what's up everyone welcome back to the
shop you want to make stuff you want to
sell stuff well maybe i can help let's
start off strong the item that i sell
the most more than all the other items
combined are boxes i don't understand
why so many woodworkers shy away from
making boxes because the things will fly
off the shelf from my experience when
you make a wooden box especially if you
can personalize it they are a hot
commodity the key to this is to make
sure that they're dark so you can make
them out of cherry make them out of
walnut or make them out of a lighter
wood but then stain them but people want
dark boxes so if you make a bunch of
boxes out of maple you're not going to
sell that many i know down my lumber to
whatever thickness i decide for this box
and that really depends on the size of
the box so if i'm making a bigger box
i'm going to make it a little bit
thicker if i'm making a smaller box i'll
make it a little bit thinner on average
i usually cut this down to about two and
a half inches to three inches wide for
this example here i made one that is two
and three quarters inches so right in
the middle of that i decided to make
this box seven inches long four inches
wide and i completely made these
measurements up because that's what my
eyeball said looks really good i do most
of my work at the table saw so i cut my
long and short pieces using the miter
gauge but you could also use a miter saw
too when it comes to joinery i recommend
keeping it simple if you decide you want
to go with crazy dovetails well that's
going to be added labor which means your
price is probably going to go up so for
my little box here i decided to use
rabbit joints i lowered the blade down
to about half the thickness of my work
piece and then nibbled away the
underside of my two long pieces until
the short side fit flush into the long
side
my box bottom is going to be a quarter
inch thick board using the table saw i
cut a groove on the inside face of all
four of my pieces bump the fence over
just a little bit made another pass
until that board fit nicely into that
groove
if you're making a lot of these at one
time that means you're gonna use a lot
of clamps or you can do what i do which
is use masking tape or painters tape
make sure you squeeze all those joints
really tight keep it with a whole bunch
of tape let it dry
while the glue is drying we can start
working on the lid i like to have my
lids be removable because hinges add
added cost and added labor i milled out
a board to about a half inch thick and
then i cut it to its final size making
sure that it's about a quarter inch
extra on all four sides of the actual
box itself i want to have a little bit
of overhang there now this quarter inch
measurement i completely made up so feel
free to make up your own measurements i
lower the saw blade down to about an
eighth of an inch tall maybe a little
higher i'm just banking it up and then i
cut the long sides i make a pass i
rotate the board around and then i cut
the other side
bump the fence over a little bit do the
same thing cut one side rotate it around
cut the other side and i'll keep doing
that until the box lid fits into the box
i do the same thing for the short sides
i just used a miter gauge instead of
using the fence but i'll make a pass
rotate the board around make a pass move
my stop block over make a pass rotate it
around make a pass until the lid fits
into the box the way it's supposed to be
a little sanding and we have us a
beautiful looking box now these things
sell really quick especially if you can
do any sort of personalization engraving
cnc whatever on them now this took me
maybe an hour or so to make but don't
just make one because you need to
maximize your profits which means make a
bunch of them batch them out five ten at
one time you're going to sell them so
that's going to help you out that way
and also it's just way easier you set up
your tools one time you make a cut you
just keep batching all the way through
so now that we got this done uh
what's next okay this next project is
gonna seem almost too simple and i
thought the same thing until i started
selling them like crazy which are
tealight candle holders i would make
hexagon shaped candle holders and sell
them as sets and they would sell out
quite often there are multiple ways to
cut hexagons now one way you can do it
is using the table saw so i will mark
the center point of my board then i'll
turn my miter gauge to 30 degrees
and then i'll make cuts sneaking up on
it until i hit that center point
flip the board over and then cut the
other side that takes care of one side
of your hexagon i cut the scrap board to
30 degrees and this is just a quick
little jig to help hold the candle
holder in place now i also added a
toggle clamp onto that to help hold the
board in place so i don't have to put my
hands close to the blade and then i
don't accidentally you know
cut my body in half cut one side flip
the board over cut the other side now
you got a hexagon this is something that
you're going to want to make efficiently
and be able to batch out so you need to
come up with a way to make them quick
and safely and all repeatable so i would
recommend making a dedicated jig to this
based off the size of the candle holders
you want to make the diy montreal has a
fantastic video on how she made a sled
to do this so i would definitely check
out that video because that sled she
came up with is absolutely perfect mark
the center point of your hexagon and
using a one and a half inch diameter
forster bit drill a hole about a half
inch deep this is the perfect size hole
to hold a little tea light candle that i
purchased from target now here's the key
to this
sell them in sets so sell them in sets
of three five seven nine something like
that and include the candles too that
way when people are looking at your
listing online
they will see they get the candle
holders and all the candles all together
and the candles are easily replaceable
