Wood projects that can be easily sold for profit?

[John K Jordan]

maybe I can make some projects on the side and make enough just to make the hobby somewhat self funding.

Michael, I don't do much flat work so I can't suggest anything there. But are you good at woodturning?

I usually just make things to give away but I've sold thousands of dollars of these "magic wands" and some other closely related things. I discovered people have no problem paying $40 for a pretty stick.

wands_tangle_P7203955cs.jpg

And the right people have no problem paying $200 for the right piece of wood but you don't usually run into them at the flea market.

JKJ

[roger wiegand]

My to-do list is so long I can't even imagine having time to build stuff for other people, but here are a couple of thoughts. 1) watch Etsy to see what sells and at what kind of prices. 2) target specific seasonal markets-- eg Christmas markets with ornaments, jigsaw stuff, etc 3) target hobbies-- particularly ones of interest to you-- reel seats for fly-fishing rods, fly tying tables, fly boxes, custom nets, wader hangers, fancy turned wooden zingers, and more would all appeal to fly fishermen, for example. Our local garden center sells absurdly expensive ($300-500) bird feeders and bird houses that are whimsical and clever, presumably made by someone local out of scrap and bright paint. 4) Make something of particular local interest-- there's a cottage industry in MA for cranberry rakes. No one uses them, but they sell like hotcakes to the tourists.

I think it's all about creating a "unique competitive advantage"-- if you can become the go-to guy for something, even if the niche is relatively small, you can do just fine. If you're the 342nd person making very similar cutting boards, not so much. Pick a market segment and then make something distinctive for it.

[Joe Jensen]

Here are my thoughts on this. I've been an avid woodworker for 40 years. I'n high school I took a few commissions for family friends doing custom built-in furniture pieces. In college I built a very nice pair of audio speakers and I was able to turn two passions, audio and WW into a nice side business. Back then in the early 1980s I sold 10 pairs of speakers for between $2500 and $3500 a pair. My cost for the wood, drivers and crossover parts was around $700. That was really fun because I loved both things.

I didn't take any commission work for over 30 years. A few years ago my wife convinced me to take a commission from a friend who needed a custom built in console cabinet for a home theater room. The catch was it had to match the finish on the other cabinets in the room. The stain was a custom tint but they had the leftover stain so I agreed to build what was basically an 8 foot kitchen lower cabinet for $2800. I decided to rigorously track every minute spent. They lived 1 hour from my house so I wanted to keep the trips there down to one to measure and one to install. Driving 30 min each way to get materials, the time to select material, pay and load. Time spent ordering hinges, etc. The build was very straight forward. But the finishing was a disaster. Even though I had the leftover stain professionally shaken I didn't realize that there was 1" of solidified solids at the bottom so the color was off. I ended up spending several extra hours custom tinting to get the color right. In the end with lots of planning I made $50 an hour not counting the miles on my truck, the use of my shop, and no consideration for insurance. And this was for a basic cabinet at a high price. If I consider the 150 miles of driving and the other overhead of the shop I probably would have made $25-30 an hour. And that was not counting any time spent bidding and hunting for jobs.

I decided that I want to keep my hobby as a hobby and I will do other things that pay way better.

[Glenn de Souza]

Doing commission work basically involves having a boss. Since you're the one taking the money, the client is the boss, and depending on their personality and understanding of the process, you have them in the passenger seat along the ride with you in a manner of speaking. This isn't always a bad thing, but it definitely adds a dynamic that would not be present if you were say, selling giftware at an arts and crafts fair.

Sometimes it can be a bad thing to have a client, especially if they end up dissatisfied for whatever reason. My advice would be to go out of your way to set expectations clearly, and have a signed, detailed, written quote for reference. Just like marketing, this type of communication and transaction management is a skill unto itself, completely independent of your woodworking skill.

It may be less risk to go the giftware route, and identify a tchotchke that you can sell at a healthy mark-up to people who are basically impulse buying it on the spot. Take the cheese slicer for example. If you are at a craft show or farmer's market and have an array of $30 or $40 cheese slicers in exotic woods that captivate people to buy on the spot, they usually won't have the ability or inclination to price compare to the $15 less sexy version from Target or Amazon. They pay, throw it in their bag and take it home. Done. No collection issues either.

