Falling into Fall

As the seasons change and school goes back in session people once again look at their homes and dream. They remember that project that they've been wanting to do in the kitchen or other area in their home. Winter is coming and all of us will be spending more time inside; we want to enjoy the spaces we come home to. For this reason, every fall the number of inquiries we receive for custom work goes up.

I have found over the last few years that no matter how slow our summer has been, our fall is always busier. It is a great thing. Who doesn't want to have more work when you're a small business.

We've also been lucky enough to have been interviewed for the Small Business Review newspaper recently. Our business will be featured in the October edition, and will hopefully help us keep the fall ball rolling well into the winter and spring season. (I'll be devoting a blog post solely to the article once it's on newsstands.)

Another highlight has come in the form of an invitation for us to display and sell our furniture at the Philadelphia Invitational Furniture show in March. It is something we are still considering, but it looks promising. http://www.philaifs.com/.

Mountain of Sawdust

One of the first things you get used to when you are married to a wood worker is sawdust. It's just part of the deal so to speak. After a while you don't even blink an eye when you get poked with a wood chip sticking out of their shirt when you're putting it into the washer. But even after all that, nothing could have prepared me for this job that we are currently working on.

For sheer volume of wood, it is our largest job to date. We are a little over half way through the over 1000 board feet of poplar and have already emptied 20 fifty-five gallon barrels of sawdust.

You're probably wondering what in the world does one do with all that sawdust? The good news is that it doesn't go to waste. Local livestock farmers around here love it. They use it for their cows, horses, etc.

It is a win win. The wood shop gets rid of something they can't use, and the farmer gains something they need. For free. The only thing that most wood shops ask of the farmers is to come pick up the sawdust so that they do not have to transport it. It is a small price to pay for something they would normally have to go to the store and buy.

So if you happen to be a woodworker OR you are married to one, what's happening to all your sawdust?

Shoping - Harbor Freight

Going 'tool' shopping with my husband is always an interesting event. He can quite literally get lost in his own world. One I have no hope of understanding.

Tonight we went to Harbor Freight Tools. If you don't already know about this place, it is a hub for cheep tools and accessories. You can get everything from garden tools to bench top shapers to batteries. The nice part about this store is that you can find some of the disposable stuff that you need without having to pay insane amounts of money to get it when you'll use it once and then it goes in the trash.

When we got home from our excursion my husband noticed a label on a measuring cup that we bought saying that it was not safe for use in food preparation. We looked farther and found that a few of the copper fittings we bought have lead in them. Of course most of the items in this store are made overseas. Actually, we only noticed one that was 'Made In The USA' product as we walked the store.

Although we hopefully don't have to worry about kids putting copper fittings in their mouths. Well at least I hope not. But it is something to keep in mind when buying from stores like this. Most of us don't think anything about everything we touch before we put something in our mouths. Kids toys are not the only things we need to pay attention to when it comes to lead from imported items we have on our store shelves.

New Formaldehyde Bill

For years the woodworking industry has dealt with a dilemma: to use domestic or imported composite woods better known as plywood, MDF, or particle board. There are several reasons for this problem and the level of formaldehyde is one of them.

Many of the composite woods available to the consumer the big chain home improvement stores is imported where standards for manufacturing are not as closely monitored as they are in the US. With the green movement throughout the world and people generally paying closer attention to those things that affect their health, the level of formaldehyde in products has become an increasing concern for woodworkers. The Formaldehyde Standards for Composite Wood Act will make it so that all manufactures of composite wood and wood products, both foreign and domestic, will have to abide by the same minimum standards regarding this toxic and potentially harmful chemical.

This biggest advantage to domestic woodworkers is that this will even this up a bit in the market. By not having to abide by the same standards overseas as we do here, manufacturers in other countries have been able to produce a product at a cheaper rate making it hard for US companies to compete and still meet the necessary standards.

Currently the bill has passed the full senate and is being proposed in The House.

To read the full article go to http://woodworkingnetwork.com/Article.aspx?oid=1118608&hq_e=el&hq_m=748026&hq_l=9&hq_v=c1b63d294f.

Training vs. Automation

One of the things I do as the wife of a woodworker and co-owner of our business is read articles relating to our industry. There are some really good ones out there with many helpful, and general tips of the trade.

Over the last three years, the advice has begun to change. At first it was all about the new and latest tools and equipment. Or even sharing information on how to make a handy jig. Now the concentration seems to be on how to help the traditional woodworker to stay a float in this struggling economy.

Something I see often in these magazines is a push for automation. Very rarely do you see the other side of the coin insisting on more training for woodworkers in the industry. I'm not saying it doesn't happy. It does. But the vast majority of articles I come across are backing the former, not the latter.

Being married to someone who spent four years training under a master to learn his craft, it is a little disturbing. I do see the advantages of automation when one is talking about mass production, however in concentrating on that aspect of the industry we are losing the true artist in the field.

Too many are signing on to work at shops with no experience. They are taught to do one aspect of the process while ignoring all the others. It is a job to them. Not a career choice.

While automation has its uses, I believe training is much more important. It will help shops stay competitive in a way that automation can't. Furniture making is and always will be an art form at its heart, and to those craftsman to whom it is their lifeswork and passion.

New OSU Student Union

There is nothing like the pride one feels when a loved ones talent and skill is put on display for others.

My husband had the opportunity to build some pieces for the new Ohio Union on The Ohio State University campus. Tonight one of those pieces, a fireplace mantel, was included in a news story regarding the open house today.

Check out the video here: http://www.10tv.com/live/content/video/10tv.html?referralObject=ka:958277