PART 1

These are the things you don't get elsewhere. If you said "Good", then skip this one. Never happened.

Media. Let's briefly drop in on 1974. Magazine Articles were the way people got to know you. There were some rare newsletters. There were yearly "Annual" Books that everybody looked forward to like Christmas. Would you "make it" into the book? Would you "make the COVER!!???" And everybody would read them until they memorized every passage. Of course, there was no Net.

There were Major "Shows". They required a tremendous effort to prepare for. Make up 15-20 Art Folders in Damascus steel, and hold them back for months in prep for the show. Make enough other sales to stay alive too. Then, when at the show; would you achieve an Award? "Best Knife"? "Best of show"? That would really get talked about. Of course, nobody had a digital camera on their phone. Nobody had a digital camera. Nobody had a phone! They had film cameras. But they took a pic for themselves. How were they gonna share it? Show it to Bob and Joe maybe.

This situation lasted until well into the 90's really. And, I got the Magazine Articles. My work was in the Books. My work was on the Cover of the Books. I won the Awards. I got "Best Knife". I got "Best of Show". Sometimes I got Both at the same show!!! It was a time when "exposure depended upon talent". Let's say that again. It's HUGE!!! EXPOSURE DEPENDED UPON TALENT!!! And I thrived.

It was the same with all of the arts. It was a time when "The Bangles did ETERNAL FLAME". An ICONIC work. Blondie did "Heart of Glass". Guns and Roses did "Sweet Child of Mine". There was "The Rains Down in Africa", "Southern Cross", and ZZ TOP did "She's got Legs". "Desperado". "Hotel California". It took a talented WRITER to come up with each of those. It took TALENT to be recognized.

And Then ...............

I'll let that SOAK for a bit.

Gary



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2016 06:51PM by barnespneumatic.

PART 2

Lets skip over the wind up to where we are today.

We have the net. When that all got started, I still thrived. Because, you had to LEARN how to make s web site. You had to have an ISP. You had to CRAFT a website that couldn't be read in four minutes. Mine grew to hundreds of pages at the time. I included Audio and Video files. I took readers to the Range with me. I continued to thrive. It took TALENT to be recognized.

And Then ......

From my point of view, the following all happened at once. Anybody could have a website. Hosts popped up like weeds. Services popped up to provide exposure to nearly anyone. Every magazine was online. Books dropped off in favor of online presence. You watch an awards show recently? They barely bother to bleep the last letter of obscenities. BLEEP ...... BLEEP ..... Roaring laughter and applause. BLEEPITY BLEEP!!! The big talent is hunched over, stomping around the stage, with a belligerent scowl, holding their crotch, while they repeat the same three word phrase for four minutes. What did you get when you got 300 channels on TV? How many do you watch? Would you say that it takes "talent" (in the form of quality programming) to get reconized? Are most of the websites on the net quality reading? Could you be forgiven for thinking that a positive deluge of .... Anything ..... relates to greater quantity of "Quality Talent?"

Ok. Now ...., let's have the above condition of affairs to marinate for about a decade. I'll be back again.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2016 06:57PM by barnespneumatic.

PART 3

Ok. Next part, to stay on track. The biggest reason I'm writing these thoughts is because you know I've talked about developing products and markets. Casual readers probably wonder why I've showed quite a few different products. Why is he doing this? Why That? Why not something else. Where's the Airguns????

One more segment of things that have changed. You will recognize each of these parts as being true when you read them. I'm not making up theory here.

Look at what has happened to "Artistic Things" over the last decade. When was it that "Everything Art" began with a "Pallet"? Not just any pallet, but an old beat up splintery one. Furniture. Walls. Wall Hangings. Everything starts with a pallet. Knock it apart. Take the nailed out or not. You can even laminate it over good furniture. Just do it. Pinterest has 10,000 things to do with Pallets. You want a Master's Work for over the Sofa .... Take a Pallet Board .... .... Drill a hole in it .... Insert a rusty bent bolt thru it .... Wholla!!!!

Now .... Jewelry. Kelly and I have a difference of opinions when looking at jewelry. About 80% of it now has words or letters stamped on it. All crooked and looking like a 3 year old did it. Makes me cringe. She thinks it's cute. I always want to make things that require real talent, like a handmade Locket. That's not in fashion now. You want a necklace .., just hang an old Fruit Cocktail can on a string around your neck. You want a Locket? Let the opened lid on the can. Bend open. Bend closed.

Now; why has Music, Furniture, Jewelry, Art .... all become KRAP? When did the society decide it was cruel to win? I recall at Standing Stone 2, I was commenting to a mature Gent .... I was remarking that I just didn't "Get" why nobody would compete in the shooting games I'd spent months setting up and making targets for. He says ..., "When it's a Competition, someone has to win, someone has to loose." I stared.

