His Garage Holds More Pliers Than You Could Lose In A Lifetime

His Garage Holds More Pliers Than You Could Lose In A Lifetime FARM SHOP Tools 26-1-23 If you've ever lost a pair of pliers, threre's a good chance you can find a pair exactly like them in LeRoy Bauer's garage. Who knows? It might even be the ones you lost. Bauer, a retired Shakopee, Minnesota, farmer, proudly displays more than 2,500 pairs of pliers on three walls of his garage, and no two are alike. "I didn't start the collection," Bauer admits. "I bought a collection of about 1,800 pairs of pliers from Alvin Schmitz, who had been collecting them for years." Schmitz, also of Shakopee, retired from farming and then moved off the farm to an apartment, where there were strict rules about making holes in the walls. With no place to display his collection, Schmitz put them up for sale. After buying the collection, Bauer began adding to it. He attends auctions and frequents flea markets and garage sales in search of a pair of pliers that are different from any of the others in the collection. "My wife and I have 11 children, and they're all helping add to the collection, too," he says. Schmitz got serious about collecting pliers about 40 years ago. Like Bauer, he found most of the collection at garage sales and flea markets, with some coming from auctions. "Some were given to me or collected by friends who knew I was collecting them," he adds. And while the collection is now in Bauer's garage, Schmitz can't shake the collector bug. "I have six or seven pairs I found recently to add to it," he says. He also has a key to Bauer's garage, so, if he wants to show off the collection to a friend or just wants to look at it himself, he can do so whenever he wants to. They've collected just about every kind of pliers made in the past 50 years and many of those made in the 20th century. Most were made in North America, with others comeing from Germany, Japan, and Great Britian. One was made in Poland. Some of the pliers were purchased new, but most have been used. Most of the pliers in the collection are of the common variety farmers are known to carry in their pockets or holsters on their belts. Some are special use tools, like the one that was meant for cattlemen to use in emasculating bull calves. Some have wrench heads in the handles and one has an adjustable wrench in it. Then, there are four different sets with "Ford" in the handles. "They all came in Ford Model T tool kits, but the handles on them are all different," Bauer says. "To my knowledge, none of the other car makers ever put out pliers with the company name on them," Schmitz adds. He says some of the pliers were, at least as pliers go, fairly expensive. Schmitz says there's one notable pair he'd like to add to the collection, but they're hard to find. "Harley Davidson made a pair they included in the tool kit that came with some of their motorcycles several years ago. They had the company name in the handles. I ran across a guy who had a pair of them, but he wouldn't part with them for any price," Schmitz says. For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, LeRoy Bauer, 1845 W 139th St., Shakopee, Minn. 55379 (ph 952 496-1703).

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