Credit sale - feast or famine

WV Sawmiller · July 16, 2015, 10:58:58 PM

I talked to a young fellow several months ago who has a local primitive furniture making business. He had some business out of state and just got back. He called today and wanted to come see my operation. He said he was short on cash but was interested in buying some wood when he got caught up a little and sold some products. Evidently he sells at local flea markets. He wanted to know if I wanted some furniture in trade for some wood.

I told him come on down and I might be able to advance him something to help. He and his uncle came with a small trailer and I showed him around. He was like a kid in a candy store looking as some trim cuts I had in a scrap pile, an old slab I have hanging in the rafters of my barn and some scrap logs I had pulled down to cut into stickers.

I happened to show him some really scrappy cherry and walnut a neighbor cut for me 3 years ago. I had stored it in my barn under my hay. I had recently moved it to my new lumber shed. I thought he was going to pass out when he saw it. I made him a deal on it and moved the mill from my front yard where I had just finished my 100 hour service. I cut a 4' X 10" diameter poplar sticker log into 1X for him then cut a 7'X16" sticker log into 2X slabs (everything was live edge so just one pass) and he was as excited as my grandkids at Christmas. He took about 190 bf of the cherry/walnut and I have about that much left he wants when he returns.

Wrote up a simple promissory note and sent him on his way. I may cut some other odd stuff I can't use except for firewood or stickers and see if he can use it. From his pictures he showed me he does good work and can use a wide assortment of lumber/slabs.

I feel like an old west storekeeper who just grub staked some old prospector with a long beard and a mule. If it pans out I may have just earned a lifelong customer and an outlet for wood I can't use for anything else. If not, I am not out anything significant. We will see what happens.

Don't figure on running a credit business but this just seemed like an opportunity to help give someone who wants to work a hand. Call me crazy - my wife already does. Time will tell.

Magicman · July 16, 2015, 11:03:18 PM

No not crazy, because helping folks that are down comes from the heart. There is no better feeling.

sandsawmill14 · July 16, 2015, 11:06:13 PM

i bet he will be back most working folks will pay you even if its $5 at a time. was a nice thing you did.

beenthere · July 16, 2015, 11:13:44 PM

Good on ye WV. Makes one feel good to do that.

Hope you get ahold of some pics of his work and he'll let you post them... or get him to be a member and post.

deadfall · July 16, 2015, 11:13:59 PM

Good on ya, mate!

On edit: I came in 15 seconds behind you, Beenthere, and that was with the delay that someone else had posted ahead of me.

YellowHammer · July 16, 2015, 11:50:54 PM

I think it's great. Good things happen to good people, and you did a good thing. Hopefully it will work out, but either way, you'll sleep good.

LaneC · July 17, 2015, 12:29:30 AM

That is great. All you normally hear about are bad business deals usually. There are still a lot of deals made with hand shakes. There is still honor among a lot of people and some are trustworthy. I wish the best for both of you.

WmFritz · July 17, 2015, 12:42:02 AM

My Dad has a saying (he about wore it out on me when I was young)...

''I won't give anybody a handout, but if I can, I'll always give somebody a hand up''.

East ky logging · July 17, 2015, 05:13:22 AM

I would have done the same thing as you I'll help anybody that is trying to help themselves

longtime lurker · July 17, 2015, 05:23:02 AM

I've been known to do similar things. The other week it was timber for a young guy to refloor his truck. He's all of 18, and apprenticed to a cabinet maker I sell a bit to occasionally. He asked what it would cost and I told him... I can remember what it was like to be living on an apprentices wage. Come back and buy a few boards when you're a tradesman and we'll call it square.

Like your guy - even if you don't get paid - sometimes the best thing is the feeling of satisfaction from helping somone when you can.

Nomad · July 17, 2015, 06:08:31 AM

Nice gesture! If he is what he says he is, you've just made a friend, a customer and a reference; all in one visit. 8)

Peter Drouin · July 17, 2015, 06:15:30 AM

When you help him, maybe later he will help someone else .

Seaman · July 17, 2015, 06:23:38 AM

Well done!

WDH · July 17, 2015, 07:26:28 AM

That was a good thing to do.

PC-Urban-Sawyer · July 17, 2015, 08:08:16 AM

Quote from: WV Sawmiller on July 16, 2015, 10:58:58 PM
... Call me crazy - my wife already does. Time will tell.

Crazy like a fox!

I hope your customer succeeds beyond your greatest expectation.

Herb

Ianab · July 18, 2015, 06:21:48 AM

I think you did the right thing too.

Very little risk. Even if you never see him again, you are out a little time and some firewood. No big deal. Most people are happy to help someone that want to help themselves, like in this case.

If he builds and sells some cool stuff, and comes back next month, pays his tab, and picks up another load of wood.. Win / Win.

fishfighter · July 18, 2015, 07:16:44 AM

OP, it's a win win no matter what. You are a good person trying to help a fellow man that is trying to scratch out a living. It's the right thing to do as I was taught and as I taught my kids.

Seaman · July 19, 2015, 04:52:11 PM

I delivered some slabs to a table maker in Charlotte Fri, and he had a surprise for me. I had let him take a couple of slabs a few months ago , and he had made an non-commissioned table and sold it. I got a nice little bonus in my check !
Frank

samandothers · July 19, 2015, 07:36:28 PM

WV Sawmiller, Good for you!
You did a good thing. I hope he succeeds so one day he may pass this kind deed on.

You are a good person.

1-2 Tree · July 19, 2015, 08:28:36 PM

So shall he sow so shall he reap or that's what moma said . Good deeds never go unrewarded ! I would have done the same thing

mesquite buckeye · July 22, 2015, 11:20:21 AM

I thought that one went "No good deed goes unpunished."

Maybe that was somewhere else. ;D 8) 8) 8)

sealark37 · July 22, 2015, 12:35:23 PM

If we would try real hard to remember, we all have been at the bottom looking up. Most had the advantage of someone up the ladder who aided our upward progress without profit to them. Helping a worthy individual is the right thing to do, even if sometimes they don't prove up. Regards, Clark

Magicman · July 22, 2015, 01:52:31 PM

Quote from: sealark37 on July 22, 2015, 12:35:23 PMIf we would try real hard to remember, we all have been at the bottom looking up.

It is not difficult for me to remember. Even now it is sometimes like walking along the edge of Grand Canyon. Lending a helping hand to those less fortunate or fallen brothers is a joy, both for them and for me.