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  #1  
Old 08-21-2010, 05:09 PM
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Don Robinson Don Robinson is offline
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Unhappy Knifemaker estate sale

Gracie Blasengame called me this afternoon.

Robert passed away this past April.

Gracie wants to sell all his tools. Robert had made knives for many years.

This is all the information she could give me. She needs a knifemaker to come over and make a list and give her advise about prices.

I hope somebody in the Kilgore area will contact her.

Thanks.

Last edited by Don Robinson; 08-23-2010 at 07:43 PM.
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Old 08-21-2010, 10:58 PM
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Our condolences to the family.


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Old 08-22-2010, 09:50 AM
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Though I didn't know Robert, I am sad to hear of his passing. Knife-makers are a family, we don't all know each other but we share a common love. I sometimes look at my shop and wonder what my wife will do with all my stuff. Also knowing that the thing I enjoy most will be reduced to a yard sale. In responce to these thoughts I have changed my" Will" to include my knifemaking tools and equipment . They will all go to the NC custom knifemakers Guild. Part of the money from my knives now goes to pay for a small Life Insurance policy. This policy will compensate my wife for what the tools should have sold for and takes away one thing for her to have to deal with after my passing.


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Old 08-22-2010, 12:49 PM
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Andy, tell us more about this life insurance policy.
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Old 08-22-2010, 05:32 PM
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Don its just a normal life insurance policy. I just make the payments with money from my knife sales. Mine is threw Met life. It has nothing to do with my shop. Just a way that the shop can pay for a little security for my wife.


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Old 08-23-2010, 04:59 PM
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OK guys.


If you would like to donate to Gracie, you can send cash to me at bob@warnerknives.com through Paypal and I will get it to her and you will get a thank you card from Gracie so you know I gave it to her or if you send your phone number I can ask her to call you. I want everyone to be confident their donation will actually go to Gracie. I have already received several donations for her and look forward to giving her the cash and showing her the quality of Bob's peers.

I just got off the phone with Gracie. She is a very nice lady and is very reasonable with her expectations of what she wants for the tools.

I have a ballpark idea of what is there but until I get down there to look at it all there is still a lot of unknowns.

Bob's shop is approximately 20'X24' and is packed full of stuff.
She said there is ONE belt grinder and it is the Wilton Square Wheel.
The Bader Grinder Don listed above is actually a Baldor 12" disc grinder
There are a couple of drill presses but she does not know the condition or brand but Bob was using them so they should be in decent shape.
There are a couple of "steel cutting saws" but Gracie had trouble deciding if they were horizontal/vertical or uprights so that is unknown for now.
There is a buffer
There are a couple workbenches that are metal frame and wood tops.
There is a coal forge and two barrels of coal. It sounds like there may be a partially built propane forge there also.
An anvil of unknown size and brand and lots of hammers and tongs.
Bob had been making knives as his sole income for 30 years. He made a lot of damascus stuff so we can probably guess some of the other stuff that he has out there.
I have no idea how much handle material, steel and other supplies are there yet.
Gracie was unsure about an air compressor but I would not be a bit surprised if there is one there.
I am reasonably sure that there are not any mills or lathes.
This stuff is not new. She said as far as she knows he was not looking to replace anything at the time he got sick so I would assume at this time everything works fine.

She would really like to come up with a price and sell the entire operation for one amount with a few exceptions. She understands that may be difficult but that is the goal.

NOW, here is something that makes this deal even better. Included in this sale at no additional price are all of Bob?s other tools. Gracie says there are several big toolboxes full of wrenches and stuff. She is unfamiliar with the tools but said they are for working on cars and other stuff. I am guessing there would be a lot of good tools in these tool boxes. There is a son that wants his welding equipment (unknown what is there) but she is not sure if he is going to get it or not, if not, this stuff will be included in the package price at no additional cost. We will price the knife shop items and set a price, the rest is just thrown in to sweeten the deal for the buyer and as an incentive to buy in one large lot.

