jeffrey schronce sighting

[jussi]

Check out the seller.


http://cgi.ebay.com/Festool-CT-Midi-...item230338b61c

[Ed62]

Cool! I wonder if he'll come back?

Ed

[chopnhack]

I emailed him inviting him to join us again. He was a very helpful member!

[cgallery]

It seems like he's exchanging woodworking for fly fishing. There are times when I feel like doing something similar.

But they quickly pass.

[LinuxRandal]

I thought he mentioned that here, before he left. Something along the lines of still fishing, but no longer the Amazon.

After leaving here, I am pretty sure I saw him post some of his tools over on Sawmill for sale. I wonder how much he has left (hasn't been active in quite a while).

I am not sure if him coming back is a good thing. I will have to consult with my wallet on that one.

[jussi]

I think the days of the Amazon bargains are gone. At least not the ones we were getting a year or so ago when a killer deal would happen once a month. Now it's mostly the occasional borg/Sears clearance items/price mistake.


Just for kicks what was the best deal you remember getting on Amazon. For me I think it was when they had the stack-able router item coupon codes and I got a bench dog ci and lift for nearly half price.

[Uncle Cracker]

I got a Delta 50-760 dust collector for 99 bucks, and a Hitachi M12V router for something like 59 bucks... Both pricing errors, and much appreciated.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Hi Guys,

Sorry I fell off the face of the earth! In the last couple of years my business has absolutely exploded where I am working 60 hours a week. I feel that I have been really blessed, particularly given the current economic climate and the problems within the insurance industry. During my absence we sold our house in York PA and moved to Exeter Township near Reading PA. We did this for a number of reasons including proximity of my clients, travel time for territory for my wife and mainly to get our children into a neighborhood versus out in the sticks. We felt that while our children did have the benefit of many acres and smaller rural life, however they did not have the ability to ride their bikes to there friends house, etc. They also are quite fond of the pool! LOL!. So we are in a cookie cutter McMansion in a typical golf course community. Actually folks around here are probably quite a bit more laid back than typical golf community, which means they can deal with me and I can deal with them! The children love their new school district and my daughter that I share custody with gets on the bus here and gets off bus and stays here every evening with her sister. They are much closer now. It's awesome.

Woodworking. Well that is the victim here. As many know I had a 400 sq foot heated/air conditioned shop with its own dedicated panel, etc. It was awesome and I miss it like crazy. However, I have to be honest that even before we moved it had been 6 months since I had spent more than an hour in the shop due to work. When we moved and since that time, I have had about $25,000 worth of tools (that I paid $1,000 for! HAHAHAHA!) sitting in a storage shed. Most of you folks will remember Thom Logue. I used his shop over the last year. We talked about combining our shops and selling off duplicate items, however he realizes he spends no time in his shop either as he has a jerk of a boss (yes, he bit the bullet and came to work for me!). So I have been spending a couple hundred dollars a month to keep all this stuff pent up in a storage unit. I also came to the realization that the vast majority of the stuff that I have is not necessary or I never used it. The $1,000 HVLP unit is an example. Unlike most, I love sanding and finishing projects and you all know my affinity for hand rubbed finishes, so the HVLP seems like overkill. Of course like a lot of my equipment I have just about nothing in it as it was hidden in an auction lot and was a big surprise. I got rid of my hardest item first and that was the Festool equipment, which leads to the other woodworking killer for me. I got the Midi and sander in an attempt to be able to continue working with wood and my affinity for exotics. I had a lot of allergic reactions to exotics but I found that as I continued working, I was beginning to start having allergic reactions to stuff as basic as QSWO. Pine and poplar is the only thing I don't have to be really careful with and I just don't enjoy making projects from that material. My current project is a large outdoor kitchen. I used all Lynx stainless components and cabinets, boxes, etc are all genuine mahogany. That project has been ongoing since 07/01 (at least of this year!).

To the astute viewer of my auction activity, yes I have rekindled my love of fly fishing. Growing up I was either woodworking with my Dad or fly fishing with my Grandfather. My Grandfather is not doing real well but he is well enough that we took him on a trip to the beach this Summer. Though he hated in general, he loved hanging out with me as I fished for white trash bonefish (carp) in a brackish water lake with my fly rod. Since this Summer it has really picked up and any time I can find I am taking my friends and daughters fly fishing. My daughter Morgan took her first trout on a fly rod this week! Very exciting for us! Photo attached. I am also looking into buying a secondary residence in NY Catskill mountains for anyone who goes up that way. Anyone in the area who enjoys fly fishing, please let me know. I am an active member of Trout Unlimited and we just float stocked the Tulpehocken River this week and I know where I put all of them! HA! Of course it is tough getting a hatchery raised trout to figure out that he is supposed to rise up and eat your cleverly crafted fly, as he is sitting there looking for a brown pellet of food.

So basically business has absolutely exploded and I find myself working very hard to balance my family life and work life. Though I still love woodworking and do it any time I need that special item I can't find in the store, I don't have the time to make stuff I CAN find in the store. I will focus on custom projects and gifts for family members. Thom has extended an offer for me to use his shop any time, though we have to figure out some way to actually be able to turn around in it! Thom has a good bit of my equipment including 15" planner, "old" craftsman 22124 saw, my cyclone, etc so his shop feels a lot like mine over the years.

As far as best score . . . . hmmmm . . . . that is hard because of the wheeling and dealing involved in so many deals. It is probably the deal I am not very proud of personally and that was the $70 off $420 deal at Amazon where they had a programming error and it turned into $70 off ANYTHING! And it worked. More than once. But in retrospect there was a lot of ethical issues with that deal. The Craftsman Drill press that was $479 and was on sale for $100 something was awesome and I still have that unit in my garage (keeper). I don't know. At one point I had a spreadsheet of all my tools street value (not MSRP) and my cost. I was under 40% so basically I bought everything on average of 60% less than regular retail. Heck, I even got 30% off my Festool by using microsoft live.com cash back on ebay! (BTW, that is going on right now with bing.com, but it is 8% cash back).

Anyway, nice updating and I will try to drop in from time to time. I appreciate all the concern, thoughts and help you guys have provided over the years!

Jeff

[Jeffrey Schronce]

After leaving here, I am pretty sure I saw him post some of his tools over on Sawmill for sale. I wonder how much he has left (hasn't been active in quite a while).

That must have been when I was moving from York to Reading. I got rid of my 8" joiner, 24" dual drum sander and edge sander at that time.

[Ed62]

Well, it's nice to know you're still among us. I know it has to be hard to let one of your crafts dwindle. Keep taking the kids fishing. A lot of bonding goes on there, and there's nothing more important than family. Hope to see you around more often.

Ed

[Uncle Cracker]

When the fish quit biting, get back in the shop. You'll find you've missed it more than you think you have...

[SHADOWFOX]

Glad to see everything is okay, Jeff! Take care!

[ironhat]

It's good hearing from you, Jeff, and we're pleased that things are working out for you. Don't buy any more Taurus's and you shouldn't have any problems. Say hi to the wife for us (my wife and I).