Spock McCoy

paul wheaton wrote:
And a look I like:

This is wonderful! I would kill for a house like this! Only problem, I'd keep expecting Frodo to show up and kick me out of his house ;-(

Ooops!  ops:

Yes, you are right. Mea culpa!

O.K. this is going to be a long one but I've made some decisions and being specific requires verbosity . If you read through all of this, this means you clearly are very motivated to buy!

You can jump to the Summary at the end, but that will not give you an understanding of why things are as they are...

They can be shipped by post, with careful packaging. More on postal issues later.

Let's start with product info. There is a large number of different blades lengths, beard widths & degrees of finishing out there, from different manufacturers and countries, but all that I saw are manufactured to (soviet era) GOST standards, which should ensure quality. The quality of finishing (appearance) however is less consistent between manufacturers. (note: lengths etc. are approximate)

The store has a wide selection, but only a few of each specific item (eg. 4 60 cm wide beard blades but from 3 manufacturers).

The pricing is all over the place with no apparent logic, probably due to currency exchange fluctuations between the time one blade party and the next was ordered. (Ukraine, Russia and Belarus are not famous for the stability of their currencies.)

From a supply side, this makes it a bit risky for me. If I offer a specific manufacturers specific blade, it may no longer be available and, if I special order, in addition to a time lag, it may have a completely different cost (to me) price.

What I can do, then, is to offer three different length blades, (approximately) 90, 60 and 40 cm long with wider or narrower beards. I will do my best to find you the best blade I can within those parameters but I can't promise it will be from a specific manufacturer.

For the above reasons, I do not want to do this on eBay at this time. Offering only a single blade would make no sense and It would take you guys forever to be successful at buying one, or, if I buy a ready stock so that I can list several, risk ending up with enough blades to last me ten lifetimes.

I will probably make some SINGLE listings on eBay and see what happens, and may build up a stock if it goes well, but as far as the interest from this thread, I would suggest you tell me what you want and I will go out and buy it for you. Payment can be via PayPal.

I have in the past used PayPal only as a buyer, never as a seller. I checked the site to determine the costs to me but it is not very user friendly. Mostly links to more links. I am hoping that the small margins I have put onto the cost price of product and postage will cover me. If not, as they say in Latvia "It costs money to become educated"!

I was hoping you would be covered under PayPal's buyer protection, but it looks like that only works on eBay. Long and short of it, either you will have to trust me or not...

On postal issues, as I wrote at the beginning, it is a go, but under a different rate plan which, surprise, surprise, seems to actually be a bit cheaper for most.

It will be easiest if you decide what items you need and let me do the calculation but if you want or your decision will be heavily influenced by the shipping cost, you can DIY it by following this link: http://www.pasts.lv/lv/privatpersonas/pasta_sutijumi/latvija/sikpakas.html;jsessionid=240AD34E618B85953A0B245F0242E0FC#calc

Unfortunately, it is only in Latvian... For "Sūtijumu vieds" choose Paka, "Reģions" choose  Ārvalstis (foreign) then choose your country from the menu in the following window. Most are easy but USA is "ASV". If you can't find yours, ask... For "Klase" choose A or B, but for most areas it will automatically change it to "A". Apdrošināšana = insurance. If you want to insure it, ceck the bock and fill in the insurance amount in LATS

All prices you see will be in Lats! For all The dollar exchange rate today was 1.97 USD = 1 Lat (LVL), last week 2.03:1. To be safe, (for me) I am asking that you use the 2.03 for all postage price calculations To the price provided by the calculator, add VAT (sales tax) of 21% then a 10% margin to cover my costs then the exchange rate (2.03).

For exchange rates in other currencies, google LVL(space)your currency code(eg. EUR, GBP etc.). I reserve the right to suggest a different rate to guard against fluctuations.

For any blade figure 800g. (minimum 1 Kg.) If ordering several, for each additional blade, add 600g. For any stone figure 150 g. (didn't actually weigh one, just a guess) for any peening anvil, figure 800 g. (There is a "safety" margin here, but if I find I have been overcautious I will just toss in an extra stone, ring or something to make up for it.)

