My alarm clock went off at 0430 and boy was I tired from a long week at work. I actually thought about not going as my two compadres bailed on me, I was looking forward to hanging out with my brother and my good friend Jim who is a sign fabricator, but life gets in the way sometimes.
So with a thermos of coffee and a full tank of gas I head up I-5 for the hour plus drive to Bellingham. What a gorgeous day in the Northwest!
I pull in the parking lot at 6:15 or so and get I line, I guess I'm about 75th and wait...and wait. I would say that by 7:45 there was a line 300 long! 8 o'clock on the nose and the gates open and I started laughing to myself as it reminded me of the Goldrush stampede.
There were three big tents setup and I'm on the hunt for a 15" planer. There were so many machines lined up, band saws, metal working band saws, mills, table saws, drum sander, and planers!
In the midst of all this chaos and guys rushing up to various machines I see a buddy of mine, how cool is that! but no time for idle chit chat.
To make a long story somewhat shorter, I ended up finding my planer:thumbsup: It is a GO453Z 15" 3hp with a spiral cutter head. It has a broken rear caster, and paint flecks coming off, that's it? no broken handles or gears or pully cover all dinged up. I scooped it up for $1,200 after tax. Saved myself a cool $550.
After paying for it and putting my green sold sticker on it, I could stroll around. They must have had a dozen 8" jointers, all in various stages of banged up. Only the most serious of cases still had the tag on them. I would guess that all the good buys were bought in the first 20 minutes.
I tried to go in the tent that had all the small machines and hand tools and such but it was absolutely a crazy place and I feared for my life. It was combat shopping at it's finest and I'm glad I survived.
Thanks for reading.
So with a thermos of coffee and a full tank of gas I head up I-5 for the hour plus drive to Bellingham. What a gorgeous day in the Northwest!
I pull in the parking lot at 6:15 or so and get I line, I guess I'm about 75th and wait...and wait. I would say that by 7:45 there was a line 300 long! 8 o'clock on the nose and the gates open and I started laughing to myself as it reminded me of the Goldrush stampede.
There were three big tents setup and I'm on the hunt for a 15" planer. There were so many machines lined up, band saws, metal working band saws, mills, table saws, drum sander, and planers!
In the midst of all this chaos and guys rushing up to various machines I see a buddy of mine, how cool is that! but no time for idle chit chat.
To make a long story somewhat shorter, I ended up finding my planer:thumbsup: It is a GO453Z 15" 3hp with a spiral cutter head. It has a broken rear caster, and paint flecks coming off, that's it? no broken handles or gears or pully cover all dinged up. I scooped it up for $1,200 after tax. Saved myself a cool $550.
After paying for it and putting my green sold sticker on it, I could stroll around. They must have had a dozen 8" jointers, all in various stages of banged up. Only the most serious of cases still had the tag on them. I would guess that all the good buys were bought in the first 20 minutes.
I tried to go in the tent that had all the small machines and hand tools and such but it was absolutely a crazy place and I feared for my life. It was combat shopping at it's finest and I'm glad I survived.
Thanks for reading.
