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Wood Turning Projects for Market Father's Day Weekend

Bottle Openers. Not so much stoppers--i'm a craft root beer guy--but like the "real beer" guys, once it's open i'm going to empty it!!
earl
 
All sorts of kit projects - pens, letter opener, key board brush, shaving brushes….

String puzzels - Something different just need wood, nice cord, brass rings.
String puzzles are fun to make. I given them as gifts. Whether they sell in your market??.

Here are two I made. You can find hundreds on the internet.
The one on the left handle is a simple inside/out turning. 8E8BA613-CE38-4DD8-A231-84DB2C801C00.png
 
After this weekend, another little point I'd like to share: Something I realized (but probably knew, as many experienced sellers here may already know) - What may be a hot seller one day, is not necessarily the hot seller on another - This weekend I finally brought my recently completed "tops box" - a box made to spin tops in (and holes in the top edges to hold tops for display) The first day at the P.A. Lumber Museum Barkpeeler's festival, I nearly sold out of all the tops I'd managed to make - They were selling like hotcakes all day long to both adults (surprisingly, at least to me) and kids. So I took an extra hour last night (late night turning!) and made a bunch more to re-stock the tops box... Today... Hmmm... Not a SINGLE ONE sold! (Today's sales were more of the "mid-to-high price" items, and not so much of the "couple bucks a pop" items... )

Moral of the story: You need more than just a couple of shows/markets for your items to really determine what is worth making more of, and on a related note- a wide variety of products and price ranges seem to be the key to being able to make each market visit successful (as in making enough sales to break even or profit after booth fees and transportation/setup expenses)...

This is only my second year of doing the market circuit (and this weekend was our first "big" festival with more than a couple hundred visitors - Barkpeeler's Festival usually brings in a decent 2K - 3K crowd) and I just wanted to post this here (the first related thread I found from recent posts) so perhaps other "new to selling at markets" folks might have something to think on, too.
 
I regularly get neighbors or folks come up at markets and say "you should make ____________" and sell them. I often tell them to just take a tour around hobby lobby or online where what they've suggested sells for $9.99 on a regular basis. My wife ordered a new ice pick on Amazon. Came today. I was very surprised - very nice wood finish with brass collar that has a near seamless precision fit when closed, thick stainless pick and good weight. Very nice feel. I thought hey, I could pick up a few kits of the HW and add a few of these to my inventory at a market and sell. Nope - $8.98 with free shipping. No way even worth considering.

Would be nice to have a few easy to make items that can sell as impulse buys and are worth the effort but hard to find these days. I did make a big stack of chopsticks a few years ago and sold them for $10 a set. I sold them all but not worth doing again. Sold them as stocking stuffers at a Christmas market. Guess I should churn out a few tops.....
 

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Randy, I feel the same way about a couple or three kits I have seen (I can get perfume atomizer vials & spray nozzles in bulk for cheap, but try getting the kits to make the holders with wood and, like you, it is a big "NOPE!") ... This leads me to become tempted to get a cheap small benchtop harbor freight metal lathe (or cheaper if there are any) - Easy to find bulk sources for suitable brass and copper billets (or even cast-away , used or junked fittings) that could rather easily turn those small parts needed (the tubes and collars) to a custom size to fit what wood drill bits one has on hand... Seems it'd be easy enough (I do have machinist experience and metal lathe experience, so maybe for me seems easy... long time ago I was ASE Certified Master Machinist - actually what was called "ASE Triple Master with L1 and L2 at the time)

Now it has got me thinking.... and biting my lip - should I splurge on a small benchtop metal lathe before upgrading/replacing my Habor Freight 12-36 ?? Such a dilemma....... So many toys, so little time (and money)
 
Randy Anderson said:
Would be nice to have a few easy to make items that can sell as impulse buys and are worth the effort but hard to find these days. I did make a big stack of chopsticks a few years ago and sold them for $10 a set. I sold them all but not worth doing again. Sold them as stocking stuffers at a Christmas market. Guess I should churn out a few tops.....
Click to expand...
Look at Mike Peace's video on a scratch awl. I thing he used music wire and that should work for a ice pick also. I have one that belonged to my FIL and must be 30 or more years old. Had thought about making one but don't see it as a large market.
MUSIC WIRE
 
Flash back for me, a woman stopped in my booth as was looking for some thing for her woodworking husband. I ended up making up a gift box of wood scraps, which would have been great for the small things he was doing.

robo hippy
 
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