Making it through another year, '23-'24

[trimguy]

You just had to instigate the leg thing , didn't you 

[Old Greenhorn]

Well yeah, I did.
 But in all fairness, I was really falling on my sword. As I cut those legs off I just kept laughing the whole time.

[Andries]

You just had to instigate the leg thing , didn't you 

It would be like getting angry at a compass for pointing north see if he didn't.

[Old Greenhorn]

I had written a very upbeat post here yesterday regrading the day and the pig roast, etc and see that it never made it up. I suspect I lost it in the flurry of other posts on the thread and didn't notice the warning messages. My bad. suffice to say I am excited about the roast and hope we see a lot of new and old faces again because they are al connected to friends I'd like to sit and jaw with for a while.
 I am worried about Howard and Becky, I thought he would be all over my leg sawing post, but not a peep. I checked and he hasn't been on the forum since Saturday morning. I hope they are OK, and just visiting on the way home. I am sure all is fine and we will just have to wait for Howard's victory dance (picture that!).
---------------------------------
 Today was an OK day but I didn't do anything exciting. I put a coat of finish on those 2 benches I'm working on. My last log client was finally back again today (about an hour and a half late) but he could only fit another 41 logs in his little truck and called it 'even'. What ever, then he asks me if I expect to 'get' any more logs? I am standing there in the midst of about 30 more lags and said "Well, you can take these!" he waffles and mumbles about getting some help and coming back and really wanting 1,000 logs to start and my eyes glaze over. I can tell this guy is on for some rough times and he is making them himself. I gave him until Sunday night to make up his mind and then I am inoculating them myself next week.
 He left and I finally got on my errands. I needed Gas, a haircut, some beer and a tarp. The wife went with me this time. We were searching for a tarp that would cover the tops of both of our EZ-Up canopies because they no longer fend off any water, comes right through. Wanted a 12x24, but no soap. Finally found a 18x30 at HF. That's a bit big, but I expected to trim it anyway. So I set up the two canopies and spread the tarp in the wind, not easy of course. Then I marked the fold-ups as well as I could and spread it on the back lawn, but the wind was just too much and I will need Pat's help to pull a straight crease and cut it one  the two sides, then I will run in some new rows of grommets. Hopefully close enough to look decent. I got a camo tarp, rather than blue, black, or green. I thought that went better with the 'forest products' theme. I am sure it will look a little hokey, but it's better than everything getting soaked. I ran out of steam and the sun was setting. I figured it was better to do the cutting fresh in the morning when it is hopefully calm winds.
 So tomorrow is another day, lets see what happens.

[thecfarm]

I suppose you did an internet for some EZ up tops? 
We have one of those gazebo with the top that wears out in 3 years. We found a bunch on the internet.

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, that was the first stop for me Ray. EZ-up makes a lot of models and although hey all look the same, or very similar to me, apparently they are not. My wife bought these for here business about 20 years ago and I have maintained all the mechanical issues and repairs from spare parts I have found in trash dumps at festivals and such. But these particular ones are the higher end commercial grade ones. The replacement tops are more than several hundred bucks each which is more than she paid for the whole unit when she bought them. She only has (I hope) one more major show to do with her business and then she is (hopefully) retired from it. She started selling all her stuff at 50% off last year in hopes of clearing out her stock. The tops are in pretty good shape, I just can't figure a way to waterproof them properly. We tried all the spray-on's and they barely help at all, just waste money. It's frustrating for sure.
 We grabbed and used them at a rain storm during a party last year and the rain just blew right on through.

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, that was the first stop for me Ray. EZ-up makes a lot of models and although hey all look the same, or very similar to me, apparently they are not. My wife bought these for here business about 20 years ago and I have maintained all the mechanical issues and repairs from spare parts I have found in trash dumps at festivals and such. But these particular ones are the higher end commercial grade ones. The replacement tops are more than several hundred bucks each which is more than she paid for the whole unit when she bought them. She only has (I hope) one more major show to do with her business and then she is (hopefully) retired from it. She started selling all her stuff at 50% off last year in hopes of clearing out her stock. The tops are in pretty good shape, I just can't figure a way to waterproof them properly. We tried all the spray-on's and they barely help at all, just waste money. It's frustrating for sure.
 We grabbed and used them at a rain storm during a party last year and the rain just blew right on through.

EDIT: BUT, you made me think about it more and I had never looked into some proper high end water proofing. SO I just did that and West Marine has some stuff for boat canvass that should do the trick and I could apply with a low pressure sprayer. It's 90 bucks a gallon, but if it works, it's worth it. I am going to look into that more going forward. I just can't do it right now.

