About the source of the purchase of tools!

[a smile]

I know that in some large stores in the United States, there are tools for sale, such as wrenches/pliers/screwdrivers/saw blades, and even common store supplies such as cutting torches.
If you need to buy industrial supplies such as drill/milling cutter/shank/chuck/grinder consumables. (Basically most of the consumables used by machinery processing enterprises), is there a professional physical store sales in the United States? Or is it mostly online? Or more is the need to network order in advance?
Who knows more about it, can you roughly explain your purchase channels and the company's purchase channels?
The vast majority of what I buy is used or sold stock because it's relatively cheap. Including consumables and tools such as machine tools, almost all purchases.
If you travel to the United States, will there be some used machine tool equipment market to visit? If you take Seattle as the starting point and Los Angeles as the end point, this route has what can be suitable for mechanical enthusiasts to visit.

 

[jwmay]

If you need to buy industrial supplies such as drill/milling cutter/shank/chuck/grinder consumables. (Basically most of the consumables used by machinery processing enterprises), is there a professional physical store sales in the United States?

Fastenal has physical stores that will sell consumables over the counter. Harbor Freight also has consumables that you mention.

I’ve never been further west than Missouri, so couldn’t help with any questions about that. But I’m sure there are fastenals and harbor freights over there too.

 

[matthewsx]

Many markets here have dedicated machine tool suppliers that maintain a stock of supplies and equipment. They can sometimes be hard to locate but even here in the little town of Santa Cruz we have Rowe Machinery. Here’s their eBay store but they do have regular business hours where you can purchase things in person.

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www.ebay.com

There are also trade suppliers that deal in new products. You should be able to find them in Seattle, Portland, SF Bay Area, Los Angeles, as well as other towns along your path.

If you can use Google Maps you should be able to locate both new and used suppliers.

John

 

[tq60]

Just use your phone, "industrial supplies near me"

We have many places that never advertise, others are accidental finds.

One is a distributor of nuts and bolts like items, they sell to home depot and other big clients as well as anyone who walks in.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

 

[francist]

One thing you might bear in mind is that even though a large industrial supply may have a physical storefront they often have very little of their inventory on display. Sure there are a few aisles of stuff like oil, towels, that sort of thing that guys will buy just because they’ll always need it or because they always forget to put it on their order form. But by and large in a place like Acklands-Grainger or Fastenal you’ll still be looking at a long desk of sales guys to fetch the parts you want from the back. And these guys do not usually have time for tire kickers and browsers.

The one exception to this that I know of is Lee Valley. They sell primarily woodworking tools but their model always has been to try to have at least one sample of an item or family of items on the showroom floor. This is hugely successful for them for the simple reason that the store’s founder knew from the very beginning that guys get sucked in by cool looking, expensive tools. So everywhere you look in their showroom is another bar of candy — it’s totally dangerous in there! But, I’ve been buying from them since 1978 and still look forward to any excuse I can come up with to pay them a visit. Yes, they have a Victoria store….

Used machine dealers though I think would be a whole different ball game.

 

[C-Bag]

I knew a guy who made his living buying and selling tools in swap meets. I bought many things like mics and other metrology tools. He got to where if he ran onto something special he’d call me. That was almost 50yrs ago and I know he’s long gone on to the swap meet in the sky. I have a couple of machines that have stickers from machine tool retailers/importers but none are still around. Craigslist has ads for machine tool resellers. I run into them on my local Craigslist when doing a search for lathes or mills. Never been to one as I’m cheap and look for direct sales. Craigslist is where I’ve gotten most of my lathe and endmills. I also do my own resharpening. My occasional specialty mill tool is usually used off eBay.

