Ned Bulken, where are you?

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Last posted in off topic on 12-30 so I reckon Ned's still alive, or some alien presence has infested his husk and is posting posts that read remarkably like something Ned would post.

Although I also admit to some curiosity as to the current state of the Kickstarter project. How is the drum sander working out, what purty pieces of pecan is in progress (and other woods, probably mostly other woods - what rhymes with purty other than pecan?), when can his remarkably generous supports expect to see a board show up? All valid and interesting questions :D
 
Ned is indeed alive and well. I have been in contact with him recently and between the new job and trying to turn out an insane number of cutting board to fulfill his obligations to backers he is a very busy man. He did tell me he was finally able to hire an electrician to bring power out to his shop so he can get that new drum sander humming. I have let him know of your concern and he sends his best and hopes to rejoin us as soon as things calm down.
 
Ned is indeed alive and well. I have been in contact with him recently and between the new job and trying to turn out an insane number of cutting board to fulfill his obligations to backers he is a very busy man. He did tell me he was finally able to hire an electrician to bring power out to his shop so he can get that new drum sander humming. I have let him know of your concern and he sends his best and hopes to rejoin us as soon as things calm down.

...and I figured he was just hibernating like the rest of us trying to survive a nasty winter! Thanks for the update.
 
Ned posted the following about 2 weeks ago on his Kickstarter page. He is one very busy fellow.

Hi folks.. Fear not I'm alive & well. I am still making a huge pile of board blanks... I just haven't had time to post an update. A full time job with benefits cropped up & I had to take the opportunity. That meant finishing up my contract with my old job, orientation & starting the new job plus making your boards. I've also had a problem with my new sander... every time I turn it on, it draws too much juice and the whole shop power. This has yet to be resolved fully, but I am going to rent time on a friend's sander (essentially take the huge pile of board blanks I have over to his shop and put them through his machine).
Sorry for the lack of updates, I thought i sent this out weeks ago. I've been at one job or the other for the past month, working close to 15 hours a day, plus gluing up boards, planing and cutting them apart in my few 'free' hours.
 
Hope nothing happened to Ned?

The lack of updates over on kickstarter has some of the supporters sounding rather displeased... A short status update over there would probably do a lot to calm the pitchfork wielding crowds. Perhaps a wee bit to much success in this case?
 
you've got that right ryan, some are looking to take legal action, some think that he's taken the money and ran. one that was into him for a good sized board has posted his opinion on twitter (over 2200 followers), and one of them reposted on his facebook page as well. he needs to resurface and post something, or this could get really ugly. i've tried to get a hold of him, his facebook page, twitter page, kickstarter page, even made a call that went to voice mail, with no luck. i'm only into him for $10, so no worries there (a couple of cheap frozen pizzas there), but there are others with more invested, that are looking to contest the charges.
 
still not a peep out of him. i figure its either a) he's dropped off the planet entirely, b) in witness protection, or c) on the first manned mission to mars. not answering messages, email, or the phone. one of his backers thinks that a personal visit may be in order.
 
I'm just disappointed and somewhat embarrassed since I was promoting him. I can overlook the $15, it's the friends and family that have also invested in Ned that are also waiting on their boards, and it's disappointing to see the way this has gone with such a positive start. I agree with Ryan, a few simple updates could turn it around still, I'm also hoping Ned is OK.
 
Yep it's a mystery. He's made a couple of posts on Facebook recently so I reckon he's still alive but the total silence on the kickstarter front it troubling.

I feel kind of bad since I posted links to the campaign on Facebook and such, I really hope no one lost any money because of that!! Not sure on the right way make that right if someone did :(
 
I've seen posts on Facebook as well indicating he's alive and working in his shop. The lack of communication is really bad on his part. The worst part of his situation is a loss of credibility; trying to do another project in the future is going to be tough! I'm into him for a little cash ($30) and told him to get to my board when he can, but this is ridiculous.
 
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can someone explain something to me.

I read the entire ned page on that kickstarter thing, I never heard of it before it was posted here.

so if dan donated 10 dollars, for 10 dollars he gets a cutting board? Bill donated 15 dollars, he gets a board?

doesn't it cost like 10 bucks just to ship one of them?

everyone that sends money gets a board?
 
