I'm turning ornaments, candlesticks etc. How do I price smaller Turnings?
Small items that are well done can sell for decent money compared to the time and materials that go into a good sized bowl. There are plenty of small items that you can turn and sell as an impulse item when they don't want to pay for a larger item like a bowl or vase. You can quickly increase your productivity in the shop turning small items compared to turning the larger pieces. You also increase your market to sell to when offering different smaller impulse items.
We had a demonstrator at our chapter meeting a few years ago. He stated he charged $1 per minute of time to do the turning. Materials were added to the price. Even if the wood was free, it was figured at the going rate.
If u were really trying to make a buck and had taken a pencil to it before u started....probably would not have started....if stuff is piling up and relatives don't have enough birthdays....price to move.....amazon never worried about cutting prices
I do. I don't sell tools. I don't teach. I don't rent out shop time. I don't have a full time job. I've been making more the last two years than I ever have before working in a 'good career job' that required a bachelors degree, active work on a master's, as well as a bunch of field experience. Factored for inflation, it was still barely what minimum wage was upon inception. That doesn't even include the cost of the continuing education and such that go with a career position.
I don't want to debate the finer intricacies of free market economics, undercutting hurts everyone. A purely free market would collapse. American wages have already suffered enough.
Also, I don't understand how you think signature tools undercut tool manufacturers. All the signature tools out there are priced higher than what's available commercially, as they should be.
EDIT: Actually, sorry, my business is not 100% woodturning. It's only about 70% woodturning.
It isn't just the making time and materials or the vendor space, add the travel time and settin time at the show and you are usually losing money. what low skill I do have goes mostly to donation to charity for the charity to sell. A few items, I make and sell when I get a call for them. Got a call this morning for 4 items by 12-16 But these are for a store to resell. Which is sort of flattering itself for me.
No need to get defensive Davis, I don't care what you make, or how many. Just curious how long you've been on your own. It's a question I like to ask since I lasted 8 years before closing up my business and doing woodworking as an employee. But, I closed up to be a project builder for Woodworker's Journal Magazine. Definitely not like making production work. They closed and I went back to a corporate job as a modelmaker. That, along with my first 15 years at the same company gave me a very comfortable pension. I kinda fell into some of these things, but sure is comfortable now!I left work in education/interpretive development and physical media development for the National Parks Service and then a Wildlife Rehab Center is Alaska because I hated moving all the time. Statistics was always my strong point. Before and after the NPS I did sales data analytics, marketing analytics, and business development.
Our online presence is very minimal. I hate doing it and don't keep up on it. If I were to hire anyone for any task, it would be that. I would much rather spend a full day working sales stats than spending 1 hour on social media or web development. Since the beginning our products have sold much better in person than online. Thanks for the reminder that it needs updating. Not sure why Facebook says we've been in business only a year-- it's been a little over two now, not including the time with only jewelry and cosmetics. I don't know if I touched the business details page on FB since the Page's inception.
You actually should've seen plenty of bowls, spindles, and some flat work if you did your research. Also that I'm at two Farmer's markets every week, wholesale to 3 retail outlets, along nockwith the usual local festivals. Don't knock pens and stoppers either-- just because they're beginner projects doesn't mean you should give them up if there's still demand for them. I have yet to find others that market their pens and/or stoppers the way I do, anyway, so not giving that up. I just reconciled inventory and sales: 292 stoppers and 217 pens 2019 YTD. (255 bowls, and about 150 items in my "other spindles" if you're curious. Not going to lie-- I've had to work the hardest I've worked in my life this year, and while I'm making decent money, there are always unexpected problems that cut into profits-- this year a sheared leaf spring on the truck, and had to replace a chainsaw, bandsaw, and dust collector.
No need to get defensive Davis, I don't care what you make, or how many. Just curious how long you've been on your own. It's a question I like to ask since I lasted 8 years before closing up my business and doing woodworking as an employee. But, I closed up to be a project builder for Woodworker's Journal Magazine. Definitely not like making production work. They closed and I went back to a corporate job as a modelmaker. That, along with my first 15 years at the same company gave me a very comfortable pension. I kinda fell into some of these things, but sure is comfortable now!
So, I need to test out pricing and see what works best for my area.
Keep in mind your market. A pen turner in our AAW chapter says he can get $29.95 in one market and $39.95 in another market- same pen.
Depending on where you live, a good therapist can charge anywhere from 80-150 bucks an hour. Every hour I spend at my lathe I'm saving that much so I figure the rest just pays for sandpaper and danish oil.
Depending on where you live, a good therapist can charge anywhere from 80-150 bucks an hour. Every hour I spend at my lathe I'm saving that much so I figure the rest just pays for sandpaper and danish oil.
Seriously though, I worked full time for 45 years and the last thing I want is another job. I don't keep track of the time something takes, I seldom have to buy wood, I rescue it from my local green waste facility. For the last few years I've been putting some of my turnings in a gallery of sorts, more like a gift shop. I get a check from them every couple months, cash it, and put the money in my pocket. But then I realized that they give me a 1099 and tell the IRS how much they've paid me. So I started throwing the receipts from the woodturning supplies I buy in an envelope. I don't even come close to covering my costs with what I sell. And that's just fine with me. I like doing it and that's what matters.