Been a Busy Beaver gluing up a bunch of cutting boards, 30 this week so far and still counting.
They all come from a pile of cutoffs i bought this summer. Got about 6000 pieces of hardwood cutoffs, mostly in the 30 inch length range and on average about 6 inches wide, although some are over a foot wide.
Poplar, Oak, Maple, Walnut, lots of Hickory and Cherry. Some boards are good and solid, but most have an crack or imperfection somewhere on the board, but for 1.6 cents a board foot, I hardly have any reason to complain.
Besides, by making cutting boards out of them, I can easily cut out any defective parts. And any hickory or cherry scrap gets boxed up and sold as wood for smoking food in a smoker on craigslist, which winds up covering the cost of what I paid for all the wood, plus a nice profit.
Here are pics of some boards just after surface planing. I then rip strips out of them on the table saw and glue up into a wide variety of sizes and patterns. Most of these are edge grain glue ups. but there are some end grain ones in that stack as well and i have been doing a lot more end grain ones since you can work a lot of patterns into the designs with the different color wood blocks that make up the board.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21313/our_cnc_pictures_007%7E0.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21313/our_cnc_pictures_029.jpg)
Here are pics of some ready for drum sander, routed rounded over edge, final sanding, and mineral oil finish. Will post more pics when these are completed.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21313/our_cnc_pictures_030.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21313/our_cnc_pictures_031.jpg)
there is a cabinet shop near my house that will let me get there cut offs real cheap too, they actually give a huge amount of there cut off to a local charity that makes wooden toys for kids, and lots of there domestic cut offs they just give away to be burned because they end up with so many they don't even know what to do with it it all.
i always find buying the cut offs funny, because they don't really have a system, so i just bring them a few pieces i like and they make up a price, but if i bring one piece into the office, the price is close to retail, but if i fill up the whole back of the truck with cut offs, the price is close to what you said. i have thought about asking them for a price for all the cut offs in the building, as i imagine the price would be pretty good.
but then i woluldn't be able to use my shop(garage) because it would be full of wood.
so are these cutting boards gifts or are you selling them?
jueston
I would like to see them all sell and be able to sell about 100 of them a month. I do give some as gifts as well to friends and family.
What would you charge for a cutting board? This seems like it would be a great fundraiser project for Boy Scouts.
kilgrosh
The smaller ones on top of the sander would go for between $5 to $10 a piece, depending on what wood is in them and if i add more expensive accent wood to them like the purpleheart strips you see in the three cutting boards to the right in the last picture
The larger size boards would range in price from about $15 to $25 with the larger, thicker boards being at the higher end of the price scale. On occasion, I will make a much larger one of say 18 inches by 30 inches and 2 inches thick that i would charge close to $125 for. I try to keep the price low so i can move them in quantity since the wife and I really do enjoy making them. There is also something rewarding about reclaiming the wood used to make them that in all likelihood would have wound up in a burn pile and just wasted.
Thanks Beaver!
Met a fellow on Craigslist this week that said he was interested in buying the cutting boards shown above. He was not kidding. He came and bought a pile of 52 of them that I had just finished sealing with mineral oil this week.
Todays sale alone was over $400. 8) Now i have the room and incentive to make a bunch more. I think he will more than double his money on them and that would be fine with me if he did because it allows me to do what i enjoy best and that is to make more of them and anything else that involves working with wood in my shop.
Says he will also be back to buy more cutting boards and he gave us a nice size order for a whole bunch of turning blanks and and other stuff like wood pens and wine bottle stoppers that should keep the wife busy for quite a while. ;D
Great to make a sale like that. Clears out the shop. :)
Looks like your keeping right with your name......BUSY BEAVER LUMBER. :)
Very nice.
Quote from: Busy Beaver Lumber on January 19, 2013, 03:54:49 PM
... He came and bought a pile of 52 of them that I had just finished sealing with mineral oil this week.
...
I understand that this was essentially a wholesale sale. I believe you're pricing your product too low, even for the wholesale market. You grossed approximately $8.00 each for those cutting boards. You probably average at least 1/2 hour labor on each and that doesn't take in to account the cost/value of your materials, nor the deprciation of your equipment and facilities.
Great to make a big sale but it could have been even bigger in MNSHO. Don't sell yourself short in this area, you've got a lot of other acctivities that can and do earn you a better retun on your investment.
Good Luck!
Be Careful!
Herb
Herb
I appreciate your concern and your comments, but I have far less than an half hour labor a piece to make each board, more like about 10 minutes labor into each one and the material is virtually all free.
Gave $50 for approximately 2800 worth of cut offs and that is what i am making these boards out of. Not actually dedicating time to cut the strips specialy to make these boards. Instead I am making them out of the remaining strips that came from ripping 3 to 4 inch wide strips to make laminated turning blanks like the ones shown below. Then I take the 1.25 to 1.5 inch remaining strips and glue them up into cutting board stock. Boards are smoothed by running them through surface planer and then drum sander, then quick pass through router table and final sanding.
This is really just something profitable to do with the scrap wood. Other pieces get cut and sold as pen turning blanks, segmented wood bowls, and stopper turning blanks. Nothing goes to waste, and we are very proud of that. Even our sawdust and planer shaving are sold to customers.
You also have to remember, I work a full time job and own 3 other companies. Woodworking is a relaxation activity for me and something I have enjoyed for the past 36 years. Wife loves it as well. Only so many things you can make for around your own house or the kids house, so at some point if you are quick at it and want to keep doing it, you have to find an outlet to sell and move product. Someone like this fellow is a God sent gift for me. If I keep my price competitive, I make a decent profit, he makes a decent profit, and we are both happy :laugh:
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21313/tb4_blanks.JPG)
Right you are Beenthere. Since Saturday afternoon, already have 10 more glued up, sanded, sealed, and ready for his next visit.
Yes Dave, I am happiest when I am busy. Get bored pretty fast and always need something to keep mind active. Besides doing this, i bought about 1000 coins this week, wife took pics of them, and I will be listing them for sale on webstore tomorrow to join the other 600+ coins we already have listed there. Then I read a 315 page book on adobe Premier elements video editing software. Looking to kick our online videos up a notch with background music and narration. Will be posting a bunch of woodworking and CNC related videos on yutube soon. Doing a lot of video shooting now. Wife is even doing a series on how to turn wood pens from start to finish
Those are some nice cutting boards. Here is one I just finished. Hickory and hard maple. I used a finish called Howards butcher block conditioner. It has mineral oil and various waxes in it.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/17472/IMG_20130210_121751.jpg)
That is a very pleasing use of contrasting wood species, tyb. smiley_thumbsup
Quote from: Magicman on February 10, 2013, 05:39:23 PM
That is a very pleasing use of contrasting wood species, tyb. smiley_thumbsup
I agree. The woods used look great and it's well crafted, too. Ya done good. tyb.
Thanks for the compliments, it will be used in our kitchen as a test piece since it is my first cutting board. I was happy with how the hickory sapwood turned out in the middle of the board.
That vertical grain hickory is beautiful!
Sharp.