[TheForge] The mind 1st to go

[Jerry Frost]

There's an old saying that covers this Andy, to paraphrase: Some know the 
price of everything and the value of nothing. Well, okay it sort of covered 
the idea, if it's off the mark, I'm blaming the TREE! <grin>

A thing is NOT worth what the seller asks for it, it's worth what someone 
will pay for it. Anywhere you look you'll see prices above market without 
above market value. Of course as Mr. Barnum said, there's one born every 
minute, but I wouldn't bet the farm on finding em.

For a gross example let's consider an anvil. I could go to the local Home 
Depot and have a brand new Peddinghaus shipped up and delivered in a week to 
10 days. So, let's say I lay down some plastic and spend those ten days 
operating equipment, fabbing mud flap hangers or pumping gas. Depending on 
what I'm doing I may or probably won't make enough to pay for my new anvil. 
Still, it'll help defray the cost. On the other hand I spend those ten days 
looking for an equivalent anvil and surprise surprise I find one. (I'm 
pretending for the sake of argument I live somewhere finding a couple 
hundred lbs of quality anvil in good condition is a 10 day search) Okay, in 
either case I have a good quality good condition anvil of say around 250lbs. 
For one I had to work my butt off for 10 days and more to pay for it. In the 
other I got to shop, track down leads, sift through barns, back allies, 
garages, estate sales, etc. etc. but spent the same 10 days doing it. Cool, 
I LOVE looking through barns, sheds, talking to strangers, etc. etc. but 
wait a second I had to spend $?/gl for gas (In AK reasonable reg is around 
$3.35/gl) bought lunches and misc bribes. A box of doughnuts will go a LONG 
way you know.

Anywho, even if both are equal quality tools their value is the same it's 
just how you pay it that changes.

In the same vein another example: New vs. Scrounged materials. There's been 
I don't know how many times I've taken on a fab job and had plenty of 
material I'd scrounged on hand but bought new anyway. Why you ask? Because I 
already had time invested in the first pick and pack, then I'd have to clean 
it and otherwise prep it before putting it under the saw. The new steel 
though got loaded on my trailer by the supplier's fork lift and went 
directly from my trailer deck to my cutoff saw. On the fab table everything 
was not only straight and the right dimension it was clean and all I needed 
to do was tack and weld it. Bearing in mind the ONLY thing we're born with 
is time, which do you think was more profitable?

As a hobbyist none of this is an issue so don't worry about it. However if a 
person wants to make a buck, even if it's just a self supporting hobby, 
these things are paramount. No matter what you do, as a contractor you make 
or break on the bid. Period. No matter which direction the cash flows 
there's a bid involved. There's more than the craft of the blacksmith to the 
art of success in this realm.

Jer
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Andrew Vida" <osan at netlabs.net>
To: "Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2010 1:55 AM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] The mind 1st to go


> For me the bottom line has always been this: good tools are well worth
> paying for.  When one looks at the economics of it, the seemingly high
> prices really are a bargain.  I have found that many people focus on
> price without considering it circumspectly.  Always think in terms of
> cost v. benefit.  One will find that in the vast and overwhelming number
> of cases, the price of tooling turns out to be trivial in the grander
> scheme of things.  Therefore, my recommendation is to forget about hand
> wringing over tool expenses.  If you need it and can get it, buy it.  If
> your working it right and pricing your product correctly, it will pay
> for itself many times.
>