Cut, Sand, Repeat... Cut, Sand, Repeat...

Hello Readers!

There is a glimmer of light in the progress department of my small business. The brightest spot being that orders keep coming in at a steady pace. The Ugly has reared its head however in the form of doing the same process, over, and over, and over again only to repeat it again and again… I find myself trying to stay ahead of the orders, trying to not think about the fact that in the course of three weeks I have made over a 1000 square 1.5×1.5×1.5 inch blocks… No, instead I try to think about the future and what good things will come from it… If that fails I will have to find a happy place.

The worst part of all, is sanding! Good grief I need a dust collector ASAP!

Regards,

Into the Trenches

Hello Readers,

It has not been too long since my last post. So this will be just a quick update. I am headed into the trenches. received quite a number or orders for wood blocks and they keep coming. We shall see if my established system works. If not you will find me sprawled up in a corner somewhere.

ONWARD!

Best wishes to you all.

Ethan

My Small Business: Keeping Above Water and Learning to Tread... And Product Photos!

Hello Readers,

Some people get busy just doing what they do, some people get busy learning how to do it, others get busy because they allowed themselves to get that way.

Right now I’d say my process for “Product Handling Time” is working, if a customer orders a product, it is then processed and shipped normally within 3 to 6 business days of the original order.

Question: “Why not 3-5, or 1-3 days instead?”

My Small Business: My First Band Saw, New Horizons

Hello Readers,

Well Yesterday I finished setup of my first band saw. I started at the low end because that is what my business could afford and I am also learning the ropes. I read lots of reviews for the Ryobi Band saw from Home Depot and after some consideration and education on Band Saw tuning, I went out and bought one… That was Saturday. Turns out the one I picked was busted so after returning and swapping for store credit, traveling to a different store 20 miles away, inspecting the item in the parking lot and finally making it home I started to tune just about everything on the saw.

My Small Business: Spud's First Direct Sale to Retail!

Hello Readers!

Well there you have it, my small business has made its first landing on the physical retail scene through the Cornerstone Book store in CT. This marks significant growth for my business as I would like to have my products sold more in local shops and stores.

On a lighter note I have had a lot of individual specialty requests from Etsy to my shop which is very pleasing. Just wanted to share some good news with you all!

My Small Business: Making Connections

Hello Readers,

Well I got some good feedback from my previous blog entry so I decided I might as well start a new series for my new small business and chronicle the ups and downs of starting my business. Enjoy!

Child safe blocks!

Hello Readers!

These 22 blocks are what I made for my daughter as a Christmas gift. They are all 1.5x1.5 and are sanded down around the edges to round. They are poplar and are coated with a natural bees wax for a finish.

First Cutting boards

Hello Readers!

My first cutting boards! This cutting board is 3/4 inch maple. Its dimensions are 7.5'' x 11'' for the larger board and 6'' x 8'' for the cheese board. I used food safe mineral to treat the finished product and protect it. Enjoy!

Crochet box: Design

It was quite the job putting this altogether! I designed this with many iterative sketches just so I could get it just right. 

I started out with a blank canvas for this project, I really didn’t know what I was going to build as a Christmas gift, but I knew that my wife had started doing a lot of crochet work, and that she really didn’t have a set place for all your supplies, plans and materials. So eventually I sketched what you see to the left. If you look at the finished product and this sketch you can see there had been quite a few changes made. I had initially thought of putting nearly a dozen drawers on the outside of this box with a spool rack inside of the box top behind a screen of some sort.

Christmas Gift: Crochet Box

Hello Readers!

I had a lot of fun building this project. This Christmas I put this box together for my wife as shee had recently got into crochet crafting. This box took a good few weeks as I had to work around her being at the house and me not having my own workshop, but I got the job done. Not pictured is the braided cord I used to make a stop chain (added after photos taken).

Don't forget to check out the design sketches here: Crochet Box Design Sketches

The Secrecy is Killing Me!

Hello Readers!

Well here it is, blog number 2 on Shades of Grain and I am already dying to show off a gift I made for my wife... The problem is, it is a

From Pallets to Now!

Good Morning Everyone.

Some of you may know me from my blog series: Pallet Craft. Well I would like to thank those that have read and continue to read my blog series on crafting with pallet wood. While I am not done with that, I have reached a transition in my hobby for wood working.

I have been trying to learn as much as possible about woodworking while using pallets as my medium (green, cheap, and interestingly fun), but I have recently purchased lumber for a Christmas project and I am having great success while learning to work with wood of a different quality.

As time passes I will be working with more and more hardwoods and expand my skillset (and hopefully tools) to create fine pieces from wood. So today I am stating another blog series: Shades of Grain!

Please read along and share in the experience.