[Steve Peterson]

I agree with most of the posters here. If you are trying to compete on price, then you have to compete with mass produced junk from China. You can only compete with Walmart and Ikea if you are willing to work for a dollar an hour.

The best way to make money in this market is to produce the absolute highest quality and sell at much higher prices. Think of art gallery prices.

Steve

[Michael Yadfar]

My thought process on the smaller items was based off my way of thinking, and I would also have a place to sell them at my families produce market. There's a certain price range in my head where even if it's more money than I want to spend, it's still not a killer on the wallet. So let's say I can buy a cutting board for $10 and I saw one at a store for $30, then I say "well, it's only $30". I actually did get an offer once for cabinetry, but the issue is that my shop is very small. Right now I work out of a 15'x9' shop, and I can only pull one machine out to use at a time, and I store my wood in the house. Even building my tables is a struggle due to lack of size, and lack of efficiency by needing to move tools around all the time. Something else I guess I have to consider is the lack of fun. I do it as a hobby because I enjoy it, but I might not enjoy mass produced items

[Pat Barry]

Per the OP's question and later clarification, he's not intending to make this a livelihood, more of a hobby that helps pay for itself. Therefore, to me, one question is are you going to use scraps to make things that you can sell, in which case the cheese slicer is a good example - you can make these and sell them for $40 maybe $50 and not worry about trying to compete with Walmart because what you are after is selling at a flea market / roadside stand / craft show / etc - not high volume, not something you are going to try and market so much as just sell in spontaneous transactions. You need to be selling something that is relatively inexpensive and not something you can find mass produced. For that, I believe, you need a hook. Something unique that causes someone to say "I want that" - not causes them to say "I might want something like that but it costs too much so I'm going to do some google shopping for it".

EX: I'll give you an idea if you happen to be from Wisconsin - make the cheese board in the shape of the state of Wisconsin - the uniqueness of this will be the hook to a spontaneous sale. guaranteed.

At the other end of the spectrum, there is a niche of customers in a target category that have $ and don't mind spending it so they are willing to pay for the perceived luxury of that item - take the horse tack boxes described above. That's a small market of people that have $ (mostly) and don't mind spending it. So you don't need to sell a lot to make a tidy return on your efforts and materials. Maybe they want something custom and personalized.

[Patrick Curry]

I have some experience and and second hand knowledge in the (wholesale) gift line business. First of all you have to put Amazon out of your mind. That's site is not your competition- forget about it.

Your handmade items are being displayed at a quaint gift shop where ladies and gentlemen are looking for thoughtful gift ideas. The retailers are looking for something unique & hand-crafted. Locally made is a bonus but not necessary. (I'm based in Louisville but have sold items through gift shops in 7-8 different states.).

If if you can personalize the item that's even better. Examples are the town's name. If you're in to cutting boards router it out into the shape of the state for example. I used to sand blast and that opened up endless possibilities (used Adobe to create resists or patterns).


Gifts that could be purchased for men are always desirable.

[Joe Jensen]

Another thought...My first paying gig was making wood shapes with routed edges for Tole Painting. We had a family friend who taught classes and the wood shapes she was selling were very roughly finished. I ended up becoming her supplier because I would better finish them. At 14 or 15 I was making 20-30 a week. That got pretty boring pretty quickly and it was only a few hours a week. Do you really want to spend a big chunk of your time making the same simple things that you could more cheaply source from Asia? I do not.

