It’s been a while since I’ve written anything, mostly because of family commitments and other things requiring time and focus. I also don’t feel the need to pollute the interweb unless I feel there is something important to say or something that I really want to share. This whole social media frenzy where people feel compelled to post something five times a day is beyond me, and this comes from a guy who worked for a software tech giant in silicon valley during the internet boom. I recognize the power and appeal of the technology but I really don’t need to know that someone just returned from the shoe store but only bought a pair of cute socks.

So what is it that I really want to talk about? “Yeah. Get to the point yo.”

I had been looking for an outlet other than my family who might find use for the things I make in my wood shop. Don’t get me wrong, the name of my YouTube channel is “The Family Woodworker” and most all of what I design and produce remains in our own home or was requested by one of our kids. In fact even our new granddaughter has inspired me to make or restore a couple things like a kid’s rocking chair that she is still too small to sit in. Soon though, she will come to love it just like her mother (my daughter) did 30 years before. In the last six months however, I’ve run out of requests for new furniture and there isn’t much room left in the house for one of my other art or kinetic projects. So what’s a gray haired woodworker to do when there aren’t any woodworking projects left on the schedule?

The Retail Option

I’m frequently encouraged by my wife to make and sell things online or through some local marketplace. There are always local swap meets or craft fairs where I can buy a booth, set up a table and attempt to sell my wares. I go to these fairs with my wife and I can see other woodworkers there sitting alone, dejected, hoping to sell enough to at least pay for the booth. Some of these wood products are awesome actually, but just not in demand.

My website can easily be set up with with a storefront in order to sell merchandise direct to the public, and there are other local avenues like Facebook Marketplace to sell larger things like furniture to prospective buyers. There are multiple paths I can take to make and sell things, but a couple perspectives and old memories hold me back.

First, a retail business is a pain in the ass. I used to be a retail store manager. It was one of those jobs that helped pay for school but it was filled with angry customers and damaged returns, and unreasonable demands for refunds. To be fair, maybe my experiences weren’t the norm but those memories still linger some 40 years later.

Second, finding a successful product that sells means that you must make that product over and over and over again. I watch YouTube videos of other woodworkers claiming how successful their business had become by producing an endless supply of cutting boards, or wine bottle racks, or iPhone holders. Yeah. That’s what gets my creative juices flowing. Making the exact same thing thousands of times. Also not great subject matter for a YouTube Channel.

Pricing for profit is also a barrier to retail entry. Sometimes the material for a wooden bowl I would turn on the lathe might alone cost me $40. A thick and square piece of Walnut, perfect for a bowl blank sits on my shelf that I paid $38 for. How do I invest time and finishing materials for the bowl when I might have trouble selling it for $80? For $60? For even $40? Why pay that when you can find wooden bowls at Michael’s or Marshall’s for $10? At least, that is what I envision a potential uninformed customer might think about a reasonable price for a custom bowl. Nope. I don’t ever want to compete on price with the cheap materials or mass produced wood products when I’m making the same item by hand with better wood.

Commissioned Work

I’ve received requests from local neighbors and even out of state people through email asking me to make a custom art piece or furniture piece for them. The conversation goes something like; “I saw your video on making that mission style sofa table. Could you make us one of those in Walnut, but maybe slightly different”, though they can’t explain what “different” means. They also just went to a local furniture store and saw the prices of Chinese imported tables at $500 and that seemed a bit pricey for them. As if I could, out of the goodness of my heart, make them something custom, with far better solid hardwood, for less money. This is when I mention my White Oak Dining table, where the raw wood materials alone cost me $1,400. “And you want that in Walnut?” I ask. Walnut is currently triple the cost of White Oak in my area. Why do people always think high quality should cost less if they happen to know the manufacturer.

One email request asked me to make a custom art piece for them to give as a significant gift to a relative. I could propose something up to a $5,000 price tag. That got my attention. But, what would constitute “acceptance” of the final product and ultimately payment for that custom work? Now we’re back into retail hell territory and a mindset I ran into during my tech architecture design career. “Well, it is what I asked for that’s true, but it isn’t exactly what I wanted”.

