[SCA] What size to buy Rattan in, and what is a good price?

Sebastian K · Post by **Sebastian K** » Wed Dec 18, 2002 4:51 pm

I have two choices from a local (yeah!) vendor:

I can get Manau Rattan, chemically untreated, with skin/shell.

I can get it in long staves of either

30 (1.18 inches) to 35mm (1.38inches) diameter

or 35 to 40 (1.58 inches) mm

I want to carry these as an added mercantile service as I have the impression that few people here in Drachenwald have good access to Rattan,as I have gathered so far at least. I have heard that tape always adds to the diameter, but what diameter should I get? And what is a good price to buy them at so that I can make a little money when reselling them?

Thanks

Sebastian

Frederich Von Teufel · Wed Dec 18, 2002 6:07 pm

Vallconnan, personally I'd recommend the 30 to 35 millimeter, but I know that there are some who like the thicker stuff, so perhaps a mixture of the two would be better. However, you have a sellers market over there, so you can pretty much stock (and price) it at whatever you want and it will sell.

If you are interested in what prices on rattan are in the US, you can certainly hit any of the sellers website and see for yourself (H.H. Perkins is my first choice, but there are a few others to recommend.) Minimum pricing will depend upon what you are having to pay for the product (and I hope I don't need to give you the formula for figuring out Retail Prices of things), but maximum pricing will depend upon what the market would bear. Given the rarity, I wouldn't be surprised to see rattan at 3 to 5 euros per foot.

Frederich

william · Post by **william** » Wed Dec 18, 2002 6:25 pm

Greetings Sebastian,

if you can I'd recommend to see the vendor and manually pick your rattan pieces. That's what I did when I bought rattan for my group. Something like a marshal's gauge will help to do a quick check for minimum legal diameter.

As for pricing I sold the stuff for the price I got it (I'm such an altruistic good guy

) and charged 8 EUR for a single sword.

Good luck!

Will

P.S.: You don't have a local source for SCA-legal gauntlets, do you?

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* Noli fortius me ferire *

Ld. William of Llanwarne
Incipient Shire of Two Seas, Drachenwald, SCA

Sebastian K · Post by **Sebastian K** » Wed Dec 18, 2002 7:08 pm

Frederich, I had thought about getting a mix. The guy I am dealing with is a one man outfit, he is friendly and has fairly decent freight rates, too. I have already made my calculatiuons based on his prices but will have to see the product to finalize this. Did you n0t write that excellent article that hopefully kept some armores from ruining themselves?

Chris, merchanting has nothing to do with with being altruistic. If I decide to do this not for myself or my group but for my business I have to do my calculations as I do with other merchandise. The only thing altruistic about it can be to make a price on the lower edge of decent profuitability, after all you have opportunity cost of capital, pre-financing, transport issues and fees and storage space to consider. I learned this the hard way on a very small scale. The vendor is in South Germany, way down there, so seeing him is out of the question. But as I said he is a nice guy on the phone so I will try a small order first and see how it turns out.

Sebastian

PS: Also working on pultruded fiberglass spears now.

Elias mac Griogair · Post by **Elias mac Griogair** » Thu Dec 19, 2002 2:06 am

Sebastian,
I want to say that the place out of Bamberg charges around 15 euros for a 3m pole of around 33mm so you could use this as your gauge. what lengths of pole are you thinking of selling?

Elias

Sixtus_Goetz · Post by **Sixtus_Goetz** » Thu Dec 19, 2002 3:12 am

15euro?? Not that bad at all. Better then we can get it up here in England. 10pounds 1 meter stick.

Saranac Goetz

william · Post by **william** » Thu Dec 19, 2002 4:06 am

Sebastian,

don't believe I'm unaware of the little intricacies of merchanting!

And I'm not gonna tell anybody how much I add to my project proposals at work for sheer profit.

Cheers,

Will

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* Noli fortius me ferire *

Ld. William of Llanwarne
Incipient Shire of Two Seas, Drachenwald, SCA

Alexander · Post by **Alexander** » Thu Dec 19, 2002 4:23 am

Servus Archive!

Seems like a D'Wald meeting here....

Anyhow, I would suggest no smaller than 33mm with leanings towards 35mm. No one wants to buy a whippy-stick that dosen't meet the minimum upon inspection - I certianly don't! I also don't want to bounce anyone during inspection because of rattan that dosen't make the cut. If you can get good-quality, legal width rattan and sell it at a fair price, you will make a great deal of money. I know, because I will buy from you!

BTW - you say that your contact is SÃ¼dlich, how close to Knoight's Crossing is this guy?

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Courage does not always roar. Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow'

Herr Alexander