How to Make Money With Your Wood Turning Skills

As woodturning continues from beginner to more advanced levels for the enthusiast the question sometimes arises as to how to make money with these wood turning skills. For many hobbyists the dream is to make the enjoyment a money maker, perhaps to the point of it becoming a full time occupation. Here are few things to keep in mind.

First there is the reality of knowing the difference between making money and making a living. Woodturning is a very competitive business and most woodturners who are able to do so for a living have either a long experience at the trade with a great reputation, do a lot of teaching, or have a spouse with a great paying job. It is very difficult to turn full time and have a reasonable income.

On the other hand there are some great avenues for making money as a hobby turner. It is important to be faithful to the art and craft of woodturning and to realize that if you are going to sell what you make, you should price according to the value placed by full time competitors. They are trying to make a living and underselling them is not fair. Besides, if your work is not good enough to compete, it is not fair either to the art and craft to sell inferior work. If you are able to sell at a fair price, chances are the hobby will at least pay for itself and these days that is not bad at all.

Decide what products you are going to sell and ask yourself if you are willing to make them. If your enthusiasm is to turn one of a kind artistic items you will find it to be a high end market that competes with ceramics, painting, photographs and a host of other artistic work. Most woodturners who are able to make money at the craft do so by turning multiples of small items such as pens or kitchenware. Salad bowls by the carload may earn enough money to allow the turning of a few artistic items to keep the interest up.

Craft shows now abound and are a good place to sell woodturnings. If work is displayed professionally and you enjoy working with the public you can have a great time at a show and sell well. Make sure your turnings fit the show and decide to enjoy the experience.

Teaching is another way to expand the income from turning. It is one of the fastest growing area of woodworking today and people are looking for instruction. For a bit of experience show a friend or two something about your way to turn wood and determine if teaching is for you.

While some people do sell work on the internet it will probably be small items turned in multiples once again. Most artistic items will sell only if they are held and fondled first. Wood is a very tactile item in its turned form and folks want to touch before buying.

As in most cases, selling woodturnings is a case of the right price at the right time in the right place. However people have been selling turnings for a long time and it may be the right time for you to start.

Choosing A Wood Lathe: Make Sure The Tool Fits The Shop

  Wood lathes are generally substantial tools that are going to be part of a general woodworking shop. As such, some consideration needs to be given to ensure that they fit the shop well. At least three areas need to be looked at, namely the type of the shop, the size of the workshop and the woodturner concerned.

  Woodworking shops come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and characters. Either form the beginning or over time they develop a personality depending on the work that is done in them. As woodturning either develops in them or is introduced, they ten to fit three large groups. One is the furniture shop, another an all purpose wood shop, and finally the dedicated woodturning centre.

  For the furniture shop, a wood lathe will likely be used to turn both small items such as speciality door knobs and larger items such as table legs. A typical lathe for this shop would be one that can turn a twelve inch diameter spindle up to thirty eight inches long. It needs to be remembered that small items such as those door knobs can be turned on a large lathe but a large item can not be turned on a small lathe. The capacity to make a sturdy bench for the lathe is inherent in a furniture shop and it can be produced to hold a lot of the tools and accessories needed for turning wood.

  The all purpose wood shop will likely want a similar lathe to the furniture shop but may want it to be able to turn larger pieces. Many of today's lathes allow for the headstock to swing and handle large pieces for outboard faceplate work. If this is desired, it is a good idea to get a lathe that will have a minimum speed of four hundred revolutions per minute or even lower to reduce vibration.

  The dedicated woodturning centre will need at least the second type of lathe and may be better served with a family of lathes that allow for various work to be going on at various times. One lathe may be dedicated to spindle work while another without ways is designed for faceplate work alone. Still another mini lathe may be available for small work at high speeds.

  With these considerations comes the need for the lathe or lathes to fit the shop. Not only does a larger lathe require more floorspace for its footprint, it also needs a fair amount of room around it for the woodturner to move in safety while turning. It will also need to fit itself around the other tools to give a good feel to the shop work flow.

  Finally, every woodturner will develop his or her own style and desire of woodturning. While the first lathe will seldom truly reflect this except by chance, the second and subsequent lathes can be chosen to make the preferred choices in wood turning more enjoyable and perhaps safer as well.

