paint!!

Duelly noted. It was once asked why all big name american companies painted their machines that strange green color? Jeff M. whose family owns Northfield told me that one of the companies bought a massive amount of vista green paint from a goverment auction and began using it. Soon, everybody followed.

[scott spencer]

That's an amazing shop! If he restored those machines himself, he ought to get some sort of a lifetime achievement award! He did an unbelievable job....if I had that kinda of money, I'd drop it on that shop in a heartbeat!