What category for old imperial tools?.

[baconsdozen]

I sell tools for modern cars but specialise in the older imperial based stuff for older ones.
These would fit in a number of categories.Which would seem the most sensible?

[damian_steele]

I think I'd go with:

Home & Garden : DIY & Tools > Tools

[johnwash1]

I sell tools for modern cars but specialise in the older imperial based stuff for older ones.
These would fit in a number of categories.Which would seem the most sensible?

Have even American cars gone over to metric? That must confuse them!

[Gill]

My husband's hobby involves old imperial tools for cars/motorbikes so I would suggest a new sub category request, possibly in a number of categories IMHO.

[baconsdozen]

Thanks for the suggestions,I'll start using some other categories.
The American industry still uses mainly imperial measurement,the vast majority of American spanners will use spanners to fit nuts and bolts that are a set fraction of an inch across their flats (ie) 1/2 inch,5/8 inch etc.The nuts and bolts are normally threaded UNF or UNC the spanners are called AF.
Very old machinery uses a thread called British standard whitworth (or a fine version called British standard fine) more usually abbreviated to BSW of BSF.These use spanner sizes unique to them and are mainly what I sell.BSW and BSF became pretty much obsolete in the late 60s with the introduction of UNF and UNC but there is still a lot of machinery about that uses them as planned obsolescence was not so evident in those days.

[baconsdozen]

I suppose the lack of response or activity on any threads in this section show why sales are few and far between,there just aren't any real numbers of people looking either to buy or even just out of curiosity.

[bykimbo]

I suppose the lack of response or activity on any threads in this section show why sales are few and far between,there just aren't any real numbers of people looking either to buy or even just out of curiosity.

Forum users are small sub-set of eBid users, and amongst those there must be an even smaller sub-set interested in tools. Most forum users don't even seem to leave the KT, which is a bit sad. I must admit I only read this because I saw your ID and thought, "oh, I thought he'd already left"!

[johnwash1]

Forum users are small sub-set of eBid users, and amongst those there must be an even smaller sub-set interested in tools. Most forum users don't even seem to leave the KT, which is a bit sad. I must admit I only read this because I saw your ID and thought, "oh, I thought he'd already left"!

Sad indeed. KT is an area I stray into occasionally by accident and run away screaming!

Baconsdozen. I didn't comment, because, being a little long in the tooth myself, I already have a fair number of imperial tools. At a pinch, when I'm bodging, some even fit metric well enough to get by! So I'm not in the market. But I thought it a good question, and surely there must be enough people interested in restoring old cars to make imperial tools of some interest?

[baconsdozen]

Things are very quiet on the old car circuit,I suppose in times of recession its the luxuries that go first.
The market for imperial tools can only shrink as lots of older vehicles still get scrapped and with labour costs and everything else rising more and more become uneconomic to either repair or restore.
Sadly a lot of the knowledge associated with older measurements and old engineering methods and techniques etc seems to be vanishing as well,everythings now plastic and /or made in China and down to a price.
Most of my stuff goes abroad,there are suprisingly large numbers of old vehicles still being run or found in other countries but even they are feeling the pinch.The other thing I think is that many people automatically assume that the bigger opertions be it stores or internet auction houses will have the most obscure stuff and ignore the newer or smaller outfits.
No I've not left Kimbo,I'm still plodding away and still waiting for ebid to reach a tipping point and for more people to come over to increase variety of stuff on sale.
One day maybe?