Why is music KRAP? It takes time to learn to write, play quality music. Who has the time? Why is Art KRAP? Because more people want to be Artists. It's not FAIR that only talented people become Artists. You can follow the thread.

How/When/Why??????? Well, you were here for it. You, like the entire Culture, just got numb to it. Then it became familiar. Then ... you begin to think ... ya know ... Maybe .....

So now. There are 300 channels if KRAP. 9,000,000 Web Sites. Click, Click , Click, ......... Click Click Click Click .........

How in the name of Sam are you supposed to stand out? Huh ... Oh .... You AREN'T SUPPOSED TO stand out.

While everyone is Clicking their free time away, what's bringing in new people to see your work. Oh ... There's ETSY where anybody can have an online shop. And, about 5 billion have done so. You want some fine ..... stuff ..... Use the Search Engine.

I'll be back. Gotta do another work segment.

Gary

Oart 4 (Conclusion)

So; In order to actually make Quality Items, you have to get more for them then a piece of Pallet Woid with a Bent Rusty Bolt thru it. However; if People have been so trained as to be satisfied with said Board (and that made in China with near slave labor), then you can put your work in new markets, and people will recognize the quality, but they'll go home with the Pallet Wood, most times.

It's rather maddening. Does the old standard "Over Qualified" phrase that's used to keep from hiring sound familiar?

Lastly, as I've often mentioned, it's in showing, sharing, telling .... that previous customers help develop new customers. If that doesn't happen (by silence) then the new people never show. The old customers either engage in an endless cycle of repeat purchasing ... or they bring new people. It's first hand showing and sharing that is infectious. It's only that which generates new interest. Otherwise; how on earth is the Craftsman supposed to reach out. As I pointed out earlier - the magazines and books are old school. Gone with the wind. The new media is individually targeted. It WOULD be possible for something like .... Oh say ..... a Forum .... to reach new people. But, for that, there would need to be that sharing of product that I mentioned.

I pretty much day and night making quality and posting it. Id appreciate it if you'd tell someone. Perhaps share your stories.

Thanks much.
Gary

I find the psychological reasons for patterns to be fascinating. Do you guys, as well?

This isn't anything sinister. Not a cry for help. It's an outline of accumulated knowledge that applies to the details of my business and life as an artist. I have to make significant decisions based upon this knowledge. From that side of the screen, you see me working on this or that, and I'm sure you wonder why in the heck I'm doing that.

The world has changed in the last decade. Quite a bit. The way we see and are seen. The way we are entertained. The availability of entertainment. The volume of entertainment. The commitment required to gain entertainment. All changed.

My entire life has changed regarding health, health maintenance, health expenses. Factors into everything. It's the reason I can't ignore this quest of alternative markets. Just believe me. It's very real.

Anyway. It the points I made in the thread triggered thoughts. Feel free to comment.

Ok. I'm keeping you current. Asking you to keep the points I mind. Hopefully you will enjoy and appreciate the quality of the new work. I recall a few instances of people telling me (when I was still accepting orders) how they had wanted a fine rifle. How they'd love to order a Bison ... But they were pleased that I offered the Heritage Pistol so they could have an example of my work. And later, other instances where for a couple of thousand dollars, they could have an example of my work. Things like the Pocket Knives, the Pocket Cases, the Cuffs, and now the Challenge Coins - make it possible to have an extremely fine quality item, for far less.

Thanks,
Gary

Hi Gary,

A very deep topic! Will try to respond on weekend.

Pedro

Gary
We live in a very throw away world where everything has a expected shelf life . A lot of people know that and don't expect things to last very long . What fix it ???? Nope I'll just get a new one . The attention spans are short and hard to keep focus when you know the next will be better and RED instead of blue . Last year I liked blue now it's red !

Alot of people don't know or even care about the effort put in to a fine heirloom . It's always " how soon can I get that " well so and so can get it quicker so guess I'll go there .
Even in the steel industry it's all about speed and how Faaaast can we get it ? We're behind be for we even get the job and so now how can we get that time back .

I think it will cycle back to people caring about a purchases to last a life time and even pass down thru generations . The big thing for me is the story and knowing the maker . I'm very much enjoying the hand crafted items you make and offer and I explain in great detail to my son (& others )about the process that one has to accomplish to complete each item but I'm not sure he REALLY gets it now but in the future when he thinks back I know it sunk in .

You are a dying breed and glad to call you my friend !

