The picking over of the gargantuan carcass that remains of the Hoover Co. in North Canton starts at 9:35 this morning with opening bids on Lot #1, an eight-drawer tool box with copper tube fittings.

Mind-boggling amounts of machinery and tools, along with furniture, vehicles, complete offices and even Christmas decorations are up for bid in the three-day auction, with inquiries coming in from around the globe. The printed auction catalog runs 85 pages.

A lot of items will end up being re-used by other businesses. Hobbyists will buy some pieces. Other materials will end up being sold as scrap.

The end of the Hoover era in North Canton basically concludes with the bang of an auctioneer's gavel at 5 p.m. Thursday. Successful bidders can start picking up their stuff Friday.

The Hoover campus, where thousands once built vacuum cleaners, is devoid of all but a handful of still-at-work employees. The Hoover Co. brand now belongs to new owner TTI Floor Care North America, which decided it could not afford to keep the Stark County factory open.

A possible rebirth of the property with new uses awaits under the pending ownership of a California real estate company that specializes in redevelopment.

Monday, visitors roamed the hallways, offices and massive open factory floors paces on the Hoover campus, looking for bargains and, in some cases, finding and reliving memories. The day was set aside for the public to come in and look over possible items to bid on.

Hoover retiree Larry Mancini carefully checked the offerings in the tool-and-die auction area.

''It's pretty sad,'' he said. ''I feel bad for the people. . . . It's such a great company, to see it go down, it's hard to take.''

Mancini, a 71-year-old Middlebranch resident, worked at Hoover for more than 40 years before retiring in 1999. He started there after high school, became a tool-and-die maker and worked his way up to director of manufacturing and engineering. This was his first visit back at the plant in at least three years, he said.

''It was a great place to work. An interesting place to work,'' he said.

Mancini didn't come to Hoover just to stroll down memory lane. He works with metal as a hobby, and he thought he might bid on some of the tool-and-die machinery.

''I might be interested in a couple of pieces, just for my home shop,'' he said.

Dave Black, a Navarre resident, also was expecting to bid on tool-and-die machinery. His plans involved fixing and cleaning up whatever he bought and then reselling it.

''I'm 54 and worked with machine tools my whole life,'' Black said.

The Stark County economy has been hit hard the past several years with companies leaving, but Black said he has noticed a pickup in manufacturing ''all over'' the area, except in plastics.

''Things are looking better,'' he said. ''I don't know if it's a temporary thing or will it continue.''

Tom Snyder, co-owner of a small machine shop in North Canton, walked around to find something for his workplace.

''If they're giving stuff away, you have to take advantage of the situation,'' the 36-year-old said. ''There are different things here we could benefit from.''

The Hoover factory's decline was brewing for a long time, he said. ''I hate to see it happen.''

Another small-business man, Hudson resident Jim Brugman, came in to see if there was anything that would help his injection-molding operation.

''Any small business has to be opportunistic,'' he said. ''But it's a shame to see this place go belly up. It's an absolute shame. These people were not my customers, but they could have been.''

The Hoover factory generated work for other businesses in the area, Brugman said.

''Guys working at Hoover could afford to buy a vacuum cleaner,'' he said. But unemployed people can't buy those kinds of things, he said.

Scott Mihalic, the event's auctioneer for Solon-based Stopol Auctions LLC, called the Hoover auction the largest he has seen in 14 years in the business.

At least one inquiry came in from a company in India, he said.

''Hoover is a very recognizable name wherever you go,'' he said.

Parts of the auction will be Webcast live to attract global bidders.

A typical industrial auction will have between 500 and 900 lots of material, Mihalic said. ''Here, we have over 4,200 lots.''

Stopol Auction's on-site preparation started back in May, then accelerated greatly a month and a half ago as production at the factory wound down, Mihalic said.

''Everybody says the economy, the economy, the economy,'' he said. ''When the economy is good, (companies) buy other companies and auction contents off.''

Hoover, under its new owner, is not shutting down but moving its operations elsewhere, he said.

The hardest thing about preparing for the auction was getting to know Hoover employees, some of whom had worked there 30 to 45 years, he said.

''It's something unfortunately the city of North Canton has to go through right now,'' Mihalic said.