Author Topic: maybe disaster for my business, trying to turn opportunity...advice? (Read 1275 times)

zopi · « **on:** November 21, 2011, 08:31:31 pm »

Have been having some problems with my left arm...going to the doc this week, have to, was on a job this morning trimming shrubas and it was all I could do to swing the trimmer...big problem for a guy who runs a chainsaw almost full time...probably it is just tendonitis, or worst case, a torn rotator...just do not know..

Anyhow...I made a half smart remark the other day on facebook about going out to Occupy woodshop, and did anyone want anything weird made of wood...and promptly got five orders for various things...cutting boards, shadowboxes, and a couple of schoolhouse paddles (I chose not to ask...but I do have some weird freinds...life is more interesting that way..) and I figured since work is slow, I may be able to put out a few projects on ETSY and ebay, and maybe a couple of local places...so the wife and I have come up with some simple things that seem to sell, bread and cheese boards, birdhouses made out of log sections, branch section wooden buttons (knitters love them)
Does anyone have any other ideas for simple things that go together pretty quick which might sell? My major tools...tablesaw, bandsaw, radial arm, router table, forty inch lathe, amd of course a sawmill...

Sprucegum · « **Reply #1 on:** November 21, 2011, 08:55:41 pm »

There is a local crafter who makes simple stools, benches, and small chairs out of planed boards. He sells them unfinished and even unassembled if you wish. The buyer puts them together, puts on a finsh and "Eureka! did it all himself"

zopi · « **Reply #2 on:** November 21, 2011, 09:23:59 pm »

That is a really good idea...and gives me another idea...rustic milking stools...good for sitting on, a place for your garden gnome, potted plant, or on the off chance, you could perch there and milk a cow...

Looks like large turned candleholders sell ok too.

Bibbyman · « **Reply #3 on:** November 21, 2011, 09:30:00 pm »

At one time I sold a bit of lumber to a taxidermist that used the lumber to build bases for his full body mount displays, etc. From him I got the idea I could make trophy mounting plaques. We had a lot of kiln dried lumber that would only make sort pieces. So I’d glue them up 18” wide and 2’ long and run them through the plainer. I was working as a designer so I had access to a CAD system and plotter. I made a series of shapes – including the shape of Missouri. I made maybe two dozen large size and as many smaller ones for antler mounts, etc. He sold them at his shop and didn’t mark them up – saying it was a help to him having them available. His customers like that they were wider than what was available. The shape of Missouri was popular too. I made them in oak, walnut, etc. The most popular turned out to be eastern red cedar. He sold every one of them.

redbeard · « **Reply #4 on:** November 21, 2011, 09:46:12 pm »

Garden tables, its a garden with four legs easy to build and sawmill wood really makes them strong. Folks like to stand up and work in the garden these days. Haven't built any yet but saw alot of them on CL.The log house looking bird houses do well also.

zopi · « **Reply #5 on:** November 21, 2011, 11:01:35 pm »

I like the taxidermy idea...will check around and see what we have locally..
The garden table seems interesting..I will have to investigate how to go about marketing them...maybe something smaller for now...potted plants are pretty poplular here, as is anything that looks remotely colonial, so maybe rustic plant stands with rough finish and distressed...
The birdhouses I am making are pretty simple...put a section of log on the sawmill and take a slab, pull the log and cut into sections, hollow out the center, leaving a bottom, drill a hole for drainage, bore an inch amd a half or quarter hole in the flat face...and a half inch hole below that for a dowel perch, nail a chunk of sawmill slab on top and hose it with poly...

CHARLIE · « **Reply #6 on:** November 21, 2011, 11:16:45 pm »

I sell on Etsy and one of things I watch is not to try and sell something that would be a PITA to ship. Another thing is not to sell something where the shipping cost will exceed the value of the item.

Why not sell different sized boxes made from different types of wood. A box can be as simple or as complex as you want to get. It seems everyone loves having boxes.

zopi · « **Reply #7 on:** November 22, 2011, 12:25:46 am »

Charlie, have thought about boxes some...and will probably work up to that...I want to learn how to cut a decent box joint..I understand the Idea, just never got around to learning how...some of the figured woods I happen across would make nice jewelry boxes...and of course there is always the red cedar boxes and chests.

