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Mt. Vernon Wa blacksmiths


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     Greetings from just slightly East of the Mississippi River. I didn't quite know where to place this post so I'll apologize first and let it rip(please move it to a more appropriate place if I misjudged where to place it). I would be seeking some assistance from anyone near the Mt. Vernon area. Here's the story. I found my favorite welder for sale in your area. It is paid for and I'm not really keen on driving 4680 plus miles to pick it up. I mean I like it and all but that's quite a drive. I would certainly be willing to fairly compensate some adventurous soul to take a pallet and some banding material, packing blankets , foam ratchet straps or any other suitable material to secure the welder to a pallet and get it ready to load onto a truck. The current owner has a forklift on site to assist with palletizing. The welder, wire feeder and cooling unit weigh a total of 450lbs. He also has a fair amount of equipment for sale in his shop so, it may turn out he has something you may need as well. If you or anyone you know of would be interested in a good adventure please let me know. 

Thank you,

Big John

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I'll explain the rest of the story. Glenn asked me to elaborate on certain aspects of my previous post.

I bought a great new old stock welding setup on ebay. It's a Miller Shopmaster 300 with a model 24 wire feeder and a Lincoln cooling tower. I really need this for my shop as we had a lightning strike hit the shop building and the welders I had are all minus circuit boards. You know if you've replaced one they are quite pricey. I'm looking at replacing three. They are $650 per machine, obviously I can't afford to repair all three. I have one getting repaired but I don't know when it will be complete. Weeks maybe.            

 All of these items to be shipped are new. They were in a gentleman's shop and have been stored for 8 plus years after the man passed away. He purchased them new and about 3 months later he was gone. The son in law has been selling all of the machine tools, lathes, mills, band saws and other assorted toolroom machinery as well as other welders and related equipment. He apparently has a lot of really cool stuff.

I live exactly 2467 miles from the welder. The man has stated he wanted local pickup only. I was fine with contracting a truck with liftgate to pick up the items. The problem is the man won't palletize the items for me. Hence my current situation. The welding equipment has been paid for. He has a forklift on site that he will assist with loading and palletizing. He just won't do it himself. He doesn't feel confident in his ability to successfully strap everything to the pallet and make sure it get to the destination without damage.

I am willing to pay someone to travel to his shop with a 44x48" pallet, packing materials, blankets , foam , ratchet straps, whatever you need to put the stuff on a pallet and secure it. I will mail the materials to the job site if I have to and pay you a deposit via paypal, western union, bank draft, wire transfer whatever it takes, then the other portion when it hits the tailgate of the truck that is picking it up. That covers both me and you. I have taken out insurance on the pallet and the contents will be covered. You need do nothing other than secure the items to the pallet.  It doesn't have to be a full crate, just strap everything to the pallet, you could even put it on with a  lot of stretch wrap. 

No this isn't a scam, I'm not trying to make a fast buck. I'm trying to get my shop up and running again so I can pay some bills like the $650 I will owe the man who is repairing one of my Millermatic 251s. I just need a competent person to drive over and load a pallet. Local moving companies say they only do household and are not going to help. I have called 7 places there and the PakMail place said they would call and let me know if they can do it this morning. 

I thought to reach out to the community of people who do the same work I do. I've moved power hammers or other equipment that wouldn't fit in their honda odyssey on my truck for people coming home from the ABANA conferences on more than 1 occasion. I'm just looking for a bit of help. I will pay you for your time and troubles depending on how far you have to drive. I am quite fair and would really appreciate the assist.

Thank you.

 

 

 

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Welcome aboard new fellow with what looks like a Pyr on your shoulder. Before your next post we aren't going to remember where you are. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the IFI gang live within visiting distance.

I must say offering help is a pretty classy way to say hello, it's quite blacksmitherly you know. ;)

Frosty The Lucky.

Edited by Frosty
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I've participated in blacksmith mail before; met the starter at Quad-State and hauled the stuff to Central NM where another smith picked it up and took it over to central Arizona to the endee. Just getting it on a pallet should be a nice gesture and establish some strong positive smithing karma!

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I am about 80 miles to the south.    Silas Maddox is a brother blacksmith and has a shop in Mt Vernon.   We have a big annual Blacksmith Swap-meet coming up on the 18th of July and I expect to see him there.   I could ask him

 

If you cant find anyone closer I would be willing to help out.  It might take me a while to gather it up though as I am pretty booked currently. 

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I'll bet the kids will LOVE a blacksmith club meeting. Smiths seem to have a soft spot for children in the shop. While a Science Center is a good place, learning about simple physics by word and deed has practical application that many an "official" display doesn't. If they're old enough to get anything from the Center they'll get more from a club meeting.

Stop on the way and get them full coverage eye protection!

Just a thought.

Frosty The Lucky.

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My 5 yr old has already helped me with one small smithing project. But the 3 yr old isn't ready yet for the shop. Not yet at least. I'm sure they would love the swap meet. They love tools, and working. But it's still a matter of convincing the wife to make the stop. lol.

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Ah, she just needs to see a bunch of sooty old guys treating kids like royalty and shielding them from danger on all fronts. Strollers are a good way to keep the 3yr. old from swimming in the slack tub and playing in the coal bin.

Of course getting the spousal unit to agree is the secret to any endeavor. They have this funny idea of a good time and our job is to go along. <_<

Have a good weekend, there will be other meetings, tail gate sales, demos, BBQs . . . ALL the good stuff.

Frosty The Lucky.

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Made it up to the swap meet for a short visit (kids were hungry and wife was over heated). Ran into Andy from Quick & Dirty tools and bought some tongs from him. and picked up some RR spikes to play with as well. Kids got to watch a 500 lbs treadle hammer get lifted from one truck bed and loaded onto another. and I got to see some pretty cool tools. No one was actively forging while we were in the shop but the boys did get to see what a large shop should look like.

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