The Charitable Path

I can’t explain why it took me so long to think about charity options. Honestly a part of that answer might have to do with the over simplified hope of making some sort of profit from our wood shop. But, as I’ve said before in other blogs and in my YouTube videos, I never needed the wood shop to be part of any business plan. The little bit of ad revenue I get from YouTube tends to cover the cost of wood for the next project. Well, it doesn’t cover the cost of materials for things like our dining table, but for most projects it’s a fair trade.

This is a retirement hobby for me and one in which I still get to be creative, keep my mind and body active and make some cool stuff for people to enjoy. Back to the problem at hand, how can I keep designing and building stuff where there’s no place to put it?

My initial “ah-ha” moment came when my wife and I were browsing through a Goodwill store in search of colored glassware that my wife likes to smash and use for glass art projects. Sometimes she will tumble the glass with rock smoothing abrasives to make beach glass. It’s cool stuff actually. It was there I spotted some basic furniture items in the back of the store; things most people need like bedside tables, book shelves, coffee tables and other wood accessories. I thought then that I thought I could make some basic but really sturdy furniture for people who might need it most. I would make it, donate it and the furniture would go to a good home in need.

This is about the time I spotted a mid-fourties fashionista filling a cart with all sorts of art glass, and collectibles and who I eventually saw over at the furniture section. She grabbed an end table and a wooden lamp that was in good shape and made her way to check out. I saw her load those treasures in the back of her Lexus SUV and disappear into the sunset. (Overly dramatic juxtaposition intended)

I wondered if this was a systemic thing, so I looked on YouTube to find that there are numerous people out there doing the same thing to support their own small businesses. They buy Goodwill or Salvation Army furniture, refinish it (or not) and resell it for an amazing profit. The table might only be priced at $15 at the Goodwill store, which is perfect for a young struggling family who needs it, except they never get a chance to buy it if the fashionista grabs it, paints it a fashionable sage green and resells it for $150. I’m absolutely positive that I don’t want my wood shop donations to wind up in the hands of people who just want to make a profit on my hard work.

The YWCA

Accidentally, I spotted something on the internet that mentioned the YWCA. I found a local chapter of the organization relatively close by and started to cruise through their website. Helping young women and families in need was part of their mission. I wasn’t sure how that might incorporate furniture but I thought I would reach out to see if there was something I could do.

In fact, the response was quite welcoming. They were not necessarily in the direct business of providing hard goods like furniture to individual families, but they had associations with other shelters and institutions who could use these items. Through that network, things like simple end tables, or book shelves, or kids play tables, or coat hooks would be a great addition to help make these places feel more like home. In some cases my stuff might make it out to a direct family in need through these networks.

The YWCA is a non-profit and their office was also in need. They had suffered through a flood at their previous location and lost most of their office furniture. They had even joked about needing to suffer through the wonderful world of IKEA in order to afford certain basic office items, and that prompted their request about a potential desk for their in house digital literacy lab. Hmmm. A computer desk. That was something I knew about. Challenge accepted.

I posted a video about the desk build and the delivery to this very nice group of women. I learned more about the needs of the local area and their own YWCA office and I thought that from time to time, there were cool things I could build and donate to them. I spotted the need for a coffee table in the lobby, and some additional shelving for storage. Maybe an eventual replacement for one of the IKEA desks that looked like it was about a half inch thick. Extra sturdy it was not. The desk was delivered and assembled and they were wonderfully appreciative.

The Payback

I think everyone wants to have a purpose in life. It’s important to feel useful, whatever that might mean to each individual. Now in retirement, the wood shop helps me to feel useful. I’ve been designing furniture and wooden artwork for more than 40 years but in the past, it was never the only thing driving satisfaction and purpose in my life. Now aside from home repair and maintenance, and a little landscape work, the wood shop is where I can let my creative freak flag fly. I like that.

It’s wonderful to have found another outlet for our wood shop creations and I’m sorry it took so long to find a charitable donation outlet. It feels good to be helping our local community in some way and I like the work the YWCA does here in the Saginaw/Bay City area. The payback for me is that I still get to design useful things for people who need and want them, and the donating part is fulfilling for me in extremely important albeit less tangible ways. Next design challenge please…..