Gracie has not only lost Bob but she has also lost his income. She needs the all the cash we can get for her. I am going to be fair in the pricing but not going to allow her to take less than a reasonable amount, it would not be fair to her or to the man that made his living with it. She is not looking to make a fortune but get a fair amount for the items.

We discussed some items she would want to sell independently and they are:

Walrus tusk. It is an entire walrus Tusk (she thinks it is Walrus) that is legal and has paper to prove it. She will want to sell this by itself. Does anyone know what the value of this item would be? She is checking to see if she can find out what Bob paid for it.

There are a couple of completed knives that she has and plans to sell.

She also will be selling all of Bob's knife patterns separate from the shop stuff. She will want to sell his entire pattern board as one item. Bob's patterns are all made of steel and I don't know how many there are. Bob still has people calling to order knives and Gracie has to share the bad news so there is definitely interest in his patterns out there. Someone could buy the patterns and carry on his style and use his patterns as a selling point for using the ORIGINAL Bob Blasingame patterns.

She is deciding what to do with 30 years of books and magazines. I recommended she take and keep all magazines that Bob was in and maybe add those to the patterns when selling them. She has copies for her own memories of the magazines he was in.

Luckily Bob was not behind in his orders and does not owe anyone knives or are there any deposits that need to be returned.

If anyone out there is interested in a bulk buy, please let me know. I do not know the total for the shop yet but you can bet you will not be able to build a working, forging knife shop for what you can buy this one for.

Kilgore, TX is 120 miles southeast of Dallas so the trip would be probably fairly far no matter where you are but worth the drive for this shop.

If all else fails possibly a couple guys could go in together and buy this if nobody has the total themselves. I know there will be things there that I would love to have since I am still rebuilding my own shop but I am not even close to being in a position to buy anything, let alone everything but I hope someone out there is.

There are a couple of concerns that Gracie has and I have the same ones for her.
First is the general overall safety for Gracie having to have strangers come to her home.
Second is theft. Not just someone breaking in and taking things but people pocketing items when in the shop. I told her that she should be fine when dealing with knife makers in general but if she gets a lot of people looking around at the same time, theft is a high possibility. I offered to arrange to be there any time she feels uncomfortable with someone (I don't have a job unfortunately so I am available) that is planning to come over.

Gracie is a confident lady but she is also fragile at this time and I do not want people trying to intimidate her to get a better deal. Once I help her set the price for the shop, she will not take less so I am going to be telling people that if you don't bring the full asking price and expect to pay full price (assuming you like the deal) please do not arrange a visit. The last thing I want is to have to drive down there and have someone offer her less than her sale price. That will just waste everyone's time.

I have already received one message asking about individual items. If it comes to that I am not sure how to work it out. Gracie certainly cannot be packing up a grinder and shipping it anywhere and it is way too far for me to run down there at every sale so that could really be a bad way to do things for everyone.

If we can't sell it all as one shop at one price, then she will look at selling separately. She really does not want to do this as it will be time consuming and I worry about her safety. Here address is out on the web and everyone knows Bob is gone. I recommended she have someone install a camera until the stuff is sold to prevent theft and she agreed to do that and has someone that can help with that.

My goal is to find a person with the cash that is interested and we go down there together and make the deal with her and load up the stuff.
If anyone has suggestions to make this stuff sell, please let me know. If anyone has other ideas about how to help Gracie please let me know.

Please do not call her and ask about pricing, the price has not yet been determined and when it is, I will post it here.

Now, one additional possibility. Since I am out of work and need income myself, I would be willing to load all this stuff up and deliver it to you wherever you are in the US for an agreed delivery amount. You would have to pay Gracie up front (check cleared and cash in her account) and I could load up and bring it all to you. The delivery price would be between you and me and not involve Gracie at all and would not be part of your deal with Gracie.
The only issue with this is that if I am offered a job, I would have to take it and this possibility would be off the table.

Thanks to all and feel free to contact me via email with suggestions or questions.


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