This is to help defray FTB’s legal debts from Richard Carrier’s defamation lawsuit. Details and rules are below:
A Custom (buyer’s choice) Pimp Wok
Auction Closed at $76! Thanks, and Congratulations to Our Winning Bidder!
Final fit and finish. Fine silver wingnut endcap with fine silver wrap ferrule.
What would your Ideal Doomwok look like? Would it have an ebony handle with ivory bolsters and end caps? Would it have a wrap ferrule made from a gothic victorian silver spoon, and a skull as a cap? Would it have elegant steel-brushed wenge handle and a chunk of metorite for a cap? Or, perhaps it would be resin, layered micarta, in tactical gray, with a hidden dagger end cap. Or how about I make a mold from a fossil ammonite and cast a silver ammonite end-cap?
I don’t know, either.
So, here’s a hint: don’t bid on this, win, and say, “I have no idea, what do you think?” because if you leave it to me I will deliberately go with something weird. Only one restriction: no bone. Bone smells absolutely nauseating when you hit it with a sander.
Since good things take time, this may take a while. For example, if I have to make molds and cast silver for caps, it’s going to take months. But it will get done.
Bidding starts at: $10
You can bid in the comments, or bid by emailing me [link]. If you email, I will assume that you wish to remain anonymous and will post a comment in the bidding section that reads something like: “Anonymous bid in the amount of $___” I do not live glued to my email so it may take a while for an email bid to register.
Whoever bids the most for the Pimped Wok wins it for $1 more than the second highest bidder bid. For example, if I bid $75 and Joe bids $5 and I’m the highest bidder, that makes Joe the second highest bidder, and I win the thing for $10 – the bidding start price. This is a variation of the Ebay bidding algorithm and, while it is less effective at milking money from the bidders, it discourages people from feeling that they need to log in at the last minute and try to bid over someone else. At the time when bidding closes, whichever bid is the highest, whether it’s email or a comment, wins.
Since we don’t have an automated bidding system like Ebay, I’d like to discourage “auction sniping.” If you want the thing, bid what you’re willing to pay for it and just see what happens. If you simply must have it, bid $1million for it and if the second highest bidder had bid $50, it’s yours for $51.
If you do not win, you owe nothing!
The winner is expected to donate the agreed-upon amount to the defense fund and send me suitable proof (a screenshot or whatever) and give me a shipping address, at which point I’ll box it up and send it along! I will cover shipping unless you are on the moon. Bear in mind that international mail service is “all fucked up” right now because of COVID so it may take a month or more to get your loot if you are outside the US. It may take a month or more if you are inside the US, too.
How To Pay:
You can donate directly to FTB’s [paypal] which is my preference, or to the collective GoFundMe which divides the money between FTB, Skepticon, and other defendants in the lawsuit.
AUCTION CLOSES AT Oct 4 at 10:00AM EST
My comment settings require manual approval for the first comment from a person. If you comment and don’t see it, I’ll get it, fear not. If you email me and do not get an acknowledgement, and you are gmail user, check your spam box. Google’s spam algorithms don’t like me for reasons I have never cared to figure out.
$75
I have an email bid from K.P. for $300.
Too steep for me this time around sorry. My knife from a previous auction has exceeded all expectations though!
Could you describe the actual wok body you’re working with? How big is it? Is it carbon steel or some other material? Are you making it yourself?
While $300 is too steep for me as well, just out of curiosity, does it handle induction cooking? (As I understand it, some pans/metals do, some don’t…)
@robert79:
Probably not if it depends on the size of the contact surface.
Otherwise it’s carbon steel so it ought to heat fine.
Ryan Bacher@#4:
Could you describe the actual wok body you’re working with? How big is it? Is it carbon steel or some other material? Are you making it yourself?
It’s a 14″ carbon steel body that appears to be hammer-formed. The handle bracket is a casting of some kind of pretty solid aluminum bronze pot metal.
I don’t have the wherewithal to make a whole wok myself, so I bought the bodies online from a Chinese distributor. So the “pimping” is pretty much restricted to the handle.