The barter system dead or alive !

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maddave

Full Member
Jan 2, 2004
4,177
39
Manchester UK
I've recently bartered with my mechanic...He's doing my brakepads and front discs on the car. I'm felling a couple of trees and pruning back his hedge....Job done :D
 

spiritofold

Banned
May 7, 2004
701
1
52
Winchester
www.spiritofold.co.uk
The ways things are going then bartering could be a good solution to cash flow. It brings out that survivalist mentality in me :) In real life, one hard lesson i've learnt is that far more people will take than give. I love to barter for things though, always hoping that i wont get taken for a mug!

Andy >>>>>------------------------<>
 

Mike Ameling

Need to contact Admin...
Jan 18, 2007
872
1
Iowa U.S.A.
www.angelfire.com
A number of years ago, a friend bartered for an African safari for himself and his girlfriend. All they had to pay was the airfair to/from Kenya. He had met a guy that runs some of the photography safari's over there, and they worked out a deal. He became "camp gopher" to "work off" their part of the trip. He would set up camp, help with all the chores, wrangle horses, take down camp and pack for the trip, etc. She helped out with the cooking and dishes (but really didn't need to). But both of them were already used to doing all that anyway. They helped out with hunting pack-trips out in the Rocky Mountains. And he raises/broke horses. So their safari was mostly a fun trip for them - with a little ordinary work thrown in.

I swap all the time. My usually response when somebody wants something from me is "what do you have to trade?" And when I help buddies out with work and they ask me how much they owe me for helping, I just tell them to help me sometime when I need it. I've got two close friends that I swap/trade with all the time. With both of them, we don't even keep track of who owe's whom, and for how much. We aren't too concerned about how the "balance sheet" is tallied up - if we could even remember what all to put on it. (Now, we also do some very specific "deals", but there is still all that other stuff -- "you need/want that? Take it." or "trade me something sometime")

But now I have a couple buddies trying to "even up" the score with me. They are afraid that I might be considering MOVING, and they don't want to be TOO OBLIGATED to help me TOO MUCH with that!

So it goes.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands
 

Dave Budd

Gold Trader
Staff member
Jan 8, 2006
2,895
321
44
Dartmoor (Devon)
www.davebudd.com
How awesome is that !!:You_Rock_ Totally personal...:)

you think that's personal, how about this one:

Last weekend I was commissioned to make a knife for a chap as a working knife and family heirloom. He wants me to inlay his son't milk teeth and a part of one of his own ribs into it! :yikes: Apparently he asked a few other makers if they would/could do it and they all pointed him in my direction. :yelrotflm
 

Tadpole

Full Member
Nov 12, 2005
2,842
21
60
Bristol
you think that's personal, how about this one:

Last weekend I was commissioned to make a knife for a chap as a working knife and family heirloom. He wants me to inlay his son't milk teeth and a part of one of his own ribs into it! :yikes: Apparently he asked a few other makers if they would/could do it and they all pointed him in my direction. :yelrotflm
His name is not Adam by any chance, seems a guy called Adam did that once before..:lmao:
 

Jedadiah

Native
Jan 29, 2007
1,349
1
Northern Doghouse
you think that's personal, how about this one:

Last weekend I was commissioned to make a knife for a chap as a working knife and family heirloom. He wants me to inlay his son't milk teeth and a part of one of his own ribs into it! :yikes: Apparently he asked a few other makers if they would/could do it and they all pointed him in my direction. :yelrotflm

Your going to have to put a new tag line on your buisness cards Dave; 'Dave Budd, bespoke forged cutting tools, body parts a speciality'! The state of my knives recently i'd have to put 'Boob Jobs a speciality'!:rolleyes:
 

g4ghb

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 21, 2005
4,320
246
54
Wiltshire
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Budd

you think that's personal, how about this one:

Last weekend I was commissioned to make a knife for a chap as a working knife and family heirloom. He wants me to inlay his son't milk teeth and a part of one of his own ribs into it! Apparently he asked a few other makers if they would/could do it and they all pointed him in my direction.

Originally Posted by Tadpole

His name is not Adam by any chance, seems a guy called Adam did that once before..

Cool! - A nice bit of apple wood for the handle would be nice! ;)
 

gregorach

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 15, 2005
3,723
28
50
Edinburgh
The big problem with bartering is how to come up with a "medium of exchange" when what you have does not meet the needs of what you want from another person. So then you have to work out some sort of 3 or 4 way swapping. And any "barter clubs" that get set up to handle such swapping tend to get caught in the "banking" laws (operating a bank keeping track of "values/points" without proper permission and regulation).

Over hear, we have things call LETS (Local Exchange Trading Systems). I dunno what the regulatory position is, but they seem to get away with it. I would guess they're formally regarded as co-operatives.
 

carla

Member
Apr 17, 2008
44
0
shropshire
i trade with someone that takes the kinks out of my neck, shoulder and back by doing a muscle release technique. i do body work for her in exchange. i often do a trade with other alternative therapy practitioners and would certainly do a trade for other things ( cutting wood, insulating my loft, putting up magnetised secondary glazing... gardening...barter is the way to go !!!
carla
 

Minotaur

Native
Apr 27, 2005
1,605
235
Birmingham
This link is interesting, he traded from a paperclip to a house.

One Red Paper Clip

Do it when I can but have found sometimes it bites you in the rear end.

When looking for above link came across a CNN article, apprently it increases in economic down times, so it is becoming more provalent in the US at the moment. It helps to have a marketable skill.
 

Dave Budd

Gold Trader
Staff member
Jan 8, 2006
2,895
321
44
Dartmoor (Devon)
www.davebudd.com
when I first moved to Dartmoor I shared a house with a lazy builder, we split the rent so that he paid the landlord in cash and paid the bills, while I looked after the horses :) Was great while it lasted, except for the trampling and resulting scar on my leg :(
 

John Fenna

Lifetime Member & Maker
Oct 7, 2006
23,137
2,876
66
Pembrokeshire
Barter is always interesting - all my pouches etc are available for a good trade as well as cash - and I have done some great bartering on this site, BCUK meets and amongst local friends - including a canoe cruise of the Tivy in exchange for a Shiatsu massage!
Some of my most prized bits of kit have come via bartering/trading. Often I trade finished goods for makings for future projects.
Hmm - I think I will now start a new thread in the hope of finding some wool blankets....
 

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