The wrenches fixed hundreds of Braintree High School students' cars.
And the saws and drills built thousands of birdhouses and spice racks.
And they will all be placed on the auction block this Saturday.
"It's the sale of the century," said Tom Mahar, the school department's head custodian.
Every table saw, screwdriver and hand jack that once filled the high school's now-closed wood and auto shops will be up for grabs at the auction.
The lots range from complete sets of socket wrenches and hand saws to a small airplane engine and hydraulic car lift.
Other items include a cabinet filled with hundreds of drill bits and saw blades, the wood shop's remaining stock of hardwood lumber, a half-dozen full-sized wood lathes, car jacks, belt sanders and hammers.
"There were enough tools in here for 30 kids to be working at the same time," said Peter Kress, the school department's business manager.
And high-end tools, at that. One of the lots up for auction, for example, is a full cabinet of Snap-on brand tools.
The auction will be conducted by Strategic Auctions Inc. and is open to the public.
Mahan remembers when the industrial arts wing of Braintree High School buzzed with activity.
The sound of running motors, and the smell of fresh-cut wood would waft through the ring of classrooms behind the school auditorium.
"You could always tell when someone was using a dull blade," said Mahar, who started his job a month after the high school opened in 1972.
But it has been more than three years since any Braintree High School student took a wood or auto shop class. The electrical shop, which has been closed for even longer than that, now houses an early childhood education program.
Braintree is one of a growing number of high schools that have shuttered their industrial arts classrooms. With school curricula being driven by high-stakes testing, focus and resources continue to shift away from electives such as wood shop.
Kress said an increasing number of Braintree students looking for a technical-based education are instead attending Blue Hills Regional Vocational High School.
During a recent tour of the shops and all their neatly arranged and tagged contents, both Kress and Mahar talked about the nostalgia that the equipment represents for thousands of Braintree High School alumni.
"There's some really cool stuff in here," Kress said. "It's sad to see it go.
"But there's no point letting this stuff sit here."
School officials plan to convert the shops into classroom space. The auto shop, for example, is about the size of four regular classrooms.
There is also an "out with the old, in with the new" type of strategy in place, according to Kress.
School officials hope the auction will generate $40,000 to $100,000. If selectmen allow the school department to keep the proceeds -- the tools are technically considered surplus town property -- the money will be used to buy modern technology, such as computers, servers and routers.
Rick Collins may be reached at rcollins@ledger.com.
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