2026 Garage Sale Thread (15th Annual)

Happy New Year! I look forward to this being a great year for all you pickers.
If this seems familiar, it is because I'm shamelessly plagiarizing from mikeinri's opening post from 2025.

Welcome to the 15th annual edition of the Garage Journal Garage Sale Thread!
Huge thanks to @mikeinri for organizing in 2025, and to ALL of the prior hosts (see full list below), going back to our primary instigator / founding father, @jeffmoss26 in 2012!
Thank you for having the misplaced confidence in having me host this thread. Here are the rules of engagement, as they've been developed over the years:

RULES OF THE THREAD

1. The most important rule is: “The code is more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules.” Except for the no-crotch-pic and no-self-suckage rules. No joke...

2. Without photos – it never happened. *** BUT... Highlight your trophy, not your package... You're not Robert Plant, and NO ONE wants to see your crotch. You're also not Fred Flintstone, so no bare feet. Anything in between those (pics of your legs in jeans or any amount of clothes, pics of your feet in flip flops or any footwear for that matter) will trigger folks, and almost certainly result in ridicule, and probably less suckage, for you. Basically, try to contain your excitement over that new find long enough to find a suitable backdrop (even if it's just the back of your truck). BTW, You don’t need a photo hosting service. Simply use the Insert Link (paperclip icon) or Insert Image (picture icon) forum tools.

3. Give us the whole story, the back story, and maybe even a side story. Some items speak for themselves (free excavator???), but mostly, we want to hear about your items, and even your battles to find / keep them (against aggressive competitors at the sales, for example). Proper grammar and spelling are greatly appreciated, so take your time if needed. Don't know what your new "thing" is? Have no fear, someone here will almost certainly know (or will enjoy the challenge to try to help you figure it out)!

4. No Acquisitions From Any “New” Retail Source. Keeping in mind the thread title and the overarching theme of the Garage Journal itself, we have given wide leeway on types of items and sources of acquisition as long as you can provide an interesting story. Garage Sale, Estate Sale, some Auctions, Restore, and Goodwill etc. are all fair game, gifts from family, friends, and even complete strangers are definitely in scope. My favorite way to acquire items is to get them for FREE, especially from cleanouts at work. And if things get slow in your area, there's always eBay, CL or FBMP (yes, you CAN sometimes get a great deal there)... But, if you purchased it brand new from a store, we don’t want to see it here (there are plenty of other threads for that kind of thing).

5. Suckage and the price you pay. It’s nobody’s business what you pay for your acquisitions so it’s purely your choice to include or withhold that tidbit—but it does add another facet to the overall interest in your find. It also increases the odds of you scoring the coveted “You ****” comment from your fellow pickers. Awards of You ****—and all its derivative forms—will be more or less tracked by me to determine the ten (10) most ****-worthy posters who you will then vote on for the 2025 Picker of the Year (PotY) Award. If you're allergic to using the word "****" and try to be cute with alternate verbiage, just know that I might not catch that in the final count. It goes without saying—you cannot **** yourself and it is still illegal in most states to solicit suckage, so don’t do it here.

6. Special interests. We all come from different backgrounds, have different careers and hobbies. Some members collect specific items (especially tools). And, lots of us have fond (or otherwise) memories of working with specific tools alongside our Dads, Grandfathers, Crazy Uncles, etc. Or, cooking with Mom, Dad or other family members! So, you never know what memories you'll trigger in various members' minds with your amazing finds! PLUS, we all like to learn something (the weirder, the better, sometimes).

Above all else, HAVE FUN! And, happy hunting!!!

Links to previous year’s threads are provided below to stir your memory on previous finds:
2025 - mikeinri - 2025 Garage Sale Thread
2024 - RTM - 2024 Garage Sale Thread
2023 — Smokeshow69 – 2023 Garage Sale Thread
2022 — Old Radar – 2022 Garage Sale Thread
2021 — bmwrd0 – 2021 Garage Sale Thread
2020 — LesserSon – 2020 Garage Sale Thread
2019 — BlueBomber - 2019 Garage Sale Thread
2018 — Private Lugnutz - 2018 Garage Sale Thread
2017 — 3baygarage - 2017 Garage Sale Thread
2016 — jakemac - 2016 Garage Sale Thread
2015 - nine4gmc - 2015 Garage SaleThread
2014 — Outlawmws - 2014 Garage sale thread!
2013 — maddawg308 - it's 2013 garage sale season!...
2012 — jeffmoss26 - it's garage sale season!!

Again, thanks to @mikeinri for the great job of herding the cats through 2025 without letting them get out of hand!

Let's have a great 2026!

and thank you very much for hosting this year, sir.

THANK YOU, @Provincial!!!

Happy New Year, guys! Let the madness begin!!!

Mike

And so it begins...

Again!

