Woodworking for a living

[Mark Bolton]

It’s a losing prospect out in my area. There’s many places offering whole bedroom sets starting at 600 dollars.
Some don’t care if they have a chest of drawers that’s stapled together. Part wood part whatever.
I completely understand the need for cheap furniture for a new family. It just has to be functional and for the most part it will last just fine.
The good news is the day of the artistic wood craftsman has begun.

So does this mean you are profitable and growing your business exponentially making bespoke uber crafted work? Are you flooded with backorders?

[Andrew Hughes]

Thanks for asking Mark. No there’s no business to grow in my area there are many stores selling furniture made in Mexico,China,India.
Im not sure about cabinet shops I do talk to people I meet at Peterman lumber and they are struggling to find work.
The only choices left to someone in my area if they want to work with wood is to be artistic. It’s not a bad gig I don’t worry about what I make to pay my bills. I also don’t have the pressure. I get to keep using skills I have.
Hows your business doing.

[Ben Rivel]

Going along with that thought, I've personally splurged and bought some very nice handtools along my woodworking periods, and eventually ended up selling some for probably 80-90% of what I paid, even though I used them for a few years. Looking back on that, buying low/mid-range tools would have ended up costing me more after it was all said and done, because they would have been harder to sell and I would have gotten a lot less back out of them.

Oh Ill add another to that, I have MADE money from buying tools, never getting around to using them and ending up selling them in brand new or like new condition. A lot of higher end brands increase their prices annually and as they do that the resale value goes up. If you're good at finding deals in the forefront and getting supposedly fixed priced tools for less than retail and end up selling them years later after their prices have gone up a lot more you can actually make money off power tools sometimes! lol Who'd have thought?!

[Kevin Jenness]

So you want to be a cabinetmaker? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBi4zroEj1w

[Bruce King]

I'm sure I'm the odd man out, but I did cabinets(commercial & residential) & architectural millwork for about forty five years. Now retired and still doing woodworking and finishing on the side. My hobby is also woodworking, I enjoy doing and learning new things. I still have all my machinery from when I was working full time, plus added a CNC router two years ago. I get to spend about thirty hours a week on my hobby.

As an aside the boss I worked for about five years ago, for five years. Ran a lumber business, is retired and now living in Mt Pleasant,SC.

Tony

Tony, I have bought and ordered lumber from where you worked, Steve Wall Lumber.
Not sure I met you or Steve though, hope to run into him here in Mt P. Clint is up there doing a great job too.

[Bruce King]

For those that live in a populated area you can get the Nextdoor app to communicate with neighbors, mine is linked to 41 neighborhoods. I posted my end tables on there under the title Covid Projects. Within a week I had people wanting 4 end tables and a bed. I turned down the bed job and scared away the others with the price. If I was needing work I could have handled it differently. Just an idea to get work.

[William Hodge]

I am a professional woodworker. I have 35 years experience, 24 as a business owner. My business model is no debt, no employees, and make stuff that lets me add as much value as possible to the raw material. I buy high quality wood wholesale for about $6. per board foot average, cut it up into little pieces and put it back together, and sell it for up to $200. per board foot. Average is about $110. The product is custom solid wood house and building parts, to match existing. No sheet goods, no spraying.

I like this forum, because I see people going to great lengths to make decent stuff, on a budget.

With all this experience in the field, I can offer one piece of advice.
Stop fussing with Magic Table Wax, and buy a dehumidifier.

[Jim Becker]

Like any kind of business, successfully supporting oneself requires that business to "have a plan", "work the plan" and have a clear purpose and benefit to the market its pursuing. Youz gotz to make what folkz wantz. And at a price that "your" customers want to pay rather than acquire from someone else because of the value you add to their experience/world. That absolutely means NOT pursuing everyone...some folks just are not your customer. Example...I sometimes make very nice equestrian tack trunks for folks on commission. I get $800-1600 for them, depending on features, etc. I'm not in any way, shape or form trying to compete with the people slapping together boxes from home center plywood and pre-milled pine and selling them for $300-500. If that's what someone wants to buy, there are plenty of people they can go to. If they want furniture quality and are willing to pay for it, I'm the right source. Yes, I don't sell many of them in a year. That's ok. My customers are happy and I get more business because of it. Even if I were dependent on the business for income, I'd still choose to set my standards and stick by them.