[Old Greenhorn]

Today's task was to cut and trim that tarp to cover the ez-ups. I had laid it out last night, but the wind was daunting. This morning it was dead calm but looked like rain, so I skipped breakfast and got on it. Lots of working on my knees and tiring. It took and hour so so the lay it out, cut it, then run a row of new grommets along both cut edges. Of course the sun came out halfway through, then went away again.
 SO I did a test run and got it on top of the canopies and it isn't great, but it will work.


 The signs I ordered also showed up today.


 I have no idea what my layout will look like at this show so I also put hooks on the back of the trailer for the signs, or I can hang them on the EZ-ups if needed.

 I also put another coat of finish on the benches and started working on a garden bench project, but that won't get done in time for this show. I am pretty much done prepping for this first show, we'll see how it goes and adjust as needed. AT some point you have to cut off the prep work and let it ride. Tomorrow I will just look around for anything I missed, tie stuff down, and trim things up. The trailer is pretty full now and those two benches will finish it off. Even if I did that garden bench, it would be tough to fit in and tough to get out (it's heavy).
 I'm tired, and tomorrow is another day.
 

[Peter Drouin]

I hope you sell everything and go home with an empty trailer.

[aigheadish]

Looks like a nice setup Tom! I hope it goes well for you. Let's see the inside of the trailer all packed up!

[doc henderson]

should shed water, and even the purple haze that you often get in the hill country of NY.  No point in putting a bunch of money into pop up, till the money comes in.  good luck.

[Old Greenhorn]

Peter, that is a lovely thought!  It's not bloody likely though. Last year I was a bit short on ' stuff' at the end of my short season and I made of list of stuff to make over the winter, only half of which have I done. But the trailer is filling and even if I finished that park bench, I am not sure I could fit it in, but I could throw it in the truck bed.  I am expecting to sell very little, and anything above that will make me feel better.
 Austin, I'll get some photos when I finish loading and tying it all down. It's a bit messy now with things coming in an out daily and tools still scattered around.
 Yeah Doc, it doesn't look great, but it should do what I need. I killed the better part of the day making that and test fitting it up. Now that it's done I am thinking I won't use it for this show and only put it on when the weather is threatening. The weather this weekend looks pretty good for the show hours anyway. But it's done and I have it if I need it. Going through the motions yesterday I realized I have included a lot of setup work that takes a bunch of time. Since I am working alone it can drag out too long, especially for closing up and re-packing. So I need to work on streamlining the tasks and am calling this one a shakedown show. I'll make lots of notes on things I am missing and need to do then start filling the gaps. It's all a learning prOcess.

[Old Greenhorn]

I have been pushing pretty hard the last few days feeling the weekend coming up quickly. But I am in pretty good shape and took it just a little easier today. One bench was declared 'finished' and went out to sit in the sun for a few hours before going in the trailer. I put another coat on the bottom side of the other bench. It was 30° this morning, so I had to keep that fire going in the shop. I began working on that park bench, got all the slats rough cut and planed down, then made the frame for the backrest. I did a bunch of edge routing to round and smooth corners, glued and clamped the frame up. I am delaying working on that paint for the legs because I have not figured out ho to do it yet.  But if I have time tomorrow, I will have to start on it after I get the final sizes cut on all the seat slats. I found some nice new (very) old stock in my collection of 3/8-16 x 2" long carriage bolts in solid brass/bronze alloy that I need to connect the back to the legs. I hate using these up, but it's the right way to do it. I polish them up then hit them with a little lacquer before I install. You just can't buy these anywhere anymore. I am trying to find my stash of 3/8 Brass washers, but it eludes me. I know I have about 5 pounds someplace. I need to buy 1/4" carriage bolts for the seat slats and I know I won't find brass, but maybe I can get plated someplace. I can do that shopping tomorrow, but I don't think I will get much actual work done on the bench.
 I have to get a few last minute things for the show, hit the bank up for my cashbox change, a few small moving blankets from HF and some extra tent stakes, just in case. Then I'll just figure out how to arrange the final items in there and strap them down. I don't like pulling tight straps on finishes that have not had a few weeks to cure up.
 Ironically I found two more pieces in the shop that I have never taken to a show because I didn't have room. I should have included these, but they have been sitting so long I have to go over them and clean them up. They might need a little 'sand and refinish' work, so next time. I'll look at those after I finish up the park bench. One of them is the very first (and only) tenon table I made 4 years ago. I think I made that with wood that was not dry enough and it's been wrapped in blankets for 3 years now, so I may have to do some rework to make things fit again. Still, it's a nice little coffee table that you could dance on.
 So yeah, just get things finalized for the show tomorrow and when that is fully done, I can work on other stuff. It's another day, I'll do what I can and be happy with that.