Provincial said:

Happy New Year! I look forward to this being a great year for all you pickers.
If this seems familiar, it is because I'm shamelessly plagiarizing from mikeinri's opening post from 2025.

Click to expand...

I believe I read somewhere plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery...or something like that. LOL Thanks for taking on this monumental task. Counting out "You *****" while commanding a ship of fools with tools is an endeavor.

Whoo Woooo! I can't believe its been 15 years since Jeff started this madn... Un Fun!

Looking forward to a great year for all!

Thanks to @Provincial for getting the new GS thread online! Looking forward to all the discoveries and rediscoveries that are sure to follow.

Starting my year off right, not with a pick, but with a sale. - Sold the 95 T-bird! = Driveway space!

Great start @Provincial!! I look forward to seeing all of this year’s finds. I am on a self-imposed purchase moratorium as we ponder down-sizing. Happy New Year!

Thanks for bearing this cross for the rest of us, @Provincial !

HNY and congrats to @Provincial for leading the charge!

Alright, Provincial! Lets do this thing!

Ok on the board with this one. Found the matching Waterloo top box to a 41" lower I've had kicking around for a couple years. Best part was it was a stroll down memory lane to the area I grew up in and turns out I went to High school with the sellers mom. Got it set in place will need some cleaning and drawer liners before I move anything into it. Will hunt for a lock assembly/rod system to help resale at some point.

Let's strap in and enjoy the ride this year!

My brother and I went on our first pick of the new year. I did alright and brought home some tools. But what I got really excited about was a Nourse oil can that I don’t have yet in the collection. All in for $30.

Here are the tools…

Nice! I would have bought that plane in a heartbeat, as I am a sucker for original boxes.

@brockmub : Take your first YOU **** of the season for your first foray of the season!

Beerhippie said:

@brockmub : Take your first YOU **** of the season for your first foray of the season!

Click to expand...

@brockmub , I second that suckage!

Nice find on the tools, but for me the big score was the Nourse can. I live in the area where it was produced, but have never seen one in the wild.

Beerhippie said:

@brockmub : Take your first YOU **** of the season for your first foray of the season!

Click to expand...

Skellyii said:

@brockmub , I second that suckage!

Nice find on the tools, but for me the big score was the Nourse can. I live in the area where it was produced, but have never seen one in the wild.

Click to expand...

At something close to 0.50c a tool, definitely agree that deal *****.

(And I'm raising the bar for granting Usucks this year. Gotta be earned! Either very outstanding deal, or finding a unicorn, or one of my bucket list tools...)

Can't wait for garage sale season. LESSGO!

Just an FYI

2025 thread closed with a link here. Also unstuck the voting thread.

Enjoy gentlemen....and ladies.

@brockmub , you ****. Congratulations.

Estate sale ($12): Box of random clay molding supplies.

ctuai said:

in the box was 6 bags of precious metal clay with 142 grams of .999 silver.

Click to expand...

that's 335 bucks worth today's closing price! - That's a USUCK

ctuai said:

Estate sale ($12): Box of random clay molding supplies.

Click to expand...

***** awarded, still waiting for the museum tour.

Not one estate sale listed today but we wanted to get out of the house during a short break in the rain. There was an ad for a closing antique business in Castro Valley so we checked that out. No old tools to be found so we grabbed a couple ash trays of local interest. The concrete company was one my father worked at before I was born. We proceeded to an antique shop in Martinez where my nephew had purchased an Eagle oiler for my Christmas gift. Very few tools and what was there was expensive. I found a Powr-Kraft screw starter screwdriver with a broken starter mechanism and a drill bit for a brace. My wife found an Irwin cork screw but it was actually from Italy and really Irvin.

I removed the broken mechanism from the Powr-Kraft screwdriver and cleaned it up.
The bit turned out to be a Keen Kutter and since the drill doctor was out it got sharpened.
It ended up in the drawer with the others.
-Don

Estate sale ($240): Paragon SC3 jewelry kiln w/ window and bead door; 30 sheets of 12"x12" System 96 slumping glass; Sadelight fluorescent light.





This is my current kiln. A really early garage sale find. The Mighty Midget never let me down.

d42jeep said:

Not one estate sale listed today but we wanted to get out of the house during a short break in the rain. There was an ad for a closing antique business in Castro Valley so we checked that out. No old tools to be found so we grabbed a couple ash trays of local interest. The concrete company was one my father worked at before I was born. We proceeded to an antique shop in Martinez where my nephew had purchased an Eagle oiler for my Christmas gift. Very few tools and what was there was expensive. I found a Powr-Kraft screw starter screwdriver with a broken starter mechanism and a drill bit for a brace. My wife found an Irwin cork screw but it was actually from Italy and really Irvin.