Thanks
Kurt

Thank you Kurt. Dying Breeds feel like hanging around a bit if they have friends like you who get it. However; YOU are also a dying breed.

You are correct. MOST people really couldn't care less if something came from a shipping container of identical Chinese versions. You are correct again - they just want it now and if you can't provide it immediately, they just assume one or more of the following:
1). You are just too lazy to make one
2). You have just been too undisciplined to prepare for market demand
3). You are just too I knowledgeable regarding new technology
4). You have just spent the profits rather then upgrading tech
5). You have insisted upon using archaic methods
Etc. It's rarely accepted that you are working as hard as possible and it just takes time for quality work. Problem is, most are not able to see the differences between products. That's partly my fault for not explaining well enough, and partly their fault for not having the attention span to absorb what's been shared.

Thanks for commenting. The key from my side is that it takes at least a few dozen guys like you to keep a guy like me working. Really doesn't seem like that many. There are so many that could singly absorb my meager yearly needs. I used to have several of those in the 80s and 90s. Oddly, they each wanted everything I could make. They actually got mad at me for selling items to the other of the several buyers. I once had a Swiss Buyer become so angry I'd sold to a Japanese buyer, that he just cut me off. Never again! You just sell to your Japanese buyer! Click!!!! I swear, it's true. Honestly, for 42 years, I've had people seriously angry at me, because they wanted my work and had to wait. Or, they become so angry, they click over to the other side. Love me one day - Click - Next day begins the hate phase. Because I cannot produce quickly enough. Of course, once delivered, the work hoes into hiding. But, it must be delivered by it's due date.

Of course, there are many who understand and are patiently waiting. Or waiting as patiently as possible. Point was though, there is always that disturbance in the Force, that So and So is Burnt up and wants you to know it.

Why can't everybody be perfect like you, Kurt? Hehe.

Gary

Ha perfect ??? I think not ...I just get it in so many ways . I once made a master stainless steel tool/ key for the head of a lock and key security personal at the HUGE chemical plant we do steel for . Quick story is the guys would constantly change locks and door handles all day in the plant and wear out the tools . Now with each new set of locks the tool was supplied and so they had 100's of them but this guy had a custum idea that I spent 3 days filing and fine tuning for him . After he approved it I personalized it for him and finally I was done . When he got it the bill had to be a couple thousand $ . Then he ordered 3 more . I was bummed out because of the time it took I knew it would take the same amount x3 to complete . When the guy found out the next 3 would be the same price x3 he kinda hesitated . I told him the repeatability was possible but the same amount of work no matter what .!

This man knew it was worth getting a special stronger one but thought if he bought a couple it would be cheaper .

Same scenario.... Same outcome. Guys I know always want me to make them a trailer and think I can do it cheaper than they can buy new ! I tell them it cost about 2x as much as new but will last 4 times as long . And they hafta paint it themselves !

Ps . I have NEVER made any trailers to this date ! Haha but I fixed a lot of those throwaway ones !

Thanks for compliment

Thanks
Kurt

Wanted you to know I read your post. Ha. Great points of contact there. I want to get back and comment. It brought up quite a few thoughts. Yeah. The repeatability issue. Funny. I have gotten the "just mass produce" question for 42 years. And, I've always tried to point out that making 10 pieces, just takes .... Ten times as long. And, even though I have a no problem with attention span, it still produces fatigue when you take an already hugely long project, and instead multiply it by a factor of ten. Ha.

Ok. Guess I did answer.

For readers who have hung in there this long, I'm not trying to drive you nuts. Although, if you notice I'm approaching 10,000 posts on the forum. I guess you've learned a few things about me. More then absolutely required. . Recently, I've over the simple presupposition that I wouldn't be spending time developing new markets at this point in my life. Not as if I had enough pressure meeting requirements. I read my own posts for proofing sometimes. I realize some of them sound a bit like the script from THE BIG BANG THEORY. But they are factual. They are designed to convey information that's tewuired to understand what I'm doing. So; I can either post it, or go thru thirty emails and PMs asking the same questions.

I keep applying many techniques I've developed over the last forty years, and using them in new ways on new products. I find it interesting, but it's in the initial phase of placing it in markets that produce returns. I talk about it here with a small group of friends. Thanks for reading.

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/2016 05:55AM by barnespneumatic.

Hello Gary and all,

Interesting that you should bring up this topic now, as similar issues have been on my mind lately. My sons middle school class has been discussing some of the issues connected with world overpopulation, and there's definitely some connections here. In the last thirty years or so we've gone from a planet with roughly 5 billion people to one with a bit over 7.5 billion, a fifty percent increase in one generation. China alone has almost 1.4 billion citizens, more than four times the U.S. population. Just the sheer number of extra people added to the globe in that amount of time is stunning, and all those people are out there every day looking for a way to earn a living.

