# A week in the life of my shop



## Schroedc

I don't know if anyone else will find this interesting but I thought I'd chronicle a typical week in my shop during show season.

This year started out with lower than normal levels of inventory since we had road construction last year that cut my sales by about 40% total so I've been busy. I took a week off last week for a canoe trip and while I was gone my wife sold about 80 pieces out of the shop and combined with the week before it left me with a very limited selection for the weekly show I do.

Got back late Saturday, spent Sunday with my family and hit the shop hard this morning. Had to do some plaques for a customer that were needed by 4pm and a soap maker I'm friends with ordered another 100 soap savers so those two items went first.



 



 

Then I opened the box of hardware I ordered just before I left on vacation and spread them out on the foor to figure out where to start. This is box 1, Box two was ordered this morning with 2 day UPS and has even more stuff in it.



 

What with the lathe giving me problems today and taking 4 hours out to go to a ball game for my youngest (I refuse to let the business affect my family life any more than absolutely necessary) here is the finished output for turning today. Hopefully no issues tomorrow so I can turn significantly more.



 

If folks want to see what happens when a hobby gets out of hand and a guy tries to make a living I'll keep posting all week with daily updates to give folks an idea of what it's like.

Reactions: Like 4 | Great Post 1 | Way Cool 6


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## jasonb

That'd be great, I'd like to read a daily.

Reactions: Agree 2


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## MKTacop




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## Sprung




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## Tony




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## woodtickgreg

Subscribed! Great thread Colin. Seeing what a person that earns his living working wood goes through will really put things into perspective for folks.
I admire your drive my friend.
Thanks for giving us a glimpse of your life.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## woodtickgreg

P.S. I still use the soap savers you sent me, lol. One lives in the shower, and one is by the kitchen sink.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Wildthings

What's a soap saver and how does it save?

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Kevin

This will be a great thread. Already is. Thanks for taking the time to do it.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Schroedc

Wildthings said:


> What's a soap saver and how does it save?



It's a block of pine (Some folks use cedar to make them too) with grooves on top and bottom a hair more than 1/2 way through the block at 90 degrees to each other so water drains away from your soap. Handmade soap tends to get mushy if you leave it in a traditional soap dish where it doesn't drain so it saves your soap from mushiness.

Reactions: Creative 2


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## Schroedc

Today I slept in a bit, didn't get out of bed until about 6:30. Walked the dogs, took out the trash and recycling, and took my son to breakfast before he went to work (He's a dishwasher at the local cafe, good summer job for a 15 year old) and got into the shop around 8:30

Drilled, glued, turned and assembled some Vertex Pencils, Cigar pens, and turned some stamp and snakeskin blanks I had on the shelf. 



 

Spent the rest of the day cutting and drilling/tubing blanks for about 100 more pens, some will get done tomorrow, some will just be ready for whenever I can get to them.

These blanks here were made by a company in Arizona back in the mid/late 90's and were part of an estate I bought two years ago (Company that made them is no longer producing them and hasn't for a while). They sell well and after the 50 you see here I've got about 40 left and then they'll be just a memory in my shop (Had about 200 of them to start with)

Reactions: EyeCandy! 3 | Way Cool 5


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## Sprung

Colin, those segmented blanks are awesome. Some of them in your bins of blanks caught my eye when I was in your shop. I like the variety too.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Schroedc

Sprung said:


> Colin, those segmented blanks are awesome. Some of them in your bins of blanks caught my eye when I was in your shop. I like the variety too.



Yeah, they are very well done, From what I can tell they weren't cheap back when they were purchased but with what I paid for the whole lot when I bought that estate I can sell the pens at a reasonable price and still make a decent margin on them (Selling off the stuff I didn't need/want paid for the pile of stuff so at this point everything from there I'm using is gravy)

Reactions: Like 2


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## ripjack13

This is severely cool. Great idea Colin....

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Lou Currier




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## Tony

Schroedc said:


> It's a block of pine (Some folks use cedar to make them too) with grooves on top and bottom a hair more than 1/2 way through the block at 90 degrees to each other so water drains away from your soap. Handmade soap tends to get mushy if you leave it in a traditional soap dish where it doesn't drain so it saves your soap from mushiness.