  Wood lathes are tools that tend to be a part of the woodworking shop for a long time and due consideration should be given to their purchase. It is an opportunity for reflection on our craft and in itself can be an enjoyable part of the process.

Something good comes along

The saga of the EBay stuff continues. The guy pulled the DVD with my free stuff on it but has put up another one with other people's turnings and woodworking. He does not seem to get the idea that stuff on the web is created by someone and that they therefore own the copyright. I guess he just wants to profit form someone else's work. Why he does not make his own videos is beyond me.

That said, I hope it is in the past. One thing that has happened is a few requests from people for me to put some of the videos together on a DVD and sell it as such. I will think about it. One of the things about the site is that the info is freely shared. Besides which, most of the videos are made to accompany a written page. If I was going to collect and sell them, I would need to reshoot for a more complete package. Time, time, time. Let me know if there is interest. Keep in mind that the same stuff that would on a DVD would also be available an the site. Around $15.00 for a DVD versus free on the site. We'll see what happens.

Appreciate the support.

The Sanity of Wood Turning

This seems to be a good day to ramble so I thought I would. As a pastor of a small, rural church, we had regular services yesterday morning and a special Christmas service last evening so there was little time for me to be in the shop. Actually there was none so I decided to at least write about wood turning since I could not do it.

The night service was dedicated as a time of sharing with one another about the people who will not be with us at Christmas. Some have passed away this year, some have moved to other parts of the world, others have new commitments in life that have taken them away, and still others have Alzheimer’s or similar problems that have removed them from the normal picture.

There is a lot of stress in people’s lives today and pastors share it. Not only do we deal with many if not all of the same stresses, but we also try to shoulder other people’s as well. This is not a pity trip. We choose to do this work and most of us either love it or can not picture doing anything else. After all the rewards are fantastic. We also get to participate in weddings, baby dedications, baptisms and great moments in people’s lives.

The simple point is pastors have the stresses that other people have and need to cope with those stresses. One of the thing that has occurred to me recently is pastors seem to have a hard time relaxing. Again this is not unique to pastors and more and more I am observing that people have too few hobbies and interests outside the work place.

I have found woodworking in general and wood turning in particular to be sanity savers for me. They answer two big criteria for me as far as relaxing hobbies are concerned. The first is the need to extend themselves to other people and the second is the capacity to be absorbing.

Wood turning tends to produce a lot of output, especially as I like to turn small objects. Most of the time a small object is faster to make than is a large one although excessive detail can take time on some pieces. There are three choices at least with all these pieces of wood.

The first is to simply accumulate them at home. While we do keep a few around, it seems that they can have the ability to overflow all available flat surfaces in a hurry. Simply having them in a box in the shop does not make a lot of sense.

So the second solution has become to sell some of the turnings. This is great because my wife and I enjoy going to shows together and meeting the people who shop. Most of the time we are at only high end shows and only do a few a year so the events do not become stale. Unfortunately this means there is still a lot of product.

The third answer has been to give gifts to a lot of family and friends. There is a real pleasure in taking a piece of landfill or firewood and turning it into something someone else will treasure. Christmas or birthdays often finds my wife and I going through boxes in the shop, looking for the perfect gift someone special. When the kids are home they often declare it to be “gift time” and hunt for their own. My son’s wife could be a tournament judge. She has an incredible eye for the turning finesses.

One thing that has happened in recent years has been my tendency to donate pieces to local charities who are having fund raising auctions. Not only do I get the satisfaction of turning, but I am also able to help someone else.

Wood turning has been called by my wife my “time machine.” I can go into the shop for ten minutes and come out two hours later, sure that only ten minutes has passed. Some of the absorption certainly comes from the dangers of any woodworking endeavour. After all, anything that cuts maple will certainly cut me and I like having all my body parts, such as they are.

Still it is the work itself that demands concentration. A piece can be ruined by a curve being just a little bit off. Measurements need to be exact even though most measuring is not done with a ruler but rather by feel, experience and intuition. Sometimes the most important cut is the one that is not made but rather left alone after some thought.

More and more I realize that we need these hobbies. They are a release from the tensions of life and yet move us into other realms that touch other people. Art, craft, appreciation, absorption, life.