Pithed off the guy at woodcrafters...

[zopi]

In my defense he was kind of a jerk anyway...but they had a three or four bdft sawmill slab of notsweetgum (couldn't even pronounce it) marked at eighty four bucks for a 4/4 slab advertised as quartersawn and quilted...
After I got over my giggle fit at the price, I pointed out that not only was it not quilted, it was not qsawn, and was basically sawmill waste, and that his advertising was false...maybe not too politic of me, but I really do not care for businesses taking advantage of people like that....

Lol...seven bucks a bdft for basswood....

I have GOT to get a kiln built...I am going to have soooo much fun putting together hobby packs and marketing them directly...may not make much, but jeezzz...it ought not cost more for the lumber than you can sell the bloody table, or whatever for...

[Coon]

Sounds like you pithed in his cornfalkes.     I hate that when people are falsely advertising..... It's like they are pithing on your shoes and telling you it's raining.   

[Magicman]

I just hope that no one buys it.

[beenthere]

Likely this isn't the guy that decided on the price or what to call the wood. Maybe it was the marketing people and maybe it was just the vendor that delivered the piece of wood.
I too marvel (and snicker) at the high prices, but I figure that woodcrafters just wants a variety of wood pieces standing there for the occasional hobbyist that likes a piece of wood for a project. I suspect 90% of the customers could care less what species it is or how it was sawn, but just that for whatever price they can get on with working up that wood with their new tools or project.
From what I see, I don't think woodcrafters is trying to cover all the types and sizes of wood that might be available.
However, it might be a place to propose some offerings of what your mill will make and that you can deliver.
When I approached our local woodcrafters, the people on the floor just were not interested and claimed their wood was shipped to them in the company trucks. They just put it out on the floor and rang up any sales at checkout.

[Ga_Boy]

Zopi,

If you have a source of hot water, I have the controller, misting system, RH Sensor, Temp sensor and other support tools for a convential kiln.  You would need a chamber, I used an insulated shipping container.

If you are interested in this equipment let me know.  I can send you a list of what I have.  It's all off the shelf commercial grade equipment.

This would get a kiln up and running for about half the cost of new equipment.







Mark




Mark

[zopi]

Aww thanks man, but I am going solar...I doubt I will ever bet very big...just want enough...besides, I do not have the power onsite to run a large kiln...and it would cost a mint to pull in.
Our business is geared to the green movement...we try to minimize our footprint, and besides, I can advertise solar kiln dried lumber around here to good effect...
I was not really trying to pee in the guys wheaties..but he was a jerk...and eighty four bucks for sawmill waste...jees gimme twenty bucks and you can have a ton of it...

[SwampDonkey]

That was pretty cheap, Irving advertised clear yellow birch in one flyer I picked up last winter for $128 bucks, 1"x8"x8'. You'd think yellow birch was a rare species going extinct. 

[terrifictimbersllc]

Hating to be contrary, but.....

the guy who bought a board he likes for $84 and makes something out of it is probably going to be, at least for a while, ahead, in dollars and project, of the guy who says I'll buy a sawmill instead and then I can make anything I want.   Don't ask me how I know this.     

[SwampDonkey]

Then there is the fellow like myself, that would just drop it back on the rack and without buying a mill, just go where they want to sell lumber.

[Ron Wenrich]

I believe those Woodcrafter stores are franchise operations.  I've been in the local one, and I know I could run lumber through their store.  I know they had some specialty items there that were local.  The local store has always appreciated helpful knowledge and have always been accommodating.  I find it best not to berate their product, especially when starting a conversation. 

[zopi]

True...it may take awhile to get ahead on dollars, my little mill paid for itself with the restoration of one building, and continues to pay for itself in satisfaction, and love of craft...as I gave one of their cistomers my business card today, as he was grimacing at eight bucks a bdft for red oak, I never get to build anything, because I have so much fun scavenging logs and making lumbah!
I did pick up a little book on rustic furniture...going to try and put a few pieces together this winter to have for sale when doing sawing demos at (insert small town festival here)

[pigman]

I did pick up a little book on rustic furniture...going to try and put a few pieces together this winter to have for sale when doing sawing demos at ( Trimble County Apple festival )

[Cedarman]

A boy was standing on the corner trying to give his puppies away.  Stood all day, no luck.
Next day he went down the street and had a sign puppies for sale, $25.00 each.
Sold out.
When people think something has value, they will pay for it.  If they think it is junk wood because it is price cheap, they will not pay for it.
That chunk of junk wood may be just the piece someone was looking for.  They do not want to tell their friends they used cheap wood in their furniture.
I just sold a cut off that I thought was junk for $25.00.  The wood carver was extremely pleased. He bought a lot of other stuff too.  Has been buying for $10 years.

[SwampDonkey]

Cedarman your eyes have $$ signs, even your years.

I just sold a cut off that I thought was junk for $25.00.  The wood carver was extremely pleased.  Has been buying for $10 years.

[zopi]

I did pick up a little book on rustic furniture...going to try and put a few pieces together this winter to have for sale when doing sawing demos at ( Trimble County Apple festival )

Smartlathe.