because just about everyone in the
united states has a target nearby you
want to start really batching these
things out in the spring the reason why
i say that is because people are
shopping in the spring for a lot of the
weddings that are going to be hitting in
the summer months and these are
fantastic decorations for wedding
receptions to put on the tables also
there's a lot of houses that are
purchased in the summer months people
are always looking for that perfect
housewarming gift and well these fit
that bill
another another
before i get into the third video let me
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members like brad cheney really help out
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that sells is any sort of unique serving
boards unique that is the key to this i
like to let nature do all the talking
with this so anything that's live edge
that natural edge of logs or slabs or
you can even take some firewood and cut
it up and make a serving board out of it
but keep that live edge on one side at
least
those are big sellers especially if
you're dealing with dark woods your
walnuts your cherries those are always
going to do better as a serving board
than something like maple they're one of
the easiest projects to batch out
because they're kind of simple if you
really think about it you're going to do
some staining you might plane it down a
little bit just to get it nice and flat
you might want to put a bevel on the
bottom just so it's a little bit easier
to pick up but all in all not really a
whole lot going on here you can make
them for a specific purpose such as a
shop flight or a beer flight you know
take your router ride out some circles
in that thing or route out a big tray in
it so you can put you know food snacks
whatever in it so you can make them to
serve a specific purpose but in my
experience kind of both ways i've made a
lot of them especially for particular
restaurants where they wanted a bunch of
different flights also i've sold a ton
of them that are just plain because
they're universal and anybody could use
them for whatever i put live edge
projects in a different category than i
would a typical cutting board because of
the competition go into etsy and look up
cutting boards you'll see that all those
top sellers sell a ton of cutting boards
but the same time they don't necessarily
make them you can tell they buy them in
bulk probably for just a couple bucks
each and then all they really do is
provide the engraving which is their
version of uniqueness as a one-man shop
i just can't compete with those sorts of
prices because of time and materials but
what i can compete with is the
uniqueness of the item i can provide a
live edge item a once in a lifetime type
of board to a customer that those types
of companies can't provide because i
focused heavily on getting these types
of boards i was able to get reoccurring
customers like restaurants that wanted
more and more and more
of these rare items that they just
couldn't get anywhere else now whether
you're going to sell boxes or candle
holders or serving boards or cutting
boards or whatever else pick a finishing
method that is really simple
really easy to apply and doesn't take
forever so don't pick a finishing method
that's going to take you a whole week to
get through because you just don't have
time for all that and also you probably
don't have space you're going to make a
whole lot of items you're going to
spread all over your shop and
you ain't going to have no place to work
a lot of people signed off after seeing
the third project because this video
talks about three different projects
that you can sell but for y'all that
stuck around i'll give you a fourth one
this bonus project idea is what
completely changed my outlook on how to
make money off of woodworking and that
is stop looking for regular customers
instead start catering to your fellow
woodworkers let's say i make this box
and i turn around and sell it then i
gotta make another one and i sell that
and i keep doing that until finally i
just lose my mind for making the same
thing over and over again unless that's
something that you enjoy doing now
instead imagine making that box and then
selling it to an infinite number of
customers
and you never have to make it again well
that's what i talk about when i say why
don't you cater to your fellow
woodworkers let's say you make a cutting
board you post it on social media and
you got people coming in there and
saying hey this looks fantastic hey
how'd you make that well maybe consider
making a set of plans or instructions
that teach someone else how to make that
enable your fellow makers i'm sure that
many of you have purchased plans before
i know i have but whenever i started
selling plans that's when there was a
monumental change in how i address
making money off of woodworking you may
think you need to have a big online
following to be able to do this and that
definitely helps but i don't want that
to deter you from starting because you
got to start somewhere and it really
comes down to making really cool
projects and having some sort of social
media or some way to connect with your
fellow makers next time you come up with
a really cool design for a cutting board
think about making a set of plans to go
with it i know it's a complete pain in
the butt to do that however once you've
made them you have them and you can sell
them as many times as you want you can
advertise them on social media or create
your own website if you really want to
since i started doing that and focusing
on my fellow makers i cut back
drastically on the number of clients
that i would take on for something and
it's been a big stress relief for me
because
making stuff to sell can be a bit
stressful hopefully you enjoyed those
project ideas i highly recommend
checking out this other video up here
because it builds upon some of these
foundations that we talked about here
and to meet again get in your shop and
build something awesome