Wood Shop Tactics

[microtone]

Is a woodworking shop a viable home business ?

Probably not in New Hampshire if your trying to make a full time living. I've known and seen two retired gentlemen that did all right, but they also lived on roads with a good deal of traffic and could pedal the stuff themselves.

One made stuff all week and had a 'barn sale' every weekend. The other put various things out by the side of the road ( i still have a few of his whirly birds and planters he gave me that never sold ) but did okay with lattices. He actually did better getting some made to order custom sizes  and doing the installation.

What has worked for me over the years is doing 'in house' items for the store, or largely rot work (lots and lots of rotten clap boards and trim work) around the homestead. Despite the endless aggravation, usually the problem has been fixed and is a memory before anybody else around here can make a 'decision'....

The other problem, is that hobby woodworking is a popular activity and well there's just tons of people trying to figure out how to make a buck off it. In short it's very competitive. If you figure that there's almost as much time and energy involved in maintenance etc... well it's pretty hard to compete with the imports on the shelves at the big box stores.

But, let's say... five bucks an hour cash... maybe. Might be worth considering if you haven't anything better to do. There's a whole different issue concerning dealing with people, and generally, people want to see a product and a price, and not listen to promises... And, most of the time, myself included, they don't have 'any money on them'.

Recently, I saw on E-bay a number of smallish handmade boxes selling for around $40. Not much materials, but a bit of work gluing strips of various woods together for a pleasing contrasting aesthetic design.

Anyway, I turned a few pieces of different colored scraps into some strips, and went on to build a prototype. Well outside of setup and resetting for the different cuts then I ran into a delay as I only had 2 right angle picture frame clamps. Anyway, a few hours turned into a whole weekend......

Actually a lovely display box. But I went to make a smaller matching one, and about the first piece of wood shot up towards the ceiling. And I realized that I would have to setup a second table saw. (Needless to mention there isn't enough space, and I can't get the boss to finish painting a lawn chair and get it out of the ----------- way).

Many many years ago, I did see a production shop with a number of employees setup with probably 3 or 4 table saws turning out pieces. They were making plastic display boxes, bending and gluing the pieces together. Not the same thing, but the same general idea.

Currently, a lot of small wood product manufacturers closed in Vermont.  Between a sales slump and, well, the rather high overhead, plant, materials, labor, insurance, fees..fees...fees and more fees... There are some people turning out product in their garages for wholesalers.

Anyway, I'm just practicing my writing, so I hope it is of help to some one, also. I could write some booklets (yeah! like another project that won't get done) and sell them (har har har) as GET RICH QUICK IN YOUR VERY OWN HOME BUSINESS...

Sometimes, when I've talked about marketing to a few people around here, generally, the response is: "That's all fine and dandy, but how do I make a thousand today...?".

[cathleeninnh]

I wouldn't bet my livelihood on people having dollars to blow on nick nacks.

Replacing rotten clapboard, maybe. Raised garden beds, sheds, shelving, built ins...

[microtone]

I wouldn't bet my livelihood on people having dollars to blow on nick nacks.

Replacing rotten clapboard, maybe. Raised garden beds, sheds, shelving, built ins...

Clearly, your a home owner and not an apartment dweller !  :>)

It's certainly, not a business you ought to consider starting in good times much less in a depression. I do see very nice bamboo bowls in TARGET for $10 and a huge number of  chinese bass wood boxes and trays (maybe it was STAPLES) in that range or higher.

So it may not make sense commercially these days. 5 or 10 years from now ???? I don't know for sure, I do know a handful of people are (I don't know any other details). I'm not particularly 'handy' or gifted as some other people are either. So my best return is on in house repairs, etc...

As to the market for collectibles. My perception is that people are buying lots of stuff in the $5 & $10 to 20 dollar range.  So there is a market for less pricey 'stuff'.

[porcupine kate]

My family is a bunch of "wood workers"  They mostly spent there time restoring antiques instead of making new furniture.  Better profits as an antique dealer if you can restore a piece before selling it.   My father is the only one to make a good living at it.  My brother currently makes house calls in New York city to repair furniture while he is going to college.   He also tried making a living making Musical instruments.   He had a hard time paying the bill making guitars and harpsichords.   His craftsmanship is incredible but the market just big enough for him to charge enough to cover the hours.

You are right it is a very competitive market.  Your best bet is to make beautiful and functional furniture and sell it through juried craft shows.  You would also want to get the attention of interior designers in larger cities like Boston.  This way you would be able to charge higher rates than over seas manufactures.  Learn how to make high quality reproductions of antique furniture and give it a new twist in design and you could be on your way to creating a solid business.   Think hand cut dove tail joints and hand carved seat bottoms.  Things you don't see anymore in mass made furniture. Creating anything someone else could learn how to do in a weekend is going to be a hard thing to sell in this economy.
There are firms in NH custom design pieces of furniture and contract the construction out.  There is one in Andover/ Wilmont on rt 4.

If you can find interesting wood you will also have a leg up on the competition.   That  would also set you apart your materials will cost more but then again you can charge more.

Kate