[Jon Endres]

Been giving this subject some serious consideration as I am in the process of building and setting up a new shop for future retirement. I want to segue right into enough work and money to fund my hobby, not necessarily to make a living on. Around here I think the key will be diversification. Portable sawmill to produce my own lumber, so that cost is negligible in my mind unless I have to pay for logs. Various flea markets, craft shows and community events where a cheap table or booth with small crafts on it will do fairly well. Think basic wooden bowls, rolling pins, birdhouses, cutting boards etc. Have a flyer saying that I will consider custom work. I also have a few furniture stores around who will sell items on commission, but I'm not looking to build dining tables or cabinets, I'd like to put a large wooden bowl or a vase on someone else's table and get $100 for it when the shopper turns over the bowl and sees that it's for sale. Turning stock comes out of the firewood pile for me. A kitchen's worth of cabinets here and there, maybe a few smaller pieces of custom furniture, I'll be all set. I have a short attention span so I don't want to be worrying about my projects - I want to head to the shop, crank out a piece of two, and then quit for the day or a week if I choose to. Right now I could make a living just making cheap crap out of knotty pine boards and selling it at the craft fairs. Rustic is all the rage, and it's usually slapped together from rough boards with staples or a few nails if you're lucky.

[John Sincerbeaux]

If I were only interested in "making a few extra bucks" in woodworking, I would make unique items that catered to a unique target. I would cater to women who are expecting. Or women who ride horses. I have been in baby stores and have been amazed at the prices they want for the cutesie little wooden items such a letters painted in pastels or with butterflies etc. Baby cribs or toys etc all play into the passions and emotions of an expecting mother and or her friends and family. Young girls who ride horses love those trunks that they need for all their riding gear. Learn to make those and inlay a horse and the rider's initials and you will make a very good profit.
But, I would propose that any woodworker challenge themselves to the point of truly realizing their potential not only as a woodworker but as a craftsman and artist. Compete in a WW show or competition. Try to get your work in galleries. To me, that makes your time in your shop infinently more fun and satisfying. And who knows, you might just make "some extra money"😄

[John K Jordan]

.... who ride horses...

The customized tack trunk is a great idea. Carve or inlay the rider's name or the horse's name. I think even a well-crafted wooden sign with the horse's name for the barn would sell, maybe even a bunch at a high end stable where horses are boarded. Mounting blocks, grooming totes,...


Someone not familiar with the extent of this market might be amazed at what people would pay for something unique. A person (nearly every one female!) who spends $75,000 for a competition horse and $1000 for a riding jacket will think NOTHING of spending a lot of money on impulse for something special. I have "accidentally" made thousands of dollars this way without even trying which does help pay for the hobby. These people, and there are a lot of them, live in a different world. The problem is finding and connecting with them, which takes some research or a lucky accident.

JKJ

[Michael Dye]

Back in the early 90's, I flew EMS helicopters in Spokane,WA. Because we had such a great schedule, I had a lot of free time on my hands. Being a woodworker of moderate skills, I used that time to build cabinets for friends, friends of theirs, and so on. It was a very profitable business for me, and one that I enjoyed very much. I had, being an A&P mechanic, parlayed my maintenance skills into another business overhauling old woodworking machinery with my brother. So, needless to say, I had a very nice, well equipped shop. Now comes the hitch.

The big box stores came into existence, beginning with Ernst Hardware, which became Eagle Hardware. I would, from time to time, need to go there for something. I was always amazed to see the cabinets they carried on the floor, and the quality of those cabinets. Glue applied from 3 feet away, plastic hinges, thumbtacks that doubled as nails............you get the picture. I had a couple of potential clients who, upon receipt of my proposals for complete cabinet systems, were completely shocked by the bids. One even went so far as to say that "why should I pay you $17,000 for a cabinet overhaul when I can go to Eagle and buy the exact same thing for $1500?" The other exclaimed that I was doing this as a hobby and didn't need to make the profits that a commercial cabinetmaker needed. Needless to say, those relationships ended quickly.

The long and short of it is, find your niche. Geographically speaking, every city has a history that you can tap into for your ideas. From 5' lighthouses (tried it, didn't do too bad) to custom baby bassinets, to workbenches and cutting boards. I've tried most of them and still get a thrill out of everything I make. Now, my 18 year old son has begun to explore his imagination and we are building custom electric guitars. Who would have thought? Good luck.

[Steve Kinnaird]

I was deeply involved in the saltwater aquarium hobby.
I made good money building custom aquarium stands and canopies.
I also made sumps out of acrylic. Easier than wood work