 

[a smile]

I knew a guy who made his living buying and selling tools in swap meets. I bought many things like mics and other metrology tools. He got to where if he ran onto something special he’d call me. That was almost 50yrs ago and I know he’s long gone on to the swap meet in the sky. I have a couple of machines that have stickers from machine tool retailers/importers but none are still around. Craigslist has ads for machine tool resellers. I run into them on my local Craigslist when doing a search for lathes or mills. Never been to one as I’m cheap and look for direct sales. Craigslist is where I’ve gotten most of my lathe and endmills. I also do my own resharpening. My occasional specialty mill tool is usually used off eBay.

Thank you for your reply! I see you like flea markets, that's what I like, I think you can see a lot of old or new tools/toys from here, maybe some crafts, not only the prices are very cheap, there are often some surprises. I like to buy second-hand goods, which can expose me to more things that I can't access through other channels, which makes me learn a lot. If I have the chance to go to your town, I will ask you to be a guide and go to the flea market together.

 

[a smile]

I will keep your advice in mind and try my best to find and visit the shops of these suppliers.
If there is a chance, I would like to visit the shop of its friends, which is a treasure house of machinery!

 

[C-Bag]

Thank you for your reply! I see you like flea markets, that's what I like, I think you can see a lot of old or new tools/toys from here, maybe some crafts, not only the prices are very cheap, there are often some surprises. I like to buy second-hand goods, which can expose me to more things that I can't access through other channels, which makes me learn a lot. If I have the chance to go to your town, I will ask you to be a guide and go to the flea market together.

Unfortunately flea markets have all but gone away here. It’s partially the markets fault (they charge) and partially it’s due to the internet like Craigslist and Facebook marketplace which I’m not a member and never will be. There is only one flea mkt I know of and it’s about 50mi away and I’ve not gone in over 15yrs. My Best Buy’s have been sellers on Craigslist and the occasional estate sale. This area seems to have had a tradition of small home town entrepreneurs and when they pass that’s when the real gold mines unfold.

Three such sales come to mind. The first was a guy who designed and built cylinder heads for racing boats. His shop was small tidy annd well stocked. Another was the inventor of the vertical sheet wood saw and the last was a guy who did boat repair who devolved into a hoarder. That estate sale was insane. It was on a 2.5acre lot with a 65x75 barn and several sea train containers completely stacked floor to ceiling with everything imaginable. I found out about it after his buddies had been going after it for 3wks and they finally opened it up to the public. The main barn was stacked 10’ high with boxes of everything from automotive tools and machinery to woodworking to hydraulic and everything in between. It took over a month of selling non stop to clean the place out.

But these are few and far between and totally unpredictable. So I don’t have to go far to find the bits and pieces I need.

 

[Ischgl99]

It’s not used equipment, but Grizzly Industrial is north of Seattle a bit and probably has a nice show room you might find interesting. The location in Pennsylvania had a nice show room of their equipment before they closed that one down, so I would think the one in WA being their headquarters would be even nicer. Www.grizzly.com

I’m on the east coast, so don’t know what is out on the west coast, but when I was traveling for business and needed to get industrial stuff, I would search for contractors and industrial supply houses. Another option is welding supply and even HVAC or plumbing supply houses might have what you are looking for.

I buy most of my tools and supplies online from McMaster-Carr. They have just about everything you might want, but you need to order everything, there is not a store. Everything they sell is high quality. You can pick things up at the warehouse by ordering it will call instead of shipping it. There is a warehouse in the LA area, so when you get down there on your trip, you can place your order. Www.mcmaster.com

Places like Harbor Freight and Northern Tool have retail stores, but the items are lower end consumer quality, you would probably be better off buying in China for cheaper than at these places.

Something to be aware of, if you are buying grinding wheels and things like that, the arbor hole will be inch sized and your machines in China might have metric arbors.

Fastenal has physical stores that will sell consumables over the counter.

All of the Fastenal stores out here have switched to fulfillment centers and are not open to walk in sales, my local store doesn’t even list their will call hours, you have to call the store to find out when you can pick up an order. I stopped using them when they did that and just order online, McMaster-Carr always delivers the next day, and I don’t have to drive to the store.