Thirty years ago, as you've pointed out, nobody had access to the internet because it basically didn't exist outside of a few dozens of professors and a couple specialized military units. Communication in the mass media was pretty much hierarchical and one-directional, a small number of editors and publishers controlled what would be seen and what would remain obscured by isolation and ignorance. If you weren't "in", there was no way to become known unless you paid to advertise, and even then it was likely that you'd never reach most people even if they were interested in your particular field of interest. Internationally, only the big corporations could afford to get the word out. For the average guy, becoming known past your local circle of friends or perhaps the subscribers of a newsletter was prohibitively expensive. Smaller companies could easily spend way more on advertising than they'd ever recoup from sales, particularly if they made a "niche" product.

Thirty years ago package shipping meant the U.S. Post Office, or dealing with it's equivalent overseas which was typically even worse. UPS and FedEx were in their infancy, and it was complicated and expensive to ship items overseas. There were still all kinds of tarriffs and taxes in place to protect local industries, customs was a maze for everyone trying to work in multiple countries. Today the package companies fight tooth and nail to make it easy to ship anywhere, though of course by anywhere they mean anywhere in the big urban areas worldwide. If you live out in the sticks they still leave it up to the post office, of course.

Most importantly, thirty years ago the airgun field was pretty much limited to a small number of small caliber models, by just a couple of companies. There were no big-bore airguns other than rare antiques and exotic one-offs hand-made by people like Gary. Anything over .25 caliber and all hi-pressure pre-charged models were rare birds indeed. That is not the case these days, in fact the manufacturers displays at this years Shot Show in Vegas seem to indicate that big-bore is now "the big thing" in airguns for the foreseeable future. If you have any doubt check out the article by Tom Gaylord in this months issue of the Shotgun News, or whatever they're calling it these days. Bigbore is now mainstream and mass production, and a few makers are even working on multi-shot and bullpup versions, or both. The "tactical look" is the flavor of the decade, and the market is chasing airguns down the same path that took us from a nation of blued steel and walnut bolt and lever actions to a nation of black plastic and milled aluminum ARs and AKs. If'n you were to look in MY crystal ball, I'd say there's no way you're going to compete with that market unless you have a couple million bucks worth of CNC machining centers tucked away that we don't know about. Even if you did I don't think you would, it's not your style at all.

On the positive side, nobody in their right mind is going to be out there trying to make a living selling AirForce Texans with full-coverage engraving and beautiful figured wood stocks. Not to say that it couldn't be done, but it'd be like putting a $3000 paint job on a $500 car. If I were to guess a direction for your market post-ledger, I'd say it's upscale and above. No more mucking around with Joe Average rifles and plain vanilla models built to be used in the field. I just saw that Gaylord articles last night, and the first thing I thought about after reading it was "Damn, this is gonna pull the tablecloth out from under Garys dinner plate." All your future airguns are going to have to be something that you literally cannot get anywhere else, and you are going to have to charge accordingly if you have any chance of staying in this business. I know that you don't especially enjoy building collectors safe-queens, but I strongly suspect that most of your future work is going to be just as much jewelry as functional, the airgun equivalent of a Purdey or a Holland & Holland, guns that cost as much as a really nice car, or a house. I just don't see how it can be any other way, given the deluge of (relatively) cheap, mass production big-bore airguns coming to market these days. How you get from here to there is of course the tricky part, and I don't have an answer for how you go about that task.

Well Sean. That's quite a funeral you've planned out there. Boy, glad I wasn't reading all that on top of a bridge.

Ok. Thanks? Haha??

Ok. Back to the fun.

Gary?

Hey
There is a lot of property in Alaska just waitin to tamed . I for one would love to relocate and my wife said go ahead ! I think there is a hidden meaning somewhere there !
Some of those other populated countries just fill in the ocean to deal with overpopulation .

You gotta admit Gary those Black Diamond Cadillac guns would be pretty sweet .( 30 yr plan )

Thanks
Kurt

Hi Kurt,

I'll be making them.

Just as soon as I finish this gallon of ice cream I started after reading Sean's comments ...

Maybe on the 30 year plan you can pay as we go. I'll send you parts along the way. It'll be like Johnny Cash's Cadillac!

