John Wayne quote circa 1932

[woodshop]

This was a fun sign to design and cut.

Vcarved with a v-bit 90 degree at 60 ipm.
West Texas Cedar 24" x 8" x 5/4"
Red Milk Paint.
Pitch Black glaze.
Tandy Leather Star.

Sells around here for $40. Wish we could get $80 but people are too darn cheap around here in El Paso, Tx.

[bleeth]

10-4 Dude
I may buy another bot just to cut that myself!

[guitarwes]

Great sign. Very nice.
Any chance you'd give us info on how you finished it?

[joe]

Dave,

That's an awful nice sign to sell so cheap.
If you tripled the price it would sell like hot cakes. After all what do you have to loose. I've been doing this kind of work for twenty plus years having no trouble getting premium prices.

Joe
www.normansignco.com

[Walt_S]

Awesome sign!! I'd like to hear a little bit more about the finishing process too.

AND, I agree 100% with Joe ^. I'd be asking $79.95-$89.95 easily for that sign. I sell on Etsy (blah) and (almost) everyone on there thinks you have to give everything away to sell anything. I disagree 100% and refuse to give my hard work away. I sell my stuff for at least twice as much as what I consider my competition. Of course my stuff is much better quality too. :cool: Sure, I could give it away and probably do twice as much in sales, but that's not the way I work. I also don't make my (outdoor) signs out of pine from a big box store and coat it with 1/4" of poly and send it out the door like I see so many on Etsy doing, but that's another thing... :rolleyes:

[joe]

Walt,

Pricing is always a difficult discussion.
Here are a few excuses for under pricing.

I work out of my garage and have no overhead.
My materials are scraps or don't cost much.
I'm new to the trade. Trying to get my foot in the door.
Working for beer money.
I like working for charity, boy scouts, and churches, etc.

To become an craftsman takes practice and lots of time with the equipment. For me it always starts with a pencil ending up with brushes. It's a love affair and needs to be supported with dollars. That's what keep customers coming back.

Joe
www.normansignco.com

[woodshop]

Yes, it is cheap. But expensive down here next to the Border.
New Mexico is nothing more than a "Third World Economy."
At $40 selling price, we are making 200% profit. Sometimes more than that.
We wish we could live and retail in the North of the country where the economies are better than in the South.
We are in business to make money selling Original Art In Wood.
Because of the CNC machines, we are able to bring prices down.
We are not trying to undercut other woodworkers prices. I hate that when we see it happening to us. China and Mexico... Who-boy!
When I am asked for pricing advice, my first question is: What part of the country do you live in?
If I lived up North, my pricing for a $40 sign would be closer to $200.

Joe, I will triple my prices just for you, see what happens. Maybe you know more about our border economy than I. Actually, triple sounds great to me.

To be honest... We have been cutting signs (by hand) for 40 years. Here's what I've gleaned:
I am just another sign maker in a world of thousands of other sign makers.
Don't get greedy!
Don't fall in love with your work too much.
Pay attention to the economy around you.
Price is King.
The only way to deal with the competition is to "Out Market" them.

This is good advice. Are you fellas paying attention?

P.s. General Finishes has given away all the secrets (to help sell their products) in the form of videos and "How To's." Furniture finishing stuff, mostly.

[woodshop]

John Wayne (updated since the first version in Jan)
Sells for $25.
>Soft Mapel
>15.25x5.25 @4/4"
VCarved at 75 ipm
90 degree vbit
Yellow Die (General Finishes)
Glazed with Black (General Finishes)
Poly top coat

Fun to make these.



31662

31663

[joe]

Nice work.
What town in NM is your shop in?

[woodshop]

Chaparral, NM

zaneblackwoodshop.com

[guitarwes]

Very nice signs, designs, and finishes. Is this your full time gig?

[woodshop]

Yes, full time. Gotta pay for the shop tools.
We also teach Illustrator for those interested in learning the Vector world.
Also do some font design now and then.
Love wood. Can't help it. Gotta have sawdust around.

[joe]

Just looked up Daves location and found a potential large market nearby. That would be in El Passo which is approx 25 miles away. There are several sign business there but none of them dedicated to router work. At my shop we don't do any vinyl sales, realty sign or anything else but dimensional signs. If I lived in Chaparral I'd be looking at making large router and carved signs with my Texas friends. Could be a business with offering routing services to those existing shops.

Everyone knows Texans have deep pockets.

[woodshop]

All that big business is locked up by the Juarez shops across the border.
We’re using the internet. Much larger market for us.
We have signs in Russia, China, Japan and Spain ( the ones we know about).
Don’t really like working with plastic and pvc.

We’re just doing vector art in wood.
I throw my stuff up on this forum to help encourage anyone that can be encouraged.
It actually boils down to BUSINESS. How much business sense one has can make the difference between HOBBy and really making money.