Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,466
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Post by Sabre52 on Nov 23, 2007 17:07:34 GMT -5
I used to sell a few slabs on E-Bay until I figured out just how uneconomical it is. I figure you have to take up this hobby for the joy of it rather than making it a business type enterprise. It's especially uneconomical if you have to start with a new saw, especially the large ones. My 20" blades run about $350 and I keep an accurate blade log of hours I cut with each one. I've never gotten 350 hours of good cutting from a blade without a failure or some type of breakage. Usually get about 200 hours or so. I cut about one big slab or two smaller ones per hour. I figure on the average it costs me about $2.00 to cut a larger slab, counting material cost, power, cutting oil, but not the expense of store bought material etc. You also have to figure lots of the slabs you cut might not be so hot or if you cab, you might only get one nice cab from a whole slab of rough. A larger slab saw new, can run between $1200 and $5000. Unless you have a real business where you make profit and can write off equipment or depreciation etc. It's pretty hard to defray the cost of a big saw, upkeep, lubricant, blades, belts repair etc. Also, for that kind of money, if you have any kind of access to good tailgate shows etc, you can buy more slabs than you'll cab in your life. However, that being said, there is flat out no thrill like cutting open an ugly ole rock and finding something cool and beautiful inside, especially if it's a rock you found yourself....Mel
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Post by connrock on Nov 25, 2007 6:39:00 GMT -5
I thought I could break even and just support my hobby making wind chimes from Brazilian agate. I bought some nice rough and needed a saw! Bought the saw and needed a vibe flat lap. Bought that and needed something to drill holes with along with 275the drills themselves. Bought some fishing line and a few wooden rings for the chimes to hang of and off I went!! HA HA HA!!! So lets see how much I have invested in my wind chime business! Rough,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,$5.00/lb X 40 lbs = $200.00 Used 10" slab saw+ oil,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,$450.00 New 16" Covington Vibe Lap,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,$350.00 Foredome Flex Shaft (got free but had re-built),,,,,,,,,$125.00 Diamond Drills,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,$ 50.00 Total,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,$1175.00 The going price for wind chimes at the time made from a set of 5 Brazilian agate slabs was $17.00!!!!!!!! WHAT? ? NO WAY!!!!!!!!!! I can't buy the rough slabs for that price!!!! I seriously doubt if any of us here will ever make a living turning our hobby into a business unless we move to China!!!! connrock
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Post by Michael John on Nov 25, 2007 15:27:26 GMT -5
You're not seeing the forest throught the trees. If you place value on your time (time is money), you'll quickly find that ENTIRE PROCESS of obtaining rough, cutting slabs, taking decent pictures, writing your ads, answering questions, packaging orders, and shipping them is very time-consuming. Add to that the cost of packaging, tools, eBay and PayPal fees, and other miscellaneous expenses, and you'll find that the entire ordeal is not nearly as profitable as you initially thought. "Your Mileage May Vary" ... but I sincerely doubt it.
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Post by stonesthatrock on Nov 25, 2007 22:15:32 GMT -5
Now if i may add my 2 cents. Ralph has had the last few months off because of his surgeries, so I lined up 3 shows in the month of nov. We just got back home from the last show until jan. I have to tell you all that was said above is true. Is not only the cost of material, saw, oil and time but theres more. If you do shows, theres the cost of the table space, lodging and food and of course you gas to get there. Also, you have high hopes the the people attending the show are into lapidary and want to buy slabs or rough material, and I have found that its maybe somewhat a dying art and without those people your slabs do no good. So many people there are to buy finished products. When we go to the shows we have about 1500 - 2000 pieces of slabs that we have priced from 50 cents up to $15.00 per slab. The rough we have from a dollar a pound up. Now in the last 3 shows we have been lucky to break even. Not too profitable. Also, some of the slabs we have, we didn't even cut ourselves, we have bought them already cut, so some of the cost of the saw etc isn't even included in those. So, we are trying to figure out some alternative ways to move this rock and slabs. Now in this part of the country we have good weather all year and probably have more shows here then anywhere and its still hard to make a profit. In 2 months we have attended 6 shows.
i try to think of others ways, as i won't do ebay. Too many fees for me. We have nice material to sell, but like i said, the people have to want or need it.
ty for listening to my 2 cents.
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