Gary

Didn't mean to turn out a depressing diatribe, but reading it again I can see how it might be interpreted that way, even by me. Thing is, I can't really see how I'd go back and remove all the parts that I think are really off base, other than my speculation as per the final paragraph. I'm quite willing to admit that my crystal ball is neither perfect nor infallible, if it were otherwise I'd have been using it to pick winning stocks long ago, or maybe lottery numbers. The fact that I'm not writing this from the afternoon hammock (sunset side) on my private island retreat is undoubtedly some sort of indication on how that worked out. The fact remains though, if you try to compete solely on the basis of "it's a big bore" in todays airgun market it's going to be a pretty lopsided fight.

On one side you've got companies with engineers and production lines and staff for everything from sales to shipping, and on the other side you've got you. You make high quality, accurate, efficient big-bore airguns with unique styling and character. The other guys make reasonably good quality, decently accurate, effective (if not particularly efficient) big-bore airguns with a limited number of (apparently popular) styles and models. They will end up making thousands or tens of thousands of essentially identical specimens, you make pretty much one of each type, rarely if ever repeated. They will always be able to beat you on price and production, there is no question about that. You can and will beat them on a number of factors, with uniqueness of design and character being foremost. You could undoubtedly make a product-improved near-copy of an AirForce or a Daystate or whatever, but I doubt you could do price-competitive with their factories. They would never seriously consider making even a plain-jane version of something like a Bison, though. It's not a suitable design for a production-line gun, never was. It may be that some of your newer models could be adapted to series production, but you're not really set up as a production shop. In all honesty I think most machinists and engineers would describe your operation either as a prototype laboratory or as a studio, or both.

How you parlay your decades of experience and knowledge and your unique sense of style and design into a gig that can both pay the bills AND let you live with your creative conscience is not something anyone else can just lay out for you. Managing to satisfy both sides of that equation has been a formidable challenge for artists and designers for pretty much all of recorded history, at least. Perhaps it's time to branch out as a design consultant for a bigger outfit, taking advantage of your numerous toolroom skills and your knowledge base to help them make their big-bore lineup better and more efficient. Perhaps you can licence a production version of one of your airgun models to one of the major airgun manufacturers, certainly gun designers throughout history have done that (John Moses Browning comes immediately to mind). The one thing my crystal ball does say that is undoubtedly true is that if what you're doing now just isn't working, you've got to try something different if you want a different result.

A long two cents worth, but there you go.

Hi Sean,

(Note: we're all good. This is just the way I wrote the next part. Read the last paragraph first. Then go back.)

Well, note to self .... if I'm ever terminal ... don't call Sean.

A few points of order. I realize I've openly discussed business details. I'd just like to clarify the focus. I guess I have made it seem as if I can't sell airguns. Never said that. When I read your comments (twice) I kinda wondered "what's all these parts that sound like I'm doomed for airguns?" That's what you heard and thought. Maybe that's what everybody's thought. Hope not. Point is - heck, I CAN make and sell airguns .... but I don't think that would be quite so popular for those waiting on - airguns. You realize I haven't had an open season on the ledger for quite a few years.

What I've been setting up was something OTHER THAN Airgun to generate a small side income WHILE I worked mainly to complete the ledger.

You know from reading all these years that I've gone on forever .... not on the fact that I could not sell airguns .... but that "once sold" they all go into witness protection. If every sale of the commercial products you've reported on, went the same route, their excitement factor would surely wane.

I've made so many heirloom products, I've expected one or two "other than" airguns, to create a side bar "While" I make the promised airguns.

The focus you've taken (I appreciated for the time and thought) does make me feel that I've really just not conveyed, at all; the nature of my purpose or my frustration with the obsticals. I haven't quit making airguns. I haven't been forced out of airguns. I've hardly competed with commercial products on anything I make. I've never sold my big bore based on a marketing that you can't get it anywhere else. In fact, I intentionally avoided always trying to push the "one more foot pound" then anybody else contest. I've always had "plenty enough" and then wrapped it in quality and my style. My products have always been 100% handmade. Handmade and "still" meeting world class standards and accuracy.

Yes, I know I share a lot. And some have given me heck for doing it. But they aren't the ones who have to answer everything privately, if I don't keep an open dialog and accounting.

I've been balancing the ledger, health, and business. The customer loyalty segments, over time; haven't been as regards buying more guns. It's been to share the stories of those bought, maybe buy a pocket knife, case, jewelry, have a running relationship. Rather then the hit and run relationship.

I see I've managed this segment all wrong. Have to be honest. The desire to be open, honest, industrious, and develop a good long interaction with customers is full of choices. I do my best. Not always perfect.

Sean, thanks for sharing. You have been a good long term friend, customer, discussion mate. I just wanted to drop these thoughts in here before people thought I was up a clock tower somewhere.

Now, I have some coffee to drink with my hour of TV.

Best,
Gary



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/2016 04:20AM by barnespneumatic.