I need to build a couple of bee hives anyway, as my keeping mentor is going to kick my butt if I am not ready come spring...he is already mad at me because I want to use top bar hives...I compromised with him, amd will use kenyan tbh's as opposed the the tanzanian hives...so then at least we can swap frames when needed. Anyway, will use that as practice cutting the box joints.

zopi · « **Reply #8 on:** November 22, 2011, 12:31:13 am »

Project for this week will be to get a small kiln or two put together...the first is likely to be pretty simple, maybe four or five hundred board feet, and then a thousand bdft solar kiln...although that may have to wait a bit.

CHARLIE · « **Reply #9 on:** November 22, 2011, 12:40:42 am »

Box joints and dovetail joints are really nice, but if you are planning on selling volume, you should be looking at joints that look nice but don't take a lot of time. Think miter joints with feathers of contrasting wood to lock them into place. Even some butt joints could be attractive and would work for things like pencil boxes or wine bottle boxes. Make boxes using your miter saw or cut mitered or lock mitered joints using your router. Figure out a design that looks nice but is not labor intensive. Just my thoughts.

jim king · « **Reply #10 on:** November 23, 2011, 12:33:28 pm »

Crotch wood and burl turning blanks sell very well. I have sold large burl slabs also for taxidermy mounts. I would think large crotch slabs would sell well to taxidermists also.

zopi · « **Reply #11 on:** November 23, 2011, 12:55:28 pm »

I have been digging through my collection of fine wood working...I have twenty five or thirty years digitally, and hunting for simple things...that does not work too well, easy to get side tracked. I spent this morning early making my first hand cut through dovetail...read an article how to from 1976 that took all the stupid out of it....wish I had seen it last decade...my mom is putting together a little herb tea business, and I am looking at the idea of making boxes for her gift sets....
I am trying to organize the shop a little better, and next up, i guess I am going to learn box joints...

red oaks lumber · « **Reply #12 on:** November 23, 2011, 03:35:24 pm »

zopi,
the problem with your shoulders sounds like bursitis, inflamtion of the bursa sac the only cure is rest, by that i mean change your work habits.right now both by shoulders cant raise any higher than straight out.working in your shop should help fix the shoulder. good luck

CHARLIE · « **Reply #13 on:** November 23, 2011, 05:31:22 pm »

I use Google Image for a lot of ideas. If I want to turn a Finial, I'll search Google Image for Finials or Drop Finials. If I want to turn some bottle stoppers, I search for pictures of them. I don't copy anything but the pictures sure do stimulate the brain. I might combine a couple of ideas too. Do a search on Wooden Box and see what you get. When you build 'em, keep 'em simple and affordable to the majority of the people. Keep track of your material costs and your time. I want to get $20 per hour for my time so if I can build something from "beginning to end" in ½ an hour, I'll price it a $10 plus material cost. Don't short yourself unless you just want to do someone a favor.

redbeard · « **Reply #14 on:** November 23, 2011, 09:02:29 pm »

might be tough to ship but i sure liked the idea!

Left Coast Chris · « **Reply #15 on:** November 23, 2011, 09:16:03 pm »

Raised bed gardening is very popular also. If a person could develop a kit that locks together easily and is strong it would be likely a good seller.

Norm · « **Reply #16 on:** November 24, 2011, 06:40:37 am »

Or just predrill some angle iron for the corners.

zopi · « **Reply #17 on:** November 24, 2011, 08:23:42 am »

Hmm...my last post seems not to have made it...anyway, thanks, guys.

I am making some progress with the shop iself...trying to get all the odd bits which have nothing to do with woodwork out and get the lumber that I have just stashed there used up..most of it is ERC and jap red maple, odd offcuts...it is amazing how much one can do in a tewlve by twelve shop, and equally amazing at how fast the useable space goes away...especially with full sized tools...I am fortunate to own some really good tools..my grandmother bought me a Rigid contractor saw when they still made tools in this country, and I got one of the last american made Rigid bandsaws produced (eight years later learning how to actually use it) an ooold Delta lathe...we figure it was made mid fifties...I need to make a faceplate for it..or scare up a decent chuck...
One thing I have to do is build a saw till for my collection of handsaws...nothing spectacular, but some good saws, and I like having them where I can see them, but they take too much wall space up.

