December Shop News

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DWSmith

Still Plays With Blocks
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In the last two weeks, I have shipped a total of 69 boards with the last 41 going out yesterday. Needless to say I have been quite busy with several 5 to 9 days. My shelves are quite bare and it will take an effort to refill them to levels I will feel comfortable with. I have heard there is a recession on but from the looks of things I am not participating. I have one large mahogany board to complete and an island to complete and I expect both to go out right after Christmas. That is if everything goes as planned. :O

The shop move went smoother than I expected. I feared I would be down longer than I wanted to be and would loose business along the way. However, the part-time fellow I hired has helped a lot. He freed me up to work on the big stuff required to bring the shop back into operation while he took on some of the mundane tasks that would have slowed me down and made the new shop even further behind. He really did well.

However, he has a problem. I wasn't aware when I hired him he was on unemployment compensation and didn't find out until last week. My double-dipping part-timer will receive a shock when his 1099 arrives and the state asks him to explain. :scared4:

Normally January is a month for maintanance. It looks like this January I will be busy making new boards to fill the shelves. If anyone has an idea for a new feature I can include on my boards, I will be more than happy to consider it. :idea2:
 
Nice to hear some good news David. I plan to order several of your boards as gifts for family members, but still need to figure out the best dimensions. Perhaps I will give them a card for Christmas letting them know of my intention, and asking them to choose a standard size from your website or tell me what they would prefer (and I will submit a custom order).

One thing that I don't see on your website is a thin (or relatively thin) board with a carved channel around the outside to be used for letting meat rest out of the oven before slicing. My father was complaining about a cheap board he has for this purpose warping the other day, and I immediately thought of asking you to come up with a replacement. What do you suggest? Custom order?
 
Wow, sounds like the unfortunate shop move has not hampered you too much, and you are running on all cylinders! Congrats on having such a strong ending to the year, and carrying momentum in 2012. And I'm happy to have drained your inventory a little so you can come up with some new products :hungry:
 
Johnny.B.Good - The standard sizes are 12 x 12, 12 x 16, 12 x 18, 14 x 18, 14 x 20, 16 x 22 and 18 x 24. The 24 x 36 is a special order and I make several during the year. I try to keep all in the shop but only a few are listed on the web site. The 12 x 18, 16 x 22 and 18 x 24 are the most popular sizes so they will be the only ones listed on the web site, for now. That may change in 2012.

As for a thinner board, I recommend nothing thinner than 1 1/2" thick. I believe, my opinion only, a thicker board will resist warping more than a thinner one and have no hard evidence to suggest otherwise. However, I will make one to a customers specifications as I can. Send me an email or a PM and I will be happy to work out a size for a carving board with you.

WildBoar - The shop move has some unexpected advantages, I am closer to home so the drive has been cut in half and the shop is easier to heat. My first natural gas bill was about $50.00 and I am pleased with that. The lower insulated ceilings are a plus and keep the heat in. The other shop had 16" ceilings with no insulation and all I did was keep the roof warm. I guess the old saying is true, every dark cloud does have a silver lining.
 
That is great to hear David. I wish you the best in 2012!
 

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