Thread: Auction talk...

So tonight was the weekly auction here in my town of residence. I make it a point to go there, and often pick up small items for resale. I've had it in my head now for a year or so that I wanted a metal lathe. So tonight was the night. There she was. A vintage Sears Craftsman metal lathe. No tooling to speak of, but it looked like a perfect learning experience tool. And being at the local auction virtually promised a nice deal. Anyhow it was one of the last items to sell ofc. All night long I watched this little punk kid fiddling with the controls, unscrewing and rescrewing adjustment knobs. On and on...the kid acted like he owned the thing. I was a little perturbed. As I already considered it "mine", and didn't want this kid taking anything off it in all his tinkering. I watched him closely, and wondered where his parents were that they'd allow him to play with all the merchandise so flagrantly. I figure it's one thing to make sure everything works. It's another to play with the darned thing all night long. At any rate, 3 hours into auction, it comes up for bid. Starts at 25, and GUESS who's bidding against me? The little punk kid. Can't be more than 13 years old. He keeps the heat on, and I drop out at 160. I justify it by telling myself, well, he ain't got rent to pay. Darn I wanted that thing. lol. So, I guess it WAS a learning experience. Kids got money too, and when they want something...may as well give up early. I console myself now by saying maybe someday that kid'll be a really great machinist. And this will be his beginnings. But more than likely, I'll see it on craigslist next week for 500 bucks. Argh!!!

Ouch. I have to say, though, that could have been me at 13. I wasn't great, but I had a lathe and machined a lot of parts for my model cars at that age. Maybe he was rich and just wanted a new toy, but you never know.

It's probably going to sit out in his backyard after he tires of in two weeks, where he can use it as target practice for his BB gun

More likely he's the Bill Gates of metal fabrication and can machine a common item into a work of art.

24 hours later and I'm still a little burnt. I keep thinking maybe I should have given him my card at least, so when he finds out it's broken he might sell it to me. But oftentimes, broken stuff ends up back at the auction house for a second try. So that's my hope now. It's broke, and I find it back on the wagon in a few weeks. lol.