Allen,

Check the "campaign" link on the kickstarter site - it breaks down what the rewards are for each level of donation.

for $10 the reward was "a Set of 4 4"x4" 3/8" thick end grain coasters with stand" - which was probably overly generous for that price (generally that was true imho for Neds rewards)
for $15 the reward was "a 6"x8"x3/4" thick cutting board- formed by cutting a single board and allowing the natural grains to shine glued up in an end grain board"
and so on.

Basically the idea of a kickstarter campaign like this is to help fund a special project that wouldn't get done otherwise. Usually there is some profit left over once the goal has been funded but sometimes its not a lot since its primarily meant as a bootstrapping mechanism.

It looks like you could probably ship the $10 reward as a first class parcel for around $3+- (depending on the weight of the specific wood chosen). That doesn't leave a whole lot for wood or labor but if you figure labor as free (as so many are wont to do to their later sorrow) and used scrap off cuts for the small stuff I think it would be doable to not loose any money on it anyway. For a bigger board like say the $60 model shipping would be closer to $12-14 (doing rough weight guesses on usps costs) of the $60 so that leaves $45 for wood and labor and about 2 board feet of material. If you were making them in bulk and had your process down to keep the time/board low that almost looks like it could make a bit extra money.
 
With Kickstarter, the person doing the project can control the number of awards and what a contributer should get for the award.

They could say, "1$ and I'll send you a personal thank you email".

Or they could say "Board from a board 6"x8"x3/4" thick cutting board- formed by cutting a single board and allowing the natural grains to shine glued up in an end grain board."

The person doing the campaign has full ownership and ability to limit the number of awards at any level.

So yeah, some of the awards seem a little low priced, and perhaps there was too many of them offered. I think Ned's campaign exceeded his expectations and ability to deliver in both volume and price.

There is no guarantee on these kickstarter campaigns, so it's always kind of a risk for the backers.

I've backed a number of campaigns, usually for bands producing vinyl records and have not been disappointed yet. But then again, I didn't back Neds campaign, because I figured I could make my own cutting boards.


 
I don't have a dog in this fight - other than a sincere concern for a friend who appears to have gotten swept up in things beyond his ability.

When the goal of the kickstarter ($1,000) was reached, adding more rewards prizes was a mistake. Adding still more a week later, I believe, was a case of getting swept up in the thrill of it all. These were moves that may have some folks thinking greed was at play and it may well have been. I was in the woodwhisperer chat room with Ned during this whole thing over the weeks that unfolded as the tally kept climbing.

At least three times, I told Ned that he was going to have a real hard time meeting the obligations as he added more and more incentives to 'sweeten the pot' further. At the time, I believed he truly wanted to come through - then the stories of failed electricity and job switching came and I started to have a hard time not being cynical.


With that said, here's the lesson I take away from all this: Good people with good intentions can be tempted beyond their means.

Ned, if you're watching, reach out to me and I'll try to help you fulfill some of the orders if possible. I fully believe you want to do the right thing and are just overwhelmed. You still have some friends who care and I'd be willing to help if it'll get you moving through these orders. You know how to contact me.
 
Ditto goes for me, Ned. You have friends. We can help. Don't lose friendships over this. There are things much more important than money.
 
Forgot to add in that kickstarter take 5% for kickstarter fees and 3-5% for processing fees so knock $1 off of the $10 rewards, $1.5 off of the $15 and $6 off of the $60 at the top which cuts it a bit thinner.

I found some interesting kickstarter stats a while back:
http://www.appsblogger.com/behind-kickstarter-crowdfunding-stats/
  • Only 25% of projects delivered on time!
  • According to Prof. Mollick’s model, after 8 months of delay, 75% of finished products (as opposed to give-aways like t-shirts) will have been delivered.

So delays and slow delivery are kind of the norm, especially for stretch goal projects and larger projects (which I think we can all agree this was - at least in context).

Given the circumstances as described; I really don't think most people would consider the project a failure at this point if there were some updates to indicate it was an ongoing enterprise.

Jason, I sincerely hope you're right, and I also hope I have a friend like you if I ever get into a patch like this and need help :thumb:
 
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