Do not do business with Chas Clements, or you will loose your money!!!
- Thread starter manwon
- Start date
What a great way to start my day, reading this thread. The caring and gereosity of AZB members never fails to amaze me.
Highest regards to Manwon, JBCases, sengkun108 and smokey. You are all special, to be so kind and thoughtful to those in need. Hopefully Mr.Clements can make a recovery, as well.
Wow. Just wow.
Highest regards to Manwon, JBCases, sengkun108 and smokey. You are all special, to be so kind and thoughtful to those in need. Hopefully Mr.Clements can make a recovery, as well.
Wow. Just wow.
You said it, Neil. It's stuff like this that make me proud to be part of the AzB family.
JB, Smokey, you guys are just too good. Those are some heart-felt gestures you're offering up. Craig, I hope this story has a happy ending for you (and it appears it will)!
No it izn't. The word iz looze.
Close.............Here's a little carving fer ya.
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Well, i feel very embarrassed with some member here who give me a green rep. I don't deserve this honor, as i'm actually already promise to Mr Barton that someday i will order a cue case from him. I don't want to hypocrite, I just have a little intention to help Mr Craig R here. I guess, i just lucky to jump to this thread and can have both (My cue case and help other member).
By the way, i feel so lucky that i only use My 1000$ money to get 1500$ case. :grin-square:
Sorry, my english is awfull. I hope somebody understand what i'm talking about.
Best
Dedy
By the way, i feel so lucky that i only use My 1000$ money to get 1500$ case. :grin-square:
Sorry, my english is awfull. I hope somebody understand what i'm talking about.
Best
Dedy
Well, i feel very embarrassed with some member here who give me a green rep. I don't deserve this honor, as i'm actually already promise to Mr Barton that someday i will order a cue case from him. I don't want to hypocrite, I just have a little intention to help Mr Craig R here. I guess, i just lucky to jump to this thread and can have both (My cue case and help other member).
By the way, i feel so lucky that i only use My 1000$ money to get 1500$ case. :grin-square:
Sorry, my english is awfull. I hope somebody understand what i'm talking about.
Best
Dedy
your enlish is fine....and i hope you love your barton case....
calling COCOBOLOCOBOY
Does Chas have family or friends close by who can check on his health and help him resolve business matters until he is back on his feet?Maybe there is an AZ member in Denver who can look into this?
Does Chas have family or friends close by who can check on his health and help him resolve business matters until he is back on his feet?Maybe there is an AZ member in Denver who can look into this?
Don't know why you are calling me, not near DENVER!
My bad. :wink:
Sorry if I butchered the name as well.
Thanks for posting -helping
I think( Smokey) deserves some kind of credit here as well!!!! I feel the need to remind others to treat people like (smokey Does!!- I'd shake your hand Sir. Hopefully our paths will meet. We'll play some pool like it's supposed to be played- not hating each others guts trying to win.!! god bless smokey?family and friends mark
I think( Smokey) deserves some kind of credit here as well!!!! I feel the need to remind others to treat people like (smokey Does!!- I'd shake your hand Sir. Hopefully our paths will meet. We'll play some pool like it's supposed to be played- not hating each others guts trying to win.!! god bless smokey?family and friends mark
Well, i feel very embarrassed with some member here who give me a green rep. I don't deserve this honor, as i'm actually already promise to Mr Barton that someday i will order a cue case from him. I don't want to hypocrite, I just have a little intention to help Mr Craig R here. I guess, i just lucky to jump to this thread and can have both (My cue case and help other member).
By the way, i feel so lucky that i only use My 1000$ money to get 1500$ case. :grin-square:
Sorry, my english is awfull. I hope somebody understand what i'm talking about.
Best
Dedy
Wow Dedy, $1000 in indonesia is like $10,000 here. Great that you can afford it and congratulations. When John builds your case would you show us some photos?
Chris
wut?
So much for my knowledge of geography.
But seriously,there is no1 who can help the man out locally?
So much for my knowledge of geography.
But seriously,there is no1 who can help the man out locally?
Just got off the phone with Chas.
Well it rang for a while and Chas did pick up.
I am going to try and relate the situation as best I can. First he says that he actually only owes two or three people that he can remember and it's his daily hope to get strong enough to work and deliver the pieces that have been commissioned.
He is extremely grateful for the kindness and generosity shown by the many people here and he wishes that he were strong enough to use the computer and participate.
The situation is this. Chas has not been outside his house since last year. He has neuropathy as a result of the frostbite. All of his skin sloughed off and he has practically no hair. All the callouses built up over 40 years of hard leather work are gone. At any moment he feels like points on and inside his body are being probed by tacks and pins. As he puts it this is like having an excruciating sunburn where the sun don't shine.
He has had to go through five rounds of different pain medications where he has had to suffer the withdrawls associated with addiction when switching from one to the next. He is currently on two experimental and expensive drugs and anti-depressants.
But the worse torture for him is not to go to the one place he loves more than any other which is to his shop and work. This is a man who built leather goods to last centuries and did things that require strength and who was most happy at the workbench.
He told me the following though which shows his spirit is still kicking, he said that any leather worker who needs advice should feel free to call him, in his words he said, "I give away knowledge and charge for work."
So this applies certainly to every case maker on this board. Call him and take advantage of his offer. But please try to have your topics ready as he tires easily and is not able to have long conversations. At the end of the day all of us can deliver a little bit of Chas in our cases.