Do you treat them with anything? Thank you for doing this, very cool to follow!!!!! Tony


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## Schroedc

Tony said:


> Do you treat them with anything? Thank you for doing this, very cool to follow!!!!! Tony



Nope, just bare pine. It gets gummed up just scrape it off. They retail for just a few bucks so if it gets really nasty her customers just buy another.

Reactions: Like 2 | Informative 1


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## Schroedc

So Wednesday came along dressed like a Monday. I had a gastric bypass back in 2008 (Christmas Day 2007 I weighed 405 pounds, 5x shirt, size 60 pants, Now I'm an XL, with size 38 pants) and occasionally something I eat will decide to make my day a living heck. Ate the same thing for breakfast I do several days a week and it ripped me up. Between the dizziness and the nausea I decided power tools were a bad idea so started cleaning the shop and culled pen blanks. sent about 60 pounds of blanks with no figure and those little cutoffs you save for a year and then throw away off to the neighbors fire pit. got things organized, started felling better about 2pm and realized UPS hadn't come yet with my box so I could do a couple things for tomorrow. Finally found out the shipper put my PO box on the label and UPS don't like that. finally got the box about 4:30, decided I have enough inventory. I'll just pull a bunch of oddball one of a kind and stuff I don't do anymore and put out a couple trays of stuff on sale to clear it out. 
Spent a few hours in the middle of the day doing the stuff I hate like paying bills and cooking, er, balancing the books 



 



 

Then after I close for the day I packed everything up and loaded the van for tomorrow, got my treadle lathe tool bench loaded with everything I need and prepped a couple dozen blanks. This'll be the first show setup to demo so we'll see if it draws sales or if it just ends up being more stuff to load and setup.



 



 

At least I have a ton of parts on hand to really start ramping up my inventory now.

Reactions: Like 2 | Way Cool 6


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## Schroedc

During June, July, and August I do a weekly show in Downtown Rochester, MN every Thursday. And of course being Thursday the goal is to make a decent chunk of money. My day starts about 6:30, shower, feed and walk the dogs, take my darling wife out to breakfast and drive about an hour to Rochester and set up my canopy, tables, and displays and organize all the inventory I brought. I have a number of regular local customers plus being right next to the Mayo clinic there is a constantly changing and affluent group of people as well. I've had folks that stop and buy every year when they return to Mayo each year from as far away as Saudi Arabia, Japan, and all over the US. I also got the good news that one of my regulars I thought might have died (He placed an order and then I heard nothing, had been battling cancer) was actually in remission and was doing quite well. Now I have to remake his order as I sold the items I had made to someone else after a 6 month wait but that's a goof up I don't mind.

This week was the first time I've ever set up to do demos, used the treadle lathe and turned, finished and assembled about a dozen pens throughout the day. I think it brought in some business I wouldn't have gotten otherwise (It made people stop and look, several pens sold as soon as they were assembled after the customer watched me create it on the spot) 8:30 PM we start tearing down, I load it all back up head home and unload into the shop (I'll set the showroom back up in the morning). It's now 10:45pm, and I think a beer, shower, and bed are in order

Reactions: EyeCandy! 2 | Way Cool 6


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## Spinartist

That's the coolest little treadle lathe!! Where did you get it ??


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## jasonb

Looks like an old sewing machine base...


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## Schroedc

Spinartist said:


> That's the coolest little treadle lathe!! Where did you get it ??



I found it on Craig's list, they were made by Goodell Pratt starting about 1885 into the early 30's. It's more than a toy but not that much more... 

I set it up with a Jacobs chuck and a live center for turning pens and not much more


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## Schroedc

jasonb said:


> Looks like an old sewing machine base...



Nope. They were built that way. Sewing machines had the flywheel on the right so you have to add a jack shaft to convert one of them.


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## jasonb

Ah interesting. Really enjoying this thread.


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## ripjack13

Colin, in the last pic, the back table in the center, the glass case....what's in it?


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## Schroedc

ripjack13 said:


> Colin, in the last pic, the back table in the center, the glass case....what's in it?



