Cheap Pine Boards, Ring-Shank Nails, and Won Ton Soup
During the course of my latest trip to Tennessee, I had a number of occasions to "negotiate" with various persons for needed materials. This is a story about one such day of finding negotiated bargains in the hills of Tennessee, where most business is done by "leaving the State out of the business."
Early one morning, I drove to a sawmill to see if I could find some good pine boards, at a bargin price. Now you should know that 99% of all such business is done on a cash basis and the State is “left out” of the transaction.
When I arrived at the sawmill, I went to the makeshift office next to the huge pile of tree bark mulch and asked if the owner was around. The young lady, who had just come in from operating the front-end loader, told me her daddy was out at the mill and I could find him there. He would be the man with the plaid jacket. I headed down to the mill through the well-churned mud of the sawmill yard and found Tom, the owner. I explained I was building a home from saw mill lumber and was ready to put on the roof decking and wondered if he had any 1X6 pine boards, which should be at least 12 feet long. Tom asked me to meet him back at the office, as he finished putting a load of logs onto the chain to carry them through the de-barker.
When we got to the office, Tom and I began to discuss the weather, logging business in general and how hard it was to find and keep good help. After the necessary preliminaries were complete we got down to the price of his pine boards. He said he thought he had a "pack" (a stack of boards about 4 feet wide and 4 feet high and of any length) of pine out back and we could go see if I could use it. It was drizzling rain and we walked and talked about equipment break down and such matters until we reached what "he allowed" was a "good pack of pine." I walked around the pack and turned over several boards and complained about the amount of knots in the lumber and how most seemed not to be the 6 inches in width, I needed. Not being exactly 6 inches wide is normal and we both knew it, but I pretended ignorance of such things and complained, and wondered aloud, if I could use it our not. Well, he said he usually got $300 per thousand board feet, but if I thought I could use it, he would let me have it for $250 (25 cents per board foot, which is a board 1-inch thick, 12 inches wide and, 12 inches long). I walked around the pack another time or two and went over my use of the lumber and wonder aloud if there weren't just too many knots and the thickness seemed also not so uniform - now! We agreed there was just about 1200 board feet of pine in this pack.
I offered him $150 per thousand board feet, if he would deliver it some 20 miles to my building site. After all, I explained - it was wet, it was green, it had lots of knots (not really) and it was not of uniform width and thickness. He suggested we go back to the office, get out of the rain, and have a cup of coffee. When we got to the office, he poured me a cup of coffee and we talked some more of the lumbering industry, the old timers and how they cut timber and about his plans to put in a planer at the mill. Finally we got back to the price of the pack of pine and he said he would let me have the pack, if I would take the whole pack, for $175 per thousand, but that he would have to get $40 to deliver it for me. I accepted, paid him (in cash) shook hands on the deal and the next day, as promised, his son showed up with the lumber.
Feeling good, after what I felt was a successful negotiation, I decided to check out a local building supplier. Now there is a Lowes store in the area and usually the local building supplier can't really compete with the Lowes and Home Depot guys, but I would check anyway. Having gotten the lumber, I would now need some nails to nail the 1X6-pine boards to the rafters. I have an air driven nail gun and had decided to use ring shank nails because of their greater holding power. These nails are 2 1/2 inches long and about 3/4 of their shank has groves or rings cut into the shank. This place was only a mile from the sawmill and it was Tom at the mill that had suggested I check with them. When I walked in, I was greeted at the contractors desk, offered some coffee (which was old, for by now it was 11 A.M.) and given directions to the nail section of the store. I spotted some 8D, Ring Shank nails, 2,500 to the box for $17.85. Must be a mistake. I checked several boxes and sure nuff they were all marked $17.85. Now these would sell at Lowes (and most other places for between $25-$30). I picked up a couple of boxes, went to the contractor desk and asked if the price was correct. The fellow at the desk said sure: "…that’s what we get for 'em." Well I told him I would take the two boxes he had, and would he order me two more boxes. Mercy, two great deals and great savings in the same morning. This had all the promise of a great day.
Just as I was paying for the nails and making small talk about various resources in the area, the delivery guy from the local Chinese restaurant arrived with lunch for the two men at the contractor desk. Seems they had ordered "takie-outie." One of the men invited me to have some of their food, and gave me his Won-Ton Soup. Said he always threw it away, but I was welcome to it if I liked the stuff. Sure, I said, - love it. So he gave me the pint of hot soup, a spoon, and after I thanked him and was leaving, he called me back and gave me the napkin, which he apologized for forgetting.
Folks, life is good in Tennessee and we hope you will all come to visit.
You never know - you might arrive on a day when the Won-Ton soup is served.
Jim