I've been having this kind of conversation with my younger daughter who is a senior in college and wants to have her own boutique business in the future. She's quickly learning that you don't just hang out your shingle and have folks knocking at the door to make you a multi-millionaire.

[Richard Coers]

For those that live in a populated area you can get the Nextdoor app to communicate with neighbors, mine is linked to 41 neighborhoods. I posted my end tables on there under the title Covid Projects. Within a week I had people wanting 4 end tables and a bed. I turned down the bed job and scared away the others with the price. If I was needing work I could have handled it differently. Just an idea to get work.

I've been selling work for 43 years. I have yet to make a great return on work for friends and neighbors. I had to work hard to meet the .1% or less that appreciate hand made and came to me, because of me. Those were the ones that I made a fine living from.

[Jim Dwight]

My full time job was selling electrical equipment, by education I am a mechanical engineer. I am retired now and my pension + social security is more than what my dog and I spend. Let's me help the kids or other worthy causes a little. But I have always done woodworking as a hobby. My job was to do one part of a project that maybe 1,000 people would do something on. I could do my part well and the project still get totally messed up. When I make a piece of furniture or a cabinet, it is all on me. If my kids or I like it, great. If not, the store always has more wood.

I used to get by with fairly inexpensive tools. My shop is small (14x24) so I will never have a lot of tools but I am equipping it with some nicer tools. I have a PCS and domino, I just bought a Jet band saw that is highly rated. I may still upgrade my planner but it will have to be another lunchbox to fit in the space available. But I can make what my kids and I think are nice pieces. They sleep on beds I made as does one of my grandkids. They eat at tables and sit on chairs I made. I need some more pieces for my house but once that is done I might stop turning down requests to make things for other people. I don't need the money but I function better if I have a project going on. I don't work that hard anymore but like to put in a few hours each day, hopefully before it gets too hot. But sometimes I get into it and ignore the heat, for awhile.

[Bruce King]

I know what you mean about the joy of working alone. I used to work on very complex equipment where we had three shifts a day. Coming to work and seeing a smoldering pile of crap was not fun or almost fixing something but run out of time and find out the next day no one listened to what you told them. 20 years of that and I found new career.

[andy bessette]

In the mid '70's I left a safe career in engineering design to become self employed.

My specialty is customizing yachts, with more than half my efforts being custom woodwork. Many other boat building skills have been involved, including plumbing, electrical, etc. But more and more I have developed my metal working abilities, since adding a lathe, milling machine, more, and teaching myself to use them, mostly because I always wanted to.

My happiest times seem to be just working in my shop alone. Now, at 76, I look back and realize that I was right in thinking that continually challenging yourself and learning new skills are what enable you to stay interested and excited to keep producing.

[Bruce King]

A neighbor has this for sale, redesigned armoire.
Can go in spaces other than the kitchen.
Might be a new popular thing.

[Jim Becker]

Andy, what you did is exactly one of the points I believe I made earlier...you found a particular niche that you could fill in the business and made good on it!

[Robert D Evans]

There's no way for a small shop to compete with mass produced furniture makers. I can't buy the materials at the same price they do. There is a small market for custom pieces to fit specific spaces. I've built a number of custom bay window seats that fit the opening. One specifically comes to mind. I built one for a woman out of oak. She had oak cabinets in her kitchen and wanted the window seat to match. She wanted 2 deep drawers in the middle and a raised panel door on each side. Dovetail drawers, 100 lb self closing hinges, solid wood raised panels, perfect joints. This was a thing of beauty. She said she wanted to finish it herself, which was fine with me. I stopped by her house a couple of months lather and noticed that she had painting the window seat white. Ughhhh!!! Barbarians.