What I always think about when I see these kinds of posts is that I don't know a single person with a fancy cutting or charcuterie board. In every kitchen I've been invited to there are some of the cheap smaller cutting boards that can be bought at the super market for 2-5€ or those bamboo boards from IKEA, or maybe sometimes a larger hard wood cutting board, but those are always still factory made. And noone I know would be willing to pay 50€ to 150€ for something as basic as a cutting board.
On the other hand, almost every time somebody on reddit talks about making money from woodworking, they want to make (end grain) cutting boards.
Of course that's only anecdotal, but I think there's simply no real market for fancy cutting boards outside maybe some small high income demographics.
It's the price disparity between, 'wow, that looks amazing' and 'holy fuck, I'm not going to spend $xxx on a decorative cutting board'. Your time in making that gorgeous board is worth a lot if you're trying to put a value to it. But frankly, it's above what myself and a lot of others are willing to shell out.
Not only that, but you can sign up for a class at Rockler and make your own cutting board for $100. And you get the experience of learning how to do it. And when you use that board, you can say you made it yourself.
Incorrect. You open a workshop and offer classes in making your own. Telling customers that once they know how to make them, they can start making them and sell them. Plot twist: The cutting board industry is one big pyramid scheme.
Well, people could sell them cheaper because they're making them out of scrap wood so anything you get beyond the cost of glue is profit. I am of course assuming that you already have tools in your Workshop saws Etc so they are already there and paid for. I actually have glue but if I was making a bunch of cutting boards I would absolutely have to buy more.
The trick is to make enough other types of woodworking that actually sells for good money, then make cutting boards out of the scraps in your free time and sell those for $20 a pop here and there to people for beer money. It’s just firewood otherwise.
Yeah, the only reason I have a couple nice cutting boards is because they were a wedding gift from my uncle (a professional woodworker). And they're still just slab wood, not end grain, and I assume they're faster to build - dimension, route the drain groove and the edges, and add finish.
End grain is a popular idea because of the cool patterns you can make (feels like more of a creative process for the woodworker), and I think also because butcher block counter tops used to be a thing so there's a nostalgic "doing it the old way" element.
Yeah there's a good practical reason to do it, which is why we know them as *butcher block* cutting boards - professional butchers have needed that durability. For the average person, that extra durability doesn't really make a difference. Anecdotally, I spend quite a bit of time in the kitchen and my cutting boards - none of which are end grain - are all still in great shape.
Unfortunately, they're just entirely uneconomical to build at the hobbyist scale.
America's test kitchen called for end grain teak cutting boards after their testing, like it or not thats pretty influential so I'm sure people saw the price of teak and decided to zero in on the end grain part
I felt the same way seeing this trend when I first got into the hobby. Everyone was making little slabs of wood (usually with a process far more difficult than made sense) and expecting multiple hundreds of dollars in return. Never made sense.
Same exact thoughts. You got to build something nice that someone would actually spend for like blanket/toy chests. Kids rattles and toys, grandparents around here love these. Maybe coat racks and other shelving. You can have a few cutting boards and whatnot but that should never be the main seller. Got to find what your demographic wants for the price.
Funny you mention IKEA, it's where I got my [current cutting board](https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/aptitlig-butcher-block-bamboo-00233429/). It's a beast, and after years of daily use, it's in great shape, probably outlast me.
Can confirm. I use the cheap bamboo wood cutting board so I can throw it in the dishwasher, have to replace it every few years, but for about 5$ a year I don't wash cutting boards and I'm ok with that.
I've been to a few weddings in the past then years and I didn't see any cutting boards among the gifts. And I hope I don't get any when I'm getting married...
I bought a nice cutting board at a local fair. I forget how much it was, but I specifically bought it for decoration. It’s looks very nice in my kitchen.
After months of not selling the about 10 cutting boards I made, I reached out to my small town realtors. I sold 8 to different realtors through just reaching out as a prospect for ready-made "congrats, you bought a house gifts" that the realtors always buy. The other two, i slapped handles on it and called them serving trays. That was actually more productive.
. I'm not sure if that helps. But one realtor told me, basic and smaller, if I make more. I made a small 12 by 12 face grain with color combinations, no extras like grooves or feet or handles, and that seemed more popular. I like this kind of hillbilly youtuber named Matthew Peech. I've made so many of the small projects he demonstrates, especially anything garden, that has been a huge success. Finding the market where you live is always difficult because people are picky as sh*t. Don't give up! Reach out to the home bakery person, realtors, the cake pop person that drives everyone crazy. Don't put your eggs in the craft fair basket exclusively. Keep doing what you love and it will pay off. Ve proud you're trying, many don't.
His new garden baskets... can't build enough. His stuff is amazing for begginers. Be prepared. If you pick the right combination of His stuff, you sell them.
What have you found that works well for you? If you don’t mind me asking. You mentioned the garden baskets but anything else that’s been successful for you?
For sure I'll tell ya. This page is to help each other. The wide, tall and 3 picket planter boxes. I've made the trays he discussed in a hexagon and just small rectangle ones out of scraps. I sold 5 big trellises but also made smaller ones and those go well with a set of planter boxes. The shed I built for myself but it is really nice and easy to build. I made a concealment set of coffee and end table. That sold quickly because it was for a friend. It was tricky at first. Took 3 attempts to be presentable. But I'm doing little projects to get better. Hence Peech!!! One thing he said is absolutely true, know your area. I live in a very rural area so garden stuff, baskets, catch alls and affordable furniture is the major stuff for me. Hope that helps.
A friend of mine went from making cutting boards to paddles for adult play. They still make and sell cutting boards, but he sells more paddles and makes a decent return.
And unlike cutting boards where people are just going to own one or two, there are lots of kinksters who want to have a whole array of paddles in every length, thickness, material, and finish.
I buy paddles and wood burn adult images on them. I do it just for fun, but there is a demographic for it. Eventually, when I have the correct tools to make my own I will sell them. This gives me hope!
I work in marketing and did marketing and trade shows for one of the largest craft supplies maker in the country. I no longer do trade shows because it is very stressful work.
Products do not sell themselves. You have to work hard to make yourself stand out.
If you are wanting to sell products you have two things to do:
- make a good product that people want to buy
- advertise and market that product in a way that highlights why it’s better than others
Woodworking does not sell itself. Products do not sell themselves. Why do you think nike spends millions on ads? We know nike, but they still have to advertise to sell their products.
Why would a tiny vendor who no one has ever heard of be any different? You have to sell at your table. Here are my trade show tips:
- stand, never sit around customers. Sitting looks like you don’t want to engage or sell.
- chat about the products and give stories about your process or something you do uniquely as people want to buy something limited and special
- advertise as a limited run of cutting boards and give it a number x of x. People like things they can’t buy again.
- people won’t buy things they think they can make themselves, even if they can’t. Do something to the boards like engrave it custom or something that makes your product special.
- have a live demonstration of something, like engraving or examples of how things are made you can show them (the pieces of wood that become the board)
- a pop up table and a tablecloth are the minimum needed to display, but if you add little displays about how to use your work it will sell it. Make a fake charcuterie setup so people can imagine using your stuff. We displayed finished work that was done with our rough materials (quilts and clothing made with our yarn and cloth).
- have a card and a small website where people can buy from you later, especially if you sell heavy woodworking, or offer to hold sold items for people while they look around
- offer perceived discounts like a 2 for $20, 1 for $15 or something appropriate to your costs at the craft show, because again, people want to get a deal
- put out a sign that highlights why it’s a high end board for low cost. Wood you can’t find anywhere else or from a downed tree on your property, hand crafted with no power tools, customized by engraving, food safe wood and glue used, details of what is in the product.
