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why is it?

flat or round really doesn`t matter......there are folks who appreciate hand crafted to the best of the craftsmans ability in every town. the trick is getting your foot in the door with the group in your town...
the other option is to do as several have suggested and either use galleries, designers or art shows to peddle your wares.....
my experience has been that it`s better to wait for the correct clientele and do a bang-up job at a fair to you price and make sure you educate the client as to what they`re paying for....jobs are fewer and farther in between but the sattisfaction level is much higher.

just some ramblin`s after a day cuttin` and slappin down some processed firewood:eek:
 
Chuck Thoits said:
After all that customer education comes name. If no one has ever heard of you your stuff is worthless.:( I know that the first few shows we did we would sell some stuff. But now people come looking for our stuff. And the more people that have the stuff you make. The more other people are going to want it too.:thumb:
I know that the one of's tend to make some people a little crazy.
Click to expand...

So right about word of mouth Chuck. When you have good customer service and stand behind your products, word gets around, and folks come calling.
 
Frank's joking (I hope joking :eek: :rofl:) reply about how anyone can slap some boards together has some merit from the consumer angle. I don't think that the average buyer understands that joinery is a skilled trade, kind of like chemistry. Maybe doesn't require as much formal education, per se, but there's at least as much to understand and know to make lasting, attractive joints than I need to do my job as a chemist. So I think folks tend to undervalue flatwork because they just don't understand what is involved.

Or if they do understand what is involved, they are us!

The other folks who replied that turnings tend to be more "art-like" than flatwork have a point too. For some reason, decoration has a higher value to most folks than function. I met a guy once who had a stainless steel band for a wedding ring for both himself and his wife. My first thought was that it must really suck to be that poor, not even considering that maybe they were both counter-culture geeky folks that just thought it would be neat to have steel bands. Or maybe they wanted a harder, more lasting material to symbolize their intended long lasting love for each other. On the other hand, a chair is something you just sit on while you eat dinner and as long as you don't fall on the floor and it doesn't look like it has mange you're good to go. Most folks aren't willing / able to be as long-sighted as to realize that buying 8 sets of IKEA chairs over the years is more expensive than buying one set now, that costs what four IKEA sets costs but will outlast the 8 sets and that doesn't even consider inflation.

Larry, as far as bringing in cash from flatwork like the turners do, make some small - medium art-like jewelry boxes to take to galleries. You might need to wait for someone to pull the trigger, but you've invested a lot less wood into the project too. In fact, plan to do something like this from offcuts from commissioned work, so it is more or less free wood to you.

Well, it looks like I'm approaching Rob's word count, so I'll stop now. :rofl:
 
mark, i would think that you would need to know more about your profession as a chemist, than for joinery. i've yet to see a case, chair, or what have you, go >boom!< if you get the joinery a little less pretty than you'd like. chemicals on the other hand, have a funny habit of going boom when you least expect them to.... :eek:
 
Well, I'm an analytical chemist, not a synthetic guy, but alot of the safety stuff is similar. Read the labels, don't randomly mix stuff, check the literature when in doubt. Kind of like not feeding with the direction of the blade rotation when ripping on a RAS. Or feeding from the rear of the TS. And keeping straight which way to feed the router going back and forth from table to hand-held.
 
Chuck Thoits said:
After all that customer education comes name. If no one has ever heard of you your stuff is worthless.:( I know that the first few shows we did we would sell some stuff. But now people come looking for our stuff. And the more people that have the stuff you make. The more other people are going to want it too.:thumb:
I know that the one of's tend to make some people a little crazy.
Click to expand...

Frank Townend said:
So right about word of mouth Chuck. When you have good customer service and stand behind your products, word gets around, and folks come calling.
Click to expand...

well thanks to all who have replied its been intersting, and yes i knew frank was doing what Frank does to me:D, and the poll was just a get back for the times i hadnt thing:) now back the regulary scheduled programming.. chuck rob and tod and the rest. i once had another business and it was built on word of mouth as has been suggested, it could have been bigger. if i had the attitude then to talk to folk, like rob mentioned we have to sell oursleves first then our work. chuck, also had anothr very good point. i would get some jobs because it was me doing it rather then the competior hiring some school kids with no responbilty to the customer..i quarnteed my work and if the job didnt meet the standards or if it failed later and was my fault it was a free fix.. it has been threw this forum and just gettin wizer. that i have gained the abilty to talk with others and be able to have some slef confidence,, i just think that the wood workers, flat or round arent gettin a fair shake. and i have yet to find those people that tod mentioned that are ready to pay for quality. so its just me and the enjoyment of the work, and i hope that the "rennies and tods" and "alex's" can get there share of what they deserve for the talents.
 
i agree that as well as having a quality product, you must also be nice to your customers. they can show up the first time, but they don't have to come back. a good example that i know of, is a blacksmith friend of mine. he has a simple gaurantee for all of the items he makes, lifetime guarantee, his or yours. if you bend one of his tent pegs while he is around, he fixes it for free, no questions asked. also, unless he's extremely busy, he always has time for chatting with people. best of all, is if you happen to ask how he's doing something, he'll let you come around and watch, while he explains what he is doing. i have no worries about paying him for something before it is made.
 
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