Meri has me making her some pen blanks to try and sell, so I cut some quartersawn out of a white oak sawmill slab last night...set the sap out of them and they are drying in my micro kiln (80 qt commercial dehydrator) which mkles quick work out of small stuff like that, even white oak..

Some body above mentioned turning blocks, which remi.ded me, I have a trunk of a norway maple out back which is largely spalted...need to take the chainsaw to that and get the blocks out and coated.

Some thing I am going to try, since sweetgum is such a pain in the butt to cure in lumber sizes, i am going to experiment with it a bit and see how it willl work for pen blanks....it is pretty wood.

CHARLIE · « **Reply #18 on:** November 24, 2011, 09:11:46 pm »

Zopi, many years ago I got a Oneway Stronghold 4 jaw chuck. It's one of the best decisions I ever made. I use it a lot and rarely if ever use a faceplate anymore. If you don't want to spend the money for a Oneway brand, take a look at Penn State Industry's Barracuda chuck. I don't make too many pens because everyone else already does, but I do make them for gifts and once in a while a customer will request one. I purchase my pen kits from Penn State Industry's too. They've always given me good service.

Riggs · « **Reply #19 on:** November 24, 2011, 09:26:34 pm »

My Grandfather builds urns and sells them to local funeral homes...

zopi · « **Reply #20 on:** November 25, 2011, 08:34:22 am »

Charlie, one of the things I <really> want a chuck...just no money for one...someday...I have a customer who wanted to sell me her late husband's lathe...gonna go back and talk to her about that...big nice variable speed job....might can work a trade. For now, I think a faceplate will work out...might make myself a spike mandrel for turning bowls...

We have a local funeral home, and urns are something I have given passing thought to...have seen quite a few for pets....I am not sure that my craftsmanship is there yet though....

Brad_S. · « **Reply #21 on:** November 25, 2011, 10:24:15 am »

Quote from: Riggs on November 24, 2011, 09:26:34 pm

My Grandfather builds urns and sells them to local funeral homes...

Along these lines....pet caskets. Small, easy to make, cheap to make if you have a sawmill and can cut your own lumber. Size means you can utilize common lumber.

zopi · « **Reply #22 on:** November 25, 2011, 11:50:30 am »

Lol...I will ask if the local funeral homes have any demand for such..
Sawed out some bradford pear pen blanks this morning, amd turned a couple of samples...too plain for my taste, but what a wonderful tight grained wood to work with!

POSTONLT40HD · « **Reply #23 on:** November 25, 2011, 12:24:05 pm »

Take a look through the WOODWORKING section on the forum. Man....there is some good looking stuff on there that may give you some ideas.

CHARLIE · « **Reply #24 on:** November 25, 2011, 12:57:48 pm »

Pens have such a small amount of wood that the wood really has to have some character to it to grab a person's attention. If you are going to use a plain piece of wood with not much character, then you can add a little pizzaz of your own. You can dye the wood a color using analine dye. The colors available are almost endless and you can have a bright red pen, a bright yellow pen, a bright green pen, orange or blue........ Or you can put a little interest into the pen barrel by adding a Celtic Knot.

This link is to Wood Magazine which has an article about making Celtic Knots on the lathe in issue 177.
http://www.woodmagazine.com/woodworking-tips/techniques/woodturning/turning-pens-into-cash/?page=7

This link is a video making a celtic knot Ornament.
http://marleyturned.com/Video_Celtic_Knot.html

zopi · « **Reply #25 on:** November 25, 2011, 03:22:19 pm »

That is why I am making the brad pear blanks...it is nice to work, and is a canvas for the turner to highlight craftsmanship when the details should not be muddled by wild wood...my preference is wild grain, and unusual wood...will see if they sell. Besides, I am trying to get the oddballlumber out of my shop floor...

.

Apparently Danish Modern candlesticks sell well...must figure out how to turn them...heck any large candle sticks seem to sell well.

Brad_S. · « **Reply #26 on:** November 25, 2011, 10:35:31 pm »

Quote from: zopi on November 25, 2011, 11:50:30 am

Lol...I will ask if the local funeral homes have any demand for such..

