Anyone put bids on at mjd this weekend?

[David Weaver]

I swore off mjd after my last debacle of bid problems, but there was an auction lot of oddball saws that I bid on and ended up winning. As high as it ended up going, I kind of wish I hadn't bid, but I'm a sucker for older odd named saws.

Just don't quite understand what's driving prices so high, I like the dealer theory (dealers hoarding stuff and then selling it to unsuspecting beginners at triple its value anywhere else), but not sure.

Had a couple of other saw bids, but they were low (intentionally) on the next day's auction and expect they'll be low by a factor of two.

Anyone else bid on or win anything?

[Hilton Ralphs]

Is 'mjd' Martin J Donnelly?

[Dan Hintz]

First this:

Just don't quite understand what's driving prices so high
Then this:

As high as it ended up going, I kind of wish I hadn't bid, but I'm a sucker for older odd named saws.

You are ;) Plenty of people who just can't say 'no' to themselves, so the price slowly slips higher and higher. I'm guilty of it, too, but I have no one else ot blame but myself. As long as there are people like us willing to bid things higher and higher because we just really want that neat piece, well, we get what we deserve.

[David Weaver]

There is that to some extent. There's also at least one dealer and maybe a couple who (I've heard) are willing to pay prices dealers would never pay before. The combination of the two really accelerates the price hikes. The old line dealers of the user tools (who always knew where to buy cheap and then offered a pretty fair middling market price) have written before that there's one or two dealers who show up and when they do, you might as well leave a sale. But as long as someone is buying tools from those dealers, the rest of us can either participate or watch from the sidelines. There are still some things that are cheap, but you almost have to find them local anymore.

[george wilson]

I'm afraid to bid on anything there. They seem to be very good at forgetting the high bidder. I was actually told by the person who deals with the bids,that she "wasn't going to lose much sleep over it". I was discussing WHY a person I sent there bid $250.00 on a piece. Her bid was neglected and the article was sold for something like $100.00. This happened to another friend,too,apparently on more than one occasion. When they neglected his bid,they tried to arbitrarily offer him another item that he did not bid on and had no interest in. Pretty uncaring on their part,I think. I know exactly who is responsible for this sloppy handling of bids,though I can't name names here.

Poor packing is also a problem. One of my friends received a delicate wooden antique with one end sticking out of the box. Fortunately it wasn't damaged,due mostly to at least the delivery people taking care not to hurt it. Another friend reported getting a bunch of saws that were so tightly bound together that the blades were permanently curved.

I haven't seen anything I just can't live without,so,fortunately,I haven't had to struggle with offering a high bid for it. Something really needs to change there for sure before I will bid.

[David Weaver]

I haven't seen anything I just can't live without,so,fortunately,I haven't had to struggle with offering a high bid for it. Something really needs to change there for sure before I will bid.

That was me who ordered the bent saws, and I'm dumb enough to do it again, I guess - if the auction is interesting enough. I hope they don't tie them together as tightly this time, I'd rather not have to hammer these nicer saws. My first saw lot was generally cheaper stuff, and the stiffest saw won the battle. The rest of the saws where tied at the handles and then all together at the toes, and then tied with cord in the middle pulling all of the saw plates together tightly.

For folks with no tills and stuff, there is a notion that you can't bend a saw by letting it lay around on something with the blade flexed, but that's false. If a saw lays around bent or is stored bent for a while, it will retain the bend.

[David Weaver]

Is 'mjd' Martin J Donnelly?

Yes, I'd link to the auction I won but it's against TOS, and I don't want to disrespect MJDs digital rights by ripping off the picture from their website and posting it here. Of course, if I won the saws, I should be allowed to :), but I don't know how all of the copyright laws work.

[Hilton Ralphs]

Er um, what Lot where you looking at?

[David Weaver]

http://www.mjdtools.com/auction/graphics/f13/280743_lg.jpg

[David Weaver]

Well, I keep trying to post that link using the "unlink" utility so that it won't be an active link. Maybe a moderator can help. I tried everything I could to be in line with the TOS - the unlink utility takes the link out but the post editor automatically puts it back in before I can save the post.