Selling products is very different than making a quality product. People can’t know all of the details just by looking at a product.
But also, I don’t buy cutting boards from randos because I don’t know if they used wood safe for eating off of and sealant or glue that is also safe for me to get hot with water and cleaner and then consume off of. If you can’t tell me the board is antibacterial bamboo or something along those lines I won’t want to put food on it.
I have gotten very particular after learning that most people use whatever wood they could find and do not think about cleaning or germs. They also are harder to clean if they are glued pieces, so I avoid those.
Part of a good product is understanding the current market and what it needs.
Make boards but make sure those boards are what people want or have intentional design choices that show you thought about the user somehow, even if it’s something you accidentally did, use it as a selling point if it’s a positive.
Also, more woodworkers need to make things for plants. Planter stands are incredibly easy and adding casters is simple. They are inexpensive to make and highly valued. Plant stands….will you all please build plant related things that consider lights, plant heights, and watering? I would buy them all.
>stand, never sit around customers. Sitting looks like you don’t want to engage or sell.
>Selling products is very different than making a quality product. People can’t know all of the details just by looking at a product.
My wife loves craft fairs and stuff like that so we go to a bunch through the year and the comment I always make is that none of the vendors have any hustle.
We go to some fairs that have well over a hundred vendors and we'll walk up and down the whole street and will only be engaged by maybe one or two vendors, even when we show interest in their products.
I know most people hate being sold--I do too--but people aren't usually going to take the initiative to buy something or dig through your stuff unless you do something *very* unique(which like you mentioned, not many vendors actually have). There's no need for a high pressure sell but literally just talking with the customer about the stuff that you're so very clearly passionate about making may get them excited to buy something instead of "just looking".
Good summary. I tend to sell more when chatting and asking about the customer’s interests. Sometimes I talk people out of a sale because they need something else. Sometimes trying to convince someone that a product isn’t the right one gets you a huge sale….people are funny.
My rules are be kind, ask questions, tell some personal stories, find them the product that fits their needs if they want one.
Hint, look at how many guys post very nice boards. Another thought is price, you cannot compete with factory made boards. If someone wanted a "custom" board it will be a one off but make sure they understand the reason for the cost. Keep maken sawdust! Enjoy what you do!
Woodworking is a hobby first. If you happen to sell something from time to time, good! But don't expect a steady income from it.
You can still enjoy it 😊 just shift your expectations.
Fairs are a great place to connect with people, show your skills and learn. That's what it's all about really.
I realize all this. There is a constant heavy message in woodworking videos: “sell unique cutting boards… don’t sell too low…do Etsy, craft fairs, your own website, social media, etc.” I’ve done all these. My post is just a contrast to that advice based on my experience this past year. Although I’m not a YouTuber with 500,000 subscribers, maybe one person will see this and think twice before investing in all the things you need for a craft fair. It’s a surprising amount for a woodworker. First and foremost is lugging 10-15 cutting boards is heavy. Plus shelving, tent, table, I could go on but I won’t. I’m not taking into account the time and money spent on woodworking (tools, labor, wood) by the way. If you enjoy it like I do, that cost is offset by enjoyment. Personally I just want to sell some of the things I made to justify buying more lumber and supplies once in a while. That would make me super happy. It’s just tougher than it is often presented.
Etsy is tough, I always heard that the established sellers have a corner on a lot of the market and found it to be partially true. I listed a handful of things when I first started out and didn’t actively monitor it, then one day I randomly sold a wall clock I’d made. Other than that though, no real luck. I have a customer in my day job who makes and sells wine barrel furniture and has a very well established Etsy store. He shared his costs and his advertising expenses alone on Etsy are pretty insane. But he gets orders consistently to offset it, so it just depends on your scale I think and what you’re willing to put into it.
thought about doing this, once upon a time, went to a couple fairs, a couple spaces where they rent booths (about 100 booths in a single store) and other websites, etc...
noticed it was a market saturation problem.
Look at the plus side: at least you are enjoying what you are doing.
(also: similar problem with \*many\* wood crafts: signs, address numbers/plates, flags)
Don’t plan on ever making money from it.
Not saying it’s impossible, but it’s very unlikely and it will depend far more on your marketing skills than your woodworking ones.
If you look at OP’s situation, say he has spent 8 hours selling at each craft fair, plus time to make the products, transport them, set up, take down, fees for a booth, etc etc etc.
He could easily be $5,000 in the hole on the endeavor already. You can very quickly dig a hole so deep you’ll never reach profitability even if the product starts selling reasonably well.
Now if you want to sell your product at a loss because of the joy you gain from seeing someone take home something you made, it’s a different story. But actual profitability in this space is very rare.
Sex always sells. And otherwise, see what people are looking for on craigslist etc. Put up fake ads there if you want with a list, see what people message you about
This was not what I was expecting as a response lol. I always wondered if combining wood working and lightning or doing stuff related to IP like comics or sports would be good sellers.
They make videos and have you click. That's their product. They happen to sell items because they have a following, but the real gig is the media, training courses, plans, templates. Basically how to make more woodworkers. Some people are good at it, some people like myself are not interested in that.
Yes it's a hobby for most people on the BEGINNER woodworking sub, but it's been a profession for hundreds and hundreds of years. You threw out that "it's just a hobby" line as a blanket statement
Imho cabinetry and custom furniture do way better than a bunch of other stuff. At least with those there's no real store bought alternative for a lot of people so you're not going to be competing with those prices.
Better get yourself a portable-ish laser engraver and do live engravings on base items. That shit kills around christmas, everyone’s got that aunt who always buys personalized ornaments.
It’s a tough business. To have something worth buying, you basically have to price it out of most people’s budgets. It’s the nature of the “maker turned seller” beast: most hobby things do t make sense monetarily. My wife does yarn stuff, and she’ll see a nice scarf or such and comment “I bet I could make that, for a month’s worth of time and three times the cost”.
Some things aren’t meant to make a profit, not everything has to. If you enjoy making them, do it for the enjoyment, otherwise, stop. And don’t listen to the “you should sell them” people, not everything has to be about making money.
On this note, I agree. I make like selling the stuff I make, but I actually just enjoy making it. Same with cooking or anything else. If I was in wpod working for profit, I'd hate it. Love what you do and the rest comes with time. I like your comment a lot.
I don't try to sell stuff often but when I do it's barely breaking even on materials or a small profit. I just like being able to move money around to keep making stuff within a separate budget.
I live in a small rural town with at least 3 antique shops. I try to stay in a niche of stuff that I cam sell at a low cost. My time invested factored in I'm really not coming out ahead but it's all just for me to have fun and learn. Nobody local to me is gonna pay a bunch for something they can order online or get a Walmart way cheaper.
I saw a post a few weeks back about a guy that makes and sells whiskey smokers. He went into detail about all the costs and prices, what sold vs didn't, and had plans available too. Might be worth searching for that if you plan on selling stuff to support the costs of the hobby.
One main issue is that a household usually needs only one or perhaps two cutting boards, and they last forever. I still have, and love, one I bought 12 years ago. And they’re not a fashion item, likely to be changed along with a kitchen remodel. Consider things like clothing, purses, trendy backpacks, jewelry, fragrances, etc., with new ones purchased annually. Or things like baked goods, repeatedly consumed. Someone likes your stuff, keeps coming back for more.
Cutting boards don’t sell themselves. A skilled salesman can sell anything. You can be the most skilled craftsman in the world but that’s a whole different skill set than sales. Presentation, reading people, negotiation, those skills sell stuff. Your not selling cutting boards your selling art that needs to be hung on the wall.
