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Your favorite sale

Joined
Aug 23, 2009
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Location
Oxford, NC
Just wondering what your favorite, most rewarding or strangest sale might have been. I'm sure they are some good ones out there.

Here's mine:
I was at the doctors office last week getting a chemo treatment and sold two bowls while the I V bag was dripping and a GIANT needle was in my chest slowly being plunged (no kidding).

A woman (husband was a patient) came into the chemo room and said, "hey, I know you, you sold me the Zebrawood vase at the craft show. Do you still have that big vase that was elevated up in the back of your display?". I said yes, and she said she wanted it. Then the nurse with the Fred Flintstone needle, said "could you make me a big bread mixing bowl/". Sure!

Next chemo treatment (Tuesday) I'm bringing a bunch of stuff to the doc's office and set up a little display in back of the receptionist (got the OK already). All the nurses congregate back there, so who knows....more sales while getting chemo? Why the heck not?
 
Joined
Jan 20, 2006
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Location
Martinsville, VA
great doctor's visit, i wish you well
 
Joined
Aug 23, 2009
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Location
Oxford, NC
Thanks Charlie!
All is going very well.

Should have mentioned in the orig thread that it doesn't have to be a sold item. I give away story is also welcome. They can be even more rewarding!

Thanks again, Don
 
Joined
May 16, 2005
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Well, here goes.

Wife and I were spending a fine morning in the park meeting people and selling occasionally at our county Art Association show. I had a section of gnarly soft maple turned with the heart exposed on either side, which was one of my favorites. Young couple came by and held and showed it to one another at some length, but left with a "beautiful." The man came by a half hour later and studied everything about it, including the price (marked on the bottom). About then I got a page, because I was on ambulance standby.

When I returned after an hour and a half, the bowl was gone.

"What happened to the dark maple?" I asked.

"After you left the woman came by and asked if she could take some pictures of it, so I let her take it to get a good background."

"Don't tell me she walked off with it?"

"No, she and her husband came back about a half hour ago and bought it. I asked them where they were going to display it, and she said 'first we have to get it to Toronto (~600 miles) on the motorcycle.'"
 

Steve Worcester

Admin Emeritus
Joined
Apr 9, 2004
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Location
Plano, Texas
Website
www.turningwood.com
We helped dissect a large box elder locally about 5 years ago and as is customary (for me) I told them I would make them a bowl. I did, but hadn't finished the finish (I hate putting on salad bowl finish).

A few years later, I was at a physical therapy session and the same lady recognizes me and say "hey you were making a salad bowl for us". I finished the bowl that week and gave it to her the next.

Good luck with your chemo man.
 
Joined
Jun 9, 2004
Messages
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Location
Haslett, Michigan
nice sale

A few years ago I got some Katsuro wood from Mich St Univ grounds dept (boring white wood), A year later a landscaper from MSU called an asked if I had any bowls from the Katsura (I had a few). She wanted a gift from that tree as her best friends were married under that tree many years before and she wanted one for an anniversary present!!! That is so neat when the wood brings together a family!!!
Also the potential sale (never did follow through) when A former client called (she was i her "cups" I am afraid) after seeing a couple of my wooden bowls in a gallery "up North" . Said your remember "Bingo" don't you (as a matter of fact I did!!) , a dog whose cruciate ligament I repaired 6 years before. Well Bingo later died and had been traveling to Florida in a coffee can for 2-3 seasons, and wondered whether I could make something more befitting her beloved dog. I asked her to send me some wood from the homestead, and I would try. She never did, and probably didn't remember calling me either. -good thing as I don't do hollow forms!!!!Gretch
 
Joined
Apr 17, 2009
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Location
Clarkston, MI
Website
www.thewoodworkersnetwork.com
About 40 years ago a friend brought in a small antique cabinet for a minor repair. She was in a hurry to get it done as she wanted to give it to her son and wife who were to be married in one week. I hurried and turned a small bead molding for the cabinet and fixed a door.

The lady never returned for the cabinet. Recently I was at a party and was introduced to a Mrs. H. I said are you related to Anne H? She said yes that is my mother-in-law. I told her the story about the present which she never received. I asked her if she wanted it. She picked it up the next day,and as she looked in one of the drawers found the original repair slip for $25.00. She insisted insisted on paying the bill and handed me $25.00. :D
 
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
73
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Location
Grimes, Iowa
Website
www.scrollsaws.com
Favorite give away

Well as some of you may know I don't like the sanding. This group was one day's turning with no sanding just turned green walnut to finished in one shot. My house cleaner was here admiring them and said she had no problem with sanding and finishing, that would be fun. Her goal is to have all wooden dishes in her home.
So guess what, I bagged up to whole lot and said " Here take these home and have fun, No Charge". She left here very happy, will be fun to see how she makes out with then when she comes back to clean next time.
 