Chas is living on a welfare stipend of $675 a month. His son suffered a deep cut on his hand while working on small leather goods and is also recovering from a severe head injury. So things aren't great in the Clements house at the moment but the good news is that the Clements are still in their house and the shop is still intact.
For any of you who have so generously offered to help Chas please send your donations to me at paypal@jbideas.com and I will endeavor to get the money to him. It is unclear at this point if Chas' Paypal account is frozen. PayPal is a little insidious on this point in that when they freeze an account they allow money to continue to come in but do not release it until such time as they remove the account restriction.
Chas asked me to thank everyone who has communicated their sympathy and well wishes. He said that he was moved to tears by some of the comments I read to him.
So that's the situation at the moment. It's really sad that one of the world's very best and brightest leather workers is suffering in this debilitating way.
Chas was never really a part of the billiard industry but he did bring his amazing leather working to bear on a few cue cases. His influence certainly lives on in the work of Brian Bonner, Ritch Remo, Rusty Melton, and of course Marc Turcasso.
At this point it's unlikely that Chas, at 66 will recover sufficiently to do the level of leather work that he is famous for. And I personally do not think that he is capable of consciously doing less that that level on purpose. I only hope that the other case makers I mentioned will take Chas' invitation and get to know him a little and thus be able to pick up some techniques to improve their own leather working.
Chas' phone number is available through me if anyone needs it.
Well it rang for a while and Chas did pick up.
I am going to try and relate the situation as best I can. First he says that he actually only owes two or three people that he can remember and it's his daily hope to get strong enough to work and deliver the pieces that have been commissioned.
He is extremely grateful for the kindness and generosity shown by the many people here and he wishes that he were strong enough to use the computer and participate.
The situation is this. Chas has not been outside his house since last year. He has neuropathy as a result of the frostbite. All of his skin sloughed off and he has practically no hair. All the callouses built up over 40 years of hard leather work are gone. At any moment he feels like points on and inside his body are being probed by tacks and pins. As he puts it this is like having an excruciating sunburn where the sun don't shine.
He has had to go through five rounds of different pain medications where he has had to suffer the withdrawls associated with addiction when switching from one to the next. He is currently on two experimental and expensive drugs and anti-depressants.
But the worse torture for him is not to go to the one place he loves more than any other which is to his shop and work. This is a man who built leather goods to last centuries and did things that require strength and who was most happy at the workbench.
He told me the following though which shows his spirit is still kicking, he said that any leather worker who needs advice should feel free to call him, in his words he said, "I give away knowledge and charge for work."
So this applies certainly to every case maker on this board. Call him and take advantage of his offer. But please try to have your topics ready as he tires easily and is not able to have long conversations. At the end of the day all of us can deliver a little bit of Chas in our cases.
Chas is living on a welfare stipend of $675 a month. His son suffered a deep cut on his hand while working on small leather goods and is also recovering from a severe head injury. So things aren't great in the Clements house at the moment but the good news is that the Clements are still in their house and the shop is still intact.
For any of you who have so generously offered to help Chas please send your donations to me at paypal@jbideas.com and I will endeavor to get the money to him. It is unclear at this point if Chas' Paypal account is frozen. PayPal is a little insidious on this point in that when they freeze an account they allow money to continue to come in but do not release it until such time as they remove the account restriction.
Chas asked me to thank everyone who has communicated their sympathy and well wishes. He said that he was moved to tears by some of the comments I read to him.
So that's the situation at the moment. It's really sad that one of the world's very best and brightest leather workers is suffering in this debilitating way.
Chas was never really a part of the billiard industry but he did bring his amazing leather working to bear on a few cue cases. His influence certainly lives on in the work of Brian Bonner, Ritch Remo, Rusty Melton, and of course Marc Turcasso.
At this point it's unlikely that Chas, at 66 will recover sufficiently to do the level of leather work that he is famous for. And I personally do not think that he is capable of consciously doing less that that level on purpose. I only hope that the other case makers I mentioned will take Chas' invitation and get to know him a little and thus be able to pick up some techniques to improve their own leather working.
Chas' phone number is available through me if anyone needs it.
Once again John, classy move on your part, checking in on him, and trying to help out with the situation at hand. I'm sure Mr.Clements is glad to be able to call you his friend.
Hopefully he can get free of some of his pain, to make it at least more manageable. Best of luck, Mr.Clements.
Hopefully he can get free of some of his pain, to make it at least more manageable. Best of luck, Mr.Clements.
John just wondering how Chas came to suffer the frostbite?
Please tell him that we all wish him the best in his recovery.
Thanks for keeping us all informed.
Also welcome back to posting.
Several years ago Denver had one of the worst blizzards on record. The power was out for several neighborhoods were cut off and people were either being evacuated or asked to leave their houses and go to shelters to avoid freezing.
Chas' house and shop is in an area of Denver that was once safe and respectable but now is borderline. There were reports of looting happening to homes which were empty. So Chas decided to stay and defend his home and workshop and he had no heat. Please don't speculate as to why he stayed with no provisions for heat like a fire or gas stove. For whatever reason he stayed in his house with a gun ready to defend it against looters and he ended up with severe frostbite.
When he was rescued and taken to the hospital the treatment and therapy was immense. To this day he is not recovered and can barely move. He told me that he spends most of his day sitting in one chair in one position trying to be as still as possible as each movement hurts.