How Best to Sell a Clarkson Cutter Grinder & Accessories?

Hi guys. I've been left (judging by the Lathes.co.uk page) a Clarkson Mk 2 or 3 (large column) cutter grinder and very comprehensive looking set of accessories by a deceased UK toolmaking friend who lived here in Ireland - and would appreciate hearing some thoughts on how best to go about selling it in the UK. (very small market here)

I thought of using it as a plane blade and chisel grinder (my interest is primarily woodworking), but it would be overkill. It probably runs too fast for heat sensitive carbon steel blades anyway.

It'd be nice to see it go to a good home.

My friend used it very occasionally to grind cutters until about 8 years ago. It so far as I know was running fine when last used.

It seems sound, but isn't squeaky clean - some of the accessories especially have light surface rust as a consequence of it having been stored in an unheated workshop.

I'm happy to put time into taking and forwarding lots of photos and answering specific questions in the event of a serious interest.

It's also likely that I could transport it to the UK and meet a buyer (the deal would need to be done in advance however), although meeting in the midlands or thereabouts would make life a lot easier.

Thoughts?

Thank you

For the best return you could list each part separately on eBay. The late clarksons are well sought after and the accessories make very good money. Most of the tool dealers sell the machine bare and the accessories separately because of the money they make.

If you're keen that it should all go in one package and want some valuation advice post the photos in your album here and see what people say. Expect to get a raft of personal messages from people trying to cherry-pick the high value stuff though.

If you're going to sell it complete then www.homeworkshop.co.uk is a great place to list it for free.

P.S for your chisels look around for a viceroy sharpedge.

Edited By Pete Rimmer on 25/07/2020 07:36:39

The link is to a domain name seller.

Does that mean it is a posting by a spamming advertiser? Advertising for free?

.

Try this one: **LINK**

https://www.homeworkshop.org.uk

MichaelG.

.

No ... it means that Pete innocently typed the address slightly wrong

MichaelG.

Thank you very much for the thoughts guys.

I should say by the way that while I've only posted occasionally that I've been a background member that looks in occasionally for some years - the current ID is new. The email address it was based on was with a long defunct service provider, it finally stopped working some time ago.

The good news is that it sounds like there's a ready market. Breaking up the set needs a bit of thought re. how my friend might feel about it, but sounds as though it's the way to maximise the return.

I don't know if people regrind cutters as a business undertaking any more (the market is perhaps mostly hobby based?), but a buyer with that in mind would probably need a comprehensive set of accessories.

Next step I guess is to wait for a nice dry day, then lay out, inventory and photograph the hardware.

Personally, I would say that splitting the grinder and all of the attachments out separately is sharp practice and I would not buy from such a seller.

The grinder on it's own is almost worthless without the associated attachments, despite the prices asked for them,

If you want to sell as one lot it's perhaps worth thinking about an advert on the Lathes.co.uk website, Tony Griffiths will look at the pictures and catalogue everything there and compile an advert for you with a suggested valuation. There is obviously a charge, but when I had to help clear a friends workshop full of clockmaking tools and machinery it proved invaluable.

Those of us doing the clearing, all model engineers, were baffled by some of the attachments used by ornamental turners, tony identified them all and we raised a considerable amount for the widow. We got involved after a dealer offered an absolute paltry sum for the whole workshop, fortunately the family were astute enough to realise that it must be worth more than the few hundred pounds offered. In the end close to five thousand was raised.

One thing we did find that if emailing pictures to tony it's best to ring and draw attention to the fact, I gather he is rather busy and can miss them. no connection with his site but a very satisfied customer.

Dave

Sorry about all the editing! no coffee yet.

Edited By Dave Wootton on 26/07/2020 08:43:31

Edited By Dave Wootton on 26/07/2020 08:44:48

Edited By Dave Wootton on 26/07/2020 08:49:21

Have you tried to sell it in Ireland? While the market is small , my experience, trying to buy a small lathe, is that there is a dearth of items for sale. Perhaps there is someone out there who would be interested?

Edited By Gerard O'Toole on 26/07/2020 09:14:52

Mark, it is my experience that most dealers split items up to maximise profits, it’s just the way they do business. A dealer will argue that a customer will want to buy a basic machine and add what accessories he requires at time of purchase and then buy what he needs as he needs it.

Thanks again guys, more good suggestions. Sounds like the lathes.co.uk service would be well worth paying for Dave - it's such a well known site.

I suppose as ever it's profit versus other considerations. It'd seem a pity to split up a functional set (i.e. the basis of a multi capability cutter regrinding business or other operation), but the other side of the coin as Baz says is perhaps that many especially hobby buyers really only want to pay for what they immediately need.

I will try a local advert Gerard. It's a matter of ships in the night I suppose. It'd save a lot of complications if it worked out though...

Edited By Sawdust on 26/07/2020 14:08:59