Max Mulholland - Tetnum Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 i have around 35 days of demos this summer and fall and i am about to place an order for stock but was wondering how much stock others use in the avrage season to better over order the ammount i will need Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tribal forge Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Depends on how many items i am going to do! i try to take about 100' each od 1/2" , 3/8", 5/16", 1/4" and 3/16" so i can do a veriaty of items, i try to have it all in either 10' or 12' lengths, cause it never fails, someone will want a plant stand or a lantern stand longer than what i have made/Selden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TASMITH Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Pretty difficult to pre-order all your stock unless you have every demo planned ahead of time and KNOW that you will be sticking to what you planned. There is nearly always a change in plans at some point. Some demos cancelled, new ones added or as tribal forge said there will probably be someone who whants it different from the one you are making. best you can hope for is to order most of what you use all the time and only order what you need for a special demo when that time approaches. Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DKForge Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Tetnum I have found no rhyme nor reason to what people will buy. One weekend everyone wanted meat turners and I couldn't make them fast enough. That weekend I couldn't sell a tripod for anything. Went and bought extra 1/4" for all of the meat turners I was going to sell the following weekend and everyone wanted tripods. I am fortunate to have a source for steel within a 45 min drive so I just plan on making a trip mid week for the upcoming weekend. I know roughly how many items I can make on site and have enough stock with me to not run out. Any orders I take for future delivery I just go buy what I need the following week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oak Hill Forge Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Where do guys find to demo that often ? I'm pretty green here and don't have the ability to demo yet, but is it a "regular" like a museum or historical place or like craft fairs ? Where do you sell the best ? That's my long term goal for retirement opportunity, plus I enjoy the public and interacting. I have one lead, but it's a state or Fderal park, so you can't "officially sell" although they don't have a problem with you slipping to your car and conducting business. They also "pay" you a small fee for your materials and time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Well I got about 20 farrier's rasps for this years rasptle snakes, a couple of coil springs for knives, a stack of election signs for basket hooks, some old black pipe to make chili's from and a bunch of old band saw blade and pallet strapping for making up pattern welded billets. I assume; of course, that you will be making exactly what I do, right? Now what is this about *buying* stock? That some odd midwestern custom? After a while you will get a feel for how much fuel and metal you go through in a typical day and can plan ahead; but as was mentioned, things can change *fast*. I've had the "everybody wants a tripod" days myself and they eat up stock fast! (even had to send folks to buy their own steel and bring it back if they wanted one; of course this was at a week long campout of living history folk...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unkle spike Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 I grab whatever I have on hand in the shop in reasonable lengths. Usually a couple of 5 footers of 1/2 round and square round, and some 3/8 square, and some shorter 1/4 square and round. You never know what you will need, but a word to the wise, it is easier to hot cut a piece shorter than to forge weld it longer. I usually have a bucket of drops from the saw of various short lengths to work from. Last year sales were horrible, so I went more of "on demand" for what I sold with the usual little trinkets on the table. I only do 3 or 4 a year, and a couple of weekends at the Museum of Appalachia, so I can usually muster enough for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dablacksmith Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 when i leave for the sumer i figure enuf to get me thru for the first demo or 2 then figure to get stock on the road... i find its real hard to predict anything but i always use up my 1/4 square stock... but i have a lot of items i make from it so...i try to precut as much as possable . i dont make anything out of a leingth longer than 6 ft in a demo so i try to keep all stock in that leingth or shorter....makes packing easyier ! good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 1/4" sq stock the fastest way between a forge and money... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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