[Wlmedley]

Hope you do well Tom.I've been selling some stuff but it's nothing I made.Got on Marketplace and even though I didn't think much of it at first I think you can sell most anything on there.In the last month I've managed to sell a boat,4wheeler,and a one row cultivator.Everyone told me to price a little high and let people talk you down but I don't operate like that.I priced my stuff at a fair price and wouldn't come down any.It's all gone and I got asking price.I've still got a lot of tools I'll never use and think I'll start selling some of them.If nothing else I get a visitor every now and then.

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, I've sold some stuff there but never thought of trying to sell what I make. Seems like marketplace is all used stuff and is not conducive to selling the kinds of things I make, but maybe I should give it a try sometime in the off season.
 Shows for me do more than provide a place to sell to folks who come looking for handmade stuff. There is a lot of networking going on and that can have a lot of value where i pick up custom builds, consult jobs, and other stuff, or just make some new friends or run into old ones. All good.
 Having said that, I put a lot of pressure and stress on myself to 'get it right', which means fast/easy setup, a great looking booth, and inviting to get folks in an talking. Once they start talking I've hit the goal, maybe there is a sale, maybe something else. If they walk in, look, maybe nod, then walk out, I figured I have failed. This year I am adding some simple foot/step stools in the booth I made with a chainsaw in about 4 minutes each. I want to see what reactions I get. I never expect to sell them, I think I marked them 15 bucks. But if they start a conversation, I win.  The art of 'the sale' is something I am working on and it is an amusement for me.
 So all this pressure I put on myself is not to get things ready for this show, it is to get ready for this season. If I am happy with it, then I just have to find good shows and take it on the road. If this weekend exposes some weak spots, I have more work to do and adjustments or refinements to work out. The goal is to have the trailer in a 'hitch and go' state so that I don't have to do any work for each show as I did last year, with a day for loading, a day for the show, and a half day for unloading. Everything I need for a show should be in the trailer, ready to setup, except for my little cooler with drinks and food. That's the challenge I set out for myself this year.
 Maybe in the coming winter I'll try using marketplace to move some stuff, let's see how much I can sell this year. I've invested a bunch of cash in this 'experiment' and it would be really nice if I made something back. I have something over 5 grand in merch in that trailer, so let's see what happens. Life is a crapshoot and you gotta roll the dice every once in a while.

[Hilltop366]

Could advertise with some pictures of your stuff on FB to say were you are going to be with the date and location of the show "See you there".

Hope it goes well!

[doc henderson]

I know your wife is getting out, but does she have stuff to try and sell and could tag team?

[Old Greenhorn]

Well Doc, your suggestion is complicated to answer.  The short answer is 'NO", and I don't want that to sound negative but the fact is, she and I have very different approaches to selling at shows, pricing, and TLTT (things like that there). She has been doing shows for well over 20 years and I learned very quickly to keep my mouth shut, wait for instructions, and just do what she asked when I was helping her at shows. It was much easier on both of us.  But yeah, she may have some stuff I can peddle in my booth as a compliment. As she gets down in stock I my go through it and se what would work, I can probably fit some stuff in. She wants to come help me setup tomorrow, we'll see how that goes. Now it's my turn to give instructions and tell her to give me time to think.  (We both get a tad stressed at shows.) Sure I'd love to have help but Pat is pretty debilitated with her knee issue and my stuff is all heavy, so I don't know how that will work. My goal is to get this all do-able by myself in an hour and a half to setup. It can be done, but I have to go through it and think it through.
 Hilltop, yes, I do this. I have a business facebook page and put regular photos up for stuff like this. Been feeding that pipeline all week and one more after I finish this post. Unfortunately, not a lot of my followers are clients types, they are friends and family keeping up with what I'm working on. But there are a few who will show up at a show and mention they saw a post. It's one of those things where have have to keep at it if you want it to grow and you never really know how it's doing or if it's helping.
_________________________
Hehe, I got another call for mushroom logs today.  Sounds like a small order locally delivered, should be easy, but the gal calling didn't know what was needed in quantities, etc. I expect to hear more on Monday. My instinct says "garden grower, less than 20 logs", but we will see.
------------------------------------

 SO this morning I went out to do final errands before the show, I went to the bank for show change, picked up snacks, water, and drinks for the show, go some bolts for that garden bench,, got some small moving blankets, and got a hitch pin for the trailer. In two different store I ran into two different guys I uesd to work with for many years, both retired now. I really enjoyed catching up with both of them. SO my errand loop wound up taking close to 3 hours.
 I came home and put the final bench in the trailer and figured out to secure it all down, the piddled on little stuff to tidy things up and nearly burned the whole trailer up (kindly refer to the 'did something dumb" thread).
 So, per Austin's request, here are a couple of final packing photos.
 First, from the back looking in. I placed the two ez-ups on each side of the back door, because they have to come out first.