Talk to the vet, not the undertaker. Seriously, google pet casket....there is a market.

Warren · « **Reply #27 on:** November 26, 2011, 07:15:22 am »

Zopi, A few thoughts:

The taxidermy mounts are something that I have been asked about a couple times, but never pursued. But would be relatively simple, and a good use for "shorts".

I have also sold several "half round" cedar benches to a local realtor for decorating farm ponds. Saw a 10" to 12" cedar log in half length-wise. Take another 8 ft cedar and cut into 2 ft sections. Put one "V" notch in the top of each of the short sections. Put two "V" notches in the bottom of each the long half rounds. Instant man-portable "rustic" bench. (times 2)

While you are talking to funeral homes, inquire about making triangular presentation cases for folded flags for veterans. I had to wait several months for the case for my Dad's flag.

Good luck to you !

Warren

Kansas · « **Reply #28 on:** November 26, 2011, 07:44:17 am »

A lot of good ideas. Think niche marketing. Something few if any are doing. Let me toss one more idea out here. For the right person, think they could do well. Religious art/woodworking. Had a guy that would stop by and rummage around the scrap pile and get scraps of wood. He brought a few things in he had made, that we put up on the wall. Amazing what a few square nails and a cross made of scrap wood can do in the hands of an artist. For the right person with the right contacts, think a person could do well. A lot of people turn pens. But how many put in a religious symbol, or the symbol of a company. Or a fancy pen holder for a desk with the same things.

AvT · « **Reply #29 on:** November 26, 2011, 11:14:14 am »

I think etsy has been mentioned before in this thread but look at the neat things this popular seller makes, he has been on there about 2 years and sold 3000 items, take a look might be inspiring
http://www.etsy.com/shop/TimberGreenWoods

zopi · « **Reply #30 on:** November 26, 2011, 01:54:30 pm »

I like those scrollsawn candleholders...was looking at doing some candle lanterns....patio table sort of stuff.

zopi · « **Reply #31 on:** November 26, 2011, 01:59:48 pm »

Come to think of it, I have not looked at a scrollsaw in ten years or so...might dig mine out and start messing with it again...

AvT · « **Reply #32 on:** November 26, 2011, 02:00:32 pm »

you know I was looking at that stuff and I think he uses lazer to do the cutting so I went to see what those things cost and you don't want to know. But that is how they get the high production..

zopi · « **Reply #33 on:** November 26, 2011, 02:34:40 pm »

Yeah, and ten grand a pop...I will do what I can with what I have...

AvT · « **Reply #34 on:** November 26, 2011, 03:09:29 pm »

Two seconds after I made my last comment I regretted it. We were typing at the same time and when I saw what you wrote after posting I said to myself " Awwww #$$@ I just rained on his parade",,, sorry about that zopi

CHARLIE · « **Reply #35 on:** November 26, 2011, 05:07:45 pm »

I couldn't do scroll sawing. Not that I don't know how, but I don't have the patience. To me, it is tedious.

That guy on Etsy has to be using a laser to produce the volume he has for sell. In my opinion, that isn't woodworking.

shinnlinger · « **Reply #36 on:** November 26, 2011, 05:39:45 pm »

Look at bandsaw boxes also. My students make lots and you can throw them on the lathe also.

Dave

zopi · « **Reply #37 on:** November 26, 2011, 06:32:53 pm »

Ahh, don't worry at it...there is value in handmade, in a world where cheap and gaudy fetch the volume and cheap price, discerning folks will often opt or unique...

I am making bandsawn cedar jewelry boxes for my daughters for christmas..and just copied this funky little table that my father in law made for a boy scout project three quarters of a century ago...it will be one of my wife's presents...

zopi · « **Reply #38 on:** November 26, 2011, 06:47:32 pm »

AvT · « **Reply #39 on:** November 26, 2011, 06:58:41 pm »

Hey that looks awsome zopi... one would think there is a market for that sort of thing

zopi · « **Reply #40 on:** November 26, 2011, 07:28:24 pm »

We're gonna find out....

. That one is my wife's.