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Joined
Dec 22, 2006
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Location
Grimes, Iowa
Website
www.scrollsaws.com
Give away

As I think back there was one giveaway better than that. We had free karate broke wood 1x12. We made 500 cars and 500 puzzles on the scrollsaw. Our scroll club started this project, but they were too slow cutting the first 50, so I cut the rest before the next meeting.
Didn't seem like enough to give to the underprivleged kids. So I had about 200 turned boxes that I made when I first started turning. I threw them in with the cars and puzzles.
From what I remember the stuff was divided up to about 15 different organizations by Woodworking club. A lot of very happy kids that year.
 
Joined
Jan 7, 2006
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Location
Southern Oregon
Not a "Sale" Story...

...but a story none the less. About 2 years ago, I received a piece of wood which I was told was Mexican Cherry from my wife's grandfather's house. They were clearing up the house to make it look nice for my wife's grandmother's funeral reception. Anyway, the piece of wood was about 8" in diameter and about 40 inches long. It ended up in my pile of "Will get to someday" wood.

About 12 months later, the Witch Creek fire obliterated my wife's grandfather's house and everything on the property leaving a smoldering mess with a couple of stumps from some palm trees. I decided to break into the "Mexican Cherry". I cut two bowl blanks out of it because it was extremely checked all the way through. Once my wife heard I was working it, she immediately claimed all the pieces I made or was going to make.

One bowl ended up with my mother in law, one with my wife's uncle. I've made 4 pens out of it for each of her aunts and uncles, and I have just enough left to make a pen for her grandfather.

To be honest, the wood looks and smells a lot like hickory or pecan - but it doesn't really matter - all that matters is it is the last remaining piece of history from that generation's home.
 
Joined
Aug 10, 2007
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Location
Monterey, Ca.
In the early 90’s an aunt asked me to make her a cookie jar. I put together a segmented piece with a nice maple burl lid. She was so happy with it she made it known that she wanted to use it as her burial urn when the time came. In 1999 she passed and it was asked of me to take the cookie jar to the funeral home and have her cremates put inside and sealed. The Funeral Director was impressed with the uniqueness of the container and inquired if I could provide him with some pictures of my work to use as samples. Since then this single contact has accounted for over 40 funeral urn sales generated from a single cookie jar made for the sweetest aunt anybody could have ever had.
 

john lucas

AAW Forum Expert
Joined
Apr 26, 2004
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Cookeville, TN
I don't know if this qualifies for my best sale. It does qualify as my only sale. The University where I work decided to have a fun raiser flea mkt/craft sale. I thought it would be fun to participate since most of the faculty and staff don't know I am a turner.
It was a complete and utter disaster from a sales standpoint. I had a lady on my left selling absolute junk, I mean things like 3 hubcaps, a quilt with worn areas etc. The one to my right had really crappy jewelry made from low end plastic beads. I had fun talking to all the people but it was blatantly obvious my work was both overprices for that venue and out of place. I did most segmented work back then so it was really grossly underpriced for the time and skill involved.
Late in the day a lady (who has since become my boss when they merged departments) bought one my pieces. The only piece I sold all day and was also my favorite piece.
 
Joined
Mar 24, 2006
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Location
Beresford, South Dakota
I'll try and give you the readers digest version of this one. A year ago at an event that included an art show for 2 days we had an interesting close. The event included banquets, guest speakers, politicians and business people from around the US. The final evening their banquet got over at 10:00PM and artists were told they could break down after that or stay open but had be gone by 6:00 AM the next day. We always stay open until everyone else is packed up and gone, easier to pack & load that way. Plus all the guests are still milling about with drinks in their hand. One individual comes up and wants to buy a bowl, haggles with my for about 5 minutes while I'm talking to another customer. When I turned to my wife and the individual he said hey come on it's $55 I'll give you $45, I just laughed and said hey I like your hat and it's a deal! Sold, as far as hats go it was a limited edition collector type hat. Just about done for the evening a couple walks, staggers up, they want a bowl cause his wife has been bugging him for 2 days. They look and look and look, we un-pack a few more and they keep looking. Finally she lands on one $225. Husband pulls out 3 $100 bills, I start to get him change he says hell with it just give me another bowl. She was very happy. I would have told them to get a room but they had one and were headed there. We were finished at 2:00 AM, it was my best show ever.

