Yesterday there was an auctioning of the estate of welding business. I'm in the market for a powered hack saw, so I thought I'd go check it out. I've been looking for a powered hacksaw for a year or so, but the 500 - 1000 price tag turns looking into dreaming. And yet, I have sooo much metal to cut and only a simple hacksaw and a bicep muscle--well, okay, two biceps.
Sure enough, there was a big, water-cooled, brute of a saw there. About 300 lbs of steel on a good rolling cart. Sticking around to bid on it, though, was pretty disheartening. A feeding frenzy is what I was witnessing. Three hundred buck paid for an old AC buzz box gave me a picture of what I should expect when it came to the hacksaw I was hovering by. I decided I'd go a hundred bucks max, but knew that it would sell for way more than that.
The old auctioneer (who laughed at his jokes much more than the rest of us) came on over and the crowd followed him.
"Let's start the bidding for this ol' girl at 200."
Silence.
Alrighty, I see you like to work up to her true value. Can I hear a hunderd?"
Disinterest and far away looks.
"So, jump in there fellas with fifty."
"Huop." barked his assistant.
"And now sixty."
I nodded in my best rancher fashion.
"There."
"Sixty an a half"
"Ho!"
I nodded for seventy.
My challenger bowed out and there it was going, going, gone to me.
And the crowd went on and I stood there dumbfounded on how in the world I ever got this machine for a mere 70 bucks.
As the shaker quote says, "When the way opens, proceed."
So I do. So I am.
Sure enough, there was a big, water-cooled, brute of a saw there. About 300 lbs of steel on a good rolling cart. Sticking around to bid on it, though, was pretty disheartening. A feeding frenzy is what I was witnessing. Three hundred buck paid for an old AC buzz box gave me a picture of what I should expect when it came to the hacksaw I was hovering by. I decided I'd go a hundred bucks max, but knew that it would sell for way more than that.
The old auctioneer (who laughed at his jokes much more than the rest of us) came on over and the crowd followed him.
"Let's start the bidding for this ol' girl at 200."
Silence.
Alrighty, I see you like to work up to her true value. Can I hear a hunderd?"
Disinterest and far away looks.
"So, jump in there fellas with fifty."
"Huop." barked his assistant.
"And now sixty."
I nodded in my best rancher fashion.
"There."
"Sixty an a half"
"Ho!"
I nodded for seventy.
My challenger bowed out and there it was going, going, gone to me.
And the crowd went on and I stood there dumbfounded on how in the world I ever got this machine for a mere 70 bucks.
As the shaker quote says, "When the way opens, proceed."
So I do. So I am.
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