Hi all,
Ed Minch had solicited galoot interest in some veneer an acquaintance of
a friend of a friend was wanting to get rid of so we had a local
get-together on Friday evening, last. Kirk Eppler flew in from
California so I guess it wasn't really local. He ostensibly had
business here on that Friday; prolly some gum'mint stuff. Charlie
Driggs came along, Ed showed up to facilitate the get-together. Those
three and me made up the interested parties.
I met Ed for the first time. Ed brought the magnificent John Henry
metal guitar and an excellent #97 rule! I regret the environment was
not particularly conducive to show and tell. It was cold, dark and
lighted by headlights. I hope I will get another chance to inspect the
guitar in a more suitable environment. I could have asked questions for
half an hour or more; wonderful workmanship. I didn't like handling the
rule, but I think Ed brought the #97 rule just to show it off. It is
his pride and joy and justifiably so. While I made him a good offer, he
declined, suggesting, he would likely never sell it. Can't say as I
blame him. The rule is one of the best of the best!
I met Kirk Eppler for the first time. I regret we did not get much time
to talk.
Charlie came equipped with his hazmat gear. I initially thought his
approach was overly conservative. but in retrospect, it was likely
appropriate. He did sound a little like Darth Vader as he helped us
identify the various veneers.
The veneer was a really sad tale. In retrospect, Charlie's dust mask
was completely appropriate. Mold, mildew, mouse-houses and accompanying
droppings were evident everywhere. None of the other guys expressed any
interest so I stepped up to save the lady further embarrassment and
offered the lowest price I could without shaming myself. The other guys
had primed her well with comments on how dirty, how dry, how moldy,
etc., so she accepted my offer. It was then I started to get a
little worried. Ed picked up a 3-foot piece of some kind of light
colored veneer and said, "can I have this". Well, it probably wasn't
worth more than 10 or 15 dollars, so I said, "yeah sure". And then the
lady selling the veneer decided she would like some samples to show
someone, her kids perhaps, what she was selling. She whipped out the
biggest pair of scissors I have ever seen and started to cut off a
sample of each of the veneers. I grabbed the scissors and offered to
help her, cutting up a few small samples, smaller than the 1-square foot
samples she was aiming for. She did offer some nice Wawa subs for our
evening repast as payment for the multi-dollar veneer pieces she walked
away with. If you are buying this so far, let me continue.
Here are some too-large pictures of the stuff we were offered for
inspection. The big pictures from my phone are not good pictures, they
are just large and take a while to load:
http://billwebber.galootcentral.com/1.jpg
http://billwebber.galootcentral.com/2.jpg
http://billwebber.galootcentral.com/3.jpg
http://billwebber.galootcentral.com/4.jpg
http://billwebber.galootcentral.com/5.jpg
So, I picked up everything the next day, Saturday, and spent the day
sorting, cleaning, measuring, etc. There is some nice stuff in the
pile. Whether it will clean up or flatten out properly remains to be
seen. After sorting through the haul and culling out the scraps and
stuff too busted to save, I figure there is still over 300 square feet
of veneer there; enough to make a few boxes, at least! On a rambling
note... there is a lot of stuff I cannot identify, but the total
includes African satinwood, figured Cedrino, zebrawood, anigre, birdseye
maple, walnut, ash, ebony, oak, tiger maple, and a dozen others I can't
guess at. There is a million feet of oak/ash edge banding (anyone need
that?).
I got a little depressed when I got to thinking about what to do with
all this stuff. But I've decided to finish a couple ongoing projects
and then I'll flatten what can be flattened, keep the good stuff, and
pedal the rest... as any worthy galoot would do. I cleaned off all the
paper, blew off the mouse droppings and mildew, and that is as far as
I've gotten. Here as some pics of the stuff as it sits in the back of
the truck.
http://billwebber.galootcentral.com/6.JPG
http://billwebber.galootcentral.com/7.JPG
http://billwebber.galootcentral.com/8.JPG
http://billwebber.galootcentral.com/9.JPG
That's my tale, so far.
Regards,
--
Bill W.
In Beautiful downtown Nottingham, PA
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