Frank D
 
Joined
Aug 10, 2007
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Location
Monterey, Ca.
Ruth, Thank you for the kind words. I have been surprised at how many urns I have sold to the end user long before they are prepared to move in. The Funeral Director I work with tells me that when a person is picking out an urn for a family member they rarely want to spend as much on it as when they are picking one out for themself. As my urns tend to sell retail in the $1500.00 to $2500.00 area the end user looks at the purchase as an art piece first and then as an eternal condo second. Kind of funny how it all works out in the end.
 
Joined
Apr 29, 2009
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A number of years ago I was having a conversation with the curator of our local school historical museum. We talked about the old central high school that was built around 1910 and was being remodeled. The next weekend I was at the local flea market and there was a vendor that had some oak boards that were about 1" x 8" x 38" and appeared to be quite old growth lumber. I asked where he got the wood and he told me that the boards were thresholds from the remodeled school. I purchased several and cut some pen blanks on a bias, then made a couple of really cool pens. I gave them to him and told him that
that probably everyone that we knew had at one time or another had stepped on the wood in the pens. I thought he was going to cry. They are now in the school museum.
 
Joined
Oct 27, 2008
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Location
Tujunga, Ca.
Website
www.skinnybuilt.com
Not a sale, just a story

There is a man in my neighborhood who trims and cuts down trees. He then brings all the large pieces home and puts them out on the walkway in front of his house. All the neighbors come by and get their firewood. I stopped one time and picked out a suitable chunk, took it home, rough turned it, dried it, and finished it. It did split on me so I had to add a bit to it. I then took it back and put it on his front porch with a note in it. It said: "Thanks for the use of the wood. I'm done with it now, so you can have it back."
I did not sign the note.
 

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Joined
Sep 19, 2007
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Location
Eagan, Minnesota
Give Away

I was at my Dr office and had a small bowl with star on it sticking out of the bag next to journal. He said he was starting to do work for make a wish foundation and was drawn to the star - when I said it is yours he seemed pleased. It is a case of visiting the Dr office and feeling better.
 
Joined
Aug 23, 2009
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Location
Oxford, NC
Way to go Linda!! Sure seams like there are a lot of generous woodturners on this forum. Makes me proud to be among you all.
 
Joined
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I'm a soft touch for the church festivals, fireman's raffle and such, but my favorite giveaway is similar to others'. Busting firewood in early July one year when a white-haired couple pulled up the drive and introduced themselves as the J family. I remembered them from the deed on the home forty. They had owned our place until 1942, when the white-haired gentleman and two brothers had gone to war. His parents sold the place because they had no "hands" and moved to town.

We were walking and talking along the north side of the house when he noted that one of three large poplars was missing. It had gone down in a storm two years prior. He had a sort of distant look when he told me that he had planted those three poplars as a young teenager. I had four pieces left out of the forty or so I had sold from that tree, and the best two left immediately for him and his sister. The other two boys had been lost in the war.

Second tree went down a couple of years later, and I learned last year that he had passed on as well.
 
Joined
Mar 25, 2008
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Location
Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan, USA
free to good home

I was dooing a Holiday craft show, selling mostly pens, bottle stoppers and ring towers, not a banner show as has been the trend. A young guy about 11 years old stopped by and was drooling over my pens, specifically the fountain pens. Since there were no customers, I paid more attention to him, answering questions and showing how to use one. His mother came along and he was so excited to tell her what he had learned and said he wanted one. As the prices were quoted, his and her facial expressions changed and so did my mood. I felt so bad that here we have a youn man with a interest in fountain pens and unable to afford one.
Well, they left my table and I felt bad. So I went scouring through my bag as i recalled a fountain pen that I had that had a less than acceptable gold finish, though it worked perfectly fine. I had my wife stay at the booth whille I went in search of this young man. When I found him, I asked to speak to his MOM, he seemed a bit nervous, like I was going to accuse him of stealing something. I explained my pen situation and told her I wanted him to have it but it was her responsibilty to make sure he used it.
About two weeks later I got a thank you in the mail, handwritten by this little fellow. Dont know how he got my address, but dont care, it made my day.
 
Joined
Mar 25, 2008
Messages
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Location
Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan, USA
another feel good story

As a lot near my home was being cleared for a new fire station, I noticed that a decent size cottonwood was being removed. Well, even cottoon wood is good for something, so i took some home, cut and sealed it and set it aside.
A year later,just learning to make a pepper grinder, I pulled out this foot long log and gave it a go. It turned out pretty good and finished nicely. As I was driving by the now finished station, I thought that this place is a good place for a peppermill, many could use it. So the next day, I dropped it off explaining that it has to stay here as the wood came from a tree, removed to make way for this station. All the firemen agreed and seemed to like the idea.
 