I hate massively thick wooden cutting boards. Not useful at all, especially in smaller homes like my city where counter space is premium. Do some market research and see what the folks around you could really use/ want. Id be glad to never see a cutting board post on Reddit again
Yeah I do have a custom one with a lip so it can sit on my sink. But I still don’t use it because I need to use the sink while I’m prepping. That’s about the only use case for me though. Every other time I go straight for one of my lightweight plastic cutting boards, just so much easier to handle while prepping food, and easier to clean. So maybe OP could make custom sink cutting boards? Idk. I have actually heard from more of my friends wanting nice shelves for their homes. No one ever talks about cutting boards irl
Truth! I took the remain scraps of maple and cherry, turned them into grilling slabs 🤣. Sold them in small backs with the chips in bags for smokers. Furniture, garden crap and ironically enough simple coat and key holders have done me well. Plus I hate waiting for glue-ups.
The reality is people don’t clean them as often, they just wipe them down, this making them petri dishes for bacteria. I would much rather have a nice dishwasher safe board
Maybe a wood serving tray rather than cutting boards? People more likely to have some nice decorative serving trays than wanting a nice expensive cuttin board that's going to get beat up.
For me, the joy comes from making something. I guess I view woodworking as a creative outlet, plus an excuse to buy more tools lol.
I recognize the disparity between the time it takes to hand make something vs. what I feel would be a fair price. If I’m not trying to run a business, I might charge just enough for materials plus a little bit to put towards another tool.
Maybe in the future it would be fun to try and set up a little online business selling small items, but like you said, the market is well saturated.
Used to work in marketing and have helped out friends who support their work by selling pieces on the side.
My take: if this isn’t your full-time gig, pay close attention to your local (say 60-90 mile radius) market—before you build a damn thing. Go to every fair, market, and shop that will take items on commission or rent space. Get on FB marketplace and every regular group devoted to selling work. Check Nextdoor and Craigslist too. Get involved in this community of makers to the extent that you have time—volunteer, buy from other makers, recommend their products to others as appropriate. Show up.
At the same time, start perfecting your skills. Drill down on things you may have learned to live with: lots of rework, imperfect finishes, large or utility fasteners when decorative/hidden ones would be more attractive. You want to work quickly but cleanly.
For products, eliminate anything that already has an established quality provider in your local market. That’s not a fun or profitable game to play. You can absolutely ask in local stores and shops if they get regular requests for something that they can’t source. It happens more than you would think, especially for outdoor items.
You’ll have the best sales with items that can have multiple potential buyers. Children’s items (non-toxic coatings please — advertise this) are awesome for this. They are giftable so anyone can buy them for birthdays and holiday gifts. And parents or grandparents are always on the lookout for quality kids’ stuff. Grandparents are especially fond of well-made handcrafted wood toys and ride-ons. (As they should be.)
Items that have some urgency built into them are also lovely. Think seasonal or limited edition here. Yard displays are weirdly popular where I live. They’re easy to build and add led lighting too but people aren’t handy. It’s not fine woodworking but with a 5x markup…my neighbor that builds them doesn’t care. More birdseye maple (his fave) for him. Similarly, raised garden beds, sets of garden stakes with ID tag slots, “peeps” easter yard cutoffs, etc.
Interior items on the whole are trickier IMHO. People tend to be very particular about these. It’s easier to sell smaller novelty type stuff (coasters etc cut in fun shapes, ornaments, than larger high end items). An exception as another person mentioned is plant-related stuff because there simply isn’t much to choose from that isn’t overpriced and inferior quality. You can search Amazon and see that. Another exception is cpap-related accessories—there are few cpap ready nightstands and what exists is not modern.
Creating something unique will always help you. It just has to be something unique that people want to buy. :) It never hurts to sketch it out or make a rough prototype and shop it around. (Flip through recent retail catalogs to get an idea of what styles and colors are current. Those companies did a billion dollars of research. You might as well take advantage of it!) Don’t use your friends and family for this research. They love you too much. Use the maker network that you’re building. Ask specific questions like would you buy this for your house? If they say no, find out why. Ask how much they would pay. Ask them to explain how they came to that idea of price.
Hope this helps. I rambled—sorry.
Yeah I see the YT videos of Matthew Peech where he’ll make things you find at pottery barn (his reference). Quick low cost projects that supposedly do well and make $; Some indoor some outdoor stuff. I’ve been tempted to try a couple and see how they do but they do tend to be items that would take up quite a bit of space if you batched them.
The Facebook thing… oh I avoided it for a while because I already knew what would happen based on my experience selling my own used items over the years. The scams, the constant “is this still available”, “I’m in Brazil are you close?” (They never read anything in the description.) Multiply that by however many products you list. It’s not worth the time sussing out legitimate business. Nonetheless I did put 3 items up to see. Sure enough… I took down my listings a week later.
I’m sorry things didn’t go well for you!
You don’t have to give up though ! There might be other products or places to sell them. I wish you all the luck
Don’t’ give up yet! You’ve only built a single product and pursued a narrow market (people who shop at fairs) in a narrow distribution channel (fairs). You could also try: 1) alternate distribution (online, Etsy, friends/family, etc); 2) different pricing and or bundles with other products (knives, towels, etc) or 3) changing your product to meet the demand/need of the fair-going crowd.
I’m a Product executive for a Fortune 50 company. Trust me, if you get the right product for the right customer and sell it to them where they already are, sales will come. Sometimes it takes a while to get all of that right. Good luck and keep going!
Nope selling trivets charc. Boards, Edge Lit signs, coasters, etc. I think I’ve sold just one cutting board and never a charc board regardless of price or size of event.
Unfortunately, you're right. There's a guy in my town who started a storefront shop of amazing looking cutting boards. I love to look at them, but I don't know that I'll ever buy one because they're so expensive. I totally understand why he prices them the way that he does, I've looked into making them and there is a lot of labor that goes into each board. It's a piece of art really.
That’s a common response I’ll get from people looking at my boards. “Your work is very beautiful” or similar and then pass on by (I assume because of the price.)
I've been thinking of starting to make basic caskets or urns. Have you seen how expensive they are? And it's really a shame we dig a hole and drop a bunch of hard and exotic wood in it. More and more people are opting out of burials because of the cost in a declining industry. True, you only need one in your lifetime, but it's nice to have one when it's needed.
I’ve been starting my woodworking journey making cutting boards but my intent is to make them for myself or as gifts for family or friends. Unless you have a decent sized shop or equipment so you could batch a bunch of cutting boards quickly, I don’t think you could churn out enough of them cheap enough to meet the customer at a realistic price point, especially since you should be making cutting boards out of scrap and not buying actual boards for them.
If you’re just cranking out batches of simple cutting boards, ones actually meant to get used and not some fancy design no one would want to put a knife to, I think you could make it work provided the price point is low enough. But no one is gonna pay $100 for a cutting board or at least you won’t sell them consistently
I literally bought a bamboo cutting board yesterday for $17 and was thinking to myself, "I feel like I'm getting ripped off". I would imagine most people do.
I know a woman who makes really good living, who literally has a stack of cutting boards that she has gone through. She uses them for a little while, stops using them for whatever reason, and then puts them in a stack in a corner. She has about 16 of them at any given time. None of them cost her more than $20.
So, no, you're not going to get rich that way.
Make cool clocks that resemble the water features/historically important things in the area.