Slingshot · « **Reply #41 on:** November 26, 2011, 08:39:30 pm »

Speaking of boxes..... here is one i have made a few of for family, friends.
Rather time consuming but i like to make them.

I got the plans from Fine Woodworking I think. Called a lap desk.

Here is one I made from cherry using 1/8th inch box joints on the corners, measures
13 X 17 and 4 inches high in back...

Here is a smaller one of walnut not yet finished, using 1/4 inch dovetails....

Here are a couple neat ones I picked up at an antique store in Savannah GA.
They measure about 8X11 X 4 inches. I'm planning to make reproductions
of them...

Several pictures but thought someone might want to make one or more.

_______________________-

zopi · « **Reply #42 on:** November 26, 2011, 09:05:31 pm »

Those are nice...we have one which has been in my wife's family for a long time...smilar to the one with the purple baize..

zopi · « **Reply #43 on:** November 27, 2011, 03:30:58 pm »

Bugger. Cannot win for losing lately. On the way to get a couple of stitches...bandsaw blade slipped ot of a skinny cut and put a nice little dado in my thumb...crap.

zopi · « **Reply #44 on:** November 27, 2011, 06:17:18 pm »

Sigh...five stitches...and in a different er now....while we were gone...middle daughter fell off the trampoline...
The bandsaw boxes are looking good...fortunately cedar hides blood well..

Brucer · « **Reply #45 on:** November 28, 2011, 01:36:51 am »

I just had a guy call me and ask about off cuts from 4x4's and 4x6's. He is making trophy bases.

Two years ago I saw some really interesting cutting boards. The were made from laminated pieces of Western Larch, with the end grain facing up. The boards were interesting on two counts.

From a practical point of view, a board with edge grain for flat grain on the cutting surface will slowly get a hollow in the center of the cutting area because the knife keeps severing fibres. I don't know where the fibres go (I can guess, but I don't want to think about it) but my favourite cutting board has a hollow in it about 1/4" deep. With the end grain on the cutting surface the fibres won't get cut.

From an aesthetic point of view, the craftsman had created a really interesting pattern. Western Larch has a light, creamy sapwood, and a reddish-brown heartwood. The contrast and proportions remind me of Eastern Red Cedar. I tried to reverse engineer the manufacturing:
- cut some 1x4 or 1x6 boards that have both heartwood and sapwood showing.
- plane the boards and then glue them together in a stack, placing them so the variations in colour form an alternating pattern. In effect you're creating a glued-up 4x4 or 4x6.
- mount the glued-up piece on a mill so the glue joints are vertical and saw off 1" boards. Kind of like making stickers from a stack of 1x4.
- plane the manufactured boards.
- rearrange the manufactured boards to make a symmetrical pattern of heartwood/sapwood and glue them up again.

What you effectively have at this point is bunch of 1x1's glued together to make an interesting pattern of contrasting colours.

Now saw across the laminated "timbers", cutting off pieces 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 inch thick.

Sand the faces, bevel the edges and corners, and you have a really interesting cutting board. The ones I saw varied from 3/4" thick 3x5 cheese boards that you'd set on the dinner table, up to 12" x 12" kitchen boards.

Prices were pretty steep. I went back to the shop the next day to take some pictures and they'd all been sold

.

T Welsh · « **Reply #46 on:** November 28, 2011, 04:10:18 am »

zopi, All great suggestions! listed so far.I got back into woodworking about 8 years ago,the first thing I found out is that you need machines,the 2nd is you need space,and the 3rd is you have to find a niche you like to do and rewards you by selling fairly fast. If you are going to try and make a living out of it, try to find something that keeps you happy or it will turn into work

. Good luck with the shoulder,Tim

zopi · « **Reply #47 on:** November 28, 2011, 08:19:59 am »

I doubt It will make a living, but should augment..the income some...

Will have to go to the doctor this week for the arm, and again to have these stitches out of the thumb...I am so *pithed at myself for getting cut...I am positively paranoid about moving blades...

I likd the endgrain cutting boards..will probably do some of those evdntually...I am going to make up a batch of bandsaw boxes and get them out to sell, and go from there...

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Author Topic: maybe disaster for my business, trying to turn opportunity...advice? (Read 1275 times)