Over the past several days I faced a familiar woodworker's crisis: one of my favorite tools, my lathe, quit working. I had purchased an inexpensive starter lathe awhile back and put out several nice products including pepper grinders, salt shakers and French rolling pins. Now it was time for an upgrade. Woodworkers love their tools and I’m no different. Many, like myself, also love the research involved before our next purchase; then there’s the weighing of price, practicality and performance. This is where my #1 fan comes in. My beautiful wife is not only my best friend but also my greatest encourager. She knows me; she listens to me, and she pays attention. As I was wrestling through my decision...
This past weekend was The Prodigal Carpenter's first experience participating in a Festival or Artisan Fair. For anyone who has undertaken one of these, we don't have to tell you the amount of hard work that goes into preparation, facilitating, and post event handling. We learned a lot from our "initiation" into the outdoor market world. 1 Nothing replaces personal interaction with potential customers. The feedback was invaluable. It was affirming to have so many folks express admiration for the quality and craftsmanship of our products and admire what we do. 2. Know your Target Market. Handcrafted items of high quality are not produced inexpensively They take time, craftsmanship and quality materials. Consequently they're not what everyone is looking...
I loved the game of golf growing up, it was a sport that my dad taught me how to play and that I ended up being pretty good at. Working at a country club gave me the opportunity to play and improve, even though the season was limited by the harsh winters of Buffalo, NY. To some, golf is considered a snob sport reserved mostly for country clubbers and watching golf on television something akin to “watching paint dry.” But I offer these the Ryder Cup. The Ryder Cup is an event that happens every other year between professional male golfers from the USA against professional male golfers from Europe. It’s golf’s only real team event for professionals, and despite...