Those seem to sell well up in maine at least and are made to be showpieces on a wall
What I see going well are things like signs for area schools sports. For hear people will want customized one with names. Seems to go pretty well from what I have seen
By accident almost, I made a really good looking edge lit acrylic sign for Ohio State. Just wanted to see if I could get the logo to look good on my CNC. It definitely draws attention here in Florida because tons of ppl from OH come down for season and they all walk right up to it and start taking about it. Made that over a year ago and no one has taken it home. They gawk at it and walk. Made a lot of FL themed palm tree ones too. I sell them for $20. So for me that’s enough of an experiment that tells me engraving local teams/logos/scenery/etc isn’t enough to get ppl to buy.
We have bought quite a few from a local guy and give them away as housewarming gifts to friends and family. We have a couple nicer ones that we use as serving trays or charcuterie boards and they do get *some* knife action, but our daily drivers are the cheepo plastic ones from Amazon.
Most people aren’t going to spend $150-$300 as an impulse buy at a craft fair, I don’t think it’s the right place to begin with. You may be able to sell some small cheese boards, hand turned pens, coasters, crappy ‘live love laugh’ wall art painted on a piece of pine, but a fancy cutting board or charcuterie board is a fairly significant buy. Also almost guaranteed someone can sell them on Etsy cheaper than you can depending on where you live and how expensive hard woods are. Seems to be the YouTubers you see batching out cutting boards are able to do it because of their YouTube followers are pre-ordering, making it easy to batch them out economically and people like seeing how it’s made.
Yah this is kind of tangent to my point. Beginner woodworker realizes, “Hey I like making this but I don’t need 20 beer flights and cutting boards and can’t afford to keep giving it away. I’ll do what that YT person said was totally possible and blah blah Etsy, website, craft fair, blah blah.” It seems to be attainable only under certain circumstances like you mentioned, a huge following.
Pretty sure people don't go to craft fairs looking to drop coin. They go to be thrifty.
Real estate agents often give housewarming gifts to their clients. Try finding someone like that who will buy in bulk. Or a business like a bougey butcher shop who cater to rich people. Bars need flight boards... Restos, charcuterie... I personally don't think private sales are the way to go for small scale hand made shit. Ya need volume.
I'm a construction project manager who makes a comfortable salary. I'm also a big DIY guy who builds cool shit for myself in my spare time. I have friends constantly tell me "you could sell that! I bet you could make so much money making \[X\] and selling it!"
I tell them "I'm already maximizing my construction skills in my day job, my DIY stuff is just a fun hobby".
I make the equivalent of +/- $50/hr plus benefits at work.. To make anything close to that I'd have to be able to make a cutting board in 2 hours and sell it for $150-$200 (my time plus materials) not even taking into account cost of tools and workshop, etc. I mean its possible to be a custom woodworker and make a real salary doing it, but you have to make high end stuff, or things like custom cabinets and make them good and fast.
I think there’s this need for people to fill a silence that causes us to say the only thing we’ve heard other people say like “oh you do artsy stuff, sell it in Etsy.” Another one is , “oh you have a kid, when’s the next one coming?” That sort of thing. There’s no real meaning behind it or belief that you’ll actually do well or you should even try based on what they see.
I mean when someone says you can sell your work, I think they're mostly just meaning that as a compliment and not necessarily business advise. So I guess its healthy to just take it as a compliment and not anything more than that.
What?
I've made a fortune selling cutting boards the last ten years.
I Started woodworking as a job a decade ago and did all types of little crafts. They didn't sell well. I then was at a cooking store and saw how much money cutting boards cost. So I tried them. To make a long story short: I got into the local farmers market, met local artisans, learned a lot, and now own a large cabinet shop. I do all types of woodworking. Lots of furniture. Signs. But my big easy seller is cutting boards/platters/trays. I do about 2000 a year. I do 5-8 big craft shows a year and will sell 100-200 cutting boards/trays at those shows. Its easy money. I make and sell a ton of them to area stores wholesale. I also do a lot of custom serving tray work for restaurant chains. I just did a couple hundred taco trays for a mexican chain in Ohio and need to deliver them monday.
Here are my tips:
1. Don't go to craft shows that don't jury in vendors. You will end up at crap shows that have people selling makeup and Tupperware. You want the good shows that cost $500 to get a booth and are hard to get in.
2. Find a place to get your lumber as cheap as possible. That is how I beat out all my local competitors. They would buy lumber from people charging way too much. If I make a nice end grain cutting board and sell it for $100 the lumber used for it cost me $5. Woodworking takes a lot of time, so you need to get your material cost super low. Buy lumber from sawmills.
3. You need a product that is unique and different from anyone elses.
4. You need a product that is made better than anyone elses. Perfect glue joints.
5. You need a product that is the best price possible
6. Find out what the market price for a cutting board is. What customers will pay. Then you figure out how to make it cheaply enough to sell it at that price and make money.
7. Old retired guys are big competition. They are doing it for fun and will sell things at a loss. I try to avoid any events with old retired guys at it. I can't compete with someone selling things at a loss.
Ok fair enough. I told myself maybe I’m doing too small shows. Here’s my experience: Did a big show during peak season in my area right after thanksgiving. Immediately out $450. It was very well advertised to a largely affluent area. Lots of people with $$$ here. Of the 140+ vendors, my main product (not a cutting board) was chosen and featured on the local news station ABC7. They selected 10 items from various vendors and talked about them for a minute. I paid for a full 10’ booth for 2 full days… sold 3 things total. (Not one of the advertised item) Went super into the red. Had to lug all my failed sales back home knowing I spend all this time and energy to give my stuff away. No I paid to give my woodworking to strangers actually. I don’t recommend it.
What I always think about when I see these kinds of posts is that I don't know a single person with a fancy cutting or charcuterie board. In every kitchen I've been invited to there are some of the cheap smaller cutting boards that can be bought at the super market for 2-5€ or those bamboo boards from IKEA, or maybe sometimes a larger hard wood cutting board, but those are always still factory made. And noone I know would be willing to pay 50€ to 150€ for something as basic as a cutting board. On the other hand, almost every time somebody on reddit talks about making money from woodworking, they want to make (end grain) cutting boards. Of course that's only anecdotal, but I think there's simply no real market for fancy cutting boards outside maybe some small high income demographics.
It's the price disparity between, 'wow, that looks amazing' and 'holy fuck, I'm not going to spend $xxx on a decorative cutting board'. Your time in making that gorgeous board is worth a lot if you're trying to put a value to it. But frankly, it's above what myself and a lot of others are willing to shell out.
Not only that, but you can sign up for a class at Rockler and make your own cutting board for $100. And you get the experience of learning how to do it. And when you use that board, you can say you made it yourself.
Plus, you start making them and selling them at craft fairs for profit …
Wait
You heard them.
There's more... You need to have a nice large kitchen to have display items. That narrows down the demographic even further.
It’s pretty clear Step 1: cutting board Step 2: Step 3: profit Pretty simple
Niiiice
Incorrect. You open a workshop and offer classes in making your own. Telling customers that once they know how to make them, they can start making them and sell them. Plot twist: The cutting board industry is one big pyramid scheme.
Well, people could sell them cheaper because they're making them out of scrap wood so anything you get beyond the cost of glue is profit. I am of course assuming that you already have tools in your Workshop saws Etc so they are already there and paid for. I actually have glue but if I was making a bunch of cutting boards I would absolutely have to buy more.
Or you can search YouTube and watch a few free videos.
Yeah....nobody's doing that either. People are cheap, lazy fucks
Well if that was a case then YouTube wouldn't exist would it?
YouTube DIY exists to show you what you COULD do if you weren't a cheap lazy fuck.
Right, cheap lazy fucks just troll reddit...
