November Weather

[renecooke87]

What kind of wood work do you do? do you sell it to customers? What is your website? if you have one

[swstout]

Lawn care business tips

Originally Posted by picframer I was shocked at the amount of water along the way, beautiful baseball fields operated by the city but also used for soccer, one had water almost to the top of the net. Stopped by one client where we are to remove his floating dock, this is a service we offer this time of the year, great money and generally I only need a helper and a small tractor with a loader but the lake levels are higher than the wharf's leading to the docks that I looked at making it too dangerous for now. I honestly suspect all operations are now shut down, it was a good year for us so now I can put things away once the sun comes out and focus on woodworking until March. We may still do a few wood chipping jobs but that is it. We have had crazy wether here too. In October we had 22 Inches of rain - our yearly average is 42" (2 tropical storms/hurcanes went up our coast). Novenber 6th. was our first snow (in the air - no ground accumulation). Last year our 1st. snow was February 21st. November 7th. had a high of 69! Right now (November 14th @4:02 AM it is 28 degrees - windchill 20. Additional - our gas price went up $0.26 a gallon this week. TV report - Groceries up 14% so far this month. Thinking of moving to Canada! Steve

__________________

[Steve]

Andy makes some incredible products, like picture frames and other things.

Check it out http://www.picframer.ca

[picframer]

Originally Posted by renecooke87

What kind of wood work do you do?
do you sell it to customers?
What is your website? if you have one

We do just about everything a residential property owner could want, here is my website www.oakridgeyardcare.ca

Falling trees, Silviculture, industrial chippers, excavation, spraying, pressure washing, landscaping, sodding, garden or flower beds etc. are just a few things that come to mind that we do.

[picframer]

Originally Posted by Steve

Andy makes some incredible products, like picture frames and other things.

Check it out http://www.picframer.ca

Thanks, the first Christmas craft show was yesterday and it was amazing, there is another today however I will be in the shop, we have a backlog of orders and picked up another 20+ custom picture framing jobs yesterday.

If readers want a winter hobby that doesn't cost a fortune to get into and there is tremendous demand for, look into custom picture framing and matte cutting (use acid free), I think you will be shocked and the profit margin.

Now we make all our own frames from scratch but you are getting into expensive equipment due to the woods we work with, you can buy picture frame molding in 8 to 14 foot lengths.

You can also get samples of frame corners and matte colors, it really isn't that hard to do and the demand is really there as the stores that only offer this service can't compete with our prices.

Our name is at the University's, College's and Schools, this is where you can really crank things out as the frames are all the same size.

We are a member of the PPFA (Professional Picture Framing Association)

[Steve]

Thanks, the first Christmas craft show was yesterday and it was amazing

Did you get much of a chance to check out what others in your area were offering? Did you see any products (homemade or not) that really stood out?

[picframer]

Originally Posted by Steve

Did you get much of a chance to check out what others in your area were offering? Did you see any products (homemade or not) that really stood out?

The craft shows we attend are the upper end, sometimes referred to as "One Of A Kind" you have to go through a Jury just to get it, I only attend these kind of shows as I don't want to get into what we call the Flea Market Shows.

Things I saw that were around us (these shows are desperate busy so it's next too impossible to get a look around time) various birds cut out and put together using a scroll saw, he used various woods that naturally matched the bird body part, his work was simply amazing. The other one that really cought my eye was snakes that were flexible and made out of wood in various natural wood colors, some turnings were really something to see also as I know the time, skill and effort required.


Here are three business cards I picked up, the fellow who makes the birds is Paul Arbour, we have been friends for years and his work is top drawer.

http://www.arbourdesigns.com/

http://virtualcritters.ca/

http://www.inklingsinwood.com/

[Steve]

Those are amazing products! WOW! It would be a wild experience to see them actually work their magic and put these pieces together!

[picframer]

Originally Posted by Steve

Those are amazing products! WOW! It would be a wild experience to see them actually work their magic and put these pieces together!

It's the WOW products that really sell, you need to design/make products that can not be bought in a store and the competition can't match, those of us that go down this road do very, very well. Granted I have been doing this for over 30 years as a hobby and profession, I perfect all joinery, study interesting joints, basically think outside the box. We also work with over 76 species from all over the world, everything we do is the natural color of the wood. It also took the better part of 18 years to get the tools I have due to cost but they are really worth it in the end.

Paul (builds the birds) does Very, Very well. I spoke with him Saturday and he is not doing very many shows this year as he can't keep up. After you have been in the show market for a few years you name gets out, you just sit back, take the orders, make the product and ship. I have been attending craft shows for 14+ years so we only attend a few as we have more work than we know what to do with.

[Steve]

I bet he could get his birds sold through cabella's or bass pro shop catalogs as well if he wanted too!