Then from the front looking back and out. I have benches/tables/stools strapped to the walls on both sides, then larger stuff strapped to the floor down the center:


Looking at the headwall shelves, I still have an entire shelf empty, so maybe the universe is telling me I need more small stuff. (I do need stools, they go quickly.)



 Lastly I hooked the whole thing up for a quick exit in the morning. I am very pleased that the trailer sits quite level with the road and the truck. I became concerned when I could not budge the trailer tongue by hand thinking it might be front heavy, but it levels out nicely. It has nowhere near the tongue weight I get with a load of logs.


So tomorrow is another day and another adventure. I think I have well covered some 'show issues' but I think I may have overlooked others, I will be taking notes to get the rest of it smoothed out. Funny thing about this stuff, you can think and plan all you want and beat it to death, but when you get 'on the ground' and execute, things look a whole lot different and improvements become very obvious, but until you do it, you won't know. So I look forward to that part of it and seeing how well I guessed at this stuff.
 In any event, it will be amusing on some level.

[thecfarm]

You are off and running!!!!!

[Old Greenhorn]

I hope so Ray, I truly hope so.

[TimW]

Tom,
  Sorry to read about your wiring snafu.  Glad you got it going and I hope you sell your stock out!!!

[Old Greenhorn]

Well hers I sit in the middle of this show and I have read up on all the recent forum posts and have tim e to post myself. So how do you think it's going?

[aigheadish]

You've got a bunch of stuff in there, Tom, well done and it looks great! Looks like you may need a mid-trailer table to add a second layer in the future, but I'm proud of you for getting all that in there!

I hope you've got similar weather as us, it's beautiful (though windy) and that the crowd is huge. I'm guessing you've sold a third of your stuff already. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Well, I looked at this show as a shakedown run for the trailer and it served very well in that regard. I found my weak spots and really have to work on those. As far as a show goes, it was pretty poor. There was very little work done to get the word out beyond some facebook posts and the crowds stayed away in droves. I don't think I saw 100 people all day long. More likely about 50 or 60 folks. I felt worst for the food vendor across from me, he was up vary late last night prepping and cooking his brisket, jerked chicken, and pulled pork. I could easily keep track of all his sales during the day, from 50 feet away. his had less than 20 customers. I didn't talk to anyone who made their costs back, let alone a profit.
 No big deal, live and learn. I had a whopping 20 bucks in sales. It cost me 30bucks for my spot plus donating a raffle item worth $10.. Anybody can do that math, I'd rather not.  But you have to know that I took on this show for several reasons, one it was today, which forced me to kick it up a notch to get ready. The second was, I needed a shakedown cruise to clean up my act, and oh boy do I have some cleaning up to do. The third was that I needed to see how much room my stuff actually consumed. or put another way, how much room do I require? Put yet another way, how does the stuff I have in the trailer relate to the booth size? DO I have enough to fill the booth, too much, or am I short on merch?
 So I got answers in whole or in part to all these questions. I had plenty of time to think about it during the show and make notes. Mostly I need to stream line the tying up the benches and other big stuff in the truck. It took  WAY too long to get it out, and even longer to get it back in. In fact, at the end I just threw some stuff in the truck cab. I set up in an hour and a half, perhaps less, which isn't too terrible, but loading out very very labor intensive and the constant 20mph wind gusts ran havoc with the canopies all day long. I did not bring weight bags to hold them in place (ooops) and improvised with my spare tire and my red oak chair and also strapped off to the trailer at a few points. We were on black top, and I planned for grass and had lots of stakes.
 Yeah, I need to re-do my hanging/tying down system. That is number one. I had more than enough to fill a 10x20 booth and it was a little crowded, but workable, and adding the second table helped a lot. I might need a third if I can figure where to stick it in.
 So as a training run it was great and exposed my issues, but as a business venture it was less than a total bust. Life goes on, tomorrow is another day. I can say that I am pooped out tonight and am doing nothing more than having some darker beer and going to bed early. Tomorrow I'll start looking for the next show.

[Resonator]

Yeah life's a game, not every time you roll the dice you get to yell Yahtzee.
Hopefully some of those leftover jerk chicken came home for dinner.