Thread: Pen turning pays off

It's that time of year again when my hogs go off to slaughter. A sad time and I will miss them greatly, but all flesh is as grass or something like that. Anyway, I keep three for myself every year and this year being no exception, I realized that I was going to need another freezer for my laundry room. I recently put away a black Angus steer and it filled the two freezers I currently use. So I stop by the local big hardware store (Lowe's) and start looking at 20 cubic foot uprights. A fellow comes over and asks if I need any help. I explain to him what I am looking for and he begins to show me his models. Looks like 20 cubic feet will set me back anywhere from $650 to $850 U.S. depending on brand and features. Now, I'm not looking for anything fancy and I tell him that. Just then, he looks at my shirt pocket and asks to look at my pen (an Emperor in black ash burl). I hand it to him and he asks if I made it. I tell him I did and he asks me what lathe I have. I tell him that I have a Penn State Industries lathe and he asks if I bought the kit there. I reply that I didn't and explain that Penn State Industries does not sell Emperor kits and that I bought it from Arizona Silhouette. "Oh, did you speak with Tom?", he asks. I tell him that I just use the internet browser and he tells me that I should call them directly and speak with Tom because sometimes you can get a better deal. Well, now we're buddies and comparing notes about finishes and tools and he tells me about how he's starting to turn segmented bowls and going into detail about how carefully the segments have to be laid out. So he takes me over to a floor model and says that this is last year's model and they don't have a box for it any longer, but I can have it for a good deal. It is marked at $798 and he says that he can take 35% off that bringing it to around $520. "Aw, heck, just make it an even $500", he says.
We swapped business cards and plan to get together soon for an afternoon of woodworking. Who knows, maybe he'll get me started turning bowls? Just goes to show that it's a small world and that one should always have a handmade pen in their pocket.