Things for sale.

Reactions: Funny 7


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## ripjack13

Schroedc said:


> Things for sale.



Oh...thank you Captain Obvious....

Reactions: Funny 2


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## Schroedc

ripjack13 said:


> Oh...thank you Captain Obvious....



You're quite welcome Sergeant Sarcasm.

I'll take a picture for you on the morning.

Reactions: Like 2 | Funny 2


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## ripjack13

Ooh...thats a good one. Sergeant sarcasm ....I like it....


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## Schroedc

@ripjack13 - Here is what's in the glass case. Keychain Pocket Knives (It's a Rockler kit I like and they sell fairly well) and magnetic pickup tools (They sold well for a while but the last few won't move so I'll probably clearance them out) I keep them in the case so kids don't cut themselves or put the magnet back and stick them all together.

Reactions: Like 3 | Way Cool 2


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## ripjack13

Nice. Thanks.


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## Kevin

Colin those cubicles you made for the wire racks.....makes for efficient use of the space gonna have to copy that.


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## Schroedc

Kevin said:


> Colin those cubicles you made for the wire racks.....makes for efficient use of the space gonna have to copy that.



Those were actually included in the estate I bought last year. When I saw how well they worked I decided to keep them instead of pitch them. The ones I have are built from OSB, If I were going to do more I'd probably make them out of decent plywood. They are two sided with a divider down the middle on the inside so there are different blanks on both sides.

Reactions: Like 1 | Informative 1


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## Schroedc

So I haven't posted yet about the last 3 days since I got back from my show. Friday Morning I set all the mechandise back up, vacuum the carpets, clean the windows and am open for business. We get tourist traffic off the bike trail that runs through town plus some folks out cruising. This week was fairly slow for this time of year but that may be due to a recent death on the river nearby (Older lady with health issues from what I head, drowned on the river canoeing) Still had folks stopping in and some of them even spent money!



 



 

Then on to more turning, Turned 30 bolt actions, some snap cap rollerballs, a bunch of Presimo fountain pens, and tonight finished up some Stratus click pens. In addition to what's pictured I also whacked out 20 slimlines for a customer and some keychains.



 



 



 

Now you've seen a typical summer week in my shop. Weeks where I'm more ahead on pen inventory I'll turn bowls, build boxes, or work on other items for the showroom or even complete a tool restoration or two. I hope everyone has enjoyed this.

Reactions: Like 1 | Way Cool 6


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## woodtickgreg

What's the story on all the hand planes I see on top of the display? Do you refurb and sell them as well?


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## Schroedc

woodtickgreg said:


> What's the story on all the hand planes I see on top of the display? Do you refurb and sell them as well?



The ones on top are waiting to be cleaned and sharpened, or parted out, or traded for other stuff I do want. I'll occasionally sell one as-is to someone wanting to get started cleaning and refurbing one or quick clean the sole and sharpen for someone looking for a cheap user (I parted with several sets on here a while back) but I don't really make it a part of the business.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## woodtickgreg

Schroedc said:


> The ones on top are waiting to be cleaned and sharpened, or parted out, or traded for other stuff I do want. I'll occasionally sell one as-is to someone wanting to get started cleaning and refurbing one or quick clean the sole and sharpen for someone looking for a cheap user (I parted with several sets on here a while back) but I don't really make it a part of the business.


Very cool and interesting.


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## Tony

Great thread Colin, thanks for doing it! Tony

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


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## JohnF

Colin, you're the definition of productivity I'd say. I wish I had 1% of that get up and go.

Reactions: Agree 3


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## ripjack13

Awesome topic. It's interesting to peek inside the world of Turned Write....thank you for the insight of it.
Great job, and lots of work....


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## DKMD

What a cool thread! You are round making machine!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Don Ratcliff

Great gogglamoggly, I just found this thread and it's awesome. You are a turning machine and I really like the portable lathe. If you set that up under the banyan tree here and sold them for $75 each you would need more stock quickly. Thanks for sharing

Reactions: Like 1


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## NYWoodturner

Colin - your a machine man... I wish I was half that productive!

Reactions: Agree 2


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