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Show me your sales or demo booth


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Were you just demoing or were you also selling your wares?  I have found that by myself I can do one or the other.  If I am demoing I can focus on the work and keep a a patter and conversation with the spectators but I can't also talk about the goods table, make change, etc..  If I am going to do both I have to have someone helping with the commercial side of the operation.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

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Welcome aboard Lockjaw forge guy, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you'll discover how many of the gang live within visiting distance. 

Brother, that's one serious expression you're wearing there! Maybe it's wearing your hat off center? I have to have Deb or a mirror to get my straw hat straight too. I just started wearing it at a jaunty:rolleyes: angle on purpose as part of the persona.

I've been to Goldfield but it was maybe 30 years ago so details escape me, is it a historical mining town, sort of a living history museum thing? I remember a few of those in my wanderings in Nev.mining country. Are you THE town smith? 

What do you prefer to  make?

Frosty The Lucky.

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Like Frosty said, if you edit your profile to show location, there may be other members near you and sometimes knowing where you are is needed to give accurate answers. I always suggest reading this to get the best out of the forum. READ THIS FIRST

I like your set up. Looks like your forge is an Army pack forge, we take ours to club meetings when there is a shortage of forges.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks Jennifer. Improving as I go.

Btw, I had zero phone service at this event, and with some of the higher priced stuff, need my phone for the card reader. Luckily we could get on (a somewhat trustworthy) someones wifi. No major  non-cash sales anyway, but something to think about if accepting card. With some higher dollar items I wouldn't get a lot of my sales not accepting cards.

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The good people do understand the fees, and if asked, I always prefer cash. In the long run I've found that having the ability to accept CC to be able to make the sales outweighs the fees. Times change and a lot less people carry much cash. I thought of charging more for the use of cc but that could leave a bad taste. So far in my absurdly low pricing, I just price accordingly, or not and just accept it. Lol. I hate pricing, but got bills to pay and stock and tools to buy and pay for. Can't it all be for fun?

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Daswulf, I missed this post because I was on vacation.  That's a mighty nice looking setup.  If I were 40 years younger I'd work towards getting set up for the craft circuit.  But I wouldn't be able to get all that heavy stuff out of the trailer and set up nicely like you have.   Probably the best I could do at this stage of life is to set up a table with no demo ability.

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It's certainly not a light setup but it could be worse. I always bring an extra shirt or two and lots of cold water haha. 

Btw Zeroclick thats a nice bunch of items. Deffinately go vertical and display some items hanging to give people a feel for how the hooks and such hang. It gets peoples minds working on how or where they might use em. 

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Each time someone asks what something costs and walks away I add 5.oo to the price. I've got a few things on the table now that are around 2500.00 for an S hook.  LOL.

it sure does.  It is such a wonderful platform.  Hard to believe nearly all the "How to" videos were shot in the trailer..  I've had a few who thought it was a full sized shop.. LOL. 

Takes about 30 minutes to setup and about 45min to tear down and get on the road.  The Refflinghaus anvil changed things a little bit so now need 2 roof supports instead of just 1.  I had to figure out a way to have a place for the upright to stand on so had to add another little shelf aspect to the frame so now I can use the pinch clamp plate as the support for the second upright.  I only had to add the second 

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Dear Jennifer,

What is the purpose of the board hanging from the side of the trailer?  A step so that children or short adults can look in and see the action?

Also, do yu have someone manning the sales table while you demonstrate or are you able to handle both functions?

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

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George that is the forge welding cover lens.  anytime I am forge welding I pull it up to shield the crowd from splatter and welding debris.  It sits on 2 of the ratcheting cinch down straps that have the push button release.   

I forge weld at nearly every demo  a few times and this keeps people from getting stuff in the face. 

The only problem is the fact is is a reflective surface. I'd love to get a matt surface or some other, that people can see through easier as this give back a pretty bad reflection. 

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Jennifer:  I am assuming that this shield is some sort of plastic sheeting.  Correct?  I wonder if some sort of metal screening, probably finer than window screen, might work better.  It might take some experimentation to see if any particles would pass through a screen or not.  That would eliminate the reflectivity issue.  Also, screening would probably be more durable than plastic.  I have a vague memory of screens being use around arc welding sites to mitigate glare and catch sparks.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

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There are commercially available products which are 1000's of dollars and designed for just such a thing.   I had thought about metal screening  but this creates it's own set of problems and while there is no glare it creates a shaded view, and is the reason why I just chose plexi glass.  It does the job, was easy enough to mount and is less expensive than other options, and is easy to replace should the need arise.  (only used 1/2 a sheet so have another 1/2 left).  At night the plexiglass is not a problem because the trailer light source is coming from inside instead of from outside. 

 Basically it's a throw away product that will after 10 years will not be clear enough to see through.  For the time being it can be polished numerous times to keep it clear enough to see but it has the glare problem. 

There are adhesive solutions as well. Each level of complexity just adds that very thing. Complexity and expense.  LOL. 

In a perfect world there would be a solution that would allow perfect clarity (for a lifetime), light, but rigid enough to absorb and impact and not have a reflective surface all for under 100.00 bucks..   In an ideal world that is. 

this last sheet I bought is about 1/4" and it was nearly 200.00. 

Anyhow I am all for the viewers safety and if they can't see for a minute or 2 while welding I don't mind at all. :)   

 

Most people today dont' really know what is good or not so good for themselves expecting others to take care of their welfare and safety.   

This past weekend I went to an outdoor show where all facets of outdoor living is/are covered. You wouldn't believe how many kids came up and dragged their fingers down the blade edge while the parents stood there watching them.  :(    I then had to step up and chastise the parents ( I did not but wanted to)  and educate the group as to the correct and safe way to check for sharpness of a cutting tool. 

Last year was completely opposite. Each and every child and person knew how to handle a knife or axe or sharp tool.   What was the difference between last year and this year? 

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21 hours ago, jlpservicesinc said:

The only problem is the fact is is a reflective surface.

JLP,

Sometimes things can be angled or canted to reduce or eliminate reflections. Not sure if this will help but should be relatively simple to adjust your connection point on the screen to achieve or maybe not. 

George

 

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