re: Customer Discovery

For over forty years, people have asked me what kind of things I make in my wood shop. Always, I’ve found it difficult to answer because, though I’ve made thousands of things, I rarely do the same thing twice and, if I do, they look very different.

As to time on a project, that’s difficult to say also. A picture frame, including shadow boxes, can eat an entire day, or three, depending on how complex it is. My kitchen took months. A coat rack may take a day, or two. So too can an art/planter pedestal, book shelf, bed headboard, carts or table, and many of the cabinets I’ve made.

Some items can be blown out in minutes, or they may take hours. Consider, for example, corbels. Alternately, if I toss in a granite top, it’ll take me considerable time to cut the top, router it (using a variable speed angle grinder and a grinding stone or granite router bit), then polish it.

Obviously, material prices can be all over the board. I have a business license, so travel an hour and twenty minutes, one way, to sort through hardwoods and paint grade poplar from which my projects can be built.

Currently, I have a three foot walnut log I’m going to re-saw for an associate, in exchange, I’ll keep some of it.

As to routers, I think I have nine and there are at least three plungers in the mix. Three others are dedicated to a table, an over-arm pin router and a Router Crafter.

I sell in a store and on line (e.g., corbels, LARGE mixing paddles). I haven’t built up inventory enough to go back out on the road again (art shows and swap meets).