I removed the broken mechanism from the Powr-Kraft screwdriver and cleaned it up.
The bit turned out to be a Keen Kutter and since the drill doctor was out it got sharpened.
It ended up in the drawer with the others.
-Don

Click to expand...

Sounds like a great day. No worries.

I swung by the Restore today, as I need a large pipe cutter, but they didn't have one big enough. I did, however, find a Jacobs key out in the parking lot on my way out, as I headed over to the used book store, where I picked up a couple interesting titles

A Lindsey reprint of a cycle building manual from 1906, and a book on submarine warfare from 1919.

Feels good to be on the board.

Missed posting at the end of the 25 thread, so it goes here, happy new year all, best of luck digging for another year to come.

ctuai said:

Estate sale ($12): Box of random clay molding supplies.

I've been goofing around with jewelry making and for $12 for a big box of random silicon molds and supplies I figured why not? Well it turns out you can cast silver jewelry by using silver impregnated clay and firing away the clay. I now know this as scattered in the box was 6 bags of precious metal clay with 142 grams of .999 silver. Struck it rich ​

Click to expand...

as Outlaw said and Google confirms You ****!!!
Based on the current spot price of approximately $2.34 per gram (as of January 3, 2026), 142 grams of pure silver is worth about $332.28.

alinc100 said:

as Outlaw said and Google confirms You ****!!!
Based on the current spot price of approximately $2.34 per gram (as of January 3, 2026), 142 grams of pure silver is worth about $332.28.

Click to expand...

Dug around a bit more and found a small container with a gram of 18k gold clay slip. There's also fair sized blob of clay in a re-hydrator that's probably worth a tasting.

Free today, from a friend.

MrsLS&I returned to my work friend’s barn this morning, intending to pick up a second 4-drawer cabinet, but it is full to the gills with stuff I don’t want and still wedged into a corner that will make extraction difficult, though I removed some of the obstructing trash today.
Plus, the bottom drawer is frozen with rust. In fact, the bottom four inches of it is rusted into a decayed carpet from what looks like decades of water damage. I let that simmer on the back burner, and picked up a dozen and a half vintage wood shipping crates for summer selling and four two-drawer file cabinets for a storage project I have in mind.
The two blue ones are in good shape, but the gray and putty ones are pretty rusted out at the bottom, as they were sitting in the same wet location as the larger cabinet. I left one two-drawer behind because it was much shallower and the drawers tip out when fully open. I also left a four-drawer file cabinet behind for now, though I may be able to use it in my project if I cut it down (also rusted out at bottom).
MrsLS took a couple salt-fired ceramic coin banks from a no-longer-in-business pottery maker we used to patronize, a couple split-wood baskets (like Longaberger), and a couple handfuls of matchbooks my friend offered.

On the board in 26 with a few market place scores. 1st stop was kind of a bust but did manage 2 big bags of rags for $10. Next was a Kennedy mc-28 in great condition for a hundo. Lastly was a Kennedy 526 with a key in mint condition, Starrett 3202 calipers last calibrated in 21’, 30th edition machinist handbook and a S.W. Card no.7 tap handle missing a piece but should be an easy fix.

Today was a very fine day, indeed! I started off with a nice breakfast and then headed over to one of my favorite Restores, where I had a very good day. So good, that once I had more time, I headed back over! But, in between that I hit up the final day of an estate sale, one I had been to twice already, as it was 75% day. Not a lot I was interested in, but there were some great books to be had, that I had missed before.





All self explanatory, but I was surprised to see them still available, as that is a couple hundred dollars worth of books! I paid $5.50

Now, the restore. Someone must have dumped off a ton of vintage tools, and I am glad I went there first thing!

Billings 7/8" combo, Blue Point DBE, Blackhawk (modern) combo, Blackhawk freewheel ratchet, Snap-on and Blackhawk sockets, Plomb LA driver (check out the handle), Walden socket, and Snap-on brace. $9.50. And I will be going back early next week to see what I can find when there aren't so many people around!

@brockmub *****

@ctuai *****

Store closing ($30): Klopp CM coin counter; Vigor EN-775 engraving machine:

Tiny finds:
A 3/8" double-hex socket, picked up because it's ETF, and I've never seen a socket or ratchet from them before. (Wrenches, tin snips, wrenches, hand vises, wrenches, nail pullers, and wrenches, yes. Sockets, no.)


A weird-looking socket that is actually a McGard 046155 wheel lock key. It felt rude to block aisle traffic looking it up in the ReStore, so I took it home instead. No idea what I'll do with it.


A K-D No. 40 Hex Key Pak. One of the washers split and I put in a replacement, but I'll need to make a thinner one. As is, the end with the thicker keys was narrower than the other to begin with, and I don't know if that was as designed or if the smaller washers were a user add.


Not much of note but I haven't been able to hit the ReStore in a month, so it was nice to drop in.