Joined
Sep 8, 2006
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Location
SoCal
Similar to Glenn's fountain pen story, I was at a very slow show a year or two ago and a college-aged girl was in my booth looking for a Christmas present for her dad. She really had her eyes on the bowls, but is was soon obvious that her budget would only allow a pen, which didn't really appeal to her. She kept going back to a $50 alder bowl, the lowest-priced one on I had display, but kept putting it back on the table after looking it over closely. I finally picked up the bowl myself, and told her honestly that the bowl had just been a practice piece made from wood that was free. I sold it to her for $20, and her smile was worth way more than the extra $30 I'd been asking.

I also try to have a few finger tops on hand (but not displayed) at shows. I give them away to particularly well-behaved kids who happen to stop by my booth. Those smiles are also well worth the price of admission.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Aug 23, 2009
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Location
Oxford, NC
Way to go you guys!!!! I love these stories.
I'm 54 years old so maybe I can get away with this.....sounds like our motto should be "Old farts with Hearts". I sure do see allot of big hearts out there!
 

Donna Banfield

TOTW Team
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May 19, 2004
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Derry, NH
I'm not an Old Fart....

but I have two stories:

A few years ago I was doing a downtown ArtWalk; these are art fairs organized to bring people into the downtown areas of older cities, and to encourage more cultural events. I was set up with a small booth on the sidewalk just outside a gallery in which I had a few pieces on consignment.

Two women late 50's or early 60's were riding their Razor scooters (yes, I did say Razor scooters, and the age was also accurate) and stopped in front of my booth to look at my turnings. The discussions got around to "where do you get your wood", to which I responded, "Anywhere I can." One of them says she has an apple tree that would be taken down in a year or so, would I be interested? Sure!

Several months later, I get a phone call, telling me that the tree has been cut down, and the trunk and larger branches had been put aside for me. And by the way, would you mind making two bowls from it, one for me and one for my nephew. I will pay you for it....

The wood is picked up, and more than a year later I have a few pieces completed. She wanted the 'best' of the bunch, so I picked out two 8" natural edge bowls. Apple, being a fruit wood, and sometimes the orneriest of the fruit woods, gave me a heck of a time, and several of the blanks I had lost to unforgiveable checking. I wanted to salvage the time in the pieces, so I decided I had to charge her $75 each, but was feeling guilty.

Called her and made arrangements to deliver the bowl to her that Saturday. Same address as where the wood was gathered. The house was in one of the really older sections of town; homes built around the turn of the century, but well maintained. This one was large enough to have been divvied up into 3 or 4 apartments, and she lived in a smaller condo.... At least, that's what I thought....

Showed up with the bowls...I hear...I love them,..they are beautiful! I'm going to keep this one for myself...! Next she asks if I would care to see some of her furniture; it's all cherry, and made by someone I might know. Curious, I say, "Sure." I don't make furniture, never have, but ....

[Image - jaw drops wide open the eyes go boing, just lie the cartoons] She leads me from the foyer through a pair of 12 foot high glass doors, that open into a room full of museum quality cherry and mahogany furniture. Pie crust tables with ball and claw feet; a federal high-boy that would make Leigh and Leslie Keno of Antiques Roadshow giddy with excitement! A side table and matching arm chairs with ebony and (I hope not) Ivory inlay. And that was in just the drawing room! Turns out that most of the furniture was made on commission by NH Furniture Master David Lamb. For those of you who read Fine WoodWorking, you've seen his stuff. She was so proud of the very first piece that she had commissioned from him - the pie crust table. He at first wasn't interested but she kept pestering him. Eventually he told her, I'm too busy, but I can get to it in about 5 years. Apparently that was intended to discourage her, but she just said, "Fine." It took 7 years, and that led to about a half-dozen more pieces over several more years.

She couldn't care less about how long it took, she simply wanted what she wanted, and was willing to wait for it! And here I was worried about charging her $75 bucks a piece for a couple of natural edge bowls! Yup, turns out that was her home -- the whole thing. That connection has led to a few more sales, and very recently, my first commission for a carved base to display a diamond pendant.

Wow, didn't mean to be so long winded...I'll post the other story a little later...;)
 
Joined
May 5, 2004
Messages
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Location
Lenexa, Kansas
In search of a purple pen

Like a lot of you, a lot of my first turnings were pens. I was at work one day and noticed a sign up that said "If anyone has my purple pen, please return it to me". Didn't really know the person in the message so I just kind of ignored it. A couple weeks later we happened to see each other in the break room. I asked him if he had found his purple pen. He said no. I knew I had some purpleheart blanks at home so when I got there I made a purple pen. I brought it to him the next day and he insisted on paying for it. I told him he could pay for the kit if he wanted to and he promptly wrote a check for the price of the kit plus $10. This has been my first and only sale even now. My list of family and friends wanting turnings never seems to go down.
 
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