As an example, to ship one blade, uninsured, to the USA would cost 38.48 USD, insured 40.48

Remember, the price per gram/ounce for shipping drops dramatically as the weight increases, so make sure you order all you need right away. You will overpay on shipping if you order a blade today then an anvil next week...

Shipping three blades(2 kg.) would cost 55.75 or 58.77, less than 1/2 price per blade!

Summary:

Offering three blade lenghts 90, 60 and 40 cm long (1 cm = 2.54 inches), the 60 and with a wide or narrow blade. If you want a 90 with a wide blade, ask and I think I can find it for you.
prices:
90 cm 22.98 USD
60 cm 23.28 USD (specify wide or narrow)
40cm  19.21 USD

Also offering the following accessories:
honing stones: 1.99 USD
Peening anvil (flat of "triangle") 8.50 USD
rings 6.75 USD (I don't use them. seems to me you'd need two (?))

Shipping is extra based on total order weight.

Payment by PayPal or direct interbank transfer.

P.S. Pam

I forgot to thank you for the video! ( I am very tired, feeling kinda punch drunk)

I was not aware of this contest, though it doesn't surprise me that it exists.

Must say I didn't think much of the style of most competitors. Seemed kinda heavy on brawn. I guess that is the thing to do if you only have a very limited time to cut as much as possible, but I much prefer the fluid grace of the long distance "scyther"

Still not sure this will come to anything, but thanks all for making what is turning into a fun thread!

Another night spent guarding the last of my potatoes. Chased off 3 groups, or maybe one persistent group, but fog kept me from extracting my pound of flesh for what they had already consumed

Back to "business"... Excellent point Pam! I don't know how it will work in the States, but I used to buy a lot on the internet to get items that weren't available here.  Up to a certain value, I believe it was about 200 USD equivalent, they didn't bother with duty, but over that, you had to pay (OH how you had to pay!). Post was easier, you could pay at the post office, with courier companies t meant a full day running around with paperwork.  Again, this is in Latvia, not necessarily true for the states! Perhaps someone is willing to call the post office or customs at that end? Would hate to have someone getting a warm fuzzy feeling over the "great deal" hem made on some new scythe blades then get hit with duty when they go to pick them up...

Within the EU, of course, it would travel without duty or VAT (sales tax).

B.T.W. Rose, these are not necessarily Latvian blades, as in manufactured here. Most will be from somewhere in the FSU (former Soviet union), but not necessarily Latvia.

Hi Rose and thanks again for your comments...

As to why I shouldn't be the middleman, nothing to do with philosophy, global trade or isolationism. I just don't want to spend that much time on it! The idea was to help, primarily a small group on this site etc.

If it turns out that interest is soooo huge that I am making more at it than in my real life job, well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it

As to John's story, I am not sure where you got the feeling anyone was considering anything in it racist... Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was not big on freedom, including freedom of speech, and certainly was NOT supportive of anyone pointing out that the annexation of Latvia was illegal and that Latvia, de jure, was a sovereign state.

That's all there was to the cold shoulder John got, nothing remotely racist and, after pointing out the political realities, John would have gotten the cold shoulder whether he had been white, black, yellow, red or purple!

Perhaps you misread something? Have a nice day!

Thanks John for your fascinating story!

Soviet vessels, sports or cultural troops always had at least one political officer on board to keep an eye their "own" citizens and any foreigners they came in contact with. Not surprised that he didn't like you (LOL) or that others had to ignore you after your "reactionary bourgeois" comment DD

I am assuming that the gold roubles were Tsarist era?

When we were getting married, we couldn't find any rings with "decent" gold. They were still all this red 14k soviet gold/copper alloy (yuk).

Solution? Melted down some Tsarist roubles to make an 18 K gold that was western in appearance. Hated to destroy a piece of history, but wanted non ugly rings!

As with some of the other latest comments, please remember that it is not my intention to develop supply chains or any other type of "business" from this, not was it my goal to place myself as middleman. Just felt that the prices being paid over there were too high and wanted to see if there was interest and if a savings could be realized.

