A New Style Shooting Board

[John TenEyck]

Thanks for the additional comments, everyone. You may be right about the timing. Summer is the season to be outside, travel, etc. And I need to look into a more targeted audience it seems, although I thought some folks at SMC would really jump on it. The price of the AUSB is pretty inconsequential to many folks. I read almost daily of someone buying a slider, or a Felder, Hammer, MiniMax, etc. machine, all of which are many thousands of $'s, so there's plenty of disposable income. I'm just not finding those folks, those who will see the benefits for their particular craft. Time to find them. Thanks again. I very much appreciate the opinions, insights, and ideas.

John

[Jim Koepke]

Right now tis the season of the farmers markets. People will buy potting benches and patio furniture.

jtk

[Derek Cohen]

Thanks for the additional comments, everyone. You may be right about the timing. Summer is the season to be outside, travel, etc. And I need to look into a more targeted audience it seems, although I thought some folks at SMC would really jump on it. The price of the AUSB is pretty inconsequential to many folks. I read almost daily of someone buying a slider, or a Felder, Hammer, MiniMax, etc. machine, all of which are many thousands of $'s, so there's plenty of disposable income. I'm just not finding those folks, those who will see the benefits for their particular craft. Time to find them. Thanks again. I very much appreciate the opinions, insights, and ideas.

John

John, SMC is not the forum to sell a high-priced tool which most believe they can make for pennies. The Power Tool forum on SMC have some big spenders, but a slider is easier to rationalise as the money is going on substantial equipment. The same may be said for all other fori, with one exception, Festool Owners Group. Post there and you will sell your shooting board. My impression is that the members there live to buy tools.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jim Koepke]

The same may be said for all other fori, with one exception, Festool Owners Group. Post there and you will sell your shooting board.

As they say, the three most important parts of doing business is Location, Location, Location.

jtk

[William Fretwell]

Lovely shooting board. Most of us do 90 and 45 degrees, that is 95% of our usage. Your considerable extra mile is for the 5%. Therein lies the problem.

[John TenEyck]

That's why the lower end shooting board is priced at $175 including shipping. It's less expensive than any commercial offering I know of and does much more, 90 deg, 45 deg, and anything in between, and beyond. I understand why many folks build their own, but for those who would rather buy one this should be an easy decision.

[John Kananis]

This is partly why lots of great ideas never become mass market trends. Often, the person with the idea either can't execute, market, manufacture, etc.

You have a wonderful idea that would definitely sell IF you can reach the right market. I would reach out to a youtuber with an audience that's looking for gadgets, short cuts, cool things to do the work for them and partner. First, tell them you'll send one for them to review. If successful, offer a "partnership" where they do the sales and marketing (that's their niche anyway) and you give them a percentage of the revenue generated.

Imho, if you decide you want to keep it all for yourself, you really need to work a lot harder than a forum post but you can make a fortune if you're willing to put in A LOT of work. Partnering is easier and allows you latitude on so many levels (including not being buried by too much to do).

Some of the most successful partnerships in corporate America have been founded in a similar fashion. Steve Jobs (for instance) didn't and couldn't create anything but Steve Wozniak, as brilliant as he was, would have kept the wooden apple prototype as a novelty in his garage and maybe shown it off to a friend here and there. Best of luck, I think you have a really good idea that you should pursue further.

[Frederick Skelly]

John,
It's a nice accessory, well executed. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Fred

[John TenEyck]

Thanks very much for the advice and words of encouragement, John. It's very much appreciated.

John

[Mark Gibney]

I see a lot of woodworkers and woodworking related items being marketed through Instagram.
I think that's a platform you should be on with this. I cannot advise how to market yourself there, but I do know that you can hire help to promote your "presence" and exposure.
It's a beautiful tool and I hope you find a market.

[Ed Mitchell]

Ok, please help me out folks. I thought these shooting boards would raise a lot of enthusiasm but clearly I was wrong. What is it you all see as deficient, missing, or unnecessary?

John

I agree with Keegan, above. I haven't had the pleasure of using it, but it seems nothing is wrong, the design offers every feature I could have ever dreamed of in a shooting board, and I think many would love to own such a useful tool. But 500 bucks for a hobbyist makes this quite a luxury item, especially when it's new to the market, and durability data & 3rd party reviews won't exist for some time.

Lie Nielsen didn't become LN overnight! If you make a truly great product, time is on your side, and eventually the sales will come. Sawmill Creek isn't exactly an ad during halftime of the Superbowl.

[Robert Engel]

I think its fantastic, but there's a limited category of ww'ers who 1) use a shooting board and 2) within that group, many (like me) don't have much need for bevels or miters.

Forward it to Rob Cosman & Marc Spagnolo and see if they'll market it for you?

[Louis Lampe]

tension gauge under $50 I just saw the ad, haven´t used one. eztension dot com includes interesting video

[Keegan Shields]

Looks like that ez tension gauge only works up to 1/2” blades and only on carbon steel ones. John design seems to be more precise and will work on a wide variety of blade sizes and materials. I just haven’t gotten around to making one yet.

[John TenEyck]

Looks like that ez tension gauge only works up to 1/2” blades and only on carbon steel ones. John design seems to be more precise and will work on a wide variety of blade sizes and materials. I just haven’t gotten around to making one yet.

It's not my design; I copied it from one I saw on YouTube I think. I'm sure it wasn't his idea either. People have been measuring strain in materials that way for probably more than a hundred years.

Yes, it works on any size blade. The longer the length of blade between the clamps and the higher the resolution of the dial gage the more accurate the measured strain will be.

You can make one in an hour.

John