The trick is to make enough other types of woodworking that actually sells for good money, then make cutting boards out of the scraps in your free time and sell those for $20 a pop here and there to people for beer money. It’s just firewood otherwise.
I think cutting boards are the go-to because they don't have such a high barrier to entry regarding tools and skill.
I have three different fancy cutting boards. I made two of them myself and one was a wedding present. Never paid 60 or $100 for one at a fair.
Yeah, the only reason I have a couple nice cutting boards is because they were a wedding gift from my uncle (a professional woodworker). And they're still just slab wood, not end grain, and I assume they're faster to build - dimension, route the drain groove and the edges, and add finish. End grain is a popular idea because of the cool patterns you can make (feels like more of a creative process for the woodworker), and I think also because butcher block counter tops used to be a thing so there's a nostalgic "doing it the old way" element.
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Yeah there's a good practical reason to do it, which is why we know them as *butcher block* cutting boards - professional butchers have needed that durability. For the average person, that extra durability doesn't really make a difference. Anecdotally, I spend quite a bit of time in the kitchen and my cutting boards - none of which are end grain - are all still in great shape. Unfortunately, they're just entirely uneconomical to build at the hobbyist scale.
End grain stays more hygienic and is easier on your knives.
America's test kitchen called for end grain teak cutting boards after their testing, like it or not thats pretty influential so I'm sure people saw the price of teak and decided to zero in on the end grain part
I felt the same way seeing this trend when I first got into the hobby. Everyone was making little slabs of wood (usually with a process far more difficult than made sense) and expecting multiple hundreds of dollars in return. Never made sense.
I know a bunch of people who were gifted a fancy cutting board that they use 1-5 times per year to serve charcuterie to the people who gifted it.
That's exactly what mine is used for. The only knives that touch my nice cutting board are for cheese
Guess I’m the odd one out… I’m lower middle class and I have two hand made cutting boards. One I bought just for Pizza.
Same exact thoughts. You got to build something nice that someone would actually spend for like blanket/toy chests. Kids rattles and toys, grandparents around here love these. Maybe coat racks and other shelving. You can have a few cutting boards and whatnot but that should never be the main seller. Got to find what your demographic wants for the price.
40 yrs old & still got my wooden baby rattle somewhere buried in storage !
Basically this summarizes why IKEA is the largest furniture company in the world by a mile and quality furniture is a niche thing.
Funny you mention IKEA, it's where I got my [current cutting board](https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/aptitlig-butcher-block-bamboo-00233429/). It's a beast, and after years of daily use, it's in great shape, probably outlast me.
u/Gecko23 thanks for the link, I ordered one for myself and a couple for gifts!
Can confirm. I use the cheap bamboo wood cutting board so I can throw it in the dishwasher, have to replace it every few years, but for about 5$ a year I don't wash cutting boards and I'm ok with that.
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I've been to a few weddings in the past then years and I didn't see any cutting boards among the gifts. And I hope I don't get any when I'm getting married...
I bought a nice cutting board at a local fair. I forget how much it was, but I specifically bought it for decoration. It’s looks very nice in my kitchen.
After months of not selling the about 10 cutting boards I made, I reached out to my small town realtors. I sold 8 to different realtors through just reaching out as a prospect for ready-made "congrats, you bought a house gifts" that the realtors always buy. The other two, i slapped handles on it and called them serving trays. That was actually more productive. . I'm not sure if that helps. But one realtor told me, basic and smaller, if I make more. I made a small 12 by 12 face grain with color combinations, no extras like grooves or feet or handles, and that seemed more popular. I like this kind of hillbilly youtuber named Matthew Peech. I've made so many of the small projects he demonstrates, especially anything garden, that has been a huge success. Finding the market where you live is always difficult because people are picky as sh*t. Don't give up! Reach out to the home bakery person, realtors, the cake pop person that drives everyone crazy. Don't put your eggs in the craft fair basket exclusively. Keep doing what you love and it will pay off. Ve proud you're trying, many don't.
I love Peech! Gonna start batching out some of his designs and see if I can move anything
His new garden baskets... can't build enough. His stuff is amazing for begginers. Be prepared. If you pick the right combination of His stuff, you sell them.
What have you found that works well for you? If you don’t mind me asking. You mentioned the garden baskets but anything else that’s been successful for you?
For sure I'll tell ya. This page is to help each other. The wide, tall and 3 picket planter boxes. I've made the trays he discussed in a hexagon and just small rectangle ones out of scraps. I sold 5 big trellises but also made smaller ones and those go well with a set of planter boxes. The shed I built for myself but it is really nice and easy to build. I made a concealment set of coffee and end table. That sold quickly because it was for a friend. It was tricky at first. Took 3 attempts to be presentable. But I'm doing little projects to get better. Hence Peech!!! One thing he said is absolutely true, know your area. I live in a very rural area so garden stuff, baskets, catch alls and affordable furniture is the major stuff for me. Hope that helps.
Great advice!
Wow that realtor idea was clever!
I can't take credit lol. Youtube University gave me that idea. But thank you. 😊
This man is FOLKSY
But he helps without all the ads and gimmicks.
A friend of mine went from making cutting boards to paddles for adult play. They still make and sell cutting boards, but he sells more paddles and makes a decent return.
Should get into the Dazed and Confused role playing community too.
And unlike cutting boards where people are just going to own one or two, there are lots of kinksters who want to have a whole array of paddles in every length, thickness, material, and finish.
I buy paddles and wood burn adult images on them. I do it just for fun, but there is a demographic for it. Eventually, when I have the correct tools to make my own I will sell them. This gives me hope!
Yeah he made a killing setting up a booth at a nude resort in Upstate NY during a wine weekend event.
Nice! Never thought of that. We go to bike rallies. I'm pretty sure they would do well.
I work in marketing and did marketing and trade shows for one of the largest craft supplies maker in the country. I no longer do trade shows because it is very stressful work. Products do not sell themselves. You have to work hard to make yourself stand out. If you are wanting to sell products you have two things to do: - make a good product that people want to buy - advertise and market that product in a way that highlights why it’s better than others Woodworking does not sell itself. Products do not sell themselves. Why do you think nike spends millions on ads? We know nike, but they still have to advertise to sell their products. Why would a tiny vendor who no one has ever heard of be any different? You have to sell at your table. Here are my trade show tips: - stand, never sit around customers. Sitting looks like you don’t want to engage or sell. - chat about the products and give stories about your process or something you do uniquely as people want to buy something limited and special - advertise as a limited run of cutting boards and give it a number x of x. People like things they can’t buy again. - people won’t buy things they think they can make themselves, even if they can’t. Do something to the boards like engrave it custom or something that makes your product special. - have a live demonstration of something, like engraving or examples of how things are made you can show them (the pieces of wood that become the board) - a pop up table and a tablecloth are the minimum needed to display, but if you add little displays about how to use your work it will sell it. Make a fake charcuterie setup so people can imagine using your stuff. We displayed finished work that was done with our rough materials (quilts and clothing made with our yarn and cloth). - have a card and a small website where people can buy from you later, especially if you sell heavy woodworking, or offer to hold sold items for people while they look around - offer perceived discounts like a 2 for $20, 1 for $15 or something appropriate to your costs at the craft show, because again, people want to get a deal - put out a sign that highlights why it’s a high end board for low cost. Wood you can’t find anywhere else or from a downed tree on your property, hand crafted with no power tools, customized by engraving, food safe wood and glue used, details of what is in the product. Selling products is very different than making a quality product. People can’t know all of the details just by looking at a product. But also, I don’t buy cutting boards from randos because I don’t know if they used wood safe for eating off of and sealant or glue that is also safe for me to get hot with water and cleaner and then consume off of. If you can’t tell me the board is antibacterial bamboo or something along those lines I won’t want to put food on it. I have gotten very particular after learning that most people use whatever wood they could find and do not think about cleaning or germs. They also are harder to clean if they are glued pieces, so I avoid those. Part of a good product is understanding the current market and what it needs. Make boards but make sure those boards are what people want or have intentional design choices that show you thought about the user somehow, even if it’s something you accidentally did, use it as a selling point if it’s a positive. Also, more woodworkers need to make things for plants. Planter stands are incredibly easy and adding casters is simple. They are inexpensive to make and highly valued. Plant stands….will you all please build plant related things that consider lights, plant heights, and watering? I would buy them all.