That's the URL to the picture only and not to any auction, so hopefully one way or another it will survive - preferably if a moderator can just delink it.

I also tried googling the picture, but no luck, I guess due to delisting the auctions after they're over.

The two oddballs are CH Goble (far left) and White, Van Glahn & Company, second from left, which I'm hoping is a woodrough and mcparlin made saw, but who knows. The other two are richardson and wheeler, madden and clemson - neither is particularly rare, but neither is any more valuable than anything else, which is why I'm surprised they went high. They are in decent shape, but two of them are half used up and none will ever look like a new saw again.

[Zach Dillinger]

Nope, no bids this time. My disposable income is tied up elsewhere at the moment. But I did get some time in the shop, making a window for my house and working on a piece of a Model T frame (wood!!) for a friend of mine.

[Hilton Ralphs]

Second from right has beautiful curves on the handle.

Next time, try using the quote tags for non http links.

[David Weaver]

Mine should be, too. I spent the entire weekend prepping for spraying and then spraying a bunch of stuff yesterday. Not my favorite kind of woodworking, but I can't deny the spray gun's ability to blast lacquer over gobs of surfaces.

[Dan Hintz]

David, just don't include the http://www. part

[Dave Anderson NH]

David Weaver-

Since the link was used as part of an active discussion thread and is not to a website you have a financial interest in, it is allowed. Please remember folks that the prohibited links are to places like eBay, Craigs list, websites you own for the purpose of driving traffic to that site, or touting sales. Links to your own website to clarify points in a discussion or as a means of illustrating something in the topic under discussion are not only allowed, but encouraged. For further clarification please read the stickied thread at the top of the Neanderthal fourm page.

[David Weaver]

Thanks Dan and Dave (I get it now with the ebay vs. others - i was confused with that). I'll go relink it. I'd have linked to the auction ad, but it doesn't tell anything I haven't already said, anyway - their listings are pretty scant (a condition and a very short description), which isn't surprising given how many items they list.

I'm definitely not going to drive traffic to MJD, though admittedly I can't resist myself when any seller (no matter who they are) has something interesting. Dan describes me pretty well - POTP (part of the problem). The very first far side comic I ever saw had a picture of a bunch of people with a banner over the top that said something like "Annual POTP Meeting - Part of the Problem". I might need to change my signature.

[David Weaver]

My memory was a little off about the picture...1985...I have no idea why I remembered that from when I was 9 years old, but it was one of the pages on a tear-off calendar from the Far Side when it (the Far Side) was fresh and new. i really looked forward to reading those tear offs every day.

271529

[Dave Parkis]

I didn't bid, but there was a Hardy Patent plane that I thought was interesting. I'd be real curious to know what it sold for.

[David Weaver]

I'd be curious to know what a lot of things bid for, and i think they might provide a summary for a price, but any price is too high for me. You do get to see the final sale price for anything you bid on, but that's about it.

[Jim Koepke]

The saw on the right in the image looks like there is a thumb hold for two handed use.

If my bid was higher than the final sale price, I imagine I would be pretty upset. Someone running an auction that can't keep track of such things has no business being in the business.

With the comments about their packaging, it is doubtful this auction company will get any of my money.

Those people who are willing to pay high prices should be encouraged to do so. Sooner or later they will fall and then their stock will be sold at a discount.

jtk

[David Weaver]

The saw on the right in the image looks like there is a thumb hold for two handed use.

If my bid was higher than the final sale price, I imagine I would be pretty upset. Someone running an auction that can't keep track of such things has no business being in the business.

With the comments about their packaging, it is doubtful this auction company will get any of my money.

Those people who are willing to pay high prices should be encouraged to do so. Sooner or later they will fall and then their stock will be sold at a discount.

jtk

Yeah, sort of the standard for wheeler, madden and clemson. No reason for a thumbhold to be on a saw that small, but it may be that wasn't their intention - not sure.

I hope you're right about the latter part - and that occurs vs. a dealer just selling stock to another overpriced dealer when they retire. The one good thing that it does, which doesn't really benefit any of us, is it puts a lot of tools in suspense and tools in suspense survive longer than discarded tools of no value, or tools in heavy use.