Still on provisional pricing (wild pigs wiped out about half of our potatoes in ONE NIGHT, so scrambling to save what is still left), but it looks like it is possible to help some who are interested get blades and accessories for less than they are paying now. If I can do that in a minimal amount of spare time without loosing money myself, that is the extent of my ambitions on this

Will finalize pricing and get product info a.s.a.p. after gathering our spilt milk (potatoes)

I got on the web to check the Latvian Postal Service rates for shipping. This is provisional. There may be some rules that we must use a higher rate because it is something "sharp", is rather long compared to it's weight etc.

I will try to get to the post office in the next couple of days to get a definitive answer as to what rates would apply... Will also try to get to a store or two and take some photos/details of a few blades. I'll have to weigh a few blades too. No idea what they weigh...

I will repost then but to get people thinking in the interim, here are the prices as I could find them on the net. Clearly the price/unit of weight drops dramatically as the package size increases, so maybe canvass friends/neighbors to order as a group to keep shipping manageable...

Prices for the U.S. were easier as there is just one rate across the whole country. Prices for the EU are all over the place with no apparent logic, so i have taken the highest & lowest (excl. neighbor states) plus rates for Our Lady of Spain.

I made a nice Excel spreadsheet but in pasting it here it doesn't line up in perfect columns. Tried to compensate in the writing window, but in preview it is still off, so you'll have to line the figures up yourselves... Sorry.

Shipping Cost Europe (EUR)
Class A Class B
</= 2 kg. </= 10 kg. </= 20 kg. </= 2 kg. </= 10 kg. </= 20 kg.
highest 32.83 65.38 106.05 29.64 54.96 86.62
lowest 20.37 39.65 44.60 19.22 37.46 43.62
Spain 25.87 60.10 102.87 24.23 51.86 86.41


Shipping Cost USA (USD)
Class A Class B
</= 2 kg. </= 10 kg. </= 20 kg. </= 2 kg. </= 10 kg. </= 20 kg.
55.74 127.26 218.02 33.29 89.92 160.76

Incredible! Only problem, if I had a canoe that beautiful, I'd never want to take it out on the water! Might just keep it in the living room all the time!

paul wheaton wrote:
go and read (or re-read) every last post of the be nice thread.

Paul, I did go and reread it.

I do appreciate your attempts to keep things "clean", but trying to remember exactly what I wrote, do not feel I had overstepped any guidelines!

I was on the (developing) topic of the post, and did not direct criticism or "slander" at any other member of the discussion/forum.

I did use the word "yahoo" to describe those who go into forests to hunt without respecting the game, nature in general or other users, without suggesting that any other poster was one.

When one choose to feel I had, I even (as I remember it) apologized if he had interpreted it that way and reiterated that the label was not directed at him but that I was using the term as it would be applied by most hunters I know in common usage.

"Yahoo" is in  dictionaries & common usage with a clear meaning.

Was my comment blunt and to the point? Yes. I note that a few of your own posts are also blunt and to the point, much like your post about the deleting, some of your posts on the topic of being nice, and I believe I remember one in particular to the guy who wanted to use engine oil that was, IMHO, downright intolerant, even though I am sure that was never your intention.

I have to admit that the other participants posts that were deleted were also blunt and it could be said that they were written "in a raised voice", I as the target was not offended by them. Didn't agree with him at all, but I certainly wasn't offended nor did I feel his language was inappropriate.

I can't help thinking that this is the sort of issue that crops up when individual subjective standards are used to judge what is appropriate. Not only may they not be clear to all, or understood the same by all who read them, they also may be inconsistent based on our mood at the time. I know that in my case my response to minor annoyances (could be related to something the kids are doing, definitely could be related to something my mother in law does ) can differ substantially, but that does not help me improve my response nor does it set standards for others that are clear to them so that they can follow them.

With that in mind, perhaps the key, often, is to measure twice and then, only if it is really needed, saw once?

P.S. definitely off topic now, but if I posted this to the being nice thread I on't know that you would know which posts I am referring to, so posted here. hope that is o.k....