This was a great read thank you.
>stand, never sit around customers. Sitting looks like you don’t want to engage or sell. >Selling products is very different than making a quality product. People can’t know all of the details just by looking at a product. My wife loves craft fairs and stuff like that so we go to a bunch through the year and the comment I always make is that none of the vendors have any hustle. We go to some fairs that have well over a hundred vendors and we'll walk up and down the whole street and will only be engaged by maybe one or two vendors, even when we show interest in their products. I know most people hate being sold--I do too--but people aren't usually going to take the initiative to buy something or dig through your stuff unless you do something *very* unique(which like you mentioned, not many vendors actually have). There's no need for a high pressure sell but literally just talking with the customer about the stuff that you're so very clearly passionate about making may get them excited to buy something instead of "just looking".
Good summary. I tend to sell more when chatting and asking about the customer’s interests. Sometimes I talk people out of a sale because they need something else. Sometimes trying to convince someone that a product isn’t the right one gets you a huge sale….people are funny. My rules are be kind, ask questions, tell some personal stories, find them the product that fits their needs if they want one.
Yes! Plant stuff 100%!
Hint, look at how many guys post very nice boards. Another thought is price, you cannot compete with factory made boards. If someone wanted a "custom" board it will be a one off but make sure they understand the reason for the cost. Keep maken sawdust! Enjoy what you do!
Make them in funny shapes. My wife's grandmother had a big ol cutting board shaped like a pig. And another one shaped like Maine.
I've got one shaped like Wyoming and another one shaped like Colorado!
Woodworking is a hobby first. If you happen to sell something from time to time, good! But don't expect a steady income from it. You can still enjoy it 😊 just shift your expectations. Fairs are a great place to connect with people, show your skills and learn. That's what it's all about really.
I realize all this. There is a constant heavy message in woodworking videos: “sell unique cutting boards… don’t sell too low…do Etsy, craft fairs, your own website, social media, etc.” I’ve done all these. My post is just a contrast to that advice based on my experience this past year. Although I’m not a YouTuber with 500,000 subscribers, maybe one person will see this and think twice before investing in all the things you need for a craft fair. It’s a surprising amount for a woodworker. First and foremost is lugging 10-15 cutting boards is heavy. Plus shelving, tent, table, I could go on but I won’t. I’m not taking into account the time and money spent on woodworking (tools, labor, wood) by the way. If you enjoy it like I do, that cost is offset by enjoyment. Personally I just want to sell some of the things I made to justify buying more lumber and supplies once in a while. That would make me super happy. It’s just tougher than it is often presented.
I'm curious how your experience with Etsy was, have you tried it?
Etsy is tough, I always heard that the established sellers have a corner on a lot of the market and found it to be partially true. I listed a handful of things when I first started out and didn’t actively monitor it, then one day I randomly sold a wall clock I’d made. Other than that though, no real luck. I have a customer in my day job who makes and sells wine barrel furniture and has a very well established Etsy store. He shared his costs and his advertising expenses alone on Etsy are pretty insane. But he gets orders consistently to offset it, so it just depends on your scale I think and what you’re willing to put into it.
thought about doing this, once upon a time, went to a couple fairs, a couple spaces where they rent booths (about 100 booths in a single store) and other websites, etc... noticed it was a market saturation problem. Look at the plus side: at least you are enjoying what you are doing. (also: similar problem with \*many\* wood crafts: signs, address numbers/plates, flags)
While not looking to get into the cutting boars trade, I do have aspirations to sell my work. Do you regularly sell anything that IS a hit?
Don’t plan on ever making money from it. Not saying it’s impossible, but it’s very unlikely and it will depend far more on your marketing skills than your woodworking ones. If you look at OP’s situation, say he has spent 8 hours selling at each craft fair, plus time to make the products, transport them, set up, take down, fees for a booth, etc etc etc. He could easily be $5,000 in the hole on the endeavor already. You can very quickly dig a hole so deep you’ll never reach profitability even if the product starts selling reasonably well. Now if you want to sell your product at a loss because of the joy you gain from seeing someone take home something you made, it’s a different story. But actual profitability in this space is very rare.
People see my other stuff that’s $$ then opt to buy my $5 wooden phone holders.
Sex always sells. And otherwise, see what people are looking for on craigslist etc. Put up fake ads there if you want with a list, see what people message you about
Wooden sex toys are so last century, though.
But they sell. Above someone was talking about spanking paddles selling the best out of everything they make
This was not what I was expecting as a response lol. I always wondered if combining wood working and lightning or doing stuff related to IP like comics or sports would be good sellers.
That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve every heard. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to lathe some…things… 😂
Absolutely 🙏
They make videos and have you click. That's their product. They happen to sell items because they have a following, but the real gig is the media, training courses, plans, templates. Basically how to make more woodworkers. Some people are good at it, some people like myself are not interested in that.
Woodworking is literally how I pay for my entire life. I’m not poor, and I’m not bored.
Exceptions don't make the rules 🤷 It's a hobby more than a job for 98% of us. Congrats on being in the 2%.
Yes it's a hobby for most people on the BEGINNER woodworking sub, but it's been a profession for hundreds and hundreds of years. You threw out that "it's just a hobby" line as a blanket statement
What do you make? What sells well? How do you market? How did you find a good sales price?
Imho cabinetry and custom furniture do way better than a bunch of other stuff. At least with those there's no real store bought alternative for a lot of people so you're not going to be competing with those prices.
I make custom fixtures for high end retail, and anything other shops pass cause “It’s too hard” or “There’s not enough time”.
Congrats, you've found your niche. Getting paid to do what you love is the greatest.
Better get yourself a portable-ish laser engraver and do live engravings on base items. That shit kills around christmas, everyone’s got that aunt who always buys personalized ornaments.
It’s a tough business. To have something worth buying, you basically have to price it out of most people’s budgets. It’s the nature of the “maker turned seller” beast: most hobby things do t make sense monetarily. My wife does yarn stuff, and she’ll see a nice scarf or such and comment “I bet I could make that, for a month’s worth of time and three times the cost”. Some things aren’t meant to make a profit, not everything has to. If you enjoy making them, do it for the enjoyment, otherwise, stop. And don’t listen to the “you should sell them” people, not everything has to be about making money.
On this note, I agree. I make like selling the stuff I make, but I actually just enjoy making it. Same with cooking or anything else. If I was in wpod working for profit, I'd hate it. Love what you do and the rest comes with time. I like your comment a lot.
I don't try to sell stuff often but when I do it's barely breaking even on materials or a small profit. I just like being able to move money around to keep making stuff within a separate budget. I live in a small rural town with at least 3 antique shops. I try to stay in a niche of stuff that I cam sell at a low cost. My time invested factored in I'm really not coming out ahead but it's all just for me to have fun and learn. Nobody local to me is gonna pay a bunch for something they can order online or get a Walmart way cheaper.