[metalspinner]

Another thing to consider is that the store is very expensive to operate and is probably hemoraging money. Woodcraft corporate really puts the squeeze on its franchise owners and there is not much margin on most items. That piece of wood is probably on cosignment and the owner wanted too high a price.   The employee has to show that piece of wood to many people each day which costs the store lots of money. So the store had to inflate it even higher so they could make their money, too.

Our local Woodcraft used to sell consignment wood, but they cut way back. Too much unsellable junk was coming in the door. And once a customer found out where the wood originated from, they went straight to him.

I gave one of their cistomers my business card today, as he was grimacing at eight bucks a bdft for red oak,

If that happened in our local store and the store owner saw it, he would ask that you not return.

[zopi]

I probably would not return..I don't go in there much...it is too easy to spend bucks which are scarce....only place I have found anchorseal around here though....guess I ought to go online and order it by the case...

[metalspinner]

The power of free enterprize.  The gallon jugs at WC are over inflated.

Buy the five gallon bucket and its like getting three gallons free.

[WH_Conley]

Zopi, got to admit, that would be kinda like me setting in your drive handing out cards to your customers on the way to your mill. I know there is no better place to drum up business than the higher priced competition. I know I get frustrated when I see other people getting several times the price I am. Just don't be surprised if like Metalspinner said, you are asked not to come back. After all, he is the one paying the rent and advertising.

As a disclaimer, I have never been in a Woodcraft store.

[zopi]

Aww heck, WH, come on down...we have trees aplenty..

Yeah...five gallons would do the trick.....

[Busy Beaver Lumber]

Zopi

With all due respect, We had a woodcraft store here in Fort Wayne Indiana that was run by a wonderful husband and wife team. You could not ask for two nicer people to deal with. Always very helpful and always looking to save you money. If I went in to buy something that was going to be on sale the following week, they would advise me of the up-comming sale to save me money. If they did not cary an item, they would go out of their way to find me a supplier that did, even though this would not mean a cent of income for them. Always had free coffee, hot chocolate, and donuts for the customers and were very well versed in woodworking and the products they sold.

Regrettably, the store closed several years ago just before Christmas because they just could not turn a profit.

As others have said, much of the wood they sold came from the corporate distribution center, but the local store owners are also very supportive of local suppliers as well. You could bring wood into them and put it on consignement and they would add a modest markup to cover the floor space you occupied and the cost associated with processing the sales transactions and credit card fees. I never knew them to be greedy and if the price of a piece of wood was towards the high side, it was usually because the fellow that put it in their store on consignment wanted a high price for it to begin with and not because of the small additional amount they added for their services in making the final sale to the customer. Likewise, if the decription of the wood was stated incorrectly, it was most likely the fault of the person placing it in the store on consignment and not of the store personnel.

Our local woodcraft store was always supportive of local sawyers and let us place business cards and flyers in the store, right on the front counter advertising our services. I personally got quite a bit of business from their referrals and in return showed my appreciation by buying supplies from their store on a regular basis. They never asked for a cent of compensation for this service, even though it could cost them sales if someone decided to by wood from us instead of out of their Woodcraft store.

As others have stated, Woodcraft is a franchise operation and it will cost well over half a million for someone to open a woodcraft store. Corporate insists that all store locations be in mall settings, which translates into much higher rent rates. Store owners are expected to have a decent size classroom setting and offer classes, which again requires more square footage, the likes of which produces very little income per square foot. The store owner is expected to stock items in the store that may be slow movers, just in case someone comes into the store and wants to buy that particular item right on the spot. This forces them to invest in inventory that they would otherwise not rather keep on hand. And if that is not enough to deter you from opening a Woodcraft store, then corporate sends out emails to Woodcraft customers, about what seams to be every other day, trying to get you to order directly from corporate by offering you free shipping, thus cutting your local Woodcraft store owner out of the picture completely. What a nice thing to do to the local Woodcraft franchise owners who helped corporate build the company up to where it is today. The last thing they need is someone standing in their store driving what few customers they have away.

Personally, I think it in very poor taste to enter the store of another and cost that store owner sales or market your own competing services withing the confines of their retail space. I have never been an advocated or believer in negative advertising. Always found the best approach is to work with you competitors and find a win-win relationship. Maybe they can not sell the wood as cheap as you do, but I am willing to bet you can not offer the variety or selection of tools, hardware, and supplies that they do in their stores.

Not meaning to ruffle any feathers, but just trying to offer some insight as to the inner workings of what it takes to run a store like a local Woodcraft franchise or for that matter any retail store.

[Ironwood]

Achorseal is best bought direct from them in Buffalo NY. I get it by the five gallon pail. They have historically not had much of a distribution chain. They also have a "Winter Mix" if you leave it out in moderate cold.

 Ironwood

[Mooney]

A boy was standing on the corner trying to give his puppies away.  Stood all day, no luck.
Next day he went down the street and had a sign puppies for sale, $25.00 each.
Sold out.

That fact was demonstrated today. I had a vehicle listed for $1,200 (all I had into it) on Craigslist. No bites for two weeks, even though it was in good running order. Raised the price yesterday to $1,600, got a call and sold it today!
Oh, and just in case you're wondering, I sold it for what I had into it, not the inflated price. But it was the inflated idea of value that helped sell it.