"Cast not thy pearls before the swine, lest they trample them underfoot
and turn to gore thee."

I know at least some of you can relate to my delimma . . .
I don't really enjoy production runs very much. The thrill is gone
after the prototype goes together. But for the first time in a long
time, I agreed to build a bunch of serving trays for us to give for
Christmas presents. Now these are nothing particularly fancy, just an
open box with the sides flared at 10 degrees, arched ends with cutouts
for the handles, dovetail joints at the corners, and a laminated bottom
with a field of lacewood between narrow strips of walnut and mahogony.
I had enough scraps and leftovers from other projects to make 8 of
them.

A week or so ago, one of our better friends stopped by and found me out
in the shop with my partially completed trays stacked to a pretty
impressive height. Of course she wanted to see what I was making so I
showed her one. She was taken with the beauty of the grain in the
lacewood and went on and on about how beautiful it was. Now we have
never exchanged Christmas presents with this couple even though they
are pretty good friends, but I knew she wanted one. Problem is, all
the ones I'm building are already designated for others.

Over the next week, two other people told me she had told them about
the beautiful trays I was building. Then, last night she called me to
ask if she can buy one of my trays to give to her mother for Christmas.
I told her all of the trays were spoken for, and I don't have time to
build her one before Christmas. I still have to scramble so the finish
on these will be dry on time.

My problem is that she, like most people, really have no concept of the
amount of time and effort that goes into producing something like that.
I'm sure she would have been willing to pay a "reasonable" price for
such an item, but I'm not willing to part with them for a reasonable
sum. A "reasonable" sum wouldn't pay the heating bill for my shop,
much less buy the wood or give me any wages at all for my time. I know
I'm overstating, but you know what I mean.

How do you folks handle these situations?

DonkeyHody
"We are all ignorant, just about different things." - Will Rogers