pchast wrote:(...) In our Upstate NY area there is a wholesale plywood supplier
that will help visiting woodworkers pick the sheet they want.
They ask for photo's of the finished products............
That made me giggle. Are you a fan of irony?...
The last company that asked me to spread the word and, if possible, share finished photos with them regretted the decision. (One-man operation.)
I am a hobby gunsmith. I build custom bolt-action and lever-action rifles for my own use.
In 2013, I contacted a supplier known to have a unique, large butt stock pattern for a Marlin lever-action rifle, and asked what "special" or "unique" blanks he had around that were big enough for that pattern (and also had a blank matching closely enough for the fore-stock).
We went through photos of entrapped bullets, iron sickness from nails, bark inclusions, crazy (but solid) grain flow ... all sorts of stuff, in every species of wood suitable for the application (a heavy-recoiling rifle).
I settled on a piece of Knotty Screwbean Mesquite that was absolutely covered in knots.
I finished the stocks with the knots - bark and all - intact and preserved, rather than filling them in any way, which is 'industry standard'; and used only my own Tung oil mixture to add a golden lusciousness to the wood, while making the natural character, figure, color differences, and chatoyancy 'pop'.
And then I spread the word, sent two photos to the guy I got the stocks from, and shared photos of the finished rifle on several popular online firearm/hunting forums, as well as Facebook. The company's website had my photos next to another example of knotty screwbean mesquite.
People loved it. I initially had dozens of people claiming they were going to call the company for custom stocks, with sparse, but continued interest for at least another year.
I thought I 'done good' and the company's owner would be proud.
For a time, my rifle was the #1 image result on google for anything containing the terms "knotty screwbean mesquite".
Two years ago, I called the company for another set of rough-shaped stocks, for yet another Marlin rifle. Before calling, I checked the website to make sure the place was still in business - having heard that the guy had moved 500 miles away, but not necessarily that the business had moved - and noticed that my rifle was no longer posted.
When I asked for the specific stock patterns in "some Maple with special character" the owner's tone changed. He became hesitant, seemed irritated, and told me that he no longer wanted to sell "garbage wood".
I responded, "Ah, so that's why you took the photos of my rifle off your website."
His tone changes again, "Wait. That's you? You're the guy that killed me?"
A bit confused, I attempted to reply, "I'm not sure about the killing, but I'm sure I sent a lot of business your w--."
He interjected, "Too much business! The wrong business! I know I asked you to share and spread the word, but it went too far. All I got for eight months was calls for knotty stocks, knot hole stocks, bullet hole stocks, and people wanting me to cut stocks out of their old table legs. I really appreciate that you did what you did, but it backfired."
I offered a short apology.
He explained further, "When people just call up and say, 'I need a set of high figure Maple for a such-and-such', it only takes me a few minutes to grab a template, find the appropriate blanks, and get started shaping. But when someone has a special request like yours, it takes time to find a piece that will work. Sometimes, I have to go through a hundred or more blanks to find the right piece. So, as you know, I charge full price, plus a small fee - even for wood that's otherwise unusable. But it wasn't enough. I was spending so much time searching for 'special' blanks that I was actually losing money. My bread and butter is high quality wood with zero defects. But, overnight, it seemed, I turned into the go-to guy for garbage wood stocks. When I collapsed into my bed one night, I realized that I had only cut four stocks the entire day, but had sorted through nearly eighteen-hundred blanks for special requests of garbage wood. Doing that for months on end nearly killed the business."
I conveyed my understanding, but couldn't get much more in before he continued: "So, what I would like to do is help you out with your current request, but limit the choice to whatever three blanks I can find without digging. If we find something that you like, I'll provide it to you at a discount, with one condition: You must go back to every forum post, every Facebook post, and anywhere else you've mentioned the supplier for the screwbean stocks, and wipe it clean. Remove my name. Remove any mention of even the state and city I live in. Don't mention that the company moved from Arizona to Nevada. Just wipe it clean. You can tell people in person, or via private message, all you want. But, please get it off the open internet..."
We discussed the situation further, moved on to clarifying what I wanted a bit more, and then sent the conversation to email, so I could see photos.
After making my selection (a gorgeous piece of quilted Maple with unfortunate bark inclusions) and finalizing the deal, his last reply was, "Thanks again. Stocks should ship tomorrow. Sorry about the speech. You seem to be networked well, or at least posting in the right places to send business my way. Next time you call me, can it please be to order some really nice stocks WITHOUT defects?"
I did eventually comply with that last request.