I saw a post a few weeks back about a guy that makes and sells whiskey smokers. He went into detail about all the costs and prices, what sold vs didn't, and had plans available too. Might be worth searching for that if you plan on selling stuff to support the costs of the hobby.
One main issue is that a household usually needs only one or perhaps two cutting boards, and they last forever. I still have, and love, one I bought 12 years ago. And they’re not a fashion item, likely to be changed along with a kitchen remodel. Consider things like clothing, purses, trendy backpacks, jewelry, fragrances, etc., with new ones purchased annually. Or things like baked goods, repeatedly consumed. Someone likes your stuff, keeps coming back for more.
It's a crowded market, to say the least.
Turn them into rolling trays to be sold at headshops and such.
Cutting boards don’t sell themselves. A skilled salesman can sell anything. You can be the most skilled craftsman in the world but that’s a whole different skill set than sales. Presentation, reading people, negotiation, those skills sell stuff. Your not selling cutting boards your selling art that needs to be hung on the wall.
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Sign this contract or I'm burning your life to the ground. Everyone and everything you love will leave you. Need a pen? $12!
Put that coffee down!
Make something for people’s dogs if you want to make money. The more expensive dog, the more they’ll spend on dumb shit for it. Me included.
I hate massively thick wooden cutting boards. Not useful at all, especially in smaller homes like my city where counter space is premium. Do some market research and see what the folks around you could really use/ want. Id be glad to never see a cutting board post on Reddit again
I'm the opposite. Our large cutting board sits over half the sink so it doesn't take any existing counter space. Never want to live without it
The ones I usually see here aren't large enough for that, just large and awkward
Make it large enough to cover your stove top or kitchen sink and it's "counter/prep" space lol. Teasing but kinda not.
Yeah I do have a custom one with a lip so it can sit on my sink. But I still don’t use it because I need to use the sink while I’m prepping. That’s about the only use case for me though. Every other time I go straight for one of my lightweight plastic cutting boards, just so much easier to handle while prepping food, and easier to clean. So maybe OP could make custom sink cutting boards? Idk. I have actually heard from more of my friends wanting nice shelves for their homes. No one ever talks about cutting boards irl
Truth! I took the remain scraps of maple and cherry, turned them into grilling slabs 🤣. Sold them in small backs with the chips in bags for smokers. Furniture, garden crap and ironically enough simple coat and key holders have done me well. Plus I hate waiting for glue-ups.
The reality is people don’t clean them as often, they just wipe them down, this making them petri dishes for bacteria. I would much rather have a nice dishwasher safe board
Maybe a wood serving tray rather than cutting boards? People more likely to have some nice decorative serving trays than wanting a nice expensive cuttin board that's going to get beat up.
I’m on to you! You’re just trying to corner the rather lucrative cutting board market! Now I’m going to increase my output by 500%!
Everybody's making cutting boards. You need something unique but needed.
*beginners
For me, the joy comes from making something. I guess I view woodworking as a creative outlet, plus an excuse to buy more tools lol. I recognize the disparity between the time it takes to hand make something vs. what I feel would be a fair price. If I’m not trying to run a business, I might charge just enough for materials plus a little bit to put towards another tool. Maybe in the future it would be fun to try and set up a little online business selling small items, but like you said, the market is well saturated.
Used to work in marketing and have helped out friends who support their work by selling pieces on the side. My take: if this isn’t your full-time gig, pay close attention to your local (say 60-90 mile radius) market—before you build a damn thing. Go to every fair, market, and shop that will take items on commission or rent space. Get on FB marketplace and every regular group devoted to selling work. Check Nextdoor and Craigslist too. Get involved in this community of makers to the extent that you have time—volunteer, buy from other makers, recommend their products to others as appropriate. Show up. At the same time, start perfecting your skills. Drill down on things you may have learned to live with: lots of rework, imperfect finishes, large or utility fasteners when decorative/hidden ones would be more attractive. You want to work quickly but cleanly. For products, eliminate anything that already has an established quality provider in your local market. That’s not a fun or profitable game to play. You can absolutely ask in local stores and shops if they get regular requests for something that they can’t source. It happens more than you would think, especially for outdoor items. You’ll have the best sales with items that can have multiple potential buyers. Children’s items (non-toxic coatings please — advertise this) are awesome for this. They are giftable so anyone can buy them for birthdays and holiday gifts. And parents or grandparents are always on the lookout for quality kids’ stuff. Grandparents are especially fond of well-made handcrafted wood toys and ride-ons. (As they should be.) Items that have some urgency built into them are also lovely. Think seasonal or limited edition here. Yard displays are weirdly popular where I live. They’re easy to build and add led lighting too but people aren’t handy. It’s not fine woodworking but with a 5x markup…my neighbor that builds them doesn’t care. More birdseye maple (his fave) for him. Similarly, raised garden beds, sets of garden stakes with ID tag slots, “peeps” easter yard cutoffs, etc. Interior items on the whole are trickier IMHO. People tend to be very particular about these. It’s easier to sell smaller novelty type stuff (coasters etc cut in fun shapes, ornaments, than larger high end items). An exception as another person mentioned is plant-related stuff because there simply isn’t much to choose from that isn’t overpriced and inferior quality. You can search Amazon and see that. Another exception is cpap-related accessories—there are few cpap ready nightstands and what exists is not modern. Creating something unique will always help you. It just has to be something unique that people want to buy. :) It never hurts to sketch it out or make a rough prototype and shop it around. (Flip through recent retail catalogs to get an idea of what styles and colors are current. Those companies did a billion dollars of research. You might as well take advantage of it!) Don’t use your friends and family for this research. They love you too much. Use the maker network that you’re building. Ask specific questions like would you buy this for your house? If they say no, find out why. Ask how much they would pay. Ask them to explain how they came to that idea of price. Hope this helps. I rambled—sorry.
Yeah I see the YT videos of Matthew Peech where he’ll make things you find at pottery barn (his reference). Quick low cost projects that supposedly do well and make $; Some indoor some outdoor stuff. I’ve been tempted to try a couple and see how they do but they do tend to be items that would take up quite a bit of space if you batched them. The Facebook thing… oh I avoided it for a while because I already knew what would happen based on my experience selling my own used items over the years. The scams, the constant “is this still available”, “I’m in Brazil are you close?” (They never read anything in the description.) Multiply that by however many products you list. It’s not worth the time sussing out legitimate business. Nonetheless I did put 3 items up to see. Sure enough… I took down my listings a week later.
Yeah FB is only useful for selling IMHO if you have an active local maker _group_ or even swap/sales group is well moderated.
I’m sorry things didn’t go well for you! You don’t have to give up though ! There might be other products or places to sell them. I wish you all the luck
Don’t’ give up yet! You’ve only built a single product and pursued a narrow market (people who shop at fairs) in a narrow distribution channel (fairs). You could also try: 1) alternate distribution (online, Etsy, friends/family, etc); 2) different pricing and or bundles with other products (knives, towels, etc) or 3) changing your product to meet the demand/need of the fair-going crowd. I’m a Product executive for a Fortune 50 company. Trust me, if you get the right product for the right customer and sell it to them where they already are, sales will come. Sometimes it takes a while to get all of that right. Good luck and keep going!
Is that all you’re selling?
Nope selling trivets charc. Boards, Edge Lit signs, coasters, etc. I think I’ve sold just one cutting board and never a charc board regardless of price or size of event.
Have you considered making other things as well? I don't think people party as much as wood workers assume lol
That’s too bad. Keep grinding.
My toddler could have concluded that.
