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Old books and equipment

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Andy Bruner
(@andy-bruner)
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My wife and I were moving some boxes around in our attic this morning to decide what to throw away to make more room.?ÿ There were a half dozen boxes marked "Andy's books".?ÿ Most were 40-50 year old text books from college and notebooks from seminars from 10 to 40 years ago.?ÿ i did find few books that I'll keep even though I've been retired for years, "Evidence and Procedures", "Boundary Control and Legal Principles", for a couple.?ÿ I've been thinking of donating them to SAMSOG (Georgia's Surveying?ÿ Society) to perhaps auction off for their education efforts.

A lot of old memories came rushing back when I found old drafting triangles, a complete set of drafting pens with jewel tips, an electric eraser, a set of Leroy guides, etc.

When the time comes for you to get rid of all your "old" stuff what are you going to do with it?

Andy

 
Posted : September 25, 2021 10:48 am
holy-cow
(@holy-cow)
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Put it in boxes for the "heirs" to dispense of after my demise.

 
Posted : September 25, 2021 11:11 am
Andy Bruner
(@andy-bruner)
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@holy-cow After going through my parents stuff after my father's death there is no way I'm going to torture my children like that.

Andy

 
Posted : September 25, 2021 11:18 am
(@mark-mayer)
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There is a market for the textbooks. Not a lucrative one, except for first editions. but a market.?ÿ ?ÿDonate them to a used book store and they will sell them on alibris.com for a few bucks.?ÿ At least they won't be thrown out.

The notebooks and seminar material will recycle nicely. Sorry.?ÿ Things that are actually in your handwriting might be of some interest to your kin after you are gone. You might hang on to a few samples of that.

The drafting gear won't take up too much room. Keep it. It is not old enough to be of interest to a museum, and too old to be of any use. There is still some of that stuff on the shelves at my office and only a few of us old guys even recognize what it is. But it is too dear to toss.?ÿ

?ÿ

?ÿ

 
Posted : September 25, 2021 11:36 am
Andy Bruner
(@andy-bruner)
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@mark-mayer Yeah.?ÿ The one I'll probably hang onto the longest is the electric eraser.?ÿ It works well for taking rust off pocket knives and tools.

 
Posted : September 25, 2021 11:42 am

nate-the-surveyor
(@nate-the-surveyor)
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Posted by: @andy-bruner

Yeah.?ÿ The one I'll probably hang onto the longest is the electric eraser.?ÿ It works well for taking rust off pocket knives and tools.

And for cleaning electrical contacts. On battery packs. On minivan doors. On dc electronics. Such things.?ÿ
N

 
Posted : September 25, 2021 11:56 am
bill93
(@bill93)
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I keep the old drafting tools on my work table and use them frequently for sketches and shop layout work.

 
Posted : September 25, 2021 12:07 pm
(@dave-lindell)
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I auctioned off a survey textbook on this site with the requirement that the sale price go to Wendell.

I'll probably be doing it again, too.?ÿ And maybe soon.

 
Posted : September 25, 2021 12:14 pm
MightyMoe
(@mightymoe)
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First time I moved my mother was 1981, she was born into the depression, no one threw away anything. I took 6 pickup loads to the dump and threw away 8 beds leaving her with 5 for the new house. By the time I moved her in 1996 she had even more junk and I made even more trips to the dump, moved her again in 2004 and it was almost a physical fight to throw away even the most useless items.

I'm cured of hanging onto to anything, it all goes. It feels so good to get rid of the stuff. Donate it, sell it, dump it, just get rid of it.?ÿ

 
Posted : September 25, 2021 12:25 pm
bill93
(@bill93)
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Could each object be used again? If so and you throw it away you'll need it again.

(Don't look in my basement.)

 
Posted : September 25, 2021 12:33 pm

holy-cow
(@holy-cow)
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I would sure hate to think that someone might think I was a millennial if I did any de-hoarding.

I still have the inhouse telephone directory for the job I left nearly 35 years ago.

I have all sorts of mememtos from my office from the job I left over 42 years ago.

Somewhere, and, I do mean SOMEWHERE, I still have my high school Senior Class ring from over 50 years ago.?ÿ It is probably in the same place as the only wedding ring I ever owned.

 
Posted : September 25, 2021 3:08 pm
(@dave-lindell)
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@mightymoe : Your mother was 1981 when you first moved?

 
Posted : September 25, 2021 3:21 pm
thebionicman
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There are lots of trinkets and books selling for stupid money these days. I discipline myself not to buy books with no real use and never pay over half of retail. That hasn't prevented me from rebuilding a decent library.?ÿ

I suggest checking the book values online. Some will surprise you (on both ends of the spectrum).

 
Posted : September 25, 2021 4:00 pm
(@jonathan50)
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Posted by: @andy-bruner

After going through my parents stuff after my father's death there is no way I'm going to torture my children like that.

Andy

Did that with my father's things when he passed. It was an office full of his work things. I rescued most of the equipment he used and kept the papers - brochures, magazines, books. That was 20 years ago. I still have them in my storage room. Start of the pandemic lock down, I have gone over them and placed the old paper materials in plastic bags. When I checked their values on ebay, I was surprised that some have higher prices than I thought. Not planning on selling them. All are neatly packed against dust and moisture so I would guess that it would last several decades more.?ÿ

Let my son take care of it when I and the wife are gone. I would like for him to see what his grandparents and us did in our lifetime.

?ÿ

 
Posted : September 25, 2021 5:30 pm
FL/GA PLS
(@flga-pls)
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@dave-lindell?ÿ

I have an HP-35 w/original plastic box it came in, a new Plumb Barbara, and a sculpture of surveyors made from RR spikes that would like to sell with proceeds going to this site. It would be nice if Wendell had some sort of auction page where people could bid in a time frame and when Surveyor Connect receives the moola the donor ships to the winning bidder. ?????ÿ

 
Posted : September 25, 2021 5:40 pm

(@mike-marks)
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My nonagenarian Mom moved 4 blocks two years ago to a smaller house.?ÿ She lives 800 miles from me so the next year I visited and was shocked to see many boxes of stuff that never got upacked.?ÿ She spent $3,500?ÿ and the mover boxed things up as if she was going transcontinental ?ÿand essentially installed furniture but no more. She said she didn't give a damn but it was a weird living situation.?ÿ So I spent 5 days opening boxes, hanging pictures, going through boxes of junk, busted stuff and ancient paperwork (like 5 corroded birdfeeders) on a throwaway mission, under her purview.?ÿ It was immensely unpleasant, trips to the dump, arguments about what was "junk", etc. It came to a head when she had to go to her podiatrist for an hour or so and I found every pair and threw them on the living room floor, 35 pairs of shoes!?ÿ She's a former marathoner so she had tons of running shoes, day comfort shoes, boots and formal heels.?ÿ I tried to triage it but in the end we only sent 20 pairs to Goodwill and she was in tears when I bagged them but I'm confident she'll get by with the other 15 pairs.?ÿ Love hurts.

 
Posted : September 25, 2021 6:04 pm
MightyMoe
(@mightymoe)
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@dave-lindell?ÿ

cell phone posting, but, you probably knew that already.

 
Posted : September 25, 2021 9:01 pm