Won a Burke #4, sold it, and then sold it again!

frank r

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Two weeks ago I had a table at the Cabin Fever Expo with my brother Bob. My brother runs Downriver Tools and our booth was next to the wooden windmill; maybe we met. I was selling tooling and machinery parts but I was only able to bring half of my stuff because of the weight limit on my brother's vehicle.

Well, I saw that a Burke #4 was being auctioned, and it had a vertical attachment in good shape. On the spur of the moment I joined in the bidding and I won the mill for $200. I dragged the pallet over to my booth and removed the vertical attachment. Although I wanted to take the machine home I could not because of the weight. So I put a little sign on it, "For Sale, Cheap!". I had several people ask me "What is cheap?" I told them "$180". Several said "Wow, that is cheap, I bought mine for $550!". Still, no takers. One guy spent 30 minutes checking it over thoroughly; I thought for sure he was going to buy it but he continued to dawdle. Then another guy stepped forward from the crowd and handed me $180. Sold! The guy got a great deal. He said he would be back later in the day to remove it.

An hour or two later the customer returned saying that he bought another tool for the job he wanted to do and he no longer needed the mill. He asked if I would sell it again. He requested that I put a price on it for $250 and we would split the profit. So I put up another sign. I was amazed at how many peope realized how cheap the price was and still walked away. They could have bought it and resold it within the week.

Eventually a guy realized what was there and he bought it. Let's just say he was very, very pleased. He could not believe his good fortune. And I was pleased because I got my vertical attachment and I did not have to haul the mill home.

You can scroll down here to post #28 and see the mill: http://www.hobby-machinist.com/showthread.php/9003-Cabin-Fever-Expositions, it is about the 81st photo down, just above the bright blue shaper.
 
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