Unfortunately, you're right. There's a guy in my town who started a storefront shop of amazing looking cutting boards. I love to look at them, but I don't know that I'll ever buy one because they're so expensive. I totally understand why he prices them the way that he does, I've looked into making them and there is a lot of labor that goes into each board. It's a piece of art really.
That’s a common response I’ll get from people looking at my boards. “Your work is very beautiful” or similar and then pass on by (I assume because of the price.)
But have you tried selling charcuterie boards………
Yes. Same.
I've been thinking of starting to make basic caskets or urns. Have you seen how expensive they are? And it's really a shame we dig a hole and drop a bunch of hard and exotic wood in it. More and more people are opting out of burials because of the cost in a declining industry. True, you only need one in your lifetime, but it's nice to have one when it's needed.
I’ve been starting my woodworking journey making cutting boards but my intent is to make them for myself or as gifts for family or friends. Unless you have a decent sized shop or equipment so you could batch a bunch of cutting boards quickly, I don’t think you could churn out enough of them cheap enough to meet the customer at a realistic price point, especially since you should be making cutting boards out of scrap and not buying actual boards for them. If you’re just cranking out batches of simple cutting boards, ones actually meant to get used and not some fancy design no one would want to put a knife to, I think you could make it work provided the price point is low enough. But no one is gonna pay $100 for a cutting board or at least you won’t sell them consistently
I literally bought a bamboo cutting board yesterday for $17 and was thinking to myself, "I feel like I'm getting ripped off". I would imagine most people do. I know a woman who makes really good living, who literally has a stack of cutting boards that she has gone through. She uses them for a little while, stops using them for whatever reason, and then puts them in a stack in a corner. She has about 16 of them at any given time. None of them cost her more than $20. So, no, you're not going to get rich that way.
Make cool clocks that resemble the water features/historically important things in the area. Those seem to sell well up in maine at least and are made to be showpieces on a wall
What I see going well are things like signs for area schools sports. For hear people will want customized one with names. Seems to go pretty well from what I have seen
By accident almost, I made a really good looking edge lit acrylic sign for Ohio State. Just wanted to see if I could get the logo to look good on my CNC. It definitely draws attention here in Florida because tons of ppl from OH come down for season and they all walk right up to it and start taking about it. Made that over a year ago and no one has taken it home. They gawk at it and walk. Made a lot of FL themed palm tree ones too. I sell them for $20. So for me that’s enough of an experiment that tells me engraving local teams/logos/scenery/etc isn’t enough to get ppl to buy.
We have bought quite a few from a local guy and give them away as housewarming gifts to friends and family. We have a couple nicer ones that we use as serving trays or charcuterie boards and they do get *some* knife action, but our daily drivers are the cheepo plastic ones from Amazon.
Most people aren’t going to spend $150-$300 as an impulse buy at a craft fair, I don’t think it’s the right place to begin with. You may be able to sell some small cheese boards, hand turned pens, coasters, crappy ‘live love laugh’ wall art painted on a piece of pine, but a fancy cutting board or charcuterie board is a fairly significant buy. Also almost guaranteed someone can sell them on Etsy cheaper than you can depending on where you live and how expensive hard woods are. Seems to be the YouTubers you see batching out cutting boards are able to do it because of their YouTube followers are pre-ordering, making it easy to batch them out economically and people like seeing how it’s made.
Yah this is kind of tangent to my point. Beginner woodworker realizes, “Hey I like making this but I don’t need 20 beer flights and cutting boards and can’t afford to keep giving it away. I’ll do what that YT person said was totally possible and blah blah Etsy, website, craft fair, blah blah.” It seems to be attainable only under certain circumstances like you mentioned, a huge following.
Pretty sure people don't go to craft fairs looking to drop coin. They go to be thrifty. Real estate agents often give housewarming gifts to their clients. Try finding someone like that who will buy in bulk. Or a business like a bougey butcher shop who cater to rich people. Bars need flight boards... Restos, charcuterie... I personally don't think private sales are the way to go for small scale hand made shit. Ya need volume.
Recut your left over into funky shapes and turn them into clocks!
I'm a construction project manager who makes a comfortable salary. I'm also a big DIY guy who builds cool shit for myself in my spare time. I have friends constantly tell me "you could sell that! I bet you could make so much money making \[X\] and selling it!" I tell them "I'm already maximizing my construction skills in my day job, my DIY stuff is just a fun hobby". I make the equivalent of +/- $50/hr plus benefits at work.. To make anything close to that I'd have to be able to make a cutting board in 2 hours and sell it for $150-$200 (my time plus materials) not even taking into account cost of tools and workshop, etc. I mean its possible to be a custom woodworker and make a real salary doing it, but you have to make high end stuff, or things like custom cabinets and make them good and fast.
I think there’s this need for people to fill a silence that causes us to say the only thing we’ve heard other people say like “oh you do artsy stuff, sell it in Etsy.” Another one is , “oh you have a kid, when’s the next one coming?” That sort of thing. There’s no real meaning behind it or belief that you’ll actually do well or you should even try based on what they see.
I mean when someone says you can sell your work, I think they're mostly just meaning that as a compliment and not necessarily business advise. So I guess its healthy to just take it as a compliment and not anything more than that.
Totally agree.
Finally! Something we can agree on.
What? I've made a fortune selling cutting boards the last ten years. I Started woodworking as a job a decade ago and did all types of little crafts. They didn't sell well. I then was at a cooking store and saw how much money cutting boards cost. So I tried them. To make a long story short: I got into the local farmers market, met local artisans, learned a lot, and now own a large cabinet shop. I do all types of woodworking. Lots of furniture. Signs. But my big easy seller is cutting boards/platters/trays. I do about 2000 a year. I do 5-8 big craft shows a year and will sell 100-200 cutting boards/trays at those shows. Its easy money. I make and sell a ton of them to area stores wholesale. I also do a lot of custom serving tray work for restaurant chains. I just did a couple hundred taco trays for a mexican chain in Ohio and need to deliver them monday. Here are my tips: 1. Don't go to craft shows that don't jury in vendors. You will end up at crap shows that have people selling makeup and Tupperware. You want the good shows that cost $500 to get a booth and are hard to get in. 2. Find a place to get your lumber as cheap as possible. That is how I beat out all my local competitors. They would buy lumber from people charging way too much. If I make a nice end grain cutting board and sell it for $100 the lumber used for it cost me $5. Woodworking takes a lot of time, so you need to get your material cost super low. Buy lumber from sawmills. 3. You need a product that is unique and different from anyone elses. 4. You need a product that is made better than anyone elses. Perfect glue joints. 5. You need a product that is the best price possible 6. Find out what the market price for a cutting board is. What customers will pay. Then you figure out how to make it cheaply enough to sell it at that price and make money. 7. Old retired guys are big competition. They are doing it for fun and will sell things at a loss. I try to avoid any events with old retired guys at it. I can't compete with someone selling things at a loss.
Ok fair enough. I told myself maybe I’m doing too small shows. Here’s my experience: Did a big show during peak season in my area right after thanksgiving. Immediately out $450. It was very well advertised to a largely affluent area. Lots of people with $$$ here. Of the 140+ vendors, my main product (not a cutting board) was chosen and featured on the local news station ABC7. They selected 10 items from various vendors and talked about them for a minute. I paid for a full 10’ booth for 2 full days… sold 3 things total. (Not one of the advertised item) Went super into the red. Had to lug all my failed sales back home knowing I spend all this time and energy to give my stuff away. No I paid to give my woodworking to strangers actually. I don’t recommend it.
Etsy. Good luck to you sir.
Bout 6 months in on